My theme was Musical Memories: The Memories that music brings rushing back.
This was my 4th year in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. My 1st year to assist by being a Minion. To me, it was the best year yet! On so many levels. With that said, there were a couple of things that really bugged me.
The first being, that there were a couple of blogs I found who had themes I was really enjoying; really looking forward to their next post. It seemed other people were as well. Yet, for some unknown reason, these blogs just quit posting about 2/3rds into the Challenge. Bummer! Life happens, and sometimes the creative well just runs dry. Yet, it was still a huge disappointment to me.
My second gripe is that the further down the list of participating blogs that I got in my visits, the less commenting I saw. Some of these posts were awesome! Some were as passable as the majority of posts in the challenge were. Granted, a few weren't offering much. Still one of the key points of the Challenge is to get out, visit and share. Why were these blogs and posts not getting their fair share of that? I think for these reasons. As the Challenge wore on, folks just got tired or behind or so caught up in some themes that they just weren't doing the recommended five new visits a day. Occasionally, I couldn't do my five either, but then I'd do ten the next day. When I caught a chance, I might do 20. It is my hope that next year, perhaps visiting five new blogs each day can be reinforced more throughout the Challenge by mentioning it more often and encouraging frequently for all to do so.
Next, I want to talk about being a minion. I joined Stephen Tremp's Team and dubbed myself Ensign B of Tremp's Troops. I had a lot of fun setting up a matching aviator for the challenge. Being a minion did add a responsibility to me for each day. Yet, it was nothing overwhelming. Stephen simply asked us all to visit five blogs a day. He polled our group on whether we wanted five new ones a day or to keep the same five throughout the challenge. We settled for keeping the same five, although he did tell us if we had one that we just couldn't relate to, he'd gladly re-assign us. I was lucky in my five! I thoroughly enjoyed each one. The only hard part to being a minion was when I'd stumble across a blog I had to report. Yeah, one of our jobs is Challenge police. If we found a blog or link that was purely for capital gain, we were to report it. If we found a blog or link that did not display the AtoZ Badge, we were to report it. If we found a blog that was not posting A to Z or that had fallen behind and had not posted explaining why, promising to catch up, we were to report it. Most of the reasons didn't bother me. After all, the Challenge is not about selling something, displaying a badge is a simple enough requesting and it wouldn't be the A to Z Challenge if we didn't post A to Z. When I came across a blog that simply stopped posting, it made me sad. Some had a great theme or their last post had been awesome! I couldn't help but worry about them a little. Wonder if everything was okay in their world. The A to Z team does try to contact the blogger before their blog is removed to find out what is going on and encourage them to continue. And for that I am grateful. Would I be a minion again? Absolutely!
Now for things I especially loved about the Challenge this year. I loved the Paper.li newspaper! If you haven't been reading, check it out here: The #AtoZChallenge Daily. It was a fun way to see the posts people were talking about on twitter.
I thought it was wonderful that a survivor T-shirt was created this year! I already have mine and wore it to work last week. You can find the link to get yours at the A to Z Challenge blog.
I thought it was wonderful that a survivor T-shirt was created this year! I already have mine and wore it to work last week. You can find the link to get yours at the A to Z Challenge blog.
Themes. I liked that most everyone had a theme. Themes make it easy for new visitors to know what you are posting about. There were so many great themes! Lots of writing themes of every kind. Many music themes. Books, movies, TV series. There were themes on gardening, cooking, fashion, history, dreams, morality, memories...such a wide and varied variety!
I had more favorite themes, but alas, they didn't all finish the Challenge. I want to highlight two of my favorites that did manage to survive till the end.
Etcetera is a blog by a young woman named Jane. Jane is an all out Joan Crawford fan. She made Joan the subject of her theme. She brought the actress to life for you with facts, inside stories, pictures and videos. If you are a Joan Crawford fan or a fan of Old Hollywood, I highly recommend this series to you.
My other favorite that made it to the finish line was The Old Shelter. Sarah is a beautiful Italian woman who has done detailed research on the Roaring Twenties for an upcoming book. For her A to Z Theme, she shared the fountain of information and insights she has gleaned from her exhaustive research with us. Giving us a glimpse into a past that is almost 100 years ago now.
Now, my thoughts on Life & Faith in Caneyhead and the Challenge. I was thrilled so many found my theme interesting enough to keep coming back day after day. Thank you all! Some days saw an awesome number of visits and comments. Again, I thank you all! Without even making an effort on my part, I saw my followers on every medium rise substantially. I certainly want to thank each of you as well! I had so much fun sharing the tunes with you and recapturing to the best of my abilities the memories that they bring back to me. I was delighted to have so many turn around and share their own memories with me! And reassured that I'm not as strange as I sometimes think I am, as it seems music evokes many strong and detailed memories in a lot of people.
Last, but never least, I thank our founder, co-hosts, and fellow minions for all the work, encouragement, attention, time and effort you poured into this event.
Did you make it to at least five new blogs a day?
Are you planning to keep reading A to Z posts?
What was your favorite blog or theme this year?
Etcetera is a blog by a young woman named Jane. Jane is an all out Joan Crawford fan. She made Joan the subject of her theme. She brought the actress to life for you with facts, inside stories, pictures and videos. If you are a Joan Crawford fan or a fan of Old Hollywood, I highly recommend this series to you.
My other favorite that made it to the finish line was The Old Shelter. Sarah is a beautiful Italian woman who has done detailed research on the Roaring Twenties for an upcoming book. For her A to Z Theme, she shared the fountain of information and insights she has gleaned from her exhaustive research with us. Giving us a glimpse into a past that is almost 100 years ago now.
Now, my thoughts on Life & Faith in Caneyhead and the Challenge. I was thrilled so many found my theme interesting enough to keep coming back day after day. Thank you all! Some days saw an awesome number of visits and comments. Again, I thank you all! Without even making an effort on my part, I saw my followers on every medium rise substantially. I certainly want to thank each of you as well! I had so much fun sharing the tunes with you and recapturing to the best of my abilities the memories that they bring back to me. I was delighted to have so many turn around and share their own memories with me! And reassured that I'm not as strange as I sometimes think I am, as it seems music evokes many strong and detailed memories in a lot of people.
Last, but never least, I thank our founder, co-hosts, and fellow minions for all the work, encouragement, attention, time and effort you poured into this event.
Did you make it to at least five new blogs a day?
Are you planning to keep reading A to Z posts?
What was your favorite blog or theme this year?
