I Survived the A to Z Blogging Challenge

Yes, indeed, I ran the race and finished! When I thought about doing this challenge again this year, it didn't seem like it would be that difficult. But then I had a vacation the first week of April and a few days holiday the middle of the month. Then life happens--what's up with that?!!! But, I finished and I am so very proud of myself--do you see the big grin on my face:)

The organizers of the A to Z April Blogging Challenge have asked those of us who participated to write a Reflections post to let them know what we liked, didn't like and what we would like to change for next year! Can you imagine managing 2008 bloggers for 30 days to make sure they are following the rules? Must have been a little like herding cats!!! 

The A to Z April Blogging Challenge really pushes me to write about things I normally wouldn't write about. I am challenged to come up with interesting and possibly even witty posts about whatever the letter of day is. I am challenged to write on days I don't really feel like writing! I should really do more of that! Probably the best part of the challenge was visiting other blogs and getting to know other bloggers! I loved having other bloggers visit my blog and leave comments--who wouldn't love that?!!! I found some amazing blogs that I plan to visit again. And even connected with bloggers I met last year...Hi Jann!!!

Now, the downside:( Everything has a downside, right? Bloggers participating in the A to Z April Blogging Challenge were asked to turn off verification--you know, that annoying thing where you have to type in the letters or numbers you see (but can't really see so you sometimes get them wrong three times in a row). Most did turn that annoyance off but there were still those who left it on. I thought about not leaving comments for those people but since it comes up after you type your comment, I left it and just chalked it up to ANNOYING!!! Why can't people follow the rules?!!! 

The other downside for me had nothing to do with the Challenge, itself. We were supposed to start with the blog following ours on the list and visit five per day during the Challenge. Some of the blogs while probably very interesting to some were not a genre that was the least bit interesting to me. Basically I just looked those over quickly and went on to the next as I am sure several did with mine.

I know I did not get near as many visits to my blog as I was supposed to get and very few comments. I visited every blog that commented on mine and I even signed up to Follow those that were under 100 Followers (if I was interested in their blog content). I added five new Followers to my blog.

What would I change? Nothing really! There will always be people who don't follow the rules and I can't imagine that changing. I will definitely participate in the A to Z April Blogging Challenge again next year.

I am signing up for the Post A to Z Road Trip so will be continuing to visit other blogs to see what's out there. And you can be sure I will share the gems with you!

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment to let me know what your favorite post of the Challenge was!

Kat