This was my second run at the A to Z Blogging Challenge. In some ways, I did great! I had all my posts ready well in advance and because I'd gotten my blog, Google+, Twitter and Facebook accounts all interlinked in a feed-loop, they all automatically went out into the wilds of the internet without my having to do anything on a day to day basis. That organization was really important and kept the output angle from becoming overwhelming.
I also think I wrote some very good posts. A few I'm very proud of.
So, at least in terms of output, I feel good.
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| http://www.freshbooks.com/assets/img/blog/2013/05/NetworkingIsAllAboutFeelings.png |
Now, on the networking/interaction angle, my mileage varied. April was an incredibly busy month for me (given how busy a normal month is, it's saying something that I'll call this one especially busy). It was my book launch month and I was still teaching school full time. My younger daughter had a birthday. So did I! Because I'm greedy that way, I wasn't willing to drop any of the other balls I was already juggling to take on this new one.
So, if I was going to get in my writing time--which I DEFINITELY was, I could spare maybe 30 minutes a day for blogging stuff. That wasn't enough time. There were days that I didn't even make it to my 5 assigned blogs (I was a minion this year for Tremp's Troops). I tried to reciprocate for everyone who visited me as well, but I just couldn't find time for the random exploration of the Twitter hashtag or cruising through the Linky like I did last year.
I think there are plenty of good reasons for this, given the busy busy business of my life in April, but it doesn't mean that I don't feel bad. I know that all these other bloggers worked hard, too, and I would have liked to have found more time to explore and support what they did. Plus, meeting new people and finding new connections was part of what I loved last year.
I did still find a few new blogs to follow though. Would I do it again? You bet! I really enjoy writing and reading my way through the alphabet. Maybe next year, I'll do poetry, since April is also National Poetry Month. We can start with Eliot: April is the cruelest month . . .
Sometimes that's how it felt! I'm the opposite. I cleared the books for April. Of course life and family still had it's demands. And I'm away from home 10 hours each day for work and commute. So, I guess you could say my evenings were all about the Challenge as much as possible.
ReplyDelete~ We made it!!! ~
Stopping in from Life & Faith in Caneyhead.
I think the difference this year was the book launch. Though I can hardly complain about that. I mean, in actual hours, I probably only "needed" 2-3 hours a week in April to prep all that. But it took a lot of my mental space for sure!
DeleteI might take your lead for next year and prepare every post ahead of time so I can read others more. I wrote on the night before, and sometime the day of, each letter, and all that thinking, writing, rewriting, and polish took a lot of time. It left me exhausted. Some days I visited only one or two other bloggers. Definitely going to plan it better next year.
ReplyDeleteIt was great meeting you on this challenge. :-D
I definitely was glad I had written all the posts ahead. It was kind of a fun writing game: imagining my future self on the day the posting would be published so I could say what I would say then :-)
DeleteI like how organized you were! I didn't write my posts ahead of time and I wish I had. It can be really tough trying to visit all of the blogs that you'd like to, especially with so much going on in real life!
ReplyDeleteIt always seems to come down to time, doesn't it?
DeleteI think you were very clever by using the AtoZ to show us details about your book. It was a great example to me of how I can start promoting before the book's release without sounding overly sales-y. Plus, being a minion was some added responsibility, besides all the busy-ness of the rest of your life. I think you did a great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nadine, and I'm glad to hear that you think I was on the right side of the promotional line (building curiosity without becoming annoying SPAM!).
DeleteYou done good, girl!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Christine!
DeleteTHIS IS NICE
ReplyDeleteLOVELY POST
NICE BLOG DEAR
i followed your blog, please follow back
http://melodyjacob1.blogspot.com/ #MELODY JACOBS
thank you
Your self-discipline is admirable. I'd rather do laundry than try to network or take on the A to Z challenge. Can I borrow a cup?
ReplyDeleteDoes it come in cups? You call it self-discipline, but sometimes it feels more like pure muleheaded stubbornness.
DeleteI think you did great with the blog hopping, Samantha. There's only so much a person (especially an extremely busy person) can do. I ended sticking mostly with the people who visited my blog.
ReplyDeleteIf they visited me, I'd visit them more than once, but if they didn't reciprocate the second time around, that was it for me. There were too many people who were interested in engaging to spend time on the ones who weren't.
Thanks for visiting mine during the Challenge, and all year round! And happy belated birthday.
Thanks :-) You're right that there are limits on what a person can fit in her day. I'm just stubborn and don't want to be limited by silly things like number of hours in the day and my list of responsibilities.
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