Maybe this should be named the Several Things Happened on the Way to the A to Z Challenge.
As I mentioned in my Thankful Thursday post, I’m grateful folks took time to read the memoir posts I wrote for the challenge.
Instead of writing all my posts before the challenge, I wrote them in three batches. My outline for each letter held firm, except for two.
Here’s a breakdown of my A to Z month:
- Visits — I tried to keep up with my regular blogging buddies plus visit A to Z blogs. I visited 85 new blogs from the A to Z sign up list. Participants were asked to visit five a day, so I failed this task.Â
- Reading — I read more in April than I have in several months, so this hampered my blog visits.
- Conference — I attended the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. This weekend kept me more unplugged than I anticipated, but it was a good thing.Â
- Goals — A personal goal this year was to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows during the break after I typed the end in my memoir manuscript and before I began revisions. I took an almost two-month break from the manuscript, I did not open my file until the day after I finished the Harry Potter book. Then, I printed the first chapter for a revision workshop at the conference.
- Technical — During April, I had a few glitches on my blog. The source of my streamlined subscription buttons disappeared during the first few days of the month. I fiddled with my email subscription delivery and delayed delivery one day. Then, Blogger changed its format. As I understood it, Blogger wants you to use your G+ (Google Plus) profile. Then, when I commented on other blogs, I received feedback people couldn’t find my blog. Anyone want to share how I can comment on a Blogger blog and leave a link to my blog in the comment?
- Personal — We had house guests, a series of medical tests for Hubby and lots of activities during the month. I also spent time investigating how to return to school to study website design and digital images. Hubby says I’ll be like Shirley from the TV show Community. Well, if you read that bio, not everything is the same. I would share my brownie recipe.
- Connections — I will continue to follow some bloggers I met during the challenge. Other blogs were too specialized in an area that doesn’t interest. I was impressed by the variety of topics and themes writers used for the challenge. The diversity was inspiring.
Will I do it next year? I’m not sure. I need to evaluate my time better as I didn’t have enough time to properly comment on other blogs. Also, I felt like I was spamming my regular blog followers with all those posts.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my A to Z posts and to comment. Your encouragement, especially on the posts related to my memoir manuscript, helped me as revisions are under way.Â
Would you like to try your hand at memoir or a personal essay? Here are two opportunities:
- Guideposts Writers Workshop Contest — deadline June 20, 2012
- Chicken Soup for the Soul has several topics for possible books including one For Parents of Children With Autism or Asperger’s  — deadline Sept. 30, 2012
What are you working on today?
mooderino
The easiest way is to leave a link in the comment like this
Moody Writing
in order to do this you need to actually leave this:
(a href=”http://moodywriting.blogspot.com”) Moody Writing(/a)
except, where I have put () you need to replace them with <>, and obviously your own details.
Stacy S. Jensen
Let’s try this Stacy S. Jensen
Stacy S. Jensen
Thank you Mooderino!
Susanna Leonard Hill
I think you did admirably, Stacy, and it sounds like you learned a lot and got a lot out of the experience. I’m glad you asked that question about linking back to your blog and that mooderino answered – I’ve been wondering that forever, and now I’m going to try it and see if it works! 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill
Susanna Leonard Hill
OMG! It DOES work!!! Thank you Stacy and Mooderino! 🙂
Stacy S. Jensen
Susanna, That’s one thing I love about the blog universe — ask and most days you receive the information. Sort of like you Oh Susanna post today! Oh Susanna
Karen S. Elliott
Geez, and I thought I was busy. You did great with the A-Z, and boy did you get a lot of other work done! I’m sorry I can’t help with the technical problem (I’m a wordpress). This week I’m working on Mothers’ Week posts for the blog, working on a client’s MS, connecting with a local client, working on prompts for my writers’ group, and reading!
Stacy S. Jensen
My mother duties are about to begin. I’ll sneak by to begin reading your posts. This should be a fun week. Good luck with your work and with writing prompts. We used to bring random objects to writer’s group. Some were a bit tricky, but we wrote on whatever came to mind when we saw the object.
catherinemjohnson.wordpress.com
Wow, Stacy! It’s incredible you managed it. At least you can write some in advance for this though. Does that free you up much or does the commenting take the longest time anyway?
Stacy S. Jensen
Catherine, the commenting took the longest time. I have an idea for next year, if I’ll just write them all down. :0
This Kid Reviews Books
The A-Z challenge seems like a huge one! It’s awesome you finished it! I don’t think I would’ve finished. 🙂
Stacy S. Jensen
Thanks Erik. I tried.
Joanna
Wow, what a month! I didn’t feel spammed. I read everything, and left comments when I wanted too.
Did you do Rach’s challenge last year and how did that compare.
I did My Name is Not Bob’s Platform Building last month, but it was really geared to platform building beginners as I had done around 85% of what he’s suggested already. Got to know one or two knew people, though.
Stacy S. Jensen
I met more people through Rach’s Challenger. With A to Z, it was more random to find similar blogs.
Susanne Drazic
Hi Stacy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the A to Z Challenge. It was a lot of work, but it was fun. I enjoyed reading your memoir posts. Thanks for allowing your followers to learn about that part of your past. Best wishes with revisions on the memoir!
Stacy S. Jensen
Thanks Susanne.
Beth K. Vogt
I didn’t read all the A-Z posts, Stacy. Some “letters” just got away from me. But the ones I did, I really, really enjoyed. You were quite creative. Your blog is a “must-read” for me.
And it was so nice to finally meet you and your husband and too-cute son this past weekend.
Stacy S. Jensen
Thanks for reading when you could Beth. We were excited to stop in and meet you in person.
Susan Oloier
Stacy, Are you living in CO? I’ve tinkered with the thought of attending Pikes Peak, but live in the SW corner, so it’s a bit of a trek for me.
You’re a very talented writer. I am very impressed with your memoir skills. My memoir is on hiatus until late in the summer. An editor told me to flip my main storyline with one of the secondary ones. Not sure yet if I can make that work.
I’m visiting blogs in lieu of working on a writing assignment for an online class I’m doing with aforementioned editor. I always enjoy your posts!
Stacy S. Jensen
Thanks Susan. If you are interested in coming to Pikes Peak, Hubby is bracing for a slumber party next year! 🙂
Coleen Patrick
I like that A-Z survivor graphic! I am so impressed with the amount of work that you and other bloggers put into this challenge!
Stacy S. Jensen
Coleen, The organizers did a great job of keeping the challenge moving forward!
Patricia T.
Congratulations! It was a pleasure to read your A-Z entries, because it was directed towards your beautiful memoir. I felt like I was getting a peek at something very important. Glad everyone’s comments helped. Look forward to seeing it in print some day!
Stacy S. Jensen
Thanks Patricia.
Romelle Broas
Thanks for sharing a part of you, Stacy. And congratulations for surviving the A to Z challenge! Gosh, you managed to accomplish a lot throughout all this. You’ve been busy with a couple of challenges this month as well. You’re an inspiration!
Stacy S. Jensen
Romelle, It always seems busier when I write it all down. 🙂
Heather Murphy
Nice “meeting you” during the challenge. It sounds like you’ve got your hands full!
Stacy S. Jensen
Heather, Nice to meet you too.
Susan Oloier
Hi Stacy,
An editor wants me to do some work on one of the storylines in my memoir. Do you want to swap when we’re both in a comfortable place to trade? Maybe this summer???
Susan
Stacy S. Jensen
Sounds like a Deal, er, deadline Susan! My email is stacysjensen (at) gmail (dot) com.
EvalinaMaria
Congratulation on finishing the challenge. I didn’t visit all blogs during the challenge but, cross my heart, I’m visiting every single one with reflections post!
Evalina, This and that…
Stacy S. Jensen
Evalina, You are too kind to keep visiting. As I mentioned, i struggled on this.
[Retro-Zombie]
Reflection is a good thing, You have done a great job on the A to Z Challenge…
Hopefully you were able to use one of my banners/badges for the Challenge, had as much fun designing them as seeing them around the blog world.
Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
A to Z Co-Host
My New Book:
Retro-Zombie: Art and Words
Stacy S. Jensen
Jeremy, It was very kind of you to donate your time to the banners/badges. Thank you.
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Hi Stacy .. sorry I just got back to you – I couldn’t access you via G+ – that frankly is a google pain! I searched on Google to find you!! Blog-wise …
Now I’m here I can catch up a little ..
Well done on finishing and writing up your Reflections post .. cheers Hilary
Barbara
I also had difficulties in participating, as I started reading The Hunger Games, all 3 parts, right after I watched the movie. Congratulations on surviving the Challenge!
English Speaking Zone