Mark Twain

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do ...
Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Friday, March 1, 2019

#AtoZChallenge for 2019

#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary badge

I've gone and done it!
  I signed up on this day for the A to Z  Challenge
 - a blog posting challenge scheduled for the month of April.  

Yikes!

This is not my first time doing this challenge so I know what I am in for.
  I participated two times previously -
 2011 and 2012.  
It was great fun.

It is, however, an effort for me to post every single day!
Every single day without fail.
EVERY.SINGLE.DAY 
folks!!

(well, technically, there are few days in the schedule where you don't post ... but still.)

The main incentive for me is not my participation
(beyond 'talking' one's ear off figuratively in your own blog for others.)
  I get a chance to visit a huge array of other blogs.

I mean HUGE

The last time I participated there were over a 1000 blogs in the event
if memory serves me right.
The event was well organized so that you could
be selective in choosing blogs to visit.
Very very important, because 1000 blogs that are posting every day is ... well ...
not practical to do if you plan to eat or sleep at any point in April.
Last time I skipped around, leaving comments everywhere but picking only a few regulars to subscribed too regularly.

It is sort of like
window-shopping.

At signup, participants must label the kind of blog they have,
and declare a theme for their April posts if known.

I selected my blog label as Personal - Journal, Muse Type.
(That's true, right?  I 'muse' on occasion, right?).
😁

My theme will be
Retirement.
The good, the bad, and the ugly,
the highs, the lows, and in-between.
No advice - I am not an authority,
Just one person's perspective who is in the throws of this stage of life.

To make the event manageable
I will use March to write my April posts
and preschedule them to publish on the correct April day.
That way I can use the month of April to sit back, relax and once again
see what the blog world has to offer.

Sign ups are open to all bloggers during the month of March.
Check out the website for
A-to-Z Challenge if you are curious!
Lots of good information and FAQs.

A-2-Z Challenge.

Wish me luck!

7 comments:

Michelle said...

I will definitely look forward to your posts but am not tempted to JOIN in the least! I spend more time than I should posting and reading posts (I 'follow' 269 blogs already). Doing your posts ahead of time is very smart. Have fun!

Retired Knitter said...

Wow, Michelle, 269 blogs! That is a HUGE number.

I like to do these kinds of events because over time many bloggers quit or disappear for a year or the blog is deleted. So my "follow" list of blogs is probably no more than about 10 at this point.

I suspect that of my 175+ followers listed on my blog - maybe on 10 or so are still actively doing so. In fact, recently I did a little window-shopping in my readers' blogs to find other blogs of interest and I discovered some wonderful replacements for the ones who are no longer blogging.

I would be happy with 20 or 30 blogs to follow - but over time the numbers shrink as folks choose to do different things with their time. So the time is right for me to reach out again.

Michelle said...

Elaine, I don't 'check' that many blogs, as Blogger shows all new posts in a 'Reading List' that I follow. But IF one of those 269 bloggers posts, I read it! I have a hard time deleting blogs from my blogroll even if they haven't posted in months (or longer) because what if they come back? It would be nice to know what happened when they don't. Years ago there was an update to a blog I followed, posted by a friend. The blogger had gotten an aggressive cancer and died. Makes me think about putting a person/plan in place in case something should happen to me....

Susan said...

Selfishly, I am thrilled that you have taken up the challenge. I love your musings and I am all ears on the subject of retirement! I am, however, not self-disciplined enough to blog every day.

Arlee Bird said...

Yippee! Glad you decided to join in on the A to Z fun and thank you for sharing. Not sure how many to expect this year, but those actually running things this year seem to be on top of things.

Have fun!

Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out

Marie Smith said...

That is a challenge. Good luck!

Paula said...

Good luck with your challenge. I just can't get into it this year! But I will be here to read about yours!