Those who followed the Challenge of 2011 and my follow-up posts in May know that I am very interested in making the 2012 Challenge more organized and easier to participate in than the first two Challenges. Judging from last year's more than ten-fold growth, I have every reason to believe that next year will have at least the same participation as last year if not considerably more. In either case, as we saw in 2011 the Challenge becomes massive, and even overwhelming, for participants. For this reason I am looking for more ways to meet your requests, your needs, and in general to make the Challenge more fun for all of us.
The bottom line is that in order to achieve these goals of improving the Challenge I need to find some solutions that will involve some technology with which I am currently not familiar. Networking and knowledge gathering at the Expo was part of that learning process. You can believe that I was talking about the A to Z Challenge to get some feedback about it and some sources that I can go to for help later.
The response I got was consistently positive. Everyone that I talked to about the Challenge seemed interested and thought that it held some great potential. Now to see who will back me up in the months to come and join in the fun come April.
I got some indication of support from a representative in the Blogger booth who said to send in the info about what we're doing and she thought that they'd probably give us some mentions in the Blogger blog right before we are about to start up. Any additional support like that will not only be favorable for the Challenge, but also increase the possibilities of others to discover your blog.
However our biggest boost comes from you the participants and supporters alike. Keep the buzz going on your blogs. And if there is any realm of expertise that you can contribute to make the Challenge better please leave a suggestion in the comments or contact me at my email address.
A to Z got some nice mentions in the past week and I hope you will check them out if you haven't done so already:
Alex J. Cavanaugh was a co-host in the 2011 Challenge. He gave the A to Z Blog a nice plug in his post last Friday.
A big Thanks to Yvonne Lewis from Welcome to My World of Poetry for her poetic plug of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.
Also, you must check out the post Sue at Jumping Aground did for the Challenge. She also offers a preview of what she's planning to do in April and offers some good tips for the rest of us.
Keep the plugs and mentions coming and let me know whenever something appears on your blog or wherever it appears so I can link to it on the Blogging from A to Z Blog.
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14 comments:
Only too pleased to help Lee.
I have already started on next year's . When I have a spare few moments I write a few more poems of the alphabet.
Have a good day.
Yvonne.
The button is in my sidebar and I'll continue to plug it every other week for a few more months. Then comes the big push!
The excitement is growing. It will be massive.
Brianna also mentioned to come here for updates. I'm sure you'll be breaking all records this year! Do you think it would be helpful to include any of our reflections posts at some point? Julie
I'm super-excited... can't wait!!
Are there going to be categories? For example: fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, etc...
Great post here, Lee - I will be linking back to this and the one from Tossing It Out on MY post, tomorrow.
In the meantime: speaking of new & shiny, this is Mooderino's Funnily Enough writers' newsletter site. I've started my own Scoop It topic ISO Mental Health & Wellness that I hope you'll also stop by, in your free time, lol!
Yvonne -- I always know that I can count on you.
Alex -- Thanks Alex! An official A to Z button will be hopefully coming soon. My artist Ada Z. (what an appropriate name!!) has been testing samples to see what will look best.
Ocean -- I'm hoping for a big success in 2012.
Julie -- Reflection posts and quotes may be coming. Also guest posts are welcomed.
Mish -- My goal is to make the list (lists) simpler to navigate. Hopefully we'll find a way to make the lists excellent.
Beverly -- Thanks! I will likewise link back to your Thursday post. Free time? I need more time for sure.
Lee
I have a reminder up on thefeatherednest about the A to Z Challenge.
I participated in the A-Z this year and look forward to next year's challenge! And you don't call it a 'challenge' for nothing, right? It near about killed me! hehe
Delores -- A big thank you for that. You've got some big plans in mind.
Trisha -- You've got lots of time to prepare to make it easier. We've heard that before haven't we.
Lee
Exciting! I felt overwhelmed last year, but enjoyed it~ I know it is a challenge, lol. I'm excited and will plug you the first of March. We will all be looking for new things to attract our attention, as spring makes it's entrance. :D
Really, artist Ada Z. Perfect!
thanks Lee :) It sounds like you're having a busy time at the expo, it'll be good to hear a bit more about it when you have time. I'll adapt the post to put on my traverselife blog this week.
One thing I've found is how difficult it is to succinctly explain The Challenge to non bloggers. Can anyone help?
Limbering up for the A-Z challenge
Hi Lee, I've edited and prettified my original post. It's now on traverselife @
http://traverselife.blogspot.com/2011/11/a-z-blogging-challenge-is-coming.html
Sorry about the lack of hyperlink - it's telling me the post doesn't exist-maybe it's something to do with the date stamp being all out of whack - Blogger won't acknowledge my time zone...I hope it doesn't play up during the challenge.
Hi Lee .. I must get my act into gear .. I want to change the blog a bit and also add the A-Z button .. and now I know what's involved .. last year went way too smoothly! I was surprised I was able to do 26 posts so easily ..
I'm either doing something Sue and I concocted (well I think she did) or something else I thought - but could do that next 2013!!
Either way I'll be around .. much else I'd struggle with for now ..
Cheers Hilary
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