Did You Finish the Challenge?
If you made it through to the end of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, give yourself a big pat on the back and accept a hearty cheer of congratulations from all of us. That was some feat and you are well deserving of recognition for having achieved it.
As a survivor of the April A to Z Challenge you have earned the official A to Z Survivor Badge to wear proudly on your site to show all of the world your amazing accomplishment. Feel free to copy the badge image which you see above and paste it on your blog sidebar or wherever you'd like to display it.
By letting everyone know that you've got some great A to Z posts to read if they missed them in April, the Badge will be a reminder for them to go back and check out the work you put into the Challenge. The official posting days of the 2017 Challenge may be over, but your Challenge posts are there for posterity and we hope that everyone will go back to visit posts they missed in April.
A to Z Challenge Reflections Post
Even though the alphabet posts are officially finished for 2017, there is one more thing we ask of all of you who participated in this year's Challenge. In what has become a yearly tradition, we invite each of you to join us with your own A to Z Reflections Post.
Past participants will likely be familiar with this Reflections post, but for those of you who aren't sure what we're talking about we'll explain. On Monday May 8th we invite everyone to provide your thoughts about the 2017 Challenge. What did you like best? What did you like least? What worked for you and what didn't?
You can tell us about favorite themes you ran across during the Challenge. Or tell us about some of your favorite posts. You can even tell us your favorite posts on your own blog. We want positives (lots of positives we hope) and we also want to hear the negatives (though we hope there won't be too many of those). Bottom line though is that we want the truth about what you thought about the 2017 Challenge.
This year it's especially important for us to hear from you since we tried the new social media method and discarded using an official Linky List. Your input will help us make decisions about next year's A to Z. Your constructive suggestions can help guide us in making the 2018 Challenge better.
How Do You Do the Reflections Post?
The official Reflections Post day is next Monday May 8th, but you can put yours up anytime between now and then. We will do the same as we have done throughout the month of April by posting an announcement on this A to Z Blog and putting up one on the A to Z Facebook page as well. Just like you've done in April to spread the word about your daily posts, you can post your Reflections link in the A to Z Blog comment section, on the Facebook page, on Twitter, or anywhere else you normally would do such things.
In other words, promote your A to Z Reflections Post in the same way as you've been promoting your other A to Z posts. And even if you haven't done much in promoting posts, by visiting the Reflections posts of the other bloggers and leaving your link in your comment on their post you should reap some visits to your own post.
Please help us with Challenge feedback by putting up your own A to Z Reflections Post. At the same time you might be helping others by sharing your ideas or you might be getting more visits to your April posts. This is intended to be a win-win situation for all of us so we hope you'll be a part of this annual tradition of the A to Z Reflections Post.
Please Take the Survey
Also co-host J. Lenni Dorner has put together a survey where you can tell us what you thought of this year’s challenge: what worked for you, what didn’t work for you, what you’d like to see, etc. It’s open until May 20, so you have a couple of weeks. Take the survey here. This will also be of great help to us.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about the Reflections Post then please leave them in the comment section below.
70 comments:
I've already posted my Reflections post on my blog. It's kind of long and rambling but I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's. I usually find some themes I missed along the way and so go back to catch up on them during these posts.
Thanks for hosting another great challenge.
Letters to my Embryos: Reflections @ Click's Clan
I have made it... Finally. It WA a great challenge and a lot of viewers visited my site and commented on it.. I had a awesome april month.
#apom A Peice of my life
A to Z Reflections: Looking Back in Time
I plan to do a reflections post. But I want to take a few days before I think of any alphabet related posting. lol. I did fill out the survey though. I had hoped there would be a comment section available to talk about the non-linky version of the challenge this year. But there wasn't, so I'll leave a comment here. I didn't get half as many visitors as previous years and I got maybe 3 comments this year. Also I did post links to the correct letter on Facebook. But I noticed that the facebook posts for the letter of the day would sometimes go up early the day before. So even though I posted my letters on the right date I still felt like I was horribly behind the whole month. I still plan on participating in the challenge next year. With linky or without. I just wanted to let someone know about my experience with it without posting it all over my blog where no one might actually read it.
Thank you again for holding the challenge. Again I really enjoy it.
Name: Iain Kelly
Blog: Iain Kelly Writing
Some brief reflections and links to all my entries that now form a complete crime thriller story: A to Z Jigsaw Challenge
Thanks to everyone who read my efforts, and well done to everyone who made it to the end! Here's to 2018!
I will do my Reflection Post later in the week.
By and large I did complete the Challenge but still found it hard without the Linky List.
I look forward to reading other Reflections Post in due course.
Yvonne.
On the time when the letters were posted on social media- it was in line with when countries like Australia and New Zealand were on that letter- they went up about 6 or 7 am Queensland time. Remember, there's lots of countries that participate in the challenge - if the letters went up to suit USA times, half the world would be posting a day late. As an Australian I liked that we could post our letters on the right day. :)
I've already done my Reflection or Recap post. Thought I'd knock it out last night. Thanks for all who helped make this challenge a possibility.
http://sagecoveredhills.blogspot.com/2017/05/2017-z-recap.html
Challenge survived! Survey taken. Will do the Reflections post in due course and link up.
Just wanted to say that the linky list not being there didn't make a difference to the visits/comments I got, roughly the same levels as 2016.
Initially I had problems pasting in the links in the comments here, don't know what I did wrong. But that resolved itself when I stopped copy-pasting and typed them in from scratch, so I just went with that and all was good. A bit hassly but no big deal.
A huge thank you for the work y'all do to keep this funfest going.
Best always,
Nilanjana.
Madly-in-Verse
Bravo, everyone for finishing. Funny how the dask sounds daunting each time I start and how fast it goes, I would say after letter S :)
I will post on May 8 or perhaps sooner with my reflections and also thanks.
This is a time-consuming challenge and I must say that it is impossible to stop by and say hi to everyone. I had in the past but most people keep up with their regular crowd. Which is okay with me. The blogosphere is huge and there is no way to know every blogger. The challenge is more a challenge I put on myself as a discipline exercise. Three years in a row is a lot. I will do it again, though, as I always find a new idea for next time. Again, congrats if you finished and good job if you considered and quit. You can do it next time.
Likewise, I've already done my reflections post. This was my first time participating, and I had a blast. 2018's challenge is already planned. Thanks to everyone I met along the way; I read so many interesting articles and met some great people.
Reflections on Blogging from A to Z
Sharon E. Cathcart
Award-winning Author of Fiction Featuring Atypical Characters
#atozchallenge
I was on the sidelines this year, but there were some great themes to follow, so I did. What's really wonderful is that I can go back and catch others when I have the time. I did miss the Linky, but I understand why it had to go.
I was far too cowardly to accept the challenge, but I enjoyed many of the posts done by other bloggers. Well done one and all you have my utmost admiration.
Took the survey. I have my reflections post half written. I started writing it during the challenge so I wouldn't forget things I had noticed.
I had a wonderful time this year! Well, I always do.
The AtoZ is over! Time now for about 12 hours sleep. 😔 Life & Faith in Caneyhead
Did the survey. I'll be back with links to my reflections posts. (I did the whole A-Z with five different blogs this year.
Thanks for hosting.
This was my first year participating in the A to Z Challenge. It was a LOT of work! So here are my reflections!
https://survivingmexico.com/2017/05/01/a-to-z-challenge-reflections/
Missed the Linky List <-- so much easier to follow a blogger - just a click on a link and there --> sorry, this way was like noisy chatter while walking on a busy street with evening traffic: buses and cars honking, and neon lights calling for attention, and people walking, waiting, chatting and eating. TOO BUSY for me!
SURVIVOR
Here are my reflections posts...
Part 1: PART 1
Part 2: PART 2
Whew! I had a great month but it seemed to go far too quick. Looking forward to next year already. I'm sure I'll have plenty to reflect on in my May 8th post!
It's done: https://amommasview.wordpress.com/2017/05/02/zesty-roundup-atozchallenge/
I did it! Whoop! Here's my Reflections
Thank you A to Z team.
Thank you to all the bloggers whose posts turned April into a month of marathon reading. I feel exhausted and exhilarated:)
Shall come back with reflections on the 8th of May.
Arti
https://artismoments.blogspot.qa/
Yes it was great that we could post to the letter on the correct day here down under in Australia. Thanks for doing this. Fran.
Thanks, Arlee and everyone else on the team. It's been a grand, albeit exhausting experience. So many amazing bloggers out there! I need a few days off before tackling the Reflections post but did fill out the survey. Cheers!
Debbie @ THE DOGLADY'S DEN
Oh my gosh, this was so much fun! I already miss it! Thank you all for the challenge and the experience.
This was my first time participating in the A-Z challenge and i had a really wonderful April . Feels great to have "survived" . Congratulations and thanks to the Team A-Z for the terrific work with hosting such a fabulously flawless challenge.Congratulations to all the bloggers/writers who participated in the AtoZ April Blogging Challenge 2017 .
Here's the link to my reflections post : https://aslifehappens60.wordpress.com/2017/05/02/a-to-z-bloggingchallenge2017-a-freshers-musings/
I agree, Nick. Already miss the challenge!
This was my first year doing the challenge and it was tiring but lots of fun! :) I've done the survey, but I was hoping for better options for the question about the "comments vs linky".
I haven't done this challenge before but I've been part of large blog hops for years, so I have a basis of comparison, but not to compare to the A-Z from last year (if that makes sense hehe).
The comments each day was horrid, to be honest. I know for those in earlier time zones, who get to post a link "above the fold" it will have been just as good as a linky. But for those of us in later time zones (I'm in pacific time, so one of the last time zones) we're a string of text lost in the sea of other text AND "below the fold".
My suggestion would be to have a new linky each day, for each letter (just like they did on Blog Chatter. Here's their roundup post of all the daily linkys they did through April for the A-Z, for example: https://www.theblogchatter.com/atozchallenge-daily-linkies ). Having a daily linky is much better because it needs the same level of dedication from us bloggers (coming back every day to post a link to our next letter), and it gives everyone an equal chance of being seen and visited. Also, it takes the same level of moderation for a daily linky as it does with moderating daily comments (as I know the moderation involved was a reason given at the start of the month).
(I actually wish I'd found the Blog Chatter site earlier than I did, as it was so much easier to post on their daily linky and find other A-Z'ers to check out.)
Sorry if I'm stepping on toes, I know this was only my first year. But I hope it's ok for me to give some feedback. :)
I'll definitely be doing the challenge again next year! But I'm already wondering if I should write and post a day earlier than I'm supposed to, just to be able to get "above the fold" and actually seen, if you stick with the comment system.
http://nataliewestgate.com
Here comes my reflections post
https://www.novemberschild.com/2017/05/03/been-there-done-that-atoz2017reflectionspost/
Thanks Natalie for this long comment as I did not know at all about the blogchatter site and after visiting it today thought it certainly draws attention via the visual element :)
A big thank you to all on the team. I've filled in the survey as best I can and WILL be doing a Reflections Post next Monday once I've had a little while to reflect. Congratulations to all of those who SURVIVED and a well done for trying to those that didn't and a "Have a Go Next Year" to those who did not want to dip their toe in the water during April 2017 :)
Special Teaching at Pempi’s Palace
Took the survey and will work on a reflection post.
Will there be a badge for reflections post like last year?
For the month of April I participated in my second straight Blogging from A to Z April Challenge with 26 posts about my travels and hundreds of travel photos. If you missed any of them, I have compiled a page with links to ALL of them in one place. Thanks to my good friends Tui Snider and Teal L. Gray for getting me involved in 2016.
Sumoflam's Complete List from A to Z #atozchallenge #travel #quirkytravel #roadtripping #enjoytheride
I have not done a reflections post but I hope to in the next week. I had mixed feelings about not having the Linky list. At first, it was unnerving but I came to like it because it worked to respond to those people who had posted their updated blogs in the comments area. I didn't make it to all the bloggers that I wanted to, but I intend on visiting them over time. Thanks for all the hard work and energy that went into keep this going. It's been very encouraging!
Rob Z Tobor
The A to Z reflections Post
#AtoZChallenge - Looks Like We Made It
http://www.jinglejanglejungle.net/2017/05/atozchallenge-looks-like-we-made-it.html
#AtoZChallenge - Looks Like We Made It
I haven't written my reflections post yet but I will. Really want to put that survivor badge on my blog. Missing the challenge that had become such a wonderful habit for me. Trying to build on it.
Theme #Lexicon of Leaving
Reflections post
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Nancy
Filled to Empty
Thanks for reading along with my A to Z Challenge! Glad to have survived! Blogging from A to Z SURVIVOR
Congratulations to everybody who participated in the A-Z Challenge this year. This was my second year and here are my reflections on how I think it (and I) went:
A-Z Reflections (2017)
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Kim Richardson
Ramblings of K
https://akkaacerbic.wordpress.com/2017/05/05/a-to-z-challenge-2017-reflections
Congratulations! for finishing up the challenge.
I hope you all had as much fun as I did during the challenge. :)
Check out my reflections post
Reflections 2017
Best wishes!
I got a bit confused with the timing, too. I did my posts in the evening in the UK and sometimes felt as if I was two days behind. But it's good that it was a worldwide thing so totally understand it. I just posted my links in the correct place and then stopped worrying about the date!
Went to have a look at the list but all I found was the following:-
"Forbidden You don't have permission to access /blogging-a-to-z-challenge-the-complete-list-for-2017-atozchallenge/ on this server."
This is my
A to Z Reflection Post
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Sandra, Aspiring family historian, fellow participant in the #AtoZchallenge
Sandra's Ancestral Research Journal
Here is my reflection on this year's A to Z Blog Challenge. My theme was What if...?
Here is the link to my Reflections post for this A to Z Challenge.
http://findingeliza.com/archives/23677
Shall write the reflections post by 8 May. I think on Google+ and FaceBook, there should be active communities of A to Z Bloggers for year long engagement. Then this April writing and promoting will be more fruitful.
Congratulations everyone! Here's my Reflections post.
Blog - Molly’s Canopy (family history/genealogy)
Theme - Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont childhood...where my genealogy journey began.
Reflections on Whispering Chimneys: My Altamont Childhood
https://pagesfromserendipity.com/2017/05/08/gratitude-reflection-post-atozchallenge/
For #6 on the survey, there was no response for how I felt about no linky this year vs. last year. I was not really a fan of the link ups because you couldn't tell what people were posting about. This year, I much preferred no list, though it would be better if people gave a brief synopsis of their posts (either topic or theme) when commenting. Some people did this but not most. I'm more likely to click on a post if I know what I'm getting into.
Anyway, I will post a reflection as well. But I did want to comment specifically about that.
A to Z Reflections post and responses https://evablaskovic.com/2017/05/07/a-to-z-reflections-post/.
Theme: Components of Literature
Thank you. Amazing month.
Here's my blog for A to Z Challenge windup. Thanks to all who read, liked and commented I appreciate it. I made many new friends and discovered some very exciting blogs. This is my second year doing it, looking forward to April 2018. https://ramblingsofawriter2016.com/2017/05/02/my-posts-a-to-z-challenge-april-2017/
Happy Monday :-) My reflection post is up. I was talking about a healthier lifestyle, losing weight and working out:
https://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/2017/05/a-z-blogging-challenge-reflection-post.html
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This is my third year doing A to Z.
Normally I'm a Romance writer who blogs, but this year I chose a completely different theme; I went with hardcore Astronomy. Glad I did. I had fun, and my commenters did as well.
My reflection was a bit on the long side as I shared what worked for me, what didn't work for me, and as I highlighted some of the more memorable blogs I read.
A to Z Reflections, where I do not mention the word Astronomy.
P.S.: I missed the Linky List, and would like to see it come back, albeit in a less-deadlink form. Posting every day to this blog was a little overwhelming. But if I didn't post, nobody would know I had an entry up that day.
More on the daily comments on the Letter-of-the-Day posts.
This annoyed me because I wasn't online every day. I actually went on vacation half-way through April. Yes, I could schedule my blog posts, but how could I schedule my Bloggy List posts? But if I didn't post something to the Bloggy Lists, my traffic dropped significantly. It would be nice to have a way of listing posts AS I CREATED THEM, so people would know that a post of mine went up on Letter M day, even though I was off enjoying the weather on some beach somewhere.
I think something like this might benefit those posters who felt they were left behind when we Aussies posted eighteen hours before they did.
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A reflection post or should we say posts...because we are a team!Please find time to see the #AToZChallenge from various vistas at Reflection Post On A To Z Challenge Each one of us had a great time showcasing the life in different hues and shades, thus making a resplendent Collage Of Life Thank you #AToZChallenge team!
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Reflections on the challenge
https://denapawling.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-to-z-challenge-2017-reflections.html
PS - I miss the linky list and I learned that it was easier for me to visit more blogs when we had the list. I understand why it was discontinued, but I did miss it.
Thank you staff at AtoZchallenge, I sure was a challenge for you. I appreciate and am extremely grateful. And bloggers, I now have the time to view your blogs.
The thing I found most frustrating was not the lack of a linky list, but the fact that so many participants were using Wordpress and had such high security that many of my comments (ones I spent time writing!) never posted. I gave up on a good 25+ bloggers because of it. That just STINKS.
Somehow, someone needs to give better instructions so that folks with Blogger blogs aren't left out in the cold when it comes to visiting and commenting. Either the Wordpress folks need to change their security settings, or they need to give better directions on their own blogs about how people without Wordpress accounts will actually be allowed to comment.
Sometimes I could use Twitter as my "URL" and leave a link in the comment, but many times, I was later informed that putting links in comments makes it "automatically spam". That isn't how Blogger functions, so how on earth would someone using Blogger know giving a link in verboten?
Anyway, I found the visiting aspect more of an exercise in frustration than previous years. I genuinely wanted to make new connections and found too many "inhospitable" blogs that ate hours of my time--not that those bloggers have any clue I ever visited. :-(
A to Z is always a great time. I always meet some excellent people. This year I had a much more manageable goal.
Thanks for what you do Co-Hosting this event.
2018 just around the corner!!!
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I finally did a reflection x summary post so I better post my link.
Link: #AtoZChallenge Reflections & Summary.
Name: Fran
Blog: TravelGenee
Theme: Sharing Family History via #GenealogyPhotoADay
Thanks to the challenge team.
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