Last April, the A to Z challenge had about 1300 participants.This year, more than 600 bloggers
have already signed up . Who knows how long the list would grow by the third of April?
I have to admit I was a little lost last year--so many blogs to visit, so little time! Plus, I had my
own posts to think of, which according to my leave-everything-till-the-last-minute personality,
I had left unscheduled, writing each day as it came. By the time I came to the list, I was
horrified. Which link had I visited last? Then, when I clicked on a link, it sometimes turned out
the blogger hadn't posted in a week. Which pissed me off, of course.
This is when I discovered the #atozchallenge tag which our host Lee helpfully added to all his
comments. I went on Twitter and discovered fresh A-Z posts by bloggers on this hashtag. No
worrying over whether the link was valid, and I also got to make new Twitter buddies, and
agonize with them about the number of posts to be written or visited! (For explanation of hashtag
for those new to Twitter go here.)
So I basically went and created Twitter newspaper, The #atozchallenge Daily, one which
automatically collects all the links posted with the #atozchallenge tag. Even if you're not
on twitter, all you have to do is bookmark this newspaper. Opening it everyday is a
great way of finding links to fresh A to Z posts. You'll also find it embedded here in
this blog, on the sidebar to the right! Embedding it on your own blog is as easy as clicking on
this link, clicking on the "Embed" tab to the right on the page that opens, and copying the
resultant code into your blog.
If you are on Twitter, you can follow us for updates on @AprilA2Z, and use #atozchallenge
for any posts you make about A to Z, now, or during the challenge in April. This would make
it very easy for us and others to find you---adding tons of exposure to your blog. Also, we can
be twitter buddies and obsess over A to Z building up to the challenge, and also when it
begins to make us dizzy with all the comment love and discussions!
Of the host team, (besides the main @AprilA2Z) you could follow these folks on Twitter :
Alex J. Cavanaugh : @AlexJCavanaugh
Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs : @StephenTremp
Matthew MacNish at The QQQE : @MatthewMacNish
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie: @iZombieJMH
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude : @DL_H
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse : @thewarriormuse
Elizabeth Mueller : @ElizbethMueller
Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain : @KarenGowen
Damyanti (that is, moi) at Amlokiblogs: @damyantig
So if you're on Twitter, follow @AprilA2Z and let us know you're participating--and spread the word via the #atozchallenge
The more we are, the louder the noise we'll make, the more the people we'll make friends with, and the more fun we'll have. (Not to mention additional twitter and blog follows!)
If you don't like Twitter, keep your finger on the pulse by bookmarking The #atozchallenge Daily...either way, have fun and win new fans this April by participating in the A to Z Challenge!
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Damyanti Biswas, co host of the #atozchallenge.
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Damyanti Biswas, co host of the #atozchallenge.