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Monday, May 6, 2019

#AtoZChallenge Reflections 2019

#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary Reflections badge


We're celebrating our Tenth Anniversary here at the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge.


#AtoZchallenge. The blog hop that made an online community by asking bloggers to spend the month of April using the English alphabet as inspiration for their posts. We're glad you stopped by today.

The Reflection post is a tradition here at the A to Z Challenge. It gives us a chance to look back at what worked, what didn't, what we've done, what was learned, and where we hope to go from here. Take your time and think. After you've posted, add your direct link to the list.

This year, in honor of our anniversary, here's a list of ten questions you might use for your post:

  1. What did you love about the challenge this year?
  2. What would you change about it?
  3. What was the best moment for you during this year's challenge?
  4. What is the best comment your blog got during the challenge, and who left the comment?
  5. Will you do the challenge again?
  6. Was it well organized and were the hosts helpful? (Did you fill out the after survey?)
  7. How did you and your blog grow, change, or improve as a result of this challenge? Did you find new blogs out there to enjoy?
  8. Were you on the Master List? (If you did the challenge last year, was it better this time without the daily lists?)
  9. Any suggestions for our future?
  10. Any notes to the co-host team? A word of thanks to Jeremy for all his hard work on the graphics? A picture with your A to Z shirt, if you ordered one?

This list is just a suggestion. Follow your heart and mind as you reflect on the challenge.

LINK TO REFLECTION SIGN UP:
https://forms.gle/qWu8NmVgitt9CBiK6


If you're participating by posting a REFLECTION post, do so there.

DIRECT link to your Reflection post, please. (Not to your blog or main website, but to the post!)
Closes May 17.



LINK TO REFLECTION LIST:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BakdXuadi9VJE1JM3mcnR9H8ooleTRoX9JGHlF-OYy4


To find, and hop to, all the blogs officially participating in REFLECTIONS, click the above link.


HTML code for the reflections badge (for those who wish to use it)




The team needs your feedback!

https://forms.gle/k4UpJgaTpca5venR7

That's the link to the after survey.


It's much shorter than last year's survery. Please take a minute to fill it out. There's a chance to win a guest post. Thank you!

SURVIVOR BADGE IS ON PAGE 2 OF THE SURVEY!



May 20 is the sign up for the Road Trip! Mark your calendar.

Grab your A to Z gear, and other cool goodies from our graphics guy, here: NeatoShop.com/artist/Jeremy-Hawkins


#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary badge

13 comments:

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Thank you for the great suggestions! Reflections posted ;)

Cathy Kennedy said...

J Lenni & A2Z team members,


The thing I love most about the challenge is it drives me to commit to posting every day for the blogfest or in my case to sketch 26 (at least) illustrations for the event.

I don't know there is anything about the challenge that I'd change. I think some folks benefit from the Master List and others do not. The only thing about it that I like is I'm able to sort the fields. This is the way I find others in my preferred category to visit. The downside to the Master List is that often those who originally sign on do not complete or even begin the challenge. This leads to frustration on those who depend on it but it doesn't bother me so much since I do not use it regularly other than a guide.

My best moment is always the beginning and the ending for obvious reasons. Excited to get started but happy when it's done. lol

I had a number of excellent comments with no particular one standing out above the rest but one of my loyal readers (Tom from Shady's Place Music & Memories) who don't participate in the A2Z event other than as a supporter of others faithfully stopped by each morning to visit & leave a lovely comment. Blog buds like him is the second reason I love to do this challenge and to keep blogging all the time.

Definitely, I'm planning to return next year to take part in the A2Z challenge. The only thing that will stop me (no doubt the rest of you) is...well, you know what that might be...so we won't talk about such things and hope that I am around to for the fun. :)

I can't say enough good things about how together you A2Z guys & gals are. My hat is off to you for an excellent job well done!

I was on the Master List but I prefer a daily link up only. As I mentioned above some bloggers for whatever reason abandon the challenge so the Master List eventually grows obsolete whereas the Daily Link up shows everyone who's active. The database that you create is sortable like the Master List, so I'm not sure why you need both. I see why you'd want a Sign-up list to see the interest of those intending to step up to the challenge but after that, the Daily link up would be best.

Honestly, I don't know if my blog did any growing but I certainly did with my artistic abilities and this is why I do it. You may recall I used the A2Z as the platform to kickstart my artist passions after years of putting it off and after two years of drawing, I do see improvements but more importantly, my confidence, the ease of trying new images don't rattle me like it did before.

The only thing I'd suggest for the future is reconsidering how to keep up with Daily participators. I think this may be more important to others than to have the Master List. Hopefully, you'll glean more insight from those who do the survey.

I said it earlier but I'll say it again, my deepest appreciations go out to each A2Z team member. Y'all do an outstanding job year in and year out. I've learned much from this friendly community. Here's to a decade, most of which I've been privileged to be part of, A2Zing and I will look forward to another 10 years!

April 2019 Reflections - a look at the #atozchallenge and what I learned

lissa said...

if only you guys had put up the questions sooner, oh well...

I didn't sign up on the master list this year, I signed onto the theme list instead, I honestly do not think there should be a master list, rather, just the theme list because people there since more likely to go through with their posting. I did visited the master list and most of the over 600 blogs but found most of them didn't even start posting.


I didn't really feel like this year was all that great and the master list is not great to browse plus I really didn't care for all the extra categories and they make the list longer & since I used the pdf format, the team members of a-z is repeated on every place - I appreciate all of them because they make the a-z challenge happen, without them, there is no challenge so thank you a-z team.

have a lovely day.

Jemima Pett said...

Yes, I agree with Lissa's first comment. Reflections badge and the questions in advance would help those of us that make our posts according to your timetable!!

But you do such a lot to help us enjoy each others blogs that the criticism seems churlish. In the end, I think maybe we've been trying to 'improve' the system too much over the last three years, and that's why so many have dropped out. Maybe go back to keeping it simple... a sign-up list on your website and away we go...?

http://jemimapett.com/blog/2019/05/06/reflections-on-the-atozchallenge2019/

Rob Z Tobor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jackie said...

I'm sorry I missed you this year

Donna B. McNicol said...

I always love finding new blogs via this challenge and this year was no different. I know some will stop posting until next year, but my blog reader will keep them categorized so I'm ready. Others will move on to subjects that don't interest me so will be ignored. But the best ones will keep me reading, even sporadically, all year long. To me, that's the best part of this challenge.

DB McNicol, author
A to Z Reflections
My Author Page
My Personal Blog

2 gators said...

https://heavygators.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-to-z-challenge-reflections.html

I cant sign up on the master list hope this is acceptable and thank you once again for this amazing hop

Mary B said...

I liked the signup sheets, but I think it would have been easier to have only one spreadsheet to refer to. Keep it simple. There's already a lot going on, no need to complicate it further with additional sheets. You can leave the sheets open for editing until a specific date and then turn off that edit function at the cut off date.

Narayana Rao K.V.S.S. said...


Reflections on A to Z Blogging challenge 2019 - Narayana Rao - Management Theory Blog #atozchallenge

Inspired by A to Z, I made a picture for my blog. A to Z of MBA: Management Subjects and Theory.

Thanks to all Bloggers and Organizers of A to Z Challenge. Best Wishes to All of You. Let us meet once again in a special way in April 2020. But the Road Show will go on during May 2019 to March 2020. I shall participate in it and we are likely to meet.

Charan Deep Singh said...

Here is my reflections post. Read to know which new blog I discovered and liked during the challenge and which comment on my post was heartfelt. Also I list my worst and best posts of the challenge, purely from the satisfaction I got from writing them. Read Reflections #AtoZchallenge2019

And though I haven't mentioned in the post, I felt daily letter lists help become those blogs get visibility who were way down in master list registrations.

Claire Annette said...

I managed to post a reflection at the last moment. I had a hard time this year (my 5th) even tough I had a simple theme (alphabet books) because I was traveling most of the month. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to visit other blogs as much as I'd like which meant that I didn't have many new visitors. But, bloggers I've met through A-Z in previous years stopped by frequently so that was fun.
I actually used my theme to write my reflection post on things to consider when writing an alphabet book. I'd also suggest to people looking for themes to check out some of the hundred of alphabet books where you'll find a wealth of ideas.
Thank you for this blog hop. Now, I'm going to go back and see what I've missed.
http://afieldtriplife.com/the-top-5-things-to-consider-before-writing-an-alphabet-book/

Lady In Read said...

Thank you to the core team for working on this every year.. and here is my Reflections post - https://www.ladyinreadwrites.com/reflecting-on-challenges/