Goals #AtoZChallenge 2026

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

"Goals" might seem like too large a term for this entire year's theme - so let's break it down.

I don't know about you, but I am the kind of person who works best when the tasks are small and easy to tick off a list. So instead of "Do A to Z this year" I'd make a list like:

- Decide on a theme!

- Make an A-Z list!

- Complete a post today!

- Visit 5 other blogs today!

Having smaller goals is half the battle. The other half is rewards. This system got me through writing a dissertation, and you can tweak it for yourself... but basically, with small goals come small rewards. A piece of chocolate? Ten minutes of listening to your favorite music? A trip to buy some fresh fruit? Watching one episode of your favorite show? Whatever it is that rewards you, goes hand in hand well with the goals you set.

Keep blogging! You have already done the first week! Good job!

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Function of your Blog #AtoZchallenge

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48 - Use this to HOP to other blogs 😁

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

What is the function of your blog? 

What about blogging is most important to you? A place for your voice to be heard, a way to make new friends, a place to share information, debate opinions, or perhaps to establish your authority on a topic? Do you update or post on your blog regularly, and do your followers know when to anticipate such posts? Are your comments fostering conversations? When someone new visits your blog, will they easily be able to find the desired content and engage? 

Direct your blogging focus on efforts that meet your goals. Find your passion, then make your blog's function to define, explore, and share it with the world. 

What is a positive, practical, personal blogging goal you have for this month? 

Remember to take a COPY of the MasterList for your blog hopping use!

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Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge

E is for Effect

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

I’ve been blogging for over a decade now, sharing my writing journey, research, and whatever else needed sharing. I’ve tried various formats: Interviews, Guest Posts, Fiction (flash fiction and longer pieces), Research Pieces, Author News, Long Format, Short Format, and things I can’t even remember.

But jumping around had left no effect on my audience. In fact, it had created a divide. Not everyone signed up to my blog to get news or fiction or whatever, and were left disappointed when that day’s post wasn’t what they had signed up for initially.

The goal with blogging had been to build an audience for my fiction. But without a proper strategy, it looked like a scattergun approach without effect on the growth of a fan base whatsoever.

These days, I stick to writing monthly writing posts, folklore and book review posts in April, with occasional bookish posts throughout the year. The effect on my blog’s subscriptions show that this works to further my blogging goals.

What do you do to reach your blogging goals? What is the effect your blog has on you and your readers?

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D is for Dreams #AtoZChallenge

MASTER LIST

This is the last day to sign up for the A to Z Challenge! Be sure to do so today if you haven't already! (Directions are on our post!)

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

What do you dream of?

I have always had aspirations (or dreams, if you will). But if you asked what I dreamed my life would be like as a child, it certainly is not how it turned out. Heck, the same thing is true if you asked me just 6 years ago. But what's important are two things:

1) I am happy with how my life is going.

2) I am still dreaming of how I want my life to go and working toward those goals.

So tell us: what do you dream of?

~ Jayden

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Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge

Creativity #AtoZchallenge

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

(As our Founder, Arlee Bird, is taking some well-earned time off, I'll be creating more posts this month in his stead.) Please do stop by his blog to leave a friendly hello!)

It takes a lot of creativity to maintain a blog. There's coming up with posts that will interest a wide audience, finding ways to respond to comments, and crafting comments on others' blogs. Part of that creativity is thinking about your blogging hopes, dreams, and goals -- and then looking for creative ways to meet them. If you have the goal of being part of a supportive blogging community, 🎉CONGRATULATIONS 🙌 you've found the best blog hop to join! 

Sign up here! https://forms.gle/zPLbRoqj6G9xEijK6  

Hurry, you have to join before April 4 (or wait until 2027 SIGN-UP March 29!)

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Brainstorming #AtoZChallenge 2026

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

One advantage of the A to Z Challenge is that it requires you to brainstorm what you're going to write about for an entire month. Sure, there's your theme, if you choose one, but even then you might come up with something better (e.g. better words) as you go through the month, or something you might want to focus on after the Challenge is over.

Have you been doing this?

Is your blog where you like it to be? Are you writing about things that inteest you, or are you writing because that's what you do?I an tell you from experience that writing for the sake of writing can burn you out in a hurry and turn this pastime into something you gotta do every day because that's what you said you wanted to do?

I can tell you from experience that'll burn you out in a hurry.

Have you got "hopes, dreams, and goals" for your blog? If not, why are you doing this?

April is a great time of the year to think about these things. Hint, hint....

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Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge

A is for Aspirations #AtoZChallenge 2026

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48 - Where everyone is listed!

SIGN-UP LINK: https://forms.gle/zPLbRoqj6G9xEijK6 (closes April 4!)

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

What are your blogging aspirations? Do you hope to become a blogging leader (what would that look like to you)? Are you striving to cultivate meaningful relationships within the blogging community? Is it about self-growth and self-exploration for you? Could your blog give you a sense of fulfillment and personal pride? Is it about stretching your creativity? 

Knowing the purpose and direction of your blog can keep you motivated. Taking part in this blog hop is a great way to connect with fellow bloggers and to establish a blogging routine. 

Most bloggers in this hop aspire to post around 300 words for each letter. Enough to engage visitors, but not so much as to weigh the "hoppers" down. 

The challenge continues to exist because of bloggers like you. 

Aspirations need action to matter! That's why we ask you to follow us, and to tell others about this hop. There was a time when 1656 blogs joined, and it grew to 2009, but then shrank to 697, and last year we had just under 200 blogs in the hop. 📈📉 Such is the way of the Internet. To keep this hop alive, we need you to tell your blogging friends about it! Please post on your social media, comment and like 👍our posts, and spread the word about the #AtoZChallenge. 😁

We aspire to keep this blogging community active, thriving, inspiring, and supportive of one another. 

 

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Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge

Sign-Up 2026 #AtoZchallenge

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
a-to-zchallenge.com

MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48

2026

Official Challenge Sign-ups : March 23- April 4

https://forms.gle/zPLbRoqj6G9xEijK6 Sign-up Form

It will ask the NAME of your blog, your name, a link to your blog, the category you'll be posting about this April, if you have Adult Content, if visitors have to read all your posts to know what's going on (Continuous story), an option for your prefered pronouns, what year you first did A to Z, if anyone referred you (there's a contest), comment name (to make it easier for fellow bloggers to find you on our Master List to comment back, especially if you don't leave a hyperlink or sign your comments), optional location, and the option of a short summary of your theme- if using one. 

Double-check everything. 

https://tinyurl.com/mu5vjy48 Then visit others all month long!

Our team theme this month is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.

This is an international Blog Hop. Sign-up here. Copy the Master List (it will be complete on April 4, so be sure to update if you make a copy early). Visit other blogs and leave comments there (polite, positive, respectful comments, please). Support each other, intrigue one another, grow this blogging community and keep it strong. 

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Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge

Some Housekeeping Stuff

Sign-Up Dates for the A-Z Blogging Challenge:March 23 - April 4Remember to sign up! If you'd signed up for the Theme Reveal it doesn't automatically make you signed up for the main challenge.

If you encourage people to join the challenge, they can add to the sign-up form that you had done so, and you can get into the draw to win a chance to guest post on the A-Z Challenge Blog.


Remember to visit other blogs during the A-Z Challenge and leave comments! The point of a blog hop is to visit others, leave comments, and get visitors to your blog.
Let's start with some basics to help you get the most out of this April's A-Z Challenge. These older posts on our blog is still useful today:10 Common Misconceptions About Blog CommentsBlogging Basics: Hyperlink SignatureHow To Make Your Blog "Comment Friendly"
Building on all of that, I have to add something that I've come up against in during the Theme Reveal hop: Substack.
I just got my Substack account suspended for commenting on A-Z participants' posts with the usual links. Turns out it isn't blog hop friendly. I think people should be aware of this issue when commenting on blogs hosted on Substack before their accounts get inadvertently suspended. It's not always clear when a blog is hosted on Substack, so it gets tricky. Also, some of these "blogs" don't allow you to comment unless you're a paid subscriber.
I thought I'd warn people to not leave hyperlinks (or any kind of links) in the comments they leave on Substack. I have appealed their decision to suspend my account, but it's up in the air if I'll get it back.
As J rightly said when I raised the issue: "I'm not sure anyone using Substack is really hoping for new comments, so it makes no sense to join a blog hop. Blog hops are for people who hope for maximum comments and know that means, yeah, you'll occasionally have to toss out some spam, but mostly you'll get actual interested humans."
I'm not against anyone using Substack. But I think you ought to add in your CTA (call to action) at the end of your A-Z posts a warning that people shouldn't leave links, just their blog's name in their comments. Oh, and if only paid subscribers can comment, what's the point?

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Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge

Theme Reveal Blog Hop #AtoZchallenge

https://forms.gle/xhieZKo9RTbhnwrs9 Sign up for the THEME REVEAL blog hop here.
CLOSES on March 14!

Then visit fellow bloggers to learn about their themes.
Here are all of the theme reveal links: https://tinyurl.com/3dv4n7vw

Our team theme for April is “Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals”.
The A to Z Team has a theme that we hope you'll all really enjoy. Of course, no blogger is required to have a theme to take part in the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge. This is a bonus blog hop. Themes pull a month's posts together and often make writing a month of posts easier. Themes give you direction. It can also drum up interest from potential new readers. A theme connects your 26 April posts, what you'll convey over the month, and inspires readers to ponder what you'll blog about on that topic. 

LINK DIRECTLY TO YOUR THEME REVEAL POST.

Not to your main blog, website, or creator dashboard. 

This year, we're also encouraging everyone to "bring a blogging friend" to the challenge. Encouraging others to join us for the first time could win you a guest blog spot right here on the A to Z blog (which gets tens of thousands of views all year long). 

 

We recommend that you make a copy of the Google Sheet with the theme reveal results once the Theme Reveal closes on March 14. If you make a copy, you can use it to 😁 track which blogs you visit!

📢 Official Challenge Sign-ups : March 23- April 4

Be sure you come back here during those dates to sign your blog up for the official APRIL Blogging from A to Z Challenge. 💡💖

Taking part in the Theme Reveal does not sign you up for the main challenge. It increases your odds of winning the challenge by posting all month, and it increases the odds that you'll receive more visits and comments. You could let others know whether you've taken part in the challenge before or whether you usually visit your commenters' blogs. 

🤤 Get readers salivating, eager for your April posts. Have fellow blog hoppers pounding the refresh button, waiting for your April First "A" post. ⟳ 

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2026-graphics.html At the top of the page, you'll see the bookmark page link for this year's graphics, for your use. HTML is included for those who prefer code. 

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Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge