Six Benefits of the A to Z Challenge

The Linky List opens for the 2016 A to Z Challenge on Monday, January 24!

If you’re still contemplating whether you will join us or not, let me give you some really good reasons why you should. There are benefits for those who make the effort.

1 – It will stir your creativity. You have twenty-six posts to write for the month – what are you going to say? Will there be images? Will you have a theme? You’ll need to put on your thinking cap (not the one with the foil – that’s so aliens don’t read your mind) and come up with some entertaining or interesting posts.

2 – It spurs research. You might have to search for some facts and figures. Your theme might involve history, a person, or a place. You’ll learn as you research for you posts. (Double bonus!) And if you are a writer or have something you need to research, what better way to kill two birds with one stone. (Triple bonus!)

3 – It teaches discipline. You’ll have to post or schedule one for twenty-six days. That’s six times a week. If you’ve struggled to maintain a regular post schedule, this will get you in the habit. It will also discipline you to visit those who comment and seek out new blogs.

4 – It forces you out of your comfort zone. Is posting almost daily for a month a challenge? You bet! You’ll have to stretch to reach the end. Your blog might be languishing in obscurity, but you’ll be prompted to visit new bloggers almost every day. Coming up with posts and/or a theme will also be tough. But you’ll reach the end and realize – you did it!

5 – You’ll grow your blog. If you take advantage of the Linky List and all of the other participants, you’ll visit many new bloggers, and many will visit you. You’ll gain exposure. Your following will grow. Your reach will extend much farther in just one month’s time than you could in six months. (Time saver!)

6 – You’ll make friends! This is the greatest benefit. You will connect with other bloggers who share your interest. The Challenge fosters a camaraderie that lasts well beyond the end of April. Years from now, you’ll look back and realize some of your very best blogger buddies came from the Challenge.

I know what you’re thinking – really? That will happen? Yes, it will! How do I know? Because in 2010, I participated in the very first A to Z Challenge. There were only a hundred of us, but I am still very good friends with several participants. (And I’ve gained many new friends in subsequent years.) My blog following doubled that month. I learned I could do more than I ever thought possible with my blog.

So, what are you waiting for? Come back Monday and join us!



Co-host Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh is the author of Amazon Best-Sellers CassaStar, CassaFire, CassaStorm, and Dragon of the Stars, and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. His blog can be found HERE

#atozchallenge -- Stormy the Weather Gnome talks about A to Z Themes!

 This post is originally from 1-15-2014 and re-posted with permission.

Actually, I didn't get permission from Stormy at all, but since he lives with me, rent free I might add, I took the liberty of assuming he would be okay with headlining yet another A to Z post.

Thank you. Heather

Hi. My name is Stormy the Weather Gnome and I'm being used.

For the last two years the host of The Waiting is the Hardest Part has been using me as her theme for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.

She never asked me.

She never consulted me.

She never even mentioned it.

I just thought I was at a photo shoot.

Anyway, jokes on her, because I'm much more popular than she will ever be.

Since I starred in the Challenge...

I've been a guest poster on other blogs.
I've been quoted on the bathroom wall.
I've been requested to start my own Facebook page.
I've been told to stay away from the gate at the White House.

I am popular!

So, I'm guessing you want to know what my point is.

My point, besides the one on top of my hat, is that sometimes having a clearly defined theme can be the best option for your A to Z April Challenge.

Readers will know what to expect of you and come back ... willingly!

Are you thinking about a theme for this April?

 

Heather M. Gardner

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Top Ten reasons you should join the 2016 Challenge! #atozchallenge

Every year we ask ourselves why we want to take on such a tough challenge.

So, here are the Top Ten reasons...

10. It's a tough challenge. And when the going gets tough, the tough get blogging.

9.  We might actually learn something. (Learning is fundamental.)

8.  We had nothing better to do for the month of April. Nothing.

7.  Some of us need to make new friends. We won't name names, but you know who you are.

6.  We might just get some new traffic to our blogs. That can't hurt.

5.  Who knows what exciting blogs have been out there that we've been missing all this time?

4.  What else are we going to do with all those vacation photos?

3.  It's possible we could actually inspire someone with our vast knowledge and skill.

2.  PR/Marketing/Promotion opportunities all wrapped up into one challenge!

And, the number one reason to take on the Challenge?

1. It's FUN! No, really. It is a whole lot of fun and very rewarding.

Sign-ups start on 1-25-2016!


Heather M. Gardner
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
 

Are you doing a Reading Challenge this year?

A to Z is a couple of months away, and your hosts are already working behind the scenes. But blogging is not the only challenge you can face this year! Since so many of our participants each year write book blogs, or plan on having reading-related themes (*raises hand*), I wanted to write about reading challenges today.

Are you doing any?
Are you planning to?
Why / why not?

I have stumbled upon this question recently through the Hungarian version of Goodreads. On that site, people can create challenges of their own, and invite others to participate. The result is literally thousands of challenges, of all shapes, sizes, and difficulty levels. Some invite you to read one specific books; some require dozens; some ask you to read something with a season in the title, etc. For completing a challenge, you earn a badge on your profile.

I am a sucker for badges.

I learned one very important thing as I got sucked into the rabbithole of reading challenges:

Pick the challenge for the book, not the other way around.
No one should read piles of books they are not interested in, just for bragging rights.
(... all right, so there are probably many people who do that.)

There have been articles floating around on social media about challenging yourself in your book diet. Some people suggested reading internationally; there is even a TED talk making the rounds, about reading one book from each country in the world. There are reading challenges focused on diversity (very important!), and my personal home turf: fairy tales and their adaptations. Emma Watson, everyone's favorite Hermione, just started a feminist book club open to everyone! Some Reading Challenges even have levels of difficulty you can pick.

Challenges are supposed to push you, and coax you outside your comfort zone. My advice, though: Be careful - you don't want reading to become a task. Those of you who are in graduate school probably do way too much of that anyway (my reading challenge is called Dissertation Lit Review...).

Go grab some books. (Yes, I'm enabling you)
Have fun.
Tell us about it!

Why is a #Blogging challenge good for you? #atozchalllenge

I started blogging nearly 8 years ago at Daily (w)rite.

It's been a long and rewarding journey, but one of the best things I've ever done on it is the A TO Z Blogging Challenge one April five years ago.

With encouragement from Lee and Alex, I signed up as a co-host the year after, and over the next three years, the challenge of co-hosting kept me insane nimble during the first few months of the year.

In 2015, I took a break, but am back on the team again in 2016!

For those of you doing the A to Z Challenge this year, you already know what I'm going to talk about. You guys on the fence, and if you're new to the idea of a blogging challenge, here's why A to Z Challenge rocks out and why you need to sign up on 25th Jan 2015!

1. Discipline: Before the challenge, I was a pantser-blogger, riffing off posts as and when they came to me, with no idea of a schedule. But blogging 26 days in April taught me the value of pre-planning, scheduling and giving themes to my posts. If you're a blogger, you need discipline to survive long-term.

2. Commenting: Most new bloggers think if they write a blog, people would visit. Not true. The successive A to Z challenges have taught me the value of commenting. As we comment on other bloggers, we get to know them, and they, us. This creates community. The frenzy of all the April challenges have taught me that the more I comment, the more people I'm going to get to know, the more friends I'll have, and as a corollary, the more buzz on my blog. Once you take part in the challenge, you are forced to return comments and lose your inhibitions.

3. Self-knowledge: The A to Z challenge taught me that I'm actually not that bad at flash fiction: I wrote 26 stories in 26 days that year and got a book out of it: the A to Z Stories of Life and Death. More importantly, I gained confidence in my ability to write stories on the spur of the moment, I got closer to my voice as a writer. Other bloggers have gone on to compile their blog posts into books, too.

4. Audience: My followers and hits saw a spike during that first challenge and each challenge afterwards. That behemoth A to Z linky list is amazing also because it stays up year-round, and you can go on a post-challenge road trip! If you possess a craft or skill that you sell online, doing a good A to Z Challenge can be a fantastic marketing strategy.

5. Friends: One of the best rewards of the blogging challenge has been the number of friends I've gained. I know that I became good friends with several dozen bloggers over the years simply because of the A to Z Challenge.

6. Adrenalin: It sounds easy, write a post a day for 26 days in April, and visit at least 5 blogs a day. You'll be surprised at the number of people who fall behind or drop out. Completing the challenge and meeting all those people can be a huge adrenalin rush, and it gives a shot in the arm not just to the blog but also to you! I know I'll run around in April like a chicken on an overdose of caffeine.

So, there you go. Get ready for the Adrenalin rush, the madness, the followers and friends, the exposure and the mayhem for this April. And of course, let's not forget the survivor badges and gear!

 Get your name on the list the minute it opens!

For those who have made AZ plans already, what can we expect this year from your blogs? What plans do you have to grab a high seat on that list? What advice would you give to someone joining the A to Z April Blogging Challenge this year?