Mid-way through the #atozchallenge!

So I'm actually writing this in Mid-March. I've just painted my toenails and it is taking a reMarkable amount of energy to not wiggle them around (who knew I had fidgety feet while writing?? Try holding your feet perfectly still the next time you write - it's hard!).

One of the beauties of blogging is that you can pre-write posts, get them scheduled, and instead spend your time coMMenting and visiting other folks. It is the Middle of the Challenge and this is about where we start to see folks lose Momentum - comments slow down, people who didn't pre-write start to Miss letters, we all start to drag a little.

So this is my Mid-Challenge pep talk!

You, intrepid blogger, have totally GOT THIS. No Mid-April slump for you - no! You will Masterfully, Mindfully, and Maybe Maniacally (Mwahahahah...) Make it through this Mayhem.




You're gonna Make it!


~co-host AJ Lauer's theme this year is a choose-your-own-adventure that relies upon visitor comments to be successful! Stop by and join the story!

Labour of Love

In more ways than one, this Challenge is a labour of love—not only for Arlee Bird, the conceptualizer behind this phenomenal blogging extravaganza—but for all you wonderful participants.

It takes discipline and dedication to create 26 posts for a month, as most of us don't blog that often. Many of us do research, if we select a theme, to ensure we have all the facts we need before we write a word and then there's the editing and fine-tuning.

Others will spend hours going through pictures and various sites to be able to pull everything together for a well-organized and attention-grabbing line-up.

Hearty congratulations to all of us who have made it this far. Blogging from A-Z is no mean feat and we all deserve a pat on the back for the labour or love we've undertaken this month.  

Keep it Going with the #AtoZChallenge !

Today, Misha Gericke from D's Company shares her experience with you about the A to Z Blogging challenge.

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When you signed up for the A to Z Challenge, I bet you thought it was a good idea.

But now, we’re starting to get to the point where the start-out adrenaline fades away and the month is starting to look long. Especially when you didn’t plan and schedule posts ahead. (I know the feeling. Until this year, I only ever planned the topics for my A to Z posts and wrote the posts on the day they were due.)

Except for last year, I won every time. For two blogs. But last year doesn’t count for me. (It’s my guest post, my rules.)

Here’s the thing, every year, I’d hit a point where I just got tired of the whole blogging thing. And I still won. How?

Simple.

I didn’t give up. Sometimes, I ended up having to write two posts on one day. Or to write on Sundays to make up for a skipped week-day. Whatever it took. Eventually I caught up, and it made the win all the sweeter.

So don’t give up when you lag behind. Keep going. It gets easier when the end is in sight.

What are you doing to keep going this year? Any tips?

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If you’d like to see what Misha’s up to at the moment, you can find her on these social networks:  Tumblr | Twitter | Google Plus | Writing Blog

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Email address is contactatozteam at gmail dot com
Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge and Twitter id is @AprilA2Z. 
 
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#atozchallenge Blog Envy (i.e. Jealousy)

As you visit blogs during the A to Z Challenge and later, you're bound to notice that some bloggers have a lot more readers and get a lot more comments than you do. If you're new at the blogging game, this is to be expected; some of you started your blog because you heard about this challenge and you learned that you have to have a blog to participate. But let's say you've been blogging for a few years, and you notice that some blogs that came online when you did are brimming with comments and "like"s while you still get maybe half a dozen comments a couple of times a week and no comments more often than not.

Jealous? Upset that they're getting all the attention and comments and you aren't?

It's understandable. You spend hours writing blog posts that will change other people's lives, and they don't seem to care, while someone else is writing about their dog and getting hundreds of people to comment every time they drop an entry onto the world of blog readers. It's hard not to be jealous of success like that.

But that's what I'm going to tell you: don't be jealous of other bloggers' success. Their success isn't your failure.

When you find a successful blog, try to figure out what it is that makes it so successful, and adapt it to your blogging. Become a part of that blog's community and interact with the blogger and the other readers. Since most members of a blog's community are also bloggers, go visit their blogs. Become part of their communities. Make sure they know where to find you.

Remember, blogging is a conversation between friends. This is true whether you're writing a blog for a business or just writing a blog to talk about you dog. Mom always used to say that if you want friends, you need to be a friend. Don't look at other bloggers as your rivals, look at them as your friends. Soon, they'll return the favor.

You have a couple of thousand opportunities to make friends with the A to Z Challenge. That list you got on will be around for a while, so why not take advantage of it?

John Holton
The Sound of One Hand Typing
The Sound of One Hand Typing FM

I'm Falling Behind! #atozchallenge

I’m Falling Behind!

Is that you right now? Don’t panic!

Falling behind on posts? Fortunately, they’re short. Set aside thirty minutes and write and schedule two or three. Then you’ll be ahead.

Falling behind visiting other blogs? Set aside Sundays to visit new ones. Just do what you can.

Falling behind on returning comments? If you’re commenting on blogs who are not returning yours, just skip those for now. Focus on your visitors.

Yes, it is a Challenge! But we are doing it to have fun as well. And make new friends. We might have to stretch a bit, but we can accomplish all that and enjoy ourselves in the process.


Co-host Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh is the author of Amazon Best-Sellers CassaStar, CassaFire, CassaStorm, and Dragon of the Stars, and his blog can be found HERE