The Whirlwind that was the AtoZ April 2013 Challenge

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Reflections Post 2013

April 2013, was not just another month in the calendar. It was an experience in itself, something that would make you lose your sleep for a whole month, something that would ensure that you end up with red painful eyes, something that would make everything else other than blogging secondary.

What

The answer to that is a harmless phrase: A to Z April Blogging Challenge.  The challenge requires the blogger to do a blog post every day through April. Simple? Well, not so simple. Keeping in tune with the name, each blog post needs to be on the theme of the 26 alphabets in English, giving you Sundays off, like any good boss; according to the challenge, on the first of April the post needs to be related to the alphabet A, on the second, B, on the third C …you get the hang of it. 

How

Now, how one of the most interesting things happened to me is, I was scrolling through various blog posts of various people who were members of Indiblogger, when I happened to see one of the co-host's comment signature as “An AtoZ Challenge Co Host”. Needless to say, I poked my nose around a bit and it felt like the Universe was calling out to me, to come join in, telling me that this was the very thing my blog needed.

Why

If this was such a headache, why then did I take it up, you might ask. The answer is: I found the challenge the very thing my blog needed. It lay there in a corner of my profile, neglected mostly, with an odd post or two in a month. Though I was in love with writing, I always hid behind the lame excuse that there was never enough time! This challenge would make sure that I write for 29 continuous days, injecting some spirit into my otherwise inactive blog.

When

When then did these 29 posts come from? Where was the time?

The answer cannot be made obvious for reasons ranging from getting kicked on my behind by my friends to being separated from my beloved office PC where I could read, write and obviously work (for the next day’s post). Blogging was the ONLY thing on my mind for the whole month and I avoided any kind of outings and parties I was invited to, feigning some or the other disease, because, I had my friends’ posts to catch up on!! But, that does not mean that I became a recluse altogether.

The Take-homes

What I loved about the challenge is,

•          Could write more religiously as there was a theme I was working on – something I had never attempted,
•          Got to meet a lot of new bloggers,
•          Gathered information about new places, cultures, cuisines, art forms, people all because the challenge brought together people from various countries, united by a single factor – a blog,
•          Made new friends in the blogosphere,
•          Started the challenge with just one follower, now the number reaches almost 50.

Wishful Thinking

If only more people would return the visits you paid them, if only the world would be free of word verification, if only the world was free from the necessity of having to create an account on a blog to make a comment, if only the spammers would leave us alone, if only there was a way for all the non participating bloggers to remove themselves from the linky list, as it does take time for the co-hosts and the minions who’re helping out with the challenge to reach a particular blog and cross check and remove them from the list.

As a parting note, I would like to thank every single person who passed by my blog to read, comment, show love, give feedback, or even just to return my visit to their blog, from the bottom of my heart. The constant encouragement from every fellow blogger to keep writing, to push yourself when you feel like giving up, is something out of the world. A sentence or a post would not do any justice. You guys are just awesome!!

So, now you might want to know if I will do this the next time ehh! Does it really need to be told? It’s a YES, after all, who doesn’t need some love… wink wink…

See you around,
God Bless.
Bhavya