Monday 7 May 2012

A to Z challenge reflection post

So I joined in with ... and completed ... the A to Z challenge and the team have suggested a 'reflection' post to round up how it went. I decided to go with flash fiction as my theme and wrote 100 words for each one. I had days when I felt totally uninspired and must have read the entire dictionary seeking 'good' words. I came across a whole load of new and interesting ones but some days nothing seemed right. I think the process was good for me to branch out and put something different on this blog and gave a bit of discipline for my creativity (all the books say self-discipline is very important). I have not particularly had a large number of new visitors coming specifically from the challenge site but I have had a few new followers (that always perks me up) and some lovely comments. My favourite of my posts were 'Oubliette',  'Juvenile' and 'Zealot'


Over the month I must have visited over a thousand of the initial nearly two thousand participants. Even though the organisers did remove several hundred blogs from the list I did come across many people who either failed to join in at all or gave up after a couple of days, that was disappointing. I confess I avoided the ones with religious content, if their name hinted then I did not even call. I did however find lots of lovely interesting blogs, some that I am sticking with.
First up has to be I refuse to go quietly who wrote a continuous story in 100 word segments, and it was just excellent, with old images that really added to the 'film noir' atmosphere. Anita Lim had an eclectic selection of ideas but I loved her because she took me to some lovely music and some fascinating Ted talks. Moody Writing and Rebecca Kiel were blogs with interesting writing advice. On the more creative side Cobwebs and Cubbyholes did a great A to Z of knitting stitches, quite encyclopaedic, that I will definitely by going back to. Muppets for Justice just had one of the best blog titles and was very entertaining. I found The Girdle of Melian who had a wonderful selection of reading suggestions. There were so many others who I just popped in on and mostly said hello if I found them interesting, I wish I had kept a more comprehensive list of the good ones. There were rather too many people who just picked a word and defined it  ... come on folks, mix it up a little, but also many who really put a lot of thought into their posts. So anyway, thanks to everyone who participated, I will definitely be joining in again next year.

3 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your stories for the challenge! Yay!! Thanks for the fab read! Take care
    x

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  2. Thanks for stopping by my blog today (re the Wrenna pattern) I couldn't email you back so thought I would stop by and say yes, do buy the book :) I agree, lots of really knittable patterns and a couple where I think I could tweak a little if I wanted to. I think I may make the Delphine pattern next - its very similar to the one you like. Did you know she has a French Girls accessories book coming out sometime this year.

    And now after coming over to say a quick hello I find myself falling down the internet rabbit hole with many links and blogs from your site open to peruse once the kids are in bed. I'm also an avid reader (and hibernating writer). I can see a long and enjoyable evening ahead - thank you!

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  3. Wow...I can't believe you visited over 1,000 blogs! Good for you...I managed about 10 a day, so I will spend the summer catching up!

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Thanks for stopping by. Thoughts, opinions and suggestions (reading or otherwise) always most welcome.