Wildlife Safari April 29, 2014
Q= Did I accomplish my goals?
A= I am not sure if I really had any "goals"
other than to thematically blog each
day and to answer each commentor by
visiting and commenting on their blogs.
I had fun chosing what Spanish word
I would use each day!
Q= Did I post every day?
A= Yep-I did. I managed to post each day
early enough in the day to enable
visiting blogs I had chosen to follow
without being online too long.
Q= Did I make new friends?
A= Yep- I did. I enjoyed talking back and
forth with a few bloggers I discovered
during this years Challenge, plus a few
that I had gotten to know last year that I
had continued to visit since then.
This year I added a sidebar on my blog
that listed what A-Z'ers I was following.
At the end I did delete those blogs that
ended up not appealing to me or that
stopped blogging before the Challenge
had ended.
Q= Did I enjoy the Challenge?
A= I sure did! I enjoyed last years Challenge
which is why I participated this year.
I think though that I'd like to read more blogs,
but not am sure how I could do that without
spending more time online...and I am not willing
to do that. I do have a busy life!
Here are a few suggestions for my fellow bloggers:
1. I am not interested in "commercial" blogs.
If you are selling/advertising etc I am not
going to read your blog. I am not
talking about books that bloggers are
writing, but rather hard goods that
are being sold. When I go on sites like that
I make note of the site name and will
not access that site again. I also do not
need that vendor to use my email for
commercial use. I mark those as spam.
2. If someone makes a comment on your
blog, try to take the time to visit them and
leave a comment. It's a two way street
and also it's good manners. A large part
of blogging for me is the community
one builds by personally interacting with
other bloggers. I have learned so much about
life in other places. What's the point otherwise?
I myself do not like blogging in a vacuum.
Last but certainly not least- blue ribbons to
all our hosts who worked so hard to bring
us such a great A-Z 2014 Challenge.
Thanks to all of you!
Dogwood Blossom, Weed, CA , April 2014
Thanks - just glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteWe remove most of the commercial blogs, but some actually post the A to Z - so we let them be. Might be something to consider for next year though.
And so right about returning comments. And follows! I did my best to return everything.
Congratulations on successfully completing this worthwhile goal.
ReplyDeleteHooray, you did it!
ReplyDeleteYea for You. You did it. I'm not sure if I will next year or not. This was a great post, too. Well said.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to meet you through the Challenge. It was a great experience and I hope to be able to do it again next year.
ReplyDeleteYour reflections mirror mine as well. By mid-point in the month, I started to feel a little overwhelmed by the time I was spending writing, reading and responding.
I appear to be following you now through a Blogger account. Not sure what that means yet. Something new to learn about :)
I know you posted everyday because I visited you everyday. It was fun. I keep saying I'm going to participate, but I never do.
ReplyDeleteI agree about returning the visits and the commercial blogs I'm not going to visit. They are doing these challenges for the sole purpose of selling stuff.
Have a fabulous day honey. Big hugs. :)
I agree with your wrap-up across the board. I didn't get to visit as many new blogs as I would have liked, and rarely found time to do enough commenting and return visits. I'm away from home ten plus hours a day and have to squeeze everything in at night and wherever I can steal a few minutes. I so appreciated you dropping by my blog to visit, and I'll for sure be catching up on yours and a few others. This was my third round of the A-Z, and although it's a challenge, it's fun! :-)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on completing the challenge.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the commercial blogs. There were a few that I came across during the challenge that were interesting enough for me to read the posts on, but so many of them were just great essays that didn't seem to have any link to the challenge that I clicked off them.
Like you I'm working at being better at connecting with fellow bloggers. I spent April trying to get into the habit of responding to comments on my blog as well as commenting on other bloggers' blogs. I definitely think it helps build community.