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#AtoZChallenge, #AuthorToolboxBlogHop, A-Z Blogging Challenge, A-Z Blogging Challenge 2017 Reflections, author platform, favourite A-Z Challenge blogs, favourite A-Z Challenge posts, lessons learned, social media, social media tips
If somehow you missed the entire month of April, let me remind you: I did the A-Z Challenge, posting a blog post for every letter of the alphabet through the month of April.
With this reflections post, I’m also looking at what works for authors when they take part in blog challenges.
Let’s start with the things I did differently this year:
I added the letter badge and link to the letter’s list at the start of each post.
I kept to my blog’s schedule (Twisted Tale Tuesday, Insecure Writer’s Support Group Day, mixture of writing advice and other writerly posts, and folklore posts on the days they were supposed to be).
I tweeted every post from another blog I read (if Twitter handles were available somewhere on the blog). A couple of blogs I visited every day, even if I only commented a couple of times. I definitely made new friends (a lot more than last year).
I pinned every post to my Pinterest board “A to Z Challenge Posts”.
Things I learned during the challenge:
For some reason my favourite word in April was “awesome”. (Oh, crutch-words!)
I should probably look into Feedly to follow all of my favourite blogs.
I learned how to make clickable links (it’s really fun to code), though I only used it for each letter’s comment on the A-Z blog.
There are a lot of lurkers out there: though most people I visited, visited back, not everyone did. Or maybe they did and just didn’t know what to say in the comments (probably thinking that “Cute pic. Visiting from the A-Z.” wasn’t good enough for a topic such as Canned Hunting or for any of the stories, folklore and stuff about writing I posted).
There is a “like” button… and my Twitter handle is linked to the “share on Twitter” button. Even commenting isn’t that difficult: you fill in a form if you’re not a WordPress user. *shrugs*
Burnout caught up to me and made it difficult to complete some posts (reason Z was about burnout and taking care of yourself after I’ve done a bit about it with L). Writing was difficult – I wanted my story featuring a Kelpie up before K to go with the Kelpie post, but it just didn’t happen that way. I finally got to the point where I felt the story was good enough to be published and updated the K post with an extract and the link of where it can be read.
I learned that by pacing myself and sometimes saying no (though saying yes can have awesome – there I go again – rewards) I can keep the beast called burnout at bay.
Links to all my A-Z posts:
Awesome Arrow #AtoZChallenge A is for Arrow.
Rumour Has It #ShortStory #AtoZChallenge B is for Betrayal.
Calling It #TwistedTaleTuesday #FlashFiction #AtoZChallenge C is for Calling.
Daunting Blog Challenges #IWSG #AtoZChallenge D is for Daunting.
Everlasting Monsters, Creatures and Fae #FolkloreThursday #AtoZChallenge E is for Everlasting.
Faerie: Home of the Fae #AtoZChallenge F is for Faerie
Gallant Galno #AtoZChallenge G is for Galno.
The Labyrinth: Home of the Cursed Fae #AtoZChallenge H is for Home.
Idiocy #TwistedTaleTuesday #FlashFiction #AtoZChallenge I is for Idiocy
A Job for Everyone in the Labyrinth #AtoZChallenge J is for Job.
Capricious Kelpie #AtoZChallenge K is for Kelpie
Loafing is Lekker #AtoZChallenge L is for Loafing
Murder Most Foul #AtoZChallenge M is for Murder.
NaNoWriMo: How it Helped my Writing #AtoZChallenge #AuthorToolboxBlogHop N is for NaNoWriMo
One Step Closer #FlashFiction #TwistedTaleTuesday #AtoZChallenge O is for One
Playful Phoukas #AtoZChallenge P is for Phoukas.
New Divide #ShortStory #AtoZChallenge Q is for Quickening
Animals Make Stories Great #AtoZChallenge R is for Rottweiler
Social Media Success #AtoZChallenge S is for Social Media
Tales of the Onyx Labyrinth #AtoZChallenge T is for Tale.
Under an Immortal Moon #FlashFiction #TwistedTaleTuesday #AtoZChallenge U is for Under
All Fae are Equal, but Some Fae are More Equal than Others #AtoZChallenge V is for Vermin.
Castle of Glass #ShortStory #AtoZChallenge W is for wailing.
The Importance of Xylophones in the Echo Labyrinth #AtoZChallenge X is for Xylophone.
Taking Chances #AtoZChallenge Y is for Yes.
A Writer’s Zen #AtoZChallenge Z is for Zen.
How the Challenge is great for Authors:
From practicing your writing by either doing a serialised story or doing flash pieces every day your writing and your readership will grow.
By visiting and commenting on other blogs, you’ll make new friends.
You can write about anything on your blog – you can do a bit of world-building, share research pertinent to your novel’s era, share strange folklore facts that you can later use in your own writing, share snippets from your upcoming novel to build anticipation in readers, write about writing in any way you like or write about blogging.
A lot of author/bloggers have used this opportunity the A-Z offers to build a basis for an ebook. (Perhaps a little something to entice new subscribers to your email list?)
Networking might be an ugly word to some, but there’s no greater way to interact with readers and other writers than by participating in a huge blog hop such as this one. And authors can do with as many friends as they can possibly make.
By learning how to properly market your blog posts every day on social media, you’ll also learn how to market your brand and – when it’s necessary – your novel.
Controversy about the A-Z Challenge:
I’m not going to go into everyone’s complaints about how the A-Z was different this year.
I loved it.
The difference? (You might ask if you haven’t done the challenge before.)
Last year (my first year doing the challenge) you had to sign up on a Linky list and wade through hundreds of blogs, trying to find what you’re looking for.
I had a handful of visitors a day.
This year participants had to add their link to the day’s letter on the A-Z blog.
The number one reason I loved this year’s A-Z: my blog’s stats show that views went from 25 visitors a day (my usual average) to 50 visitors a day to 100 by the last quarter of the challenge.
The new way of participating worked wonders for my blog.
Let’s look at other reasons I like the new way a lot better:
- Every day I practiced writing a hook for that day’s post (something every writer needs to know how to do if they want their books to sell).
- I knew exactly who had participated that day and what to expect from their post (no more blindly clicking on blog URLs hoping to find something interesting to read). And except for people who only posted a URL and expected you to click on it without knowing the topic – or if it’s adult content – I tried various new blogs. BTW at the top of every letter’s post, it was asked that participants at least tell the content rating and a little of what to expect from their post – so me not visiting, that’s on them.
- I learned how to make clickable links (as mentioned under my favourite things).
- The letter lists where I placed my posts’ URLs gave them more SEO visibility and people actually knew what the day’s post is about instead of just a vague blog title.
Got this on the survey about the A-Z I filled in…
I know that people complained (scary the frequency of that) about having to add their link to the list every day, but if you actually added the letter badge with the letter’s URL from the A-Z blog, you had to go to the original blog anyway to get the URL and – opened in a new window – that meant an easy copy and paste once your post is up.
It’s all about promoting your post, after all. (But maybe I got this wrong: the point wasn’t to place your post on all your social media networks with the #AtoZChallenge and get the word out?)
Will I do it again? Of course! I enjoy blog hops. (Every month I do the Insecure Writer’s Support Group and the Author Toolbox Blog Hop.)
What are your thoughts on the A-Z Challenge? FYI this is my opinion about the A-Z and you can find various others on the Reflections list on the A-Z blog (or on any other social media network you prefer). Do you participate in blog hops? Did you learn something new about the A-Z?
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Ronel the Mythmaker 
Really interesting. I hadn’t realized how people were finding the A to Z posts of others. Now I know!
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I’m glad you learned something from this post 🙂
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Hi Ronel – I enjoyed it … as I usually do … but I’m not happy about the social media aspects … it gets too ephemeral and too trivial – but I enjoyed new friends – who I’ll continue to meet up with – there are always things that frustrate and I have others … but ‘so be it’ … well done and cheers Hilary
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Thanks, Hilary. I agree that part of the social media problem – which can be an asset if used correctly – is that it’s so ephemeral. I tweeted my post again about eight hours after it first went live on Twitter… Not sure it helped, but it did make me feel better 🙂
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Reblogged this on Site MOVED 4yrs ago: Go to JunetaKey(dot)com to view current posts.
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I would have liked to reblog your post but it reblogs it to my old site which is no longer visible on free WP instead of my new WP.org. I pay to have my URL redirected but apparently, that does not include reblogs. Great post.
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Thanks, Juneta. Ah, technology gremlins! I’m glad you enjoyed my post 🙂
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Congrats on completing the challenge! I think it’s pretty cool you managed to keep your regular blogging schedule/theme during the challenge. It’s also interesting that traffic increased towards the end. Seems like it would be the opposite, as people are generally tired and probably getting sick of the whole thing. Or maybe that’s just me… 😉 I’m glad to have met you in this challenge, and thanks for linking to my blog!
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Thanks, Sara 🙂 I’m glad I met you too.
Yeah, the traffic increase was rather odd, though very welcome.
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Well done! That’s hard work and discipline. I really admire you. Some of us (read: me) don’t have what it takes. 🙂 I know I missed probably a lot of your posts during the AtoZ. You don’t have a follow on email button and I don’t know how to get an email every time you post a new blog post.
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Thanks, Anne 🙂 Doing the A-Z, though exhausting, opens that part of my creative brain for new projects (like what I did for the Labyrinth in April) and it also forces me to read a lot more blogs than I usually do which means I meet a lot of new people – and make more friends 🙂
I think you’d do great with either writing an ongoing story (in 500 words or less per post) or doing a flash fiction piece. They’re always very popular. And you can start writing them now for next year 😉
In the Reader click on “manage” next to “followed sited”. Click on the arrow next to the blog you wish to manage. There you’ll find emails for new posts and emails for new comments: switch on the one you’d like to receive 🙂 I think the auto setting is to keep emails off because most people don’t want to wade through their inbox every day.
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It does seem quite overwhelming. But, you might just persuade me. 😉 Hmm, a fiction a day. I have to keep practicing and develop some good habits before next year. 😂😃 I know you do the NaNoWriMo as well. I’m contemplating. I need a push to get done with a first draft of one of the stories in my head. 🙄 I’ll need to psyche me up for that, for sure. Thank you so much for being such an inspiration and motivator. 💖
Ah, I’m sure I’ve seen that. I will have a look tomorrow. Thank you. 💖🤗
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You’re welcome, Anne 🙂
The JoziWrimos are a great bunch – the energy they create in the forum and during write-ins can push anyone to finish their novel in a month. And if you prep your plot during October (unless you’re a pantser and prefer the story to lead you as you write it), writing comes easily in November. Wordsprints are a great motivator during NaNo (on the forum or on Twitter).
I know some people argue against a huge wordcount (more editing to do to streamline the story), but I’ve found that by just letting the words flow (I have my roadmap in the form of a plot) the story almost writes itself 😉 Though that does mean months of rewrites and editing. The art of writing is after all in the rewriting, and you can’t edit a blank page, so I think I’m doing it right 😉
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The encouragement is definitely helping me a lot. It does sound like it will be completely beneficial. Apart from the encouragement and motivation, I find other writers to be a source of inspiration. They are like my muse. I have no muse. I get ideas almost “out of the blue”, but I think it’s my hyperactive imagination (which prevents from watching horrors) that works after a little incident witnessed. I’m a mix, I think. I sometimes just write but based on what I have saved electronically, I plan. It must be the control-freak and administrator in me. I also get distracted easily so I write notes when ideas for other parts of the project pops out. I think I should give it a try. I need to finish one novel at least. I have 3 with the first chapters (even to more than 5), notes everywhere, and complete outlines (planned chapters). I hope Writers Write has the 4-day course (4 consecutive days) on how to write a novel. I have the schedules to July only but must wait for my child’s long school holiday.
Thanks so much again, Ronel. Much love and hugs. 💖🤗
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You’re welcome, Anne 🙂 We all have notes for different projects hiding everywhere from handbags to flash drives 😉
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😆😂🤗
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I agree with so many of your ‘awesome’ comments. For me, the word was ‘amazing’. I consciously tried to be more descriptive!
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I think my brain started to short-circuit at some point and could only think of one word: awesome 😉
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I chuckled when I came to your crutch word, I am guilty of using awesome way too much myself.
This is the first time I’ve seen the a-z challenge, I found your posts enjoyable to read. I’m guilty of reading and liking but not commenting often. I am trying to set so much time aside a day to comment on the different blogs I follow.
I agree with you about writing hooks, they are challenging and every author regardless of their skill level benefits from practice.
Thanks for sharing all this info. It was a fun read. I was tempted to say awesome read but resisted.
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Thank you 🙂 I think what took the most time was to read various blogs and to comment on them. Though, it was time well spent: most people became regular readers after they’ve stopped by the first time. (But that could’ve just been my hooks getting better.) I’m glad you enjoyed this “awesome read” 😉
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CONGRATULATIONS !!! Ronel. You made it! Happy for you.
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Thank you, Theresa 🙂
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Ronel,
I’m glad you survived the A to Z Challenge. Reading your reflections reflect a lot the way I feel about this annual event and blogging in general. I met a few new faces in April who didn’t completely fall off the planet once April became history. I didn’t suffer from burn out too badly this year even though I’m currently taking a break in Blogosphere. Having my posts done ahead made a huge difference but still, I need a breather to collect myself. The one thing I hope many take away from the challenge is the fun of this hop and I hope they stick with adding a signature line with their daily comments. This is enormously helpful to have that breadcrumb to get back to a particular post, as well I found many bloggers’ profiles are not up-to-date and their active blogs are not listed. That’s so frustrating to find this problem. The comment link up had its pros like you could pitch your theme with more details than you can with the past ginormous master link up list but I still like the idea of a daily link up list with a theme code to use. I think in doing this, you can see who’s actively participating in a more organized and visible fashion. But, regardless of how the Lee (Arlee Bird) and his co-hosts do next year’s challenge, I’m onboard 110%. I think the things that don’t I dislike aren’t enough to keep me from playing along or getting worked up over. I think it’s incredible how well the A to Z Team handle this event every year and they deserve a big round of applauds. I enjoyed reading about the things you took away from the 2017 experience. Thanks for being a part of mine!
~Curious as a Cathy
Art Sketching Through the Alphabet Reflections
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Thanks, Cathy 🙂 Thankfully I didn’t run into the problem of links not working or profiles being out of date, though I can see how that can be a problem. I think a theme code is an excellent idea for next year 🙂
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Hi Ronel! I haven’t done anything like the A to Z challenge before, I only came across it this April as everyone I follow seemed to be taking part. It sounds like a brilliant way to meet other writers and bloggers, but I’m not sure I could do both Camp Nano and the A to Z challenge, I’m really impressed you did both! Maybe I’ll give it a try next time, I definitely need to practice with flash fiction and short stories, I want to start entering some competitions soon to build up my credentials for query time 🙂
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Thanks, Lyndsey 🙂 I enjoy the A-Z because it pushes me to write more – and the more we write, the better writers we become. Short stories and flash fiction is quite popular during the A-Z – you can always start writing now for next year 😉
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Great post 🙂 I admire anyone who completed the A-Z challenge: I can barely keep up with three blog posts a week half the time! I might give it a go next year, as you make it sound really worthwhile. I shall have to start planning well in advance though if I ever hope to keep up!
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Thanks, Louise 🙂 Planning is key with the A-Z. I had half my posts written in advance (those I thought might take the most time and be the hardest to do on the fly). Maybe next year I’ll have all my posts written in advance, just to see how the experience differs 😉
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This is the first year I participated in AtoZ, with only a week’s notice, so I did not have time to pre-schedule as many posts as I would have liked. I spent waaaay too much time on making them long, informative, and perfect, which took time away from other writing projects. I enjoyed hopping and learned so much. I’ll probably take part again, only with shorter posts and more visiting!
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“long, informative, and perfect” does have its charms 🙂 Even though it does take time away from other writing projects, A-Z offers a lot in terms of networking and making new blogging/writing friends. I’m glad you enjoyed the Challenge 🙂 Now to start prepping for next April…
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I did get the impression that you were suppose to post your link to your social media sites and I think a lot of people did that but I didn’t because I’m not signed up to any of them.
I did learn linky list or no linky list, it didn’t make much difference to me but I did like leaving my link because that meant interacting a little with other participants even if you’re just reading their comments.
have a lovely day.
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Thanks, Lissa 🙂 I think that as long as you feel the A-Z worked for you – no matter your approach – then it was successful. And interacting with other participants is what it’s all about.
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I found out about A-Z sometime during the month, I think maybe from you. It sounds like you conquered it this year, even with the burnout. The benefits sound compelling and maybe I will give it a shot next year. I think one of the best steps you took (and one I really need to embrace when I do intensive months) was doing the breakdown and reflecting on what your strengths were, your weaknesses, where you could improve and what you enjoyed.
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Thank you 🙂 Celebrating the small things – and figuring out what worked and what didn’t – really helps to keep me in the moment instead of rushing to the next project. A bit of mindfulness might go a long way to stay motivated during this marathon.
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Congrats on doing the AtoZ challenge. I followed a few blogs doing this and it was fun to see what people came up with.
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Thanks, Kristina 🙂 Sticking to one letter a day lets one find creativity in the unlikeliest of places.
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Congrats on finishing the challenge. I admire people who can produce high-quality content every day. Once a week is all I can handle.
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Thank you 🙂
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I’ve never heard of this challenge before this year, but it looks like an interesting one! Glad you were able to get so much out of it writing-wise. Congrats on finishing the challenge, and thanks for sharing!
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Thanks, Caroliena 🙂
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My writing team pretty much stuck to the same schedule and theme that we do day in and day out as well. I like that because then people get to see what kind of content they would get if they visited outside of April. Donna from Girl Who Reads
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I agree. It’s fun to do a theme, but I don’t think that leads to long-term followers (some might be disappointed or overwhelmed when April is over).
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What a clever idea. My kids do challenges all the time for their YouTube channels… I never thought of doing one for a blog. You’re right, though, about how it will help with content. My blog is the weakest part of my marketing platform at the moment because, as a fantasy novelist, I never know what to post. Raimey’s #AuthorToolboxBlogHop has helped with that at least one day a month, though, so your post might prove very beneficial. Many thanks!
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You’re welcome 🙂 I’ve seen that most fantasy authors post a bit of world-building on their blogs to keep readers interested. Because my writing has a lot of folklore, I combine world-building with folklore posts.
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Hi, Ronel – Thank you for this very helpful post. This was my first time ‘A to Z-ing’ so I wasn’t aware of the difference in structure from last year to this. The way that you described them, they sound like good changes to me. Although I did not write my posts in advance, I did set up my feature photo and post title (e.g. Day 1: A), ahead of time. That meant that I was able to add my posts to the daily link page, all at one time, and not need to do that daily (which I was very happy when I was pressed for time).
I also like that you stuck to your regular posting schedule for themes, and worked your A – Zs around this — that was an awesome idea! I look forward to reading more on your site.
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Thank you 🙂
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