![A-to-Z_Reflection_[2014]](https://raisingthecurtain.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/a-to-z_reflection_2014.jpg?w=300&h=142)
Another year and another Challenge over. There is no doubt, that the A to Z April Blogging Challenge remains my favorite. I think it’s because of the structure, the camaraderie and the rest stops during the month. I needed them this year with the pre-Easter week working, blogging and academic assignment crunch.
April generates an incredible blogging energy with two thousand participants all plugging away to take the journey from A to Z. I find it really uplifting and motivating. Often times I had the seeds of an idea for my post on the morning of the letter, which would germinate throughout my working day, ready to flower in the evenings when I wrote my posts. I tried starting writing my posts before April but it didn’t feel the same, without that participant energy. By choosing my theme for the Challenge, I felt my posts had to bear some of my personal experience and thoughts, in short, show my authentic self. As there are days when I am plagued by doubts about my own self development and I didn’t want to bury that. So the posts worked better in real time. That was a whole lot tougher than I anticipated, even having winged some of the Challenge posts last year.
This year’s Challenge was the toughest so far. For all of that, I now have a good body of self development posts to add to my portfolio and felt I reached out to more than a few bloggers who could identify with the issues I was discussing. In a lot of ways we are not so different from each other and knowing that we all have doubts and go through periods of questioning is comforting.
As always, I met some fantastic bloggers along the way this year and became reacquainted with other bloggers I met two years ago during my first Challenge. There is some incredibly creative talent out there not to mention passion and focus. The support I received from some of my fellow Challenge bloggers in retweeting and sharing content was incredible. I have also added valued members to my blogging community and I look forward to continuing to add to their communities also.
Thank you to all of you who read, liked, commented, shared and supported. It makes a real difference to the Challenge experience and enhances it beyond measure.
A final thank you to the Challenge co-hosts and all of the Challenge assistants. Another fantastic job by Arlee Bird and the whole team, with this year seeing the introduction of the #AtoZChat on Twitter – a great way to get to know Challenge participants ahead of time.
Well done darling and the Mojitos are waiting🙂 x
Thanks I’m needing one or six right now😉
Come on down then lol x
I don’t know how you manage to blog every day with everything that’s on your plate but you’ve created another amazing body of work. Congratulations on completing another A-Z Challenge.🙂
Thanks Tess. I have some thinking to do on where I want this blog and my writing to go. Decisions, decisions…
Sigh. I know. Decision, decisions.😉
I really enjoyed your series. I could relate to much of it, as I’m sure many others could too. It was really well done.
Thanks Carrie, I really appreciate your feedback.
I am thrilled we spent April together. Your daily etiquette quotes were a snippet of history confirming I never would have survived those Miss Manners times! I learned about myself through your self-exploration, and your Z post zig zags is worthy of framing. Look forward to many more Curtain performances!
Same Sammy, thanks for sharing the Challenge experience. I’m glad some of it resonated with you. Looking forward to reading more of you🙂
Brilliant post, I loved your series, you put a lot into words that I couldn’t articulate. Looking forward to more blogging from you😉
Thanks Lainey, glad we connected and I’m looking forward to your Midlife Art posts. Such an interesting concept🙂
Judy, your April posts were terrific and well-connected. Thanks, BTG
You’re very welcome, sir. Now onto planning for overseas travel🙂
Though I will most likely never rise to that challenge – I can relate🙂
You must feel utterly exhausted now but I suppose it is very gratifying to browse though all those posts now! These self-development posts are definitely your thing!
That’s funny, because I never set out to make them my thing. But maybe writing finds you rather than the other way around, hey?
Thanks for this positive assessment of A to Z. This is what we like to hear. You do have a good body of content as the result of the Challenge. It was interesting to hear about your process of bringing it to the blog.
Thanks for your help behind the curtain as well as what you presented after raising the curtain on your blog posts.
Don’t forget to put your link for this on the Linky List. This is a good post for more people to see.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
Done and always a pleasure Lee. Happy to take part and continue my involvement with the Challenge. It’s interesting to see how the experience changes from year to year and how to tweak things along the way. Thank you once again for your thoughtful leadership.
Hi Congrats on completing the challenge. I enjoyed reading back through your posts.
Thanks Martine, glad you stopped by.
I appreciate what you said about having a “body of self improvement posts” because creating a body of work is really what it has always been about to me for A-to-Z. The rest is just tasty icing on the cake!
Congratulations on completing the challenge. It really feels good, doesn’t it?
Julie Jordan Scott
The Bold Writer from A to Z
Very tasty indeed. Hope you had a blast baking your Challenge cake🙂
I think it would be very hard to write a post each day. I wrote all of mine before April ever arrived and then I concentrated on visiting others. I want to go back and read all of yours now….
http://smidgensbitsandsnippets.blogspot.com/
Your posts were very carefully crafter, considered and polished. Maybe nest year I will be that organised. Thanks for being part of my Challenge journey.
Hey Judy, I happened on your blog at the start of things, noted in my mind that it was one to stay with, forgot to hit the follow button and missed the whole A to Z thing with you as I got caught in the whirl of my first A to Z. But I bumped into you on someone else’s site today (ah the splendor of a near-virtual ping in the blogging community) and came back. This time I remembered to hit the follow button. Twill be a pleasure to continue reading your work.
Glad you came back and happy to have you on board. Am now following you also and looking forward to swapping blogs with you.
As you know I’ve always admired your thoughtful writing and I really regret that I’ve been unable to keep up with all your posts during April. Some years my computer use is limited by lack of electricity, but this year most of Australia’s rural satellite internet users have the same problem……there are many days when it’s slow speed make it unusable. I feel sorry for those folk who rely on it for business purposes. Oh well….I’ll just have to put up with it until the new satellite is launched in 20 months time.
Congratulations on completing the challenge with style and finesse.