Reflections on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, April 2012...

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...how do you like that for a clunky title? ;-)

Man, did April 2012 kick my ass. My full-time gig demanded all of my energy and head-space (and then some). My Kid's college hunt hit the fever pitch of acceptances and rejections, financial aid worries, and Admitted Students' Dayz Days to attend. And then there was the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Dudes - I'm beat.

I first learned about the Challenge in February and, in my reckless way, signed up almost immediately. I posited in another post that I must be crazy, insane. But maybe a bit of lunacy (OK, a LOT of lunacy) is required to survive the Challenge.

I knew I'd never make it through posting a blog nearly every day in the month of April without a plan. So I first settled on the "Dark Romance of Music" theme. Then I spent the few free moments I had in March picking songs/bands/albums for each letter. I'd hoped to write/schedule some blogs in what was left of of the month by the time I'd selected all the songs, but wound up having just Saturday, March 31 to work with. That weekend, and every other in April, I wrote the following week's blog posts.

I thought writing shorter (for me) posts would be a cinch, but nuh-uh, honey; digging up info on the songs/bands, writing, formatting, and uploading videos took from 45 minutes to an hour, for each post. And then, of course, there was the other part of the Challenge - clicking through the linky-list to visit/read/comment/and sometimes follow other participants' blogs, at least five a day. I did enjoy this part and averaged 15 to 30 blogs a night (I didn't comment on all, but did read at least one post from each). Also, as much as I could, I replied to all the kind comments visitors left on my blog and aimed to visit them all in return.

Did I mention that I was beat?

My Final Thoughts on the Blogging from  A to Z Challenge

Pros

• I learned a lot about self-discipline and sticking to a schedule, both of which aided in increasing my creative output.
• I've made some new blog buddies, with whom I had a great time (and look forward to hanging with in the Blogosphere in future).
• My bloggy-blog got WAY more hits than it had previously, and picked up a slew of followers! (Huzzah!)

Cons

• I averaged about 4 - 5 hours of sleep every week night (but, to be fair, that's not just the Challenge's fault).
• I lost a lot of time visiting folks who weren't doing their part of the A to Z Challenge and yet left their blogs' URLs active on the linky-list. (There; I said it.) (OK, I wrote it, gimme a break.)

Overall impression: I loved it. I'm proud of myself for seeing it through when so much in my life conspired against me (and I'm proud of my fellow bloggers who went through their own crap and still completed the Challenge - kudos, y'all!). I'm stoked about all of my new pals and I'm really glad I did this nutty thing. Will I do it again next year? Well, that depends on whether:

1. The Mayans (and/or their interpreters) were right, and
2. I'm still out of my mind.

Which means chances are good that I'll do it again - but I make no promises!

MEANWHILE, because my day job has me on the verge of acute alcoholism, I'd like to propose an official Blogging From A to Z Drinking Game®! (DISCLAIMER: this is NOT a real game. Readers are STRONGLY DISCOURAGED from actually doing this. Please drink responsibly, for heaven's sake!!!!!)

Anyway, as I made my way through the linky-list, I noticed some trends which, I felt, would have been more entertaining with a bit of booze to accompany them. (Or, at least, more tolerable.)

The rules of the Blogging From A to Z Drinking Game® (which is totally NOT a real game) are simple; as you make your way through the linky-list, take a shot of your preferred liquor every time you come across:

• A blog that’s got Random, Rants, Ramblings, or Musings in its title (or subtitle). (Titles/subtitles with more than one of those words are worth 2 shots. If, God help you, you find one with all four, just keep drinking.)
• A blogger still requesting word verification of commenters. (For the record, I coulda sworn I’d turned mine off, but…ooops! As soon as I saw it was still on, I axed it. Sorry, y'all. Have a shot on me.)
• A C entry that’s for Cats, D entry that’s Dogs, X entry that's Xylophone, and/or Z entry that's Zoo.
• Every H entry that’s for Haiku, only the blogger totally got the basic haiku form wrong.
• A blogger goes days without posting (or forgets the event’s begun and chimes in well into the alphabet, OR stops posting mid-stream and returns, OR just craps out altogether), saying it's 'cause s/he “got super busy,” BUT TOOK NO STEPS TO REMOVE HIS/HER BLOG LINK FROM THE LIST. (Also worth 2 shots.)

More seriously, folks; I respect the bloggers who simply apologized for being unable to get through the Challenge without reciting a litany of reasons why - they just couldn't do it, and that's that. Fair enough. I know the Challenge hosts were hella busy and made heroic efforts to clean up the linky-list, for which I thank them. The only suggestion I have is to maybe deputize trusted past-Challenge participants and let them aid in the clean up. (Not me!)  ;-)