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Published on Leave a comment on A to Z Blog Challenge: 7 Lessons Learned

A version of this post originally appeared in 2016.

If your writer friends seem unusually giddy with the advent of May, they are probably participating in the April A to Z Blog Challenge. Like many marathon-ish activities, as they say in Texas: "it's like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer - it feels so good when it stops".

I've participated in the A to Z challenge a couple of times. Compared to other blog challenges I've done in the past, A to Z seemed like a lot more work. In the interest of working smarter, not harder, next time, here are a few things I learned.

  • Writing the posts is only half the time commitment battle. And this is probably why other challenges I've done seemed like a comparative breeze - I don't recall doing diddly-squat about interacting with other bloggers during that challenge. I published my posts and sat back and waited for the comments to flow in. Which of course sounded vaguely cricket-like. I achieved my goal of writing a post each day, which is obviously the main point of the exercise. But this time I had an aha! moment. Now I know more about Google rankings and engagement and all that stuff. I easily spent as much time per day viewing other blogs and commenting on most. So if you're thinking of doing a blog challenge in future, estimate the time it will require to write the posts, and double that to allow for engagement.
  • I am so thankful for blog designs that make it obvious where and how to leave a comment. If I haven't been able to figure it out within ten seconds or so after I've finished reading your post, I've probably forgotten what I was going to say anyway.
  • Ditto on those of you who make it easy for me to follow you on other social media like Facebook, Twitter, and so forth. I really want to support and follow as many as I can, but I just don't have time to go sifting through the site looking for it - if it's there at all.
  • Opting in to a challenge last-minute just makes more work for me. Kudos to those who had done this particular challenge before and had the foresight to plan a cohesive theme and even prepare some posts ahead of time. Maybe that will be me next time.
  • A great post does not necessarily mean a long post. Save your magnum opus for non-challenge posts. This helps the writer as well as the readers. If they're doing the challenge right, your deathless prose is probably not the only post they'll be reading today.
  • If the words 'random' and 'thoughts' appear together in the blog title or description, my expectations regarding quality of content are very low. I really appreciate the bloggers who have a clearly envisioned niche and stick to it. I know from personal experience how tempting is to work without a theme or niche and just write about whatever pops into your head. Having a niche or narrow focus may seem limiting. But sometimes the niche can help you find a path, rather than obstruct it. 
  • The A to Z Challenge website includes a link to a spreadsheet listing all participants. It really helps me visit as many blogs as possible in a brief amount of time. Before I figured this out, I was bouncing around reciprocating with those who visited my blog or who posted links on various Facebook groups related to the challenge. This worked okay, but in retrospect seems a little haphazard. Plus, I have a feeling those bloggers who cross-post are just the tip of the iceberg of participants.

Thanks to all the organizers and congrats to all the participants of the A to Z Challenge. I enjoyed discovering so many new blogs, including a few that appear to be of my tribe. I made great progress, not only on engagement, but in defining my blog niche and developing some best practices to keep it a productive part of my platform.

The cool letter collage is just one of many amazing things I stumbled across while visiting random blogs. The artist is Mark Kelly and his blog is here. Check out his alternate challenge survivor badge when you visit.

Click-O-Rama

It only seems fitting to feature blogs in this week's Click-O-Rama. Some of my favorites:

  • Author and historian Pamela Toler's blog, History in the Margins. Women's history, in particular, which is why Pam's blog posts and tweets on little known facts, book reviews, and much more are some of my faves.
  • I first learned of Tim Urban when I saw his TED Talk on procrastination. Instant love connection! I can't decide which I enjoy more: his relatable topics, or the adorable stick figures that accompany many posts on his blog, Wait But Why.
  • Benjamin Hardy is my go-to guy for motivational observations. I freely admit, every now and then he gets a little too woo-woo for me. But his argument that willpower is a muscle that can and should be exercised, like a glute or a bicep, has stuck with me for many years. Many of his posts are also available on YouTube if you prefer watching to reading. I really enjoyed this one.
  • If you're a writer, you can't go wrong with Jane Friedman's blog. She has some tremendous content. But TBH, my favorite one of hers lately wasn't a writing topic at all. Well, it was, a little bit tangentially. A bunch of her readers chimed in on her request for black tea recommendations. Yum!
  • I recently stumbled across Introvert, Dear on social media somewhere and am really enjoying it. I never fail to find a couple of shareable posts every time I receive one of their newsletters.

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Published on 2 Comments on 10 Things I Hate About My Critique Group

When I first started writing, I took someone’s advice and joined a critique group. I didn’t know anything about critique groups. I thought it would be like a book club – the ones where nobody actually reads the book and the meetings are just an excuse to get together for lunch. I guess I joined the wrong group. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Photo by rawpixel at Unsplash

I hate the way I have to have something ready to read every time we meet. I could be napping, or ironing, or grocery shopping, or scrubbing toilets, but instead I have to take the time to write so I’ll have something ready for them to critique.

I hate the way they critique. It never fails, if they have something critical to say, they always follow that up with something positive. It’s so formulaic!

I hate they way they are constantly sharing market sources. Every time we meet, it’s a new contact or magazine or contest. And of course I have to submit something because if I don’t, the rest of the group will wonder why I’m the only one who doesn’t.

I hate they way they pick out the typos in my work. After all, I have been working with this stuff for days, weeks, sometimes months. How did they catch it when I didn’t?

I hate the way they hold me accountable for what I write. For once, why can’t they just say, “It’s good enough the way it is”?

I hate the way they push me to submit every single thing I write. They even critique my queries, for crying out loud!

I hate how they waste so much time brainstorming. Why would they want to spend so much time on a plot twist that isn’t even their story? So what if it makes all the difference and sends me in a direction I hadn’t considered before? Wouldn’t they rather be spending that time on their own work?

I hate they way they insist on celebrating every time someone has a sale. All of that shouting and hugging and praise embarrasses me.

I hate they way they prop me up after yet another rejection. Don’t they realize I will never be any good at this and I just need to stop trying?

Most of all, I hate how I feel when I have to miss a critique group meeting. I miss the input, even if it is critical. I miss my writer friends, even if they sometimes tell me things I don’t want to hear.  So if you will pardon me, I have a deadline. The toilets and the ironing will just have to wait.

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