Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Reflections on the A to Zed

This might take a few posts...in fact I'm pretty sure it will. Like I've heard some others say (tartlette and more) I started great and fizzled in the visiting department. I knew I would - I left on the 9th and was gone for ten days - a fair chunk of the month when you consider the getting ready to go and the collapsing when back. Also - I have a full caseload of clients right now - meaning I come home like a worn out dishrag and flop on the couch to watch Little Dorrit with the fella. I had already decided this was going to be likely and thought I would try and get around to people's complete oeuvres this month but that is already not happening for the same reason!
On the plus side - the discipline of having a post and a day and my inspiration to let my finger fall on a word in the dictionary was wonderful. I feel like I have 26 nuggets of ideas that I could take further AND I liked stretching my pure invention muscle. I've been revising for about a year and this just was plain fun. Between that and my friend Sue pointing out that I might not want to start another revision process so fast on the heels of True - all good.
The other thing I noted which was like the last year was that I got too frustrated with folks who weren't posting when I did go visiting. They'd still have their badge up and hadn't taken their linky down so why weren't they doing the challenge? And I, like others, maybe don't want to hang out with those who have such a different idea of what they want to get out of this. I'm mainly interested in other writers and while I have a great tolerance for crafts I have less so for sugar fanatics (too many happy faces and LOLs make me bilious) and the religious right. There. I said it. Now I feel kind of selfish. I guess I am selfish - I want something out of this - I put a fair bit of time into making interesting posts and I don't want to visit lots of people telling me that I should do what they do and give it all up for Jesus or Quilting or Being Nice.
I will continue to do this challenge (think it is the only one I do) and I think the gang who organizes it is fantastic. It is a huge venture and I'm incredibly appreciative of that. So hurrah for difference and exertion and discipline!

7 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Some real pros and cons there, Jan! (Oh...and wasn't Little Dorrit good?) I think some categorization of blogs in the challenge (before it starts) sounds like a good idea. And if folks drop out, they should take down their linky.

Writer Pat Newcombe said...

I know what you mean. But it just goes to show there are very definite pros and cons for this sort of thing...

Words A Day said...

well done for doing it, I still havent got around to reading all of your pieces but I loved the ones I did read, I could never sustain the challenge myself, maybe one day though... Agreeing on the WOW, LOL :) front!

baygirl32 said...

the non-participants bugged me too - did they just plain forget they signed up?

Katie O'Sullivan said...

Nice post! The best part of AtoZ for me was meeting new bloggers and hearing new ideas and opinions... and getting over my blogging slump ;-)

I've passed along the Kreativ Blogger award to you on my blog today (Friday) - stop by and get the button when you get a chance!

And have a great weekend!

http://katieosullivan.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Jan - You really lay out the positives and negatives so clearly. And you know what? You have every right to dislike certain kinds of blogs. Why not? I think we all have differences in our ways of approaching this journey of life. I'm very glad you were happy with your stories - I absolutely loved 'em myself, and I do hope you so something with them.

Faith Pray said...

Jan, you are amazing. Every time you do the A - Zed ( how many years have you done it now?) I am amazed. Thank you for sharing your cleverness with the rest of us!