Saturday, May 03, 2014

My A to Z Reflection: I Didn't Enjoy it This Year





I'll make this brief.  I did not thoroughly enjoy this year's A to Z Challenge. 
The main reason was it was a lot of work with very few visitors stopping by . 
I was hoping that joining a group of 2000+ bloggers would mean I might see--maybe--10 new faces a week.  
But on the contrary, it ended up being very few--and I mean zero to 7 total new commenters total, and
even those were not repeat visitors. The saying "small fish in a big pond" seems apropos. 
I visited others' sites and, for the most part, they visited in return, but there seems to be no lasting effect.  

I don't regret my theme one bit. But truth told, I have my daddy's journal in hand and so it's preserved in its entirety. 

What I do regret is not listening to the voice of wisdom in March, the voice that asked these rhetorical questions: 
"Do you really want to blog every day just because you like a challenge? Just because you've done it in years past? Just because you "failed" last year by dropping out at the letter T?" 
Bad idea to reject wisdom.

It's doubtful I'll join the club again next year.  With my blogging time budget, I'd rather 
post at my pace, journaling my everyday life more, toss in more meaningful photos. 
But real life meant a remodel going on here, a part-time job, a volunteer job, plus all the 
time it takes to be a mom and home manager. 

Thank you to those who did stop by--new and "old" alike. I appreciate it very much. It makes me feel like I'm not talking to the wind.

9 comments:

Susan Kane said...

Zoanna, you never talk to the wind. You write your words, and they wind carries them to places unseen. Your voice still is heard.

Zoanna said...

But it's discouraging to have an empty comment box. Or when people read regularly but never leave a note. You are a faithful commenter==thanks!

Marianne (Mare) Baker Ball said...

I didn't get as many visitors this year either. And, in my opinion, so many of the blogs this year seemed thrown together, or just not of interest to me. I'm a follower of yours from last year, I believe, and still pop in. :-)

TheCyborgMom said...

Found your blog through the A to Z Reflections bloghop. Your title struck me because I had such a good time doing this. This is my first year and I found the challenge to be good in so many different ways. Sorry you didn't feel the same. Not everything is for everyone. I appreciate the honesty of this post.
~Katie
TheCyborgMom
Visual Proof

MS said...

I'm popping in on my A-to-Z reflections tour. Congratulations on finishing to the end! This is my first year with this challenge and I have been looking to pick up tips for subsequent years. I am sorry that the challenge did not meet your expectations this year. Perhaps you will re-think and join in again next year. This may just have been an off year. I did not get to as many blogs as I would've hoped, but plan to go back now and enjoy some reading.
Mary from The View from my World

Sandy said...

Made it. The first thing that pops out to me is your need to leave the url to your actual blog not your blogger profile. Most people won't keep looking...I did, figured you blogging about DAD, too sweet not to. The link on my blog that I clicked on to come to your blog took me to your profile. I'm here, 4 clicks later. Happy to help you a hyper link and or using name and url, but so many folks won't activate name and url, hyperlink is something to have in your bAG of tricks.

I did my vists from my link down on the linky and hit...well, you've read all that...dah.

Many people with personal information, personal blogs did well with the challenge. I will try to follow you, but might need to do that from the computer if it doesn't work from here. Truly am sorry for your experience. I get frustrated as you noted; but did get a fair number of return visits. Where were you on the linky? Did you list yourself with a category?

You have your Dad's journal...I think that is truly awesome, and what a blessing. I love genealogy so that to me is perfect.

Strahlen said...

Hi Zoannna,

I have to say I kind of agree with you about the A-Z Challenge. It was a lot of work without a lot of return, but I also have to say that I got overwhelmed with a lot going on in my busiest time of the year (I saw you're a tutor. I teach and, when I couldn't find a "real job," I founded an SAT/ACT test prep business. April is my busiest time of the year, but I am going to go back and try to read more blogs now that the biggest Spring SAT is over.
I've blogged for a few years in secret, but now I'm trying to publicize and am finding there is a lot more to it than I'd ever guessed. One thing I do know is that there are a lot of blogs out there that I like. Until I build a relationship with them, I tend to forget their titles unless I have them written down or followed in BlogLovin or somewhere. You may want to connect your site to something like that so people can return easily.
Like everyone else here, I am going to say how lovely it is that you have your father's journal and how wonderful what he wrote in it is. As only the mom of 5 boys, surrounded by black and blue, I am going to say how sweet and beautiful your frilly, pink, girly blog is! I love it! Someday, when my boys are old and moved on, I will decorate my whole house in girly things. Your cover photo may just hang on my wall! :)

Joyce said...

I felt too busy to really participate at the level I like. I got my posts up, but that's about it. I am making an effort to get to some of the participants in the next few weeks. Some I immediately skip over, as their topic doesn't interest me, but I did make one new blog friend this time so thats something. I enjoy having a theme, and the discipline I get from writing more regularly. I enjoyed what I read here as always : )

Click said...

Congratulations on completing the challenge.

Sorry to hear that you didn't get much benefit to your blog, but hopefully you enjoyed writing the posts and people visiting your blog in the future will go back and visit them too.