A to Z Reflections 2012

A to Z Badge Artwork by Ada Zdanowicz from CollagePodge.com

          What a wonderful successful A to Z Challenge we had this year.  Third year--bigger and better than ever.  As it should be.   There were so many amazing posts by tremendously talented bloggers that it was not possible to keep up with them.  But some of the ones I did manage to make it to absolutely floored me at times.   A hearty congratulations to everyone of you who participated in the Challenge and a special thanks to those who weren't posting from A to Z, but following faithfully and providing support to those who were.

          In the weeks to come I will be saying more about the good and the bad and my thoughts about the next Challenge.  You will be able to find these posts on the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Blog.  The posts will primarily appear on Mondays starting May 21st but may be elaborated upon on other days as seen fit.

          And just a word  about that A to Z Blog.  It was good to have the focus of the Challenge drawn away from my Tossing It Out blog so a greater focus could be given on this blog devoted to the Challenge itself.  We had some outstanding guest posts from too many of you to mention here.  We thank all of you for your help in keeping content on this blog that one blogger referred to as our "water cooler site" where bloggers could gather to ask questions, make suggestions, and just talk about the Challenge or whatever else was on their minds.

         The A to Z Blog site will continue to stay active for the rest of the year with the Post Challenge Challenge and other happenings.  Just how active will depend on you bloggers.  We are accepting guest posts, so if you have an idea of something you'd like to post, please contact us at one of the emails listed on the "Contact Us" page at the A to Z Blog.

        I would be remiss to not mention my biggest source of support and creativity--the incredible A to Z Team of 2012.  I couldn't have done on my own anywhere near what we accomplished as a team.  These are some of the greatest bloggers around.  If you haven't visited all of them you need to get over and make friends with the ones you've missed.  These are good people to have in your corner.

Here is our 2012 A to Z Team:

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas) -- Despite some personal challenges she was dealing with, Damyanti kept a strong presence throughout the A to Z Challenge.  She was our Twitter maven who injected vitality into the Twitter activity and put together our Twitter news that you might have noticed on some of our sidebars.   She wrote some very effective material on her blog as well.

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh) --The famed Ninja Captain Alex, who probably needs no introduction.  He's been a presence since the very first Challenge and a mighty presence in keeping up with visiting, commenting, and giving recognition to other bloggers on his own blog.

Life is Good (Tina Downey) -- Tina set up and managed our A to Z email account and has corresponded directly with many of you with help and advice.  She kept the A to Z Blog schedule organized to make sure daily content was delivered to you readers.  You will be seeing much more of Tina when the Post Challenge Challenge begins next Monday May 14th.

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons) -- DL's influence reaches a wide range of bloggers and he did a tremendous job of drawing many to the Challenge and leaving his encouraging comments with many of you.  He was a huge asset in adding his much loved personality to the Challenge.

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)--  This guy is a boundless creative source.  He is the one responsible for nearly all of the graphics, banners, and animations that dressed up many of your blogs.  His blog added a quirky touch to our collection of host blogs.  Jeremy's behind the scenes availability made him a go to guy when we needed special assistance.  He had so many ideas that we never even got around to using most of them.  Next year.

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)-- Shannon was rock steady in keeping things going from her corner.  She had a fascinating series on her blog during the Challenge that I'll have to get back to when things slow down some.  At the same time she made sure she visited plenty of your blogs.  Shannon along with Lisa will be a major force in the weeks to come as they take over with the Post Challenge Challenge.  More about that next Monday on the A to Z Blog.

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)-- Adding literary integrity to the Team, Matthew was another one who was all over the place during the Challenge.   He was always on call and ready to go when he was needed and an integral cog in the well-tuned A to Z machine.

Author Elizabeth Mueller(Elizabeth Mueller) -- With grace and charm, Elizabeth was a welcomed addition to our team.  She is full of ideas and artistic vision.  We were thrilled to have Elizabeth by our sides.

Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson)-- Jenny provided one of the biggest surprises to me.  She approached me last year about being a co-host and assured me she would give it her all.  She not only gave it her all, but her energy was incredible.  Jenny was a huge motivating force leading up to the A to Z sign up day and she was there to encourage all who needed it once sign ups started.   What a great addition she turned out to be.

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow) --I didn't know about Konstanz until Elizabeth recommended her and what a coup it was to land Konstanz on our Team.  She is a creative visionary who is filled with great ideas.  I thank Konstanz for getting us on track with the A to Z Blog Facebook page.  This became such a great tool for communications.  The great many of you who were using the Facebook page to publicize your blog posts can thank Konstanz for that idea.

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) -- The Beatles may have sung about "Nowhere Man", but they didn't know about Stephen Tremp who is like "everywhere man".  I couldn't keep track of this guy a lot of the time, but I knew I didn't need to worry about him.  This was Stephen's second year as an A to Z co-host so he knew what was going on.  Great job, Stephen, for the things I knew about and those I didn't.   

Coming Down The Mountain(Karen Jones Gowen) --- Karen is an experienced professional who knows what she's doing.  I was grateful to have a cool collected individual like her to step in and do what needed to be done.   She also had a very informative and practical series on her blog that I will have to visit later on.

           In addition to the above mentioned team members I have a few unofficial team members who provided me with support and assistance.   My thanks go out to the following:

Yvonne Lewis at Welcome to My World of Poetry not only commented on every one of my posts on all of my blogs, she mentioned me in a few of her posts and commented on many of your posts.  Yvonne is like our A to Z Goodwill Ambassador.  She is also the first person who took me up on my original Challenge in 2010.

Nicole at The Madlab Post provided us with several informative posts on the A to Z Blog, assisted in putting together the A to Z Video Challenge, offered a number of helpful suggestions, and left many substantive comments on many blogs.  You will be seeing more from Nicole at the A to Z Blog in the weeks to come.

Ada Zdanowicz is the artist behind the official A to Z Badge that you see at the top of this post.  I'm not sure how closely you've looked at this artwork, but there is an intricacy there that may be lost in the casual passing of this badge on the sidebar.  Ada worked with me many hours back in October to come up with something that would be unique and aptly fit the spirit of the Challenge.   The serendipity of her name escaped me for a good while before I noticed that she was signing her emails to me as Ada Z--Ada Z?  Could a better name be found for the official A to Z artist.  Thank you Ada.  She doesn't have a blog, but you can find more information about her work at CollagePodge.com.

      Well I hear the music playing as they try to get me off the stage.  Thanks again to everyone.  Now be sure to visit some of the others on the list.     

For Reflections Linky list go Here.





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