The Positives of Blogging from A to Z

                  The Evaluation Continues 


         Each Monday in May I am examining a different aspect of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge for 2011.  If you missed last week, I reviewed some of the actual and the perceived negatives of the Challenge.  There were some outstanding comments and I would recommend that you read through them if you missed them.


          A reminder to those who don't feel that these evaluation studies have relevance to non-participants of the A to Z Challenge:  The concepts expressed can probably be related to some of your own blogging activities and certainly applicable to other blog events in which you may participate.   We want to hear the subjective opinions of those who participated as well as the objective thoughts from those who did not.


        What follows is some attributed quotes taken from comments or posts, as well as some general positives that were frequently cited by many sources.

Good things about the Challenge (with my comments or questions in red):

1)     Catherine at Composing Cat said this:   I'm not sure how I'm going to approach posting after this challenge. I liked being connected everyday to the blogosphere but it does take a lot of mental ability to post daily. I don't know that I can go back to my weekly memes either. It was great to participate in them when I didn't have any real content but I've learned some things about myself and my writing ability in the past month. I don't want to follow along. No, I don't have any delusions of being some great writer that can pump out mind thrilling content. I just feel like I'm finding my groove and before I was afraid to even look for my groove. I hid behind the creativity of others. Don't get me wrong I love those memes but i want to spread my blog wings and see if I can do what I set out to do with this blog...find out what composes me and develop my writing ability.  (I like how the Challenge gave her a greater awareness of her talents and made her think more deeply about the way she wants to blog in the future--Catherine's contemplations just grabbed me.)


2)       One thing I liked about the challenge was it gave me motivation to write even on the days where I didn’t feel like it!  (If you want to be a writer then you have to write!)


3)    I would never have seen it through if I wasn't in love with writing.   (A confirmation that loving writing will facilitate writing.)


4)      The Challenge provided a sense of community.  (We were together in a common purpose.  Participants from last year have often indicated how many of the relationships established in that Challenge have continued ever since.)


5)   Before the challenge, I wasn’t sure what the focus of my blog was. After the challenge, I knew which direction I wanted to go and what I wanted to write about. (The concentrated blogging effort allowed some to discover their passion or what was easiest for them to write about).


6)   Before the challenge, I saw myself as creatively-challenged. After the challenge, I realize that I have untapped depths of creativity!     Brianna at Pocketful of Playdough
(I really like how Brianna expressed this feeling.)


7)    The variety was great! I've come across blogs I'd never have known existed, It's widened my horizons - that can only be good.  says Sue    (It seemed like there was something for everyone and a whole lot more--what was a negative for some was an absolute positive for others).


8)  The list was huge!  I couldn't get through all of it, but it was nice to have the wide selection.  (The most common complaint was also something that many of us liked a great deal.)


9)    All of the participants were so supportive and friendly.  (The networking was superb in this event.)


10)  I really learned a lot about many different things.  (With so many topics represented and presented in so many fine ways how could one not walk away having learned a few things)


11)   I saw an increase in followers.   (Some participants were happy with adding a few while others saw large increases of 100 or more.   It's a controversial topic with many sides, but increasing following is a natural offshoot of the challenge.)


12)   The A to Z Challenge was fun!   (This was one of our main objectives!)




Let's hear from you


        Do you agree with all of these positives?    Are there any positives that you would like to add?     What is the biggest benefit you derived from Blogging from A to Z?








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Negative Responses to Blogging from A to Z

Why an Evaluation?

          The purpose of evaluation is to see how things can be improved--what works and what doesn't.  Authors will get evaluations of their works through beta readers.  These readers will offer suggestions to help the authors improve their works before they go to the next steps toward publications.  Companies go to extensive efforts and pay large sums of money to conduct surveys and do marketing studies in order to improve their products or services.  Likewise, if the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to continue and grow in years to come, I'd like to see it become better than it is now.

         In my Monday posts in May I will be addressing all aspects of the Challenge--bad, good, and your suggestions and opinions.   On May 30th I will culminate the series with my evaluation of what I have learned from you and from my own observations.

        If you're thinking that you don't want to hear anything more about this Challenge or that this information doesn't have anything to do with you, please at least take a listen to what will be said.  An event such as this is normal everyday blogging on steroids.  There is merely greater intensity of posting and networking.  What you can learn by normal blogging can be intensified in a crash course that event blogging can offer.   Everyone can learn from what bloggers learned in A to Z and likewise the A to Z bloggers can benefit from the knowledge that you may have.   Some of the best input might be gotten from the objective observations of non A to Z participants.   So let us hear from everyone who has an opinion and keep an open mind about the thoughts that you will be hearing in the weeks to come.

        And if for some reason you have no idea what this A to Z thing is all about you can go to read about it in the A to Z Announcement Post.

Let's Start With the Bad

        There is so much positive feedback that we've all been reading about the Challenge that I know as far as I'm concerned I feel pretty good about it all.  But I certainly wouldn't want to be content to bask in that positive glow and totally ignore some of the problems that were perceived and the bad feelings that some people had about the A to Z Challenge.  I am going to list through these negatives with little comment--I'll make most of my comments in the last two posts of this series.   Please leave your thoughts in today's comment section.

Here is what some of you said (with my thoughts or questions in red) :

1)   Blogging everyday is too difficult or stressful.   Some bloggers don't like to post on week ends.  (It's a challenge!)

2)  Too much of a chore to blog everyday.  ( It's also a chore for many of us to go to work everyday.  It depends on how do you look at it?  Thankful?  Optimistic?   Do you make the best of things or turn the negative into something good?)


3)   Too restrictive -- I want to blog what I want to blog about.  (And how did A to Z not allow you to do that?)


4)   I really hated A-Z because it caused bloggers to write about what they HAD to write about rather than what they WANTED to write about. Or at best, figuring out a way to hammer a square peg into a round hole to accomplish both.  (Once again, the prompt was a letter, the possibilities of what to write were endless).


5)   I didn't like A to Z because I like "normal" posts.  (And how are the A to Z posts abnormal?)




6)  It’s been hard to keep the personal connections with all the chaos of challenges.  (Chaos?  What chaos?)


7)  "Differences in blog hosts."  (I'm sorry but I copied this from a comment and now don't recall what this referred to exactly--did anyone have a negative feeling in regard to this?)


8)    Difficulty in accessing certain blogs.  (There were some blogs that I found difficult to understand how to navigate them or find ways to comment on, if indeed one could comment)


9)   Some blogs seemed to be just advertisements.  (I noticed this too)


10)    The only frustrating aspect of the challenge that I experienced were the CAPTCHA word verification features that many bloggers had on their blogs. This made it difficult to visit and comment on as many blogs as I hoped.   (How many times has this been said?  Not just here in this Challenge either.)

11)     Encouraging negative thought trying to get others to quit with them or turn against the event or some of the organizers.  (Sadly, I noticed a few instances where certain people were unhappy with the Challenge and tried to encourage other participants to quit or made unkind comments in reference to me.)

12)    The list was too big!   (Can an author have too many readers?  Can a business have too many customers?  Can you have too many friends?  It's mostly a question of management and organization.    This will be covered extensively on the final evaluation post.)

13)   There were too many different kinds of bloggers on the list!  (Another of the most common complaints which will be addressed in greater depth in my evaluation post.)

Now I turn it over to you:

           Here you have the thirteen most common complaints that I've run across so far.  I think there is a solution to all of them.  Some may come down to personal preferences.  Others are definite legitimate gripes that should be addressed.   I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts and I will be including those in my May 23rd post and they will also help me in my evaluation on May 30th.

            Can you think of any other negatives about the A to Z Challenge?  Which of these above cited problems are of greatest concern to you and what do you think is the solution?  How would you address the ones that are of little concern to you?  If you did not participate, what did you dislike most about Blogging from A to Z?

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