6 things about the #AtoZChallenge that’ll make you sign up

If you’re a blogger or blog-follower (is there a difference any more?) you’ve surely encountered posts about the A to Z Blogging Challenge the past few years, mostly around April.

As the name suggests, it challenges you to blog. Which is quite cool, because sometimes we put blogging off for a book. Or dinner. Or our friends. And that’s alright but then December comes (again!) and you look back at your New Year’s Resolutions to really commit to your blog and you didn’t.

But before that could (would) happen, we have April! Which is when the A to Z Challenge takes place. The perfect time to get back up after the first steam of the Resolution tires off. So there you go, that’s your first reason to join.

1. It’s a (friendly) kick in the bum to make your New Year’s Resolution work

You want to blog, don’t you? You want to share all those amazing thoughts and experiences your little head contains, and you want people to learn, to be amazed, to love them. So do it! April is the perfect time for that.

2. It’ll teach you proper planning

The challenge states to blog every day in April (except Sundays). That’s a whole lota words to put out there! And the one thing the veterans (and me) will tell you, is that don’t just swing it. You can swing a lot of things but this is not one of them.

Think about your posts. Write an outline. Write a draft or the entire thing and then schedule it. Every blog platform has this amazing tool of being able to schedule your posts. You write a ton on a Sunday for instance, and you release them day by day the following week, almost like magic.

For the challenge, you might even want to consider to write all the 26 posts before April even starts, and then concentrate on the networking part of the event. Coz this is the other great thing about the #AtoZ:

3. It’ll connect you to an amazing number of bloggers

You could, of course, go out and google randomly, discovering blogs by chance but here, you’ll have a huge group of committed individuals: some are beginners, some are restarters, some are veterans. You’ll meet all kinds of people, from all kinds of countries and in all kinds of topics. One day you’ll read about how to plant carrots in your balcony, the next an awesome little short story will take your breath away.

I urge you not to focus on yourself too much during the #AtoZ. (You can do that in the other 11 months if you’re so inclined.) Get out! Meet people! (You don’t even have to dress up!) Read loads and share lots of love.

4. Yes, you will share lots of love

It’s your decision but generally, when you visit a blog, you’re a guest there. Now, if you go visit Aunt Joan, who has an awful table in vomit green in the middle of the dining room and she serves you her disgusting tea in china that wouldn’t look out of place in a doll-house, would you go around and tell her all that?

Of course not! You’d sit nicely, knees together like a proper lady, little finger 90 degrees from the cup-holder and you’d drink that tee quietly, politely conversing about topics you might agree with. Like how nice her hair looks today. Or how lovely is her garden. Or what a shame you don’t meet more often.

Comments on blogs go to real people. Let me say that again because sometimes people (the other people, not you) forget this:

Comments on blogs go to real people.

Real people with real feelings. So don’t be an ass. And if you do the suggested 5 comments a day, I guarantee you’ll learn to do this. You’ll to see the good things everywhere and guess what? It’ll make YOU happier than rudeness.

5. It’ll help your way around social media

Ah, that dreaded expression: “Social Media”, with capital S and capital M to make it look scarier. It’s to bloggers like monsters under the bed to kids. I, for one, love social media. I don’t have thousands of followers on my facebook page but I have a twitter account that works quite well. I met lots of like-minded people, some I can call friends now, and had lots and lots of fun.

So don’t be afraid of this thing that we can make it out to be scarier than it actually is. Start with the people whose blog posts you liked, connect with them (in social media terms: follow them), talk to them and enjoy! That’s the most important: the fun part. It’s not a race. You don’t have to reach to more people than the next blogger. You don’t have to get more followers or receive more likes. And maybe that’s the most important lesson you’ll learn if you join the challenge:

6. You don’t have to compete with anyone because no-one is like you.

You’re already perfect. Everyone is. Don’t believe me? Look at the sky. Now look at the sky again in 10 minutes. In an hour. In a day. It’s always different. And it’s always breath-taking. Just like we all are.

So join us, get your blog into gear and enjoy the ride! I’ll be there.

Andrea

 

About Miss Andi

Learning to be unapologetically me but healthier. Shamelessly personifying my dog, Mia, who is my soulmate, though doesn't let me read as much as I used to. One day I'll finish a novel that will not save the world - but might make it smile.

View all posts by Miss Andi →