This was my 5th year of taking part in the A-Z April Challenge, and at the end I often think “never
again”. But I soon start thinking of another theme for the following year!
I had drafted up to
M before April 1st, but then in the latter stages was writing only a
day ahead – complicated by a short break away and the fact I am apt to
over edit and spend too long tweaking before posting. I also seem to
find it impossible to write short posts, and cannot keep to one topic
per letter.
My advice to anyone considering taking part - plan and draft your posts well ahead, as the pace can get hectic.
My theme of Childhood Memories had a wider appeal than in previous years, where my themes were strictly family or local history. Bloggers seemed to like the questions I posed and memories I sought. I was
delighted at the comments received and reminiscences shared. The new
Facebook page “We are Genealogy Bloggers” was invaluable in pointing me
to new (to me) A-Z bloggers who I added to my Reading List – In previous
A-Z Challenges I was aware of very few FH participants. and support the idea of having a Family History Category in registering/
I tried to
read and comment on other blogs regularly, but the slight downside was
that I did not extend my reading into areas outside family history.
Yes,
the challenge was at times a bit stressful, but I have a few new
followers, widened my own Family History contacts (which I had not done for
sometime) and learned from the writing of others - plus overall I really did enjoy the experience.
Onto 2017 !!
In Case You Missed
A-Z Challenge 2016 Theme Revealed: I Remember......Memories of Childhood
A - Autumn
B - Babies, Books, Birthdays & Brownies
C - Clothes + Church, Chores, Christmas, Crafts & Cars
D - Dolls + Dogs & Desserts
E - Events + Eating Out & Easter
F - Food + Fads & Fashion and Freedom
G - Grandparents + Games
H - Hairstyles + Hobbies, Houses & Halloween
I - Inspiring Teachers
J -Journeys & Joining
K - Kitchens & Knitting
L - Libraries
M - Music + Movies
N - Needles + Nativity and Names
O - Occupations
P - Poulton - My Ancestral Home + Poems, Pets, Penfriends, Politics and Protests
Q - The Queen's Coronation
R - Radio + Religion, Remembrance and Russia
S - Speccy Four Eyes + School, Sports, Sundays, Student Days and the Space Race
T - Toys + Treats, TV, Theatre and Technology
U - Uniforms
V - Village Life + Vacations and Values
W - Wars and Weddings
X - XRays, Xylophone and Xmas
Y - Youth Culture
Z - Zoo at Blackpool
A - Autumn
B - Babies, Books, Birthdays & Brownies
C - Clothes + Church, Chores, Christmas, Crafts & Cars
D - Dolls + Dogs & Desserts
E - Events + Eating Out & Easter
F - Food + Fads & Fashion and Freedom
G - Grandparents + Games
H - Hairstyles + Hobbies, Houses & Halloween
I - Inspiring Teachers
J -Journeys & Joining
K - Kitchens & Knitting
L - Libraries
M - Music + Movies
N - Needles + Nativity and Names
O - Occupations
P - Poulton - My Ancestral Home + Poems, Pets, Penfriends, Politics and Protests
Q - The Queen's Coronation
R - Radio + Religion, Remembrance and Russia
S - Speccy Four Eyes + School, Sports, Sundays, Student Days and the Space Race
T - Toys + Treats, TV, Theatre and Technology
U - Uniforms
V - Village Life + Vacations and Values
W - Wars and Weddings
X - XRays, Xylophone and Xmas
Y - Youth Culture
Z - Zoo at Blackpool
I enjoyed following along with your personal reminiscences this year and having my own brought to mind. I don't think I saw that fb page. I will be looking at it.
ReplyDeleteSue it was a pleasure doing this challenge with you - your childhood memories sparked a few of my own and it was fun to share the differences or likenesses in our lives.
ReplyDeleteI thought your theme was terrific at documenting your own family history - it was most inspirational.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the challenge makes April hectic but I don't think I would have the discipline to refrain from publishing once I had completed a post if I wrote posts too far ahead. Regards Anne
Great work Sue! I especially enjoyed how the "memory" posts kicked off readers' memories as well.
ReplyDeleteLike you I tended to regularly comment on blogs that were writing about similar topics, but I did try to stop by and visit other blogs from time to time, like yours. I hadn't realized that genealogy blogging was a thing until the challenge. That's one of the good things about the challenge - stumbling across blogs who cover topics you hadn't really known much about before.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I sometimes had trouble deciding on ONE topic for some letters that gave me several good options. You had a good solution with your questions at the end of each post. It was fun having a similar theme because I got some good ideas from you.
ReplyDeleteChildhood memories was a good choice with universal appeal. It's important to document our own history, too. I hope the A to Z team considers a genealogy/family history category for next year. I was still discovering FH blogs at the end of the challenge...would have liked to visit them sooner. Congrats on being a multi-year survivor!
ReplyDelete