I am so bogged down in the A - Z Challenge this
month, that I decided to write some of my current thoughts. For the A - Z Challenge this year I've been publishing postcards and letters that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother before they were married. They cover 1907 to 1912. I'm finding it frustrating to have to put them up out of chronological order in order to fulfill the A - Z part of the challenge.
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| One of the postcards I didn't use for "E" |
Even though I was able to do a bit of organizing before the challenge began, I find that I don't have time to do the research I usually do for posts. In fact, I scrapped some of my original ideas and looked for simpler cards to post that would require less research.
The visiting of other blogs in the challenge is a big hoopla part of the challenge, although for me the main reason for participating in the challenge is posting everyday and looking for interesting bits in my research I might not have noticed. With over 2,000 blogs participating, I've found it difficult to find blogs that grab me. Maybe I'm just tuckered out! I'm all caught up so I think today I will take some time to interact with the living family members.
Hi, Kristen - I so much enjoyed your short post on coping with the A-Z Challenge, as I can relate to your feelings. I've wondered if I have taken on more than I can cope with. I suppose the challenge of having to post every day does depend on the choice of subject and I suspect I am trying to do too much and write too long a post. My Sepia Saturday contributions are gong by the by this month, and like you I can only view a small number of other challenges - usually from bloggers already on my reading list. But do keep going, because the story of your grandfather's s correspondence is a fascinating one.
ReplyDeleteOh, I will keep going. I'm enjoying your posts and I can see that they take a lot of time. I guess I should stop writing this and go visit some posts! I don't like that pressured feeling. Wonder if there is a way to avoid it?
ReplyDeleteHi Kristen - I am a newbie to AtoZ too. Lost the internet for three days this week because of a kink in the fibre optic cable :( While I sometimes compose on the ipad I wasn't happy to do that for these entries.
ReplyDeleteI have seen at least one other blogger (http://myfamilyhistoryfiles.com/organization/non-alphabetic-order/ ) who has decided to ignore the A to Z alphabetic order for the month - she will cover every letter but being strict on the order would not have worked for her.
I have avoided a little bit of the pressure by writing some posts in advance and thinking of what I was going to write. But I edit and change my mind on the topics. This is taking up a lot of time, but my family - who are my intended audience for my blog - are pleased to read the posts :)
Good luck with it
Regards
Anne
Anne, I've been doing the same thing with regard to changing topics. I had done a whole calendar for April with what I was going to write about everyday. Some of them turned out to be to complex to cover in such a stressed time period, so I've been changing as I go along.
ReplyDeleteThe blog posts in the A-Z Challenge have been fascinating. I did not participate as a writer but I have been reading. I do think one of these challenges ends up taking more time than you might think and certainly planning and some pre-writing (or outlines) might help. Perhaps if I start planning now I will be ready for the 2015 Challenge! Keep up the great work all of you challengers.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tessa! I just finished prewriting the rest of my posts for the challenge today. A sweet feeling.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I'm pleased I didn't do A to Z this year, after two years of it. It's great, but it's tiring, even when well planned. While I found some interesting last year, and still read their posts, A to Z made me realise how fortunate we are to have Geneabloggers which brings us together. We have our own ready-made blog group already..thanks to Thomas MacEntee.
ReplyDeleteI am so bad. I signed up for the AtoZ challenge full of excitement about all the different collaborations with which I was involved. But forgot completely about it (that's the "my bad" part). Next year I am definitely going to do it, but I am going to take your advice and blog SHORT posts.
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