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26 take-aways from the #atozchallenge

Posted on May 1, 2014May 6, 2014 by Loni Townsend

A-to-Z Reflection [2014]
Whew! April is over, and I’ve compiled my list of take-aways from the A to Z challenge.

  1. April is a good month to take vacation from work
  2. Bloglovin’ is a wonderful tool to track blogs that interest me
  3. Call for criticism earlier to encourage constructive feedback
  4. Daily blog visiting is too stressful for me
  5. Exercise gets pushed to the backburner
  6. Friends are more important than numbers
  7. Group assignments are fun, but limiting
  8. Humor is appreciated
  9. Inspiration means different things to different people
  10. Juggling too many things makes you drop the ball
  11. Kids come first
  12. Lunch hour isn’t long enough
  13. My work-in-progress gained no progress
  14. Next time, if I don’t have more time, I probably won’t participate
  15. Offer meaningful comments, not just a “you should visit me” comment
  16. Personality plays a major role in my appreciation of poetry
  17. Quick posts are nice
  18. Reciprocate visits
  19. Serial stories are hard to jump into the middle of
  20. Time waits for no one
  21. Under normal circumstances…yeah, I still don’t have enough time
  22. Visit based on interest level
  23. Write posts before they’re due
  24. X is a letter many words don’t start with
  25. You’ll never know who you’ll connect with
  26. Zany fun is good fun

What about you? What did you learn?

43 thoughts on “26 take-aways from the #atozchallenge”

  1. Alex J. Cavanaugh says:
    May 1, 2014 at 12:52 PM

    Don’t worry – I didn’t work on my manuscript all month! Ready to dive back in. Glad you had a good time with it.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 2, 2014 at 7:59 AM

      *cracks knuckles* Let the real writing begin!

      Reply
  2. Lexa Cain says:
    May 1, 2014 at 4:27 PM

    Well, now you’re just showing off! Very clever! I enjoyed all your posts, and I agree with your takeaways. Have an awesome weekend! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 2, 2014 at 8:00 AM

      Hehe, showing off? I actually started compiling this list about a week into the challenge…about the time I started tearing out my hair.

      Reply
  3. Kirsten says:
    May 1, 2014 at 7:15 PM

    Love this! And look, it’s alphabetical too.
    I have takeaways– but right now my brain is still too fried to process it all. I especially agree with #13!
    And #6, absolutely. 🙂 🙂

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 2, 2014 at 8:01 AM

      High-five for friends!

      Reply
  4. Jeri says:
    May 1, 2014 at 8:08 PM

    I may have mentioned I only did the A-Z Challenge once, during my blog’s first year. I don’t think I would do it again. Blogging takes so much work, but one of my favorite parts is your #25. I’ve came across so many cool and interesting bloggers since I’ve started.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 2, 2014 at 8:03 AM

      Blogging does take a lot of hard work, especially those who deliver helpful information (like you!). I’m always amazed at how informative and entertaining your posts are, and how you even come up with ideas all the time. Me? I just goof off…

      Reply
  5. Christy Hovey says:
    May 1, 2014 at 9:42 PM

    Great blog post! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 2, 2014 at 8:03 AM

      Thanks for stopping by, Busy Lady!

      Reply
  6. Elizabeth Seckman says:
    May 2, 2014 at 9:12 AM

    I didn’t even try this year. With a son graduating and prepping for college and applying for scholarships, there was just no way I could keep up. Cause, you’re totally right about the dropped balls and kids coming first.

    I dropped in on many stories. I admit. I have no clue what the plot lines were, but I’ve reached that strange level where reading snippets is normal. I think it comes from being married to a guy who channel surfs. I’m used to watching scenes and filling in the blanks.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 2, 2014 at 9:22 AM

      The channel surfing probably does help with the ability to correlate informational tidbits without really knowing what the heck is going on. I had tried to pack enough action/humor into each segment of MMF to hopefully entertain any people who hadn’t been following along.

      Reply
  7. Shesha Chaturvedi says:
    May 4, 2014 at 1:57 PM

    Nicely compiled! Indeed daily blog visiting is stressful. For me even blog updates were stressful too. Bloglovin is an awesome tool! and humor is certainly appreciated!

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 5, 2014 at 9:10 AM

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  8. Sandy says:
    May 5, 2014 at 7:45 AM

    Agree with some things on your list. Reciprocal, probably at the top for me. Wish the challenge was another month, as we almost always travel some during that month and this year we did twice; but still……….made it. Congrats on finishing. I’m continuing to blog a-z in May trying to keep the momentum going.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 5, 2014 at 10:35 AM

      That’s impressive! I don’t know that I’d be able to do another month of that.

      Reply
  9. Ananya Kiran says:
    May 5, 2014 at 9:49 AM

    Love the way you wrote your reflections !

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 5, 2014 at 10:38 AM

      Thank you!

      Reply
  10. sunila says:
    May 5, 2014 at 10:10 AM

    Agree with your whole list, each held good for me too and I almost dropped the ball, except that I was writing on Yoga so I couldn’t really let myself stress, too much of a paradox, but stress I did and then I eased back from trying to juggle everything 🙂 Superb that you’ve managed another A to Z in this one post itself 🙂

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 5, 2014 at 10:51 AM

      Haha, yes, I suppose stress and Yoga do tend to contradict each other.

      Reply
  11. Beloo Mehra says:
    May 5, 2014 at 11:35 AM

    What a great reflection post! Eternal love with letters, eh? 🙂 Very well done!

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 5, 2014 at 3:11 PM

      Thank you!

      Reply
  12. Sulekha says:
    May 5, 2014 at 12:29 PM

    Great list…I completed the challenge but my house was in shambles, housekeeping wise 🙂 Kids were well-fed and looked after, hubby not so much, the dog was the pampered kid because of her illness. So what if my laundry got done at midnight and the grocery shopping on weekends, I had a great time participating.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 5, 2014 at 3:14 PM

      Yeah, the house lost out in the month of April, but my body took the biggest hit. No exercise and even less sleep. *sigh* But May is here now. Hooray!

      Reply
  13. Shalini says:
    May 5, 2014 at 10:56 PM

    That’s a grt A to Z reflection post 🙂 🙂

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 6, 2014 at 10:27 AM

      Thank you!

      Reply
  14. Carol Graham says:
    May 6, 2014 at 10:04 AM

    YOU ARE SO CLEVER. And I so very much appreciated your comments on my blog. So happy to have made this connection. What do you think about starting to write for next year’s challenge…now? 🙂

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 6, 2014 at 10:28 AM

      Haha, I think my children, my husband, and my employer might need me back for a while before I get started on next year’s!

      Reply
  15. Cathrina Constantine says:
    May 6, 2014 at 10:47 AM

    Good Post, Loni!! I like the last—Zany!!

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 6, 2014 at 11:14 AM

      That one is a zinger!

      Reply
  16. SD Neeve says:
    May 6, 2014 at 12:47 PM

    Although some of your points are not applicable to me, I still agree with you wholeheartedly! 😉

    It was a pleasure, and a barrel-full of laughs reading your story, and I’m so glad to have found you. Now take a short rest, and get that book written. By the way, I’m loving Thanmir War. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 6, 2014 at 6:30 PM

      I’m so glad I met you. You’ve been one of my favorites throughout this challenge.

      Now, which book would you be referring to? Expanding Murder Most Fowl? Or Isto, Thanmir War’s sequel? And it’s fabulous to hear you’re enjoying Thanmir War. That seriously makes my day. 😀

      Reply
  17. Cat says:
    May 6, 2014 at 12:58 PM

    I like your alphabetical list of take aways (and we’re not talking about UK fast food either!)

    Totally agree with your list. I don’t know how you managed to do the challenge with small kids and a full time job. You’re amazing.

    I thoroughly enjoyed your serial writing and was captivated by your humour and great writing style. Hope to read more of it in future.

    Glad to have met you, Loni and hope to keep in touch. You’re a fine writer and I love your sense of humour.

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 6, 2014 at 9:50 PM

      You were on my mind when I wrote #16. I had thought to myself, I don’t understand poetry. Then I realized, Wait, I really like Cat’s stuff.

      I plan on following you through your story-a-day posts, so you haven’t seen the last of me yet.

      Reply
  18. Arlee Bird says:
    May 6, 2014 at 9:03 PM

    That was very well done. Concise, but you covered a lot of ground. I agree with just about everything.

    And you mentioned “Juggling”. Bonus points for that.

    Lee
    An A to Z Co-Host
    Tossing It Out

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 7, 2014 at 2:14 PM

      Thank you for creating the challenge!

      Reply
  19. G Angela says:
    May 7, 2014 at 4:43 AM

    Beautiful ! Loved the way you presented this post ! I would say smart one … agr ee with you thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 7, 2014 at 2:16 PM

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply
  20. Crystal Collier says:
    May 7, 2014 at 1:17 PM

    That was AWESOME. You totally just completed the challenge all over again. 😉

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 7, 2014 at 2:16 PM

      *shines fingernails on shirt*

      Reply
  21. Monica Deshpande says:
    May 7, 2014 at 1:55 PM

    Congrats on completing the challenge, Loni. I love the A-Z list and I so relate to 5 and 12. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Loni Townsend says:
      May 7, 2014 at 2:20 PM

      They should make lunch hours last for days.

      Reply
  22. sheela says:
    May 9, 2014 at 12:13 AM

    It was a delightful experience indeed….
    no doubt… stress was there, but that was the reason to help us cope up with daily posts…congratulations on the completion of it

    Reply

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