A-OK and not Zero-sum: A-Z Reflections

(: Wah! kya party hai, boss! Pura blogosphere thumakda!* :)

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger (and/or Friend!) and read whichever you prefer :

 The short version

I had great fun this A-Z, as always. Hooked! Beyond delighted to grab my third survivor badge.  Looking forward to my fourth already!

The L-o-ng Version

First off, I got a pile of books, a totally unforeseen bonanza! One of poetry (OMG humongous yay!), one of short stories, (Parallels: Felix Was Here!!! a gem of a book, thoroughly enjoyed it, thoroughly recommend it!), a novel set in Egypt! that I've been hankering to read forever, and then another steampunk/alternate history. Can't believe it still! What’s not to love??  

Heartfelt thanks for these go out to Michelle Wallace at Writer in Transit, Dean K Miller, L. G. Keltner at Writing off the Edge, and last but not least, to Roland Yeomans at Writing in the Crosshairs.  

I rarely look at blog stats, too much like work. But I did run a quick comparison with A-Z last year, and the views were down 10%, the visitor comments went way, way off the charts.  Yup, I know.  It doesn’t make any sense. This is why I don’t look :)

Despite my own happy-baffled state of stats, I saw blogposts with few or no comments. Commenting’s been discussed threadbare many times, so I’m not saying anything new.  A core, relatively small group of bloggers visits and comments/reciprocates every year. The rest don’t engage.   I don’t have the foggiest why. Confused! 

Luckily, this is also something I have no control over, so no need to stress :) What I do have control over is my own involvement and reciprocation, and that's my focus. This year I freed up my time by scheduling practically 100% of the content here, and used that time to read/comment instead. I read heaps of superbly amazing posts, viewed equally mind blowing photographs, learnt a raft of new stuff, connected and reconnected with bloggers known and new.  (Few blogs that I particularly enjoyed were Relax n Rave, Potpouri and Samantha Redstreake Geary's.) I did some things better this year than previously. I also found some things which I need to improve at. What more can one ask? Happy.  

One of the negatives I encountered - sites aggressively peddling products on A-Z, a first.  Discreet promotion is fine, embedding links etc, and I appreciate a creative and innovative promotional campaign as well as anybody else.  But pushy, in-my-face, thinly-veiled sales pitches masquerading as posts felt rather off-putting.  

For me, the good mostly outweighs the bad and ugly as a general rule.  Most things, A-Z no exception, have benefits which can't be inserted into any post. I have already mentioned one instance in a March entry. There's also the addition of 26 researched, themed posts into the archives which continue to draw visitors after the blogfest is over. There are the writing related ideas sparked off here and there, the sharpening of the writing itself, the nuggets of self-awareness. Okay, let me just say the A-Z acts like a ginormous, diffuse, slow-release prompt. Then there are the connects with individuals, the brightest sparks of all. How does one even put a value on all of these? 


The returns depend on what one invests and also what one wants to get out of it. I personally have never had any cause to complain, always get a decent enough ROI :)  


In short, I had great fun this A-Z, as always. Hooked! Beyond delighted to grab my third survivor badge.  Looking forward to my fourth already!

Posted for the A-Z Reflections, click the link to read other bloggers recap their experience. 

A final round of applause for the A-Z team

Arlee Bird @ Tossing it Out
Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh
Jeremy Hawkins @ Hollywood Nuts
Damyanti Biswas @ Daily Write
Heather M. Gardner @ The Waiting is the Hardest Part
Author AJ Lauer
Pam Brown Margolis @ An Unconventional Librarian
Zalka Csenge Virág @ The Multicolored Diary
Joy Campbell @ The Character Depot

John Holton @The Sound of One Hand Typing 


and for the visitors and commenters who kept the morale high and the words fizzing and popping.  

* Borrowing and paraphrasing two famous Bollywood based lines.  ~ Wah, kya scene hai! means wow, what a scene! the title of a 1990's TV programme, and Sara London thumakda is a number from a very successful 2014 Bollywood film, meaning 'the whole of London's dancing'.