Friday 11 May 2012

A-to-Z Challenge Reflections Post

I'm just going to tell you what really was, based on the questions that were considered worth reflecting on...
Working on the A-to-Z Challenge was wonderful. I took it for the first time, in fact, I just happened to chance upon it in December and I thought to myself, while signing up, 'Oh, so much fun, I'm totally going to have a ready alphabet by the time April comes!'
That did not happen. Not only did I not have a ready steady line of posts, I hadn't even thought of a theme. This blog was never meant for greatness. It is called 'Shreds & Shards', it contained deep and dark poetry of the personal kind, random ramblings of a college student. It began when blogging wasn't so much a fad. Even before this challenge began, I had some 10 odd followers, all fairly close friends or colleagues. And now I have over two scores! I feel loved and honoured, most importantly, read.
It was April 1st! And I thought, what the hell, let's do it. I thought I'd not have a theme and just wrote about 'Atticus'. But then, I logged in the next morning and saw the response... people liked it! So I thought I was going to be posting about fictional characters. I took out a pen and paper, jotted down the first set that popped into my head, from A to Z. That's it. I did think of Q, X, Y, and Z later on, but otherwise I knew at least what I was going to be writing about.
I began visiting other blogs, again, I was overwhelmed by the amount of dedication that people were putting into this challenge. Commenting was never an issue for me, if there was something I had to say, I'd say it, word verification or not!
I was having a ball! I was putting in 15 minutes into my posts, most of them were shoddy, and I was spending another 15 on commenting and replying. That's it. April was a busy month. V and K will vouch for it. Neither of them thought I was going to make it. I was busy at work, busy at home. On the personal front things were piling up one on top of another... it was crazy! Time management could've been an issue but for he fact that here was NO time at all, managed or unmanaged, days and nights were just seamlessly merging into one another. The only saving grace was that I was posting from the other side of the globe as compared to most others, so I had the advantage in terms of time zones! V and K were both amazing, helpful and motivating. They will never know just HOW grateful I am...
So many people in blogsphere said so many kind things, I'm going to feature them all here soon. I'm not doing it now because it isn't fair to hem for me to be jotting their names in a hurry,; I'll do it, and do it well. And next year, I'm probably going to stick to the same theme and have different characters, and my posts will be more prepared. I'm not such a shoddy writer, I am better, I will be better!
For the hosts, you guys were amazing, you were all over the place! It was hard work for me, I can't even imagine what it must've been like for you. Just one selfish thing, I so with this was happening in November and not April! Only because in November, it is 20 degrees here, while in April, it's 40! It's way too hot to be doing anything productive! But that's just me :P
If you read and liked, if you stopped by just today, if you've followed me, thank you. Your words are important, they make me want to be better. Good luck, stay happy, and keep the faith!

There will always be more to write...
Congratulations to all of you!
Udita
udita.banerjee@gmail.com