Reflections #AtoZChallenge 2017

So my post is fashionably late - you know, life happens!

First of all, thank you so much to the organizers who put so much time & effort into the challenge each year - Bravo! 

Initially, I wasn't too sure about the new format the Challenge was done in.  But I kept an open mind and discovered I really liked it!   Yes, adding my links to both the FB page of the day and the blog post meant some extra effort, but it only took like 3 minutes.  And I only say 3 minutes because the Google Drive document where my signature & clickable link are saved takes forever to open!  

I only have to add that I'd like to see the Twitter Chats come back.. They were a lot of fun and thought-provoking in 140 characters!

I appreciated that when most people added their own links for the day, they put a very brief summary of what their topic was, so it was really easy to find other topics that I'd be interested in reading!  So, besides being assured that I was going to an actual valid post for the challenge, it was fun to scroll thru and just see how many different ideas came up for each letter.  There are some creative people out there - not just the variety of ideas in general, but the stories & artwork & poetry, etc! 

That being said - I did a lot more visiting & commenting on (and following!) other blogs because it was easier to find them.   I started out good for the first half of the alphabet with answering comments, but that fizzled out and I don't even know why!  So that's something I will continue to work on next year.  On the other hand, that first half or so was a lot better than I've done in the past, so baby steps!   

Speaking of which.... how about a shout out to some fabulous bloggers?  

Janet at Janet's Smiles  - the happy title of her blog drew me in at first and then I was so entertained with her concert memories via scrapbook!  She also nominated me for a Mystery Blogger Award that I still plan on doing a post on - thanks, Janet!

Bob at Bob's Home for Writing - (I started following him during a previous A-Z challenge!) showed us amazing houses and THEN filled us in on the history of them  ~swoon~   I love stuff like that. 

Joy at The Joyous Living - covered all the bases with A.R.T.  (Artists / Theater / Reading)  and I saw a lot of artists that I had to look up because I wanted to see more of their work and added to my "need to read" list. 

Barbara at Life & Faith in Caneyhead - another blogger I started following in a previous year - she told her perspectives on a whole lot of different topics and I think opened a lot of people's eyes.

Megan at Megan Morgan, Author - I laughed so hard at her posts on why NOT to be a writer!  

Jacqui at worddreams... - she covered more writing genres than I even knew existed and for being such a dedicated commenter!

Tamara at Part-Time Working Hockey Mom - who shared some fantastic recipes & blogged about getting healthier, and I need all the inspiration I can get in that department!  

Ericka at A Quiet Girl's Musings of a World That Talks Too Much - who posted about all things 1992, which was a pretty good year for me so it was a fun trip down memory lane! 

So this was actually my 6th year participating and my 12th challenge overall (I ambitiously did 3 blogs in 2012 & 2013, then dropped to 2 blogs in 2014 & 2015, then just one for 2016 & 2017) and I will most definitely be doing it again in 2018.  

I originally had a different topic in mind for this year, but I wanted to use my own original photos and didn't plan well so therefore it clearly didn't happen.  So since I already have a list of letters put together for this other theme, I'll keep that for 2018 and get my butt out there and get some pics!