Reflecting on the A to Z Challenge

Well, I made it to the end of the A to Z Challenge!

I found the challenge through a fellow OUer who mentioned it on her blog. I'm always up for a challenge and so signed up for it without too much thought. Initially I just liked the idea of doing something that would prompt me to write a blog post every day. Before I started the challenge I had a habit of posting my Project 52 post on a Sunday and then posting a book review post at some point during the week, but I wasn't religious about it.

Taking part in the Challenge prompted me to get into an actual routine with my blogging. Even before April started I was able to start posting a blog post each day. Once I found a routine that worked for me (Project 52 on Sunday, book review on Tuesday, Day Zero Project on a Thursday with film reviews, posts about my pets and other things slotted in as they fit) it became really easy to schedule posts. I was very impressed that I was able to achieve one of the things I'd set out to do well before the Challenge started.

I picked my struggles with infertility as a theme for the Challenge purely because it's something that's very close to home for me and because I thought it would be more interesting than just talking about myself for the month. I'd started out planning to just do random 'About Me' blog posts, but when I found that lots of the ideas I'd had were relating to infertility it just made sense to just write about that.

What's kind of interesting is that since I started the Challenge (I started writing the posts for it way back at the beginning of March) our plan for starting a family has changed. I like to think that actually taking part in the Challenge has helped that, Mr Click and I have been talking about things and everything's just come together for us at the right time, but doing the Challenge has meant I've been thinking about it a little more than I might otherwise have been.

The Challenge has also helped to get me more people visiting my blog. I've noticed a big spike in visitors and definitely a lot more comments. I've been grateful for that, not only because it's nice to get a bit of traffic but also because it's allowed me to find some new blogs as well. I've been working through the list on the site though I've not been able to read five a day or comment on that number (mainly because I'm doing it on my phone and when I started doing that way back in March it really ate into my download limit on my phone). I've been looking at blogs taking part in the Challenge whenever I have a chance and following any that appeal to me. I've also been making a conscious effort to make comments on posts that I like or that I have something to say about.

I'll probably still be working through the list of blogs on the Challenge site until about July but I'm determined to look at them all. I've really enjoyed reading other people's blogs, there's been such a mix of topics. I've tended to prefer the ones which follow a theme, though there are others which I've enjoyed which are more of a pick and mix depending on what the blogger has been up to that day.

I'm definitely planning on taking part in the next A to Z Challenge. I'm hoping that maybe next year my theme can be 'being pregnant' or 'having a newborn', if not I'm sure I'll come up with something fun and interesting. It's been good fun and I've made some new friends. Definitely a positive blogging experience.

Though I am quite looking forward to going back to one blog post a day rather than having to write two at a time!