It's almost time for the off in the A to Z Challenge for 2015. I signed up last month, and entered a new blog I'm hoping to expand. And yesterday I declared my intent and announced the subjects and theme of my challenge posts.
Last time I answered the challenge, I only reached the letter G. Even so, my Google rankings soared and I met many other bloggers, found some very useful blogs and learned a lot about what makes a successful post. This time I am determined to do better.
There is a great camaraderie about working on a blogging challenge. There is the excitement of knowing others are looking at your posts and every day they must be the best possible. There is the inspiration of reading new, unknown blogs both in your own field and in completely unrelated subjects.
Speed up your writing
For me, the challenge is also in commenting on five other blogs per day. I am apt to anguish about writing, Even writing a comment can take me far too long. Doing it day after day speeds me up dramatically.
Nine days left for registration and already 1200 blogs are involved. I spent hours wading through them yesterday. Without knowing where I am on the list, I can't find the following blogs I must visit to leave comments. Panic set in until at last I found me sitting at 629.
Plan for Success
- Any challenge is easier with planning. A month of daily blog posts with only Sundays off for good behavior is arduous.
- My theme--like the name of my new blog-- is Author Support.
As I think of anything that might fit the alphabetical article headings, I set up a draft blog post with the title already there. A theme is not essential but it ties the posts together and makes it more cohesive and fun for readers.
- Make posts short and to the point. Bloggers have to visit five blogs a day. There will be no time to read long articles.
- Vary content by using clip art, photos, podcasts and videos.
- Make each post useful and fun.
What do you think of writing challenges? Love them or hate them? Leave an opinion in the comments below and if you register for the A to Z Challenge for April, let me know your registration number so I can visit :-)
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| Anne Duguid Knol |
A local and national journalist in the U.K., Anne is now a fiction editor for award-winning American and Canadian publishers. As a new author, she shares writing tips and insights at her very new Author Support blog: http://www.authorsupport.net
Her novella, ShriekWeek is published by The Wild Rose Press.
