It is the final week of the A to Z Challenge. Congratulations to all the participants who have made it this far! The final week will be challenging as these letters are little harder to find topics. Today's topic for me is Underachieving and how it relates to the A to Z Challenge. First off I have been underachieving at the A to Z Challenge. You might say Mike you have had a post for each letter you aren't underachieving! However, I am.
I am underachieving at my visits to other blogs. I set a goal to make 300 visits, through yesterday I have 177 visits. I will reach my goal this week. Yes, I know you can visit after April ends. I will do that but those are in addition to my 300 goal.
I have underachieved at visiting bloggers that I don't already follow. I've done this challenge since 2011 so a lot of people I follow do the challenge which is great. It also means they are the blogs I usually visit first. I have stumbled out to a few new to me blogs but not enough for me.
How are you doing with the challenge? Are you underachieving at the challenge? How are your page views doing during the challenge? Please feel free to leave a comment.
Do you know anybody whose blog isn't get the results they hoped from the challenge? Do you have any recommendations for blogs I might enjoy visiting?
Well happy blogging! The end is near.
14 comments:
I don't feel like you are underachieving at all. I think you have a high goal! But I agree, I am trying so hard to meet new people and make it to all kinds of different blogs- new and old!
I appreciate your visits and comments. You are achieving a lot!
I'm right there with you, Mike. I have visited a few new blogs every day but not the number I'd like to. I have used Sundays to discover new blogs also. I'm looking forward to the end as always but it is fun.
Susan Says
I think my visits have been fairly moderate. I don't think I'm underachieving as I have been putting a lot of work into it this year.
I just wish a few more would visit my blog of the people who I visit on a daily basis. Not everyone does. I've got a lot of thought on that, and replying and all that which I'll be highlighting in an upcoming post A-Z entry, "Everyone's Invited to my House for the After A-Z Party". Which will be my observations.
Cheers! You are doing great!
Hey Mike,
You're doing great. But I hear what you're saying. I find that I visit many of the blogs that I follow and I've made a point of visiting as often as possible all my BOTB friends, and then when I'm done with all that, there still needs to be time to reach out to new blogs. I've done fairly well at new and different blogs but I can tell you the one thing that helped me do that was being an A-Z Minion this year. I have an obligation to visit a certain number of blogs each day/week so that has exposed me to new blogs that I wouldn't have otherwise happened upon.
I know the A-Z Road Trip is a great idea and a way to get to blogs that we missed during the A-Z but I found last year that the number of visits I made and the number of visits I received from the Road Trip fizzled out pretty quickly. I think by then people are just burned out by the end of the challenge.
Having a goal of 300 new blogs is admirable and the fact that you've achieved 177 so far is a feat worth celebrating. Don't be too hard on yourself. You're doing great!
Michele at Angels Bark
I'm keeping my head above water...barely. I only do the recommended 5 new blogs a day, and I can keep up with that. It's just keeping up with the regulars... Lots of time. One week left...
My blog visits are definitely higher, but that's not why I chose to participate. I chose to do this because, in the most simple explanation, I love a good challenge. I like to see if I can set a goal and then achieve it. Sure, some additional traffic to my blog is nice, but I'm mainly doing this for me. I agree with you, this week is going to be harder. My writing is running out of steam, work is getting crazy and taking more of my time, and I've had other things going on. I have made attempts at visiting other blogs, not as many as I would like, but I'm doing the best I can, ya know? I'm only human and there are just so many hours in the day.
Glad our blogging paths crossed. You never did say, but are you from WV? You said you went to Concord, but I don't think you mentioned if you were a native West Virginian.
I still have to write Y, but I can ramble about YouTube if I can't come up with anything better.
I'm saving my blog recs for May, when I can't think of topics.
I did a blog challenge once before, plus several NaNos, so I felt pretty confident I could complete the blogging part of the challenge. As some others have mentioned, I didn't take into account the benefit or the time requirement of visiting the other blogs. So that's what has been both a lovely unexpected bonus and a huge unexpected time drain (although now I think of it as an investment).
As a Type A, I really, really want to visit each and every blog participating, so I can't say I feel too sad about seeing the list shrink every day - thank you admins!! LOL Like a dope, my initial strategy was to start at #1. Then I noticed your sound advice to start at my own number so the blogs in the higher numbers (like mine) would feel some love also. I'm doing a hybrid. Some days I pick a number, mainly at random, and work from there. Other days, I try to visit all bloggers who are engaging either on FB or Twitter or with other blogs I also have commented on. I keep a sheet of lined notebook paper handy and try to fill each line with a blog I have visited during the day. It works out to 20 or so a day.
As I'm working my way through my daily blog visits, I put a star by the blogs I really enjoy either because they are my tribe or they're just amazing. Would you care speculate on the ratio of blogs visited to blogs starred?
My goal is to eventually reach out to every blog that is still on the A-Z list. I won't finish by 4/30, so I hope you leave the list up after the challenge is over.
As for the blogging, I've got topics selected for all but Y, which as you all know is half the battle. Maybe there will be more than one post about YouTube on 4/29 . . .
Thanks to all (like Mike) who have dropped by my blog and taken the time to interact. Now I know how much effort this entails. I want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time from your other writing projects to interact with me and my fellow bloggers.
You know, I started writing in the Challenge in 2013 and because I was down in the lower half, I immediately started visiting those blogs in the lower half. In 2014, I had a placement a little higher, but I kept to my way of visiting the blogs at the lowest end of the scale and working upward. I have been doing that ever since. I don't think I'm underachieving. I have made it my goal to visit those blogs that I follow and five to ten new blogs daily.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself.
Visiting from the A to Z Blog Challenge.
Shalom,
Patricia @ EverythingMustChange
This is my third A to Z Challenge and yes, I'm definitely underachieving. :( Ran out of pre-written posts after H and have been scrambling ever since. The hardest part for me has been responding to comments and making return visits while still having to write the daily entries. Next time, I SWEAR they will all be done and ready to go ahead of time. Getting sick this year threw that plan out the window. Don't feel bad - sounds like you're doing great, Mike! :)
No I am originally from Virginia but lived in Harpers Ferry for while as well
Well I have reached my goal and been visiting a lot of new blogs lately
Well I have reached my goal and been visiting a lot of new blogs lately
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