Mark Brassington

I came in a day late to the challenge, I had noticed the hashtag #atozchallenge floating around Twitter so I decided to Google it and find out more. 

I have been wanting to do something like this – post a day. I know WordPress are doing a post a day challenge and there was no way I was going to do that – I mean what would I have to talk about for 366 days of the year.

So then came along the A to Z Challenge – 26 posts in one month, I needed a theme though rather than 26 random posts. I thought that way it would be easier and it generally was – the only letter I struggled with was the letter I.

For a writer I enjoyed it, writing everyday with a deadline and purpose was really satisfying (although there were a few slips of the deadline) but I generally posted on the days I was meant. However factoring this into my life with no time to have posted ahead I was literally doing this day by day along with work and family life and so throughout the month of April I admit I have neglected my own writing so that I could complete this challenge. It’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy this and good things didn’t come out of it but the reason I am here in the first place is for my books. I want to write and have published books out there and this is meant to by my ‘Hub’ – the place that I talk about it other things a couple of times a month as long as the writing on my books is going well. I don’t want to just be a blogger with no purpose and forget about my books – I want to write stories. I probably sounds like I am confused but I do love blogging and social networking but I want a balance.

My love of blogging and social networking and brought some great people into my life and I haven’t met any of them. I have had wonderful comments on here and followers of my blog have definitely increased due to the A to Z Challenge and if somehow I saw a job for blogger (which paid good money) I would definitely consider it, any job that would let me write for a salary would suit me. I have enjoyed talking about subjects that I talk about in real life.

So the big question – would I do it again? 

I have been wondering this a lot – would I post pretty much everyday for a month. Yes I would and now I know this challenge exists I would be back but not next year – probably the year afterwards and I will definitely post ahead (maybe start in January)!

Summary:

I enjoyed the blogging but next time I would get a head and start on it earlier to allow myself more time in April. I loved being able to talk about Joss Whedon/Y-The Last Man/Sci-Fi television on my blog and it be okay. I loved the challenge and I loved the writing. I think I would be quiet happy doing something like this for a living. I didn’t enjoy not being on top of it and writing a post at 11pm just so I can post everyday but that can be overcome with better planning. I loved meeting new people and when time allowed visiting other people’s blogs. Overall I really enjoyed this and I am a “A To Z April 2012 Survivor”!

This blog was part of the A to Z Challenge and I hope you enjoyed it and plan to come back for more. To keep up to date by email subscription please refer to the left of the page and if you fancy interacting with me on Twitter I am @markbrassington.