My second AtoZ Challange is over and let me tell you it didn’t go as I was expecting at all!

My plan was to get the best out of the challenge this year. When I entered last year, I thought I knew what I was getting into (insert polite giggle of commiseration here). The truth is, if only know what the challenge is but you’ve never tried it, you have no idea.
But I was a veteran, this year. This year I was in the know. I was going to blast the challenge.

As soon as my challenge last year was done, I knew what my theme was going to be this year. It was going to be a sort of continuation form last year Roaring Twenties theme. And I was equipped with what I had learned last year (a lot!). So really I was geared up for success.

Plan the hack out of it

I know many says that you can write your posts on the day you post them, and hey, that’s exactly what I did on many occasions last year. Would I advice it? Hell, no! At least not when you’re going with a theme, and certainly not if you go with a theme that requires any kind of research.

And then there’s networking. I learned most of what I know about networking during last year challenge, so I thought I was a lot better-prepared than last year.

In short, I had a plan and this is what it sounded:

1. Brainstorm letters. Right now!

I started brainstorming last summer and only very yearly this year I had all the letters in place. Yes, it does take that long.
I know that many bloggers prefer not to have a theme, because they think it stiffens your creativity. I actually think a theme helps coming up with ideas and it makes the challenge cohesive, which is good for the reader and makes for a better experience for the reader – in my opinion.
Still, some letters will kill you and you have to be very creative with them.

2. It’s never too early to start researching

Of course, this goes with theme that require research. But if they do, by all means start as soon as you can.
I was lucky because I based my challenge on Ogren’s The Jazz Revolution, where I found almost all the ideas I needed a most of the information. But I had to reread the book and take notes, then I had to research more on the internet both for what I already had and for what I didn’t have. Yes, it is as time-consuming as it sounds. In fact, I started researching as soon as NaNoWriMo ended last year.

3. Write as your life depends on it

Last year I thought starting to research and write a couple of month ahead would be more than enough time to be ready (insert polite giggle of commiseration here). This year I took taking notes and writing as two different activities and it was much better.
I set apart the entire month of March to write and edit my posts and I think it shows. Last year I wrote and edited posts as I went, just a couple days in advance when I was lucky. Having my time to write and edit as I need made my challenge of better quality – if I say so myself.

4. Take part in #AZChat

Last year I didn’t even know these chats where happening. I discovered them early in March and I decided to take part. Couldn’t have taken a better decision. I met new people on these chats, I learned about themes in advanced, I decided to follow a few blogs based on the chats. It was such a great fun.

5. Take part in the Theme Reveal

The Theme Reveal is a great head start to the challenge. You learn of a lot of blogs you want to follow and it allows for a lot of people to find you in advance.
For me, the Theme Reveal Day is one of the highlight of the challenge.

6. Beautify your posts

Here’s the thing: what your post looks like is as much important as what you write in it, and because this is a multimedia word, you should offer multimedia sources.
Simple as that.
So I ditched the simple structure of last year and went for a more varied, hopefully more alluring structure. I wanted a title image (Canva, I love you!), a tweetable sentence, link to all major sources I used, at least one pic from the era, one video with a song. And if you think this is going to be a piece-o-cake, think twice. Sure, you may got lucky and fine exactly the right pic and video with your first search. More realistically, you’ll search for tens of minutes before you find what you need. All think considered, my posts (which were already written and edited) took me an average of 40 minutes to put together, with Sensuality breking the record to nearly two hours (I couldn’t find a good title pic to go with it. I created and discarded two before settling with the one with Josephine Baker).
But it’s worth it. I think these little things that are such a pain in the back for us, are actually very much appreciated by reader. Right? Right?

7. You learn from it and that’s a pay-off in itself

This is a bonus. I assure you that, if you have a theme, by the time you’ve done researching and writing, you’ll be very knowledgeable about it. Maybe not an expert, but I assure you that 26 posts about a subject will have you know a lot about it whether you want it or not.

So, as April started, I felt I was in the best position to get the most out of this challenge as I had planned. I was ready!
How to complete the #AtoZChallenge even when life doesn’t collaborate (Reflection Post) Click To Tweet

Life will always happen

The first week was exactly how I expected it. My posts were all scheduled in advance, I replied to all the comments on my blog, I visited and left comments to all commenters, I read and commented on all the blogs I had on my blogroll. By Sunday, I was all caught up with comments and I even had the time to go exploring a few more blogs.
It was beautiful!

Then, on the second week of April, life happened. And hard.
My father had a mild heart attack. I spent two entire days with him at the hospital. He was getting on well, we hoped he would get home soon, instead the doctor told us the episode was mild and didn’t make any damage, but it was a spy of something more serious that had to be sorted out.
They went from thinking to place a stent to having my father have a full fledge open heart surgery to place two bypasses, all in the matter of a week. My brother, sister and me ran around the entire province as my father was moved to four different hospitals specialised in different things, and we worked our time with him around our day jobs and our possibility to move. By the end of the third week, as my father started leaving the bed, the three of us were pretty much cooked up.

My father is well now and getting better by the day. He’s still in rehab at a hospital on Lake Garda (not a bad place at all), and we’re waiting for him to come home in a week or two. This is what matters the most and everything else goes beneath this.

But with regard to my AtoZ Challenge… you’ll imagine what this April did to it. It wasn’t at all the challenge I planned. I could barely keep up with scheduling my posts. I could barely keep up with commenting. Some days I didn’t even open my feedly account to check on the new posts. I didn’t explore the blog list at all.
But what I did plan helped me enjoy the challenge nonetheless. If I hadn’t planned in advance, there would have probably been no challenge for me.

THEMES SHOUT OUT

In spite of everything, the challenge was wonderful. It was wonderful reading and interacting with you all and your enthusiasm and support was so important for me… on so many levels.
So I’d like to share with you some of the blogs I enjoyed the most. I want to thank everyone who commented on my blog and especially those who stuck with me the entire month. You are absolutely awesome, every one of your!

Your Roots Are Showing, Dearie – Nostalgia’s Mystery
This is a full fledged mystery story, even a bit too complicated in places for me – hey, there are code breaking and riddle solving involved, I’ll say no more. But it was so much fun. As it’s often the case for me, character are what make or break a story, and the characters here were just too fun and endearing. The tone was always amusing. It was a great fun to read.

Sophie’s Thoughts and Fumbles – Murder Most Foul!
Another mystery, though written in a very different manner. Sophie outlined the mystery more that actually writing it, and I found it so charming. Not only I enjoyed the story, but I also liked seeing how she organised and plotted it. There are dialogue outlines here, characters’ notes, as well as the skeleton of the plot.
I’m sure there will go a lot more in the actual book, but here you see the heart of the story.

Megan Morgan – Pandora Tacklebox
Or the worse romance ever written in 26 days. Absolutely fantastic read!
Yes, this is a terribly written story, Megan did such a good job. She packed in here all the worse things a write could do, and wrote her story in the worse possible way, then accompanied every chapter with advice on how to actually write a story.
It was interesting and fun.

Athertone Magic Vapour – Who Murdered Lord Cadblister?
Ok ok, I had a thing for stories this year. The point of this challenge was to showcase fictional books (as in, books existing only in a fictional world) but most of these books told a story.
This was a very peculiar challenge, gothic books, beautifully designed, that actually told stories. What can one ask for more?

The Multicoloured Diary – Representation and Diversity in Storytelling
We tend to think that stories in the past didn’t concern themselves with diversity all that much. Zalka, who’s a professional storyteller, showed us that’s not always the case. She showcased a variety of stories where the most diverse people make the coolest things.
A different way to look at folktales.

Write on Sister – Masterplot Theatre
There are many plots in storytelling and most show up time and again. They have a similar structure and similar goal. Robin and Heather explored these masterplots revealing their characteristics and offering examples.

The Art of Not Getting Published – Discover the XVI Century
I can hardly resist a good history blog when I stumble upon one, so I was very happy to discover this. It tells about the XVI century worlds as if it were today, sometimes expanding on different eras too. I don’t think I’m far from truth if I say that the most popular post was about bathrooms thorough the ages.

Knotholes and Textures – Classic Hollywood
Another good history challenge, this one about Hollywood of the Golden Age, from the 1920s to the 1950s. I enjoyed reading this blog because it often crossed subjects with mine. And learning about Hollywood events, gossips, actors, films and the like was just too interesting.

Honestly, I could go on for quite a bit longer.
But you know what? I’ll leave it to you. Which is the blog/blogs that you enjoyed the more last month? Leave the link in the comment. Hey, I might just catch up on what I missed during the month!