The A to Z Challenge really started for me back a few month in preparation for April. I began tracking the A to Z challenge website and gaining tips and tricks for how to prepare, as well as how to get and give the most in the challenge. And I did learn oodles from that daily check in. I practiced daily what I was learning, like visiting blogs of those on the list and prewriting some of the A to Z entries. Both of these were huge helps. In fact, if I participate next year, and right now I think I will, I’ll start even earlier and try to not only get most prewritten but also pre-posted, which I did not do until we got very close to the kick-off.
Starting off in April wasn’t too tough. I was able to get a week’s worth of pre-posts ready to go, and so the daily 5 new blog visits and revisiting those who became blogging friends or those blogs that really intrigued me or those that were kind enough to stop by my blog was not initially too difficult. However, as I began to fall behind on the rest of life, running to catch up, and as I didn’t have a week in advance ready anymore, if even a day, and as the revisits mounted up, well the CHALLENGE of the event began to challenge me.
I imagine I am not much different than others in this regard. At that point I not only had to catch up some days with life outside of the blogosphere, I started to feel like I had to catch up with life in blogland as well, because I am fanatical about keeping my commitments, and I made a commitment to visit as well as write my own entry. So by golly, I was going to do it!
In spite of the stress in the second half, what a joy it has been connecting with the like-minded, coming to understand the not-so-like-minded, visiting places and people from around the world, being inspired by the young, the old, and the simply inspiring, and so much more that many of us would never have been exposed to. It has been a truly growing experience. Not only writing everyday in this way, but also connecting in a way that is, well, out of this world in more ways than one, I have found myself very deeply contemplative on some points and prayerful for new people. The fun, the inspiration, the challenge, have all been a healthy stretch.
I am very grateful that God laid it on Arlee’s heart to get this off the ground those few years back. It is incredible how many people’s lives around the world A to Z has touched and how it has connected so many of us in such a good way. Recently I was listening to a speaker who was addressing the current state of our information age that we know so many things that in reality are trivial and unnecessary to our daily lives, and yet we don’t know what is happening in our neighbors lives. True and sad. Yet this challenge brought lives together in an explosion of discovery. Perhaps some of it was trivial and unnecessary, but I have to say I do feel like it did add to the quality of my life, my personal development, and my relationships across the spectrum of this world and the cyber-world. Thank you Arlee and thank you to all of you who have connected with me through this A-Z adventure.
What's Blog Blitz? On a intermittent though semi-regular basis, someone is selected to received a visit from the rest of the group. Since there are nearly 500 bloggers on the list, and growing, even if everyone can't participate, the blitzee still receives a spike in comments. What a nice treat for a blogger. Thanks DL for coming up with this great idea. It's been a pleasure to participate in this wonderful blogging community of blitzers. 
