dear diary | 2018 a-to-z reflections #atozchallenge

Posted on 7 May 2018 by what sandra thinks

This is the post where I’m supposed to reflect on this year’s challenge. Maybe it’s just me, but ‘reflections‘ sounds so cheesy. Yeah, it probably is just me.

I do have some thoughts…

thought #1
I loved my theme this year. (Thanks M!) I have been in a fiction-writing slump for a long time. Months. Many of them. It made me so sad. But somehow, I was able to write this story (maybe because it isn’t 100% fiction?)… And I was able to post daily. I amazed myself. Of course, unfortunately, now that the challenge is over, I’m empty again. Right back into the slump.

thought #2
Writing so many posts before the start of April helped me enormously. Last year, I wrote every post the night before and I was a giant stress ball. (Of course, last year I decided to do two themes so that was totally idiotic.)

thought #3
However, despite thought #2, I’m glad I didn’t write all of my posts before April. And I’m glad I didn’t schedule any of them before the challenge began. I like to proofread everything a hundred times… and edit… and make every post the best I possibly can. And I like to read along with all of you throughout the month. Scheduling them all ahead of time kind of feels like I’m not even doing the challenge… so what’s the point?

thought #4
I wasn’t great about keeping up with others’ challenge posts the whole time. It wasn’t just working on my own posts… it was also my life… my mind… my heart. All of which are a messy and broken.

thought #5
I really like the way the challenge was managed this year… with the Master List and the daily lists for each letter throughout the challenge. I think it worked really well. I liked it way more than commenting with my post link every day on the a-to-z blog. I kind of hated that.

thought #6
I am very curious which characters or parts of the story you thought were my reality vs. my fiction. Please share! I really want to know. I thought about making a whole separate post asking this very thing… and maybe I will still do that. But please do share here!

• • •

Thanks to everyone for the kindness and support throughout this challenge. I have created a post with a list of links to all of my a-to-z posts. In alphabetical order, of course. [That post will be live shortly.]

what sandra thinks
• • •
©2018 what sandra thinks

About what sandra thinks

Sandra is a writer, sometimes blogger, poet, artist, emotional disaster. She thinks far too much and sleeps far too little. Sandra lives in the Northeastern U.S. but dreams of an oceanfront home in Italy, but she would settle for a non-oceanfront home in Italy. She loves books, brutal honesty, coffee, and the color black. She hates insincerity, beer, whipped cream, and facebook. And she is uncomfortable talking about herself in the third person.
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24 Responses to dear diary | 2018 a-to-z reflections #atozchallenge

  1. gigglingfattie says:
    7 May 2018 at 7:35 am

    I am so impressed with your story! For me, I loved having all my posts finished before the start of April. I had one crazy busy month and definitely needed to have that done.

    I agree that the master list and daily link list were great this year. I used both. But I hated having to post my link every day last year. Even though I posted it every day this year (some a day late but still), it felt so much easier than last year. I’m not sure that makes sense to anyone but for some reason it worked for me hehe

    Liked by 1 person

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    • what sandra thinks says:
      7 May 2018 at 7:43 am

      Even with the posts I wrote ahead of April (which I wrote in Word, not directly in WP), I loaded them to WP and scheduled them the night before. That makes me feel like I’m “in” the challenge. Otherwise, I’d be totally hands off and it wouldn’t even feel like I was doing the challenge! But that’s just me. 🙂

      Posting my link to those lists this year was way easier than commenting last year. I liked the lists so much better!

      Liked by 1 person

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      • gigglingfattie says:
        7 May 2018 at 7:51 am

        Haha I did kind of feel that way too a little bit. A little hands off. But I wouldn’t have finisbed if I didn’t. Maybe I will do that next year, write them in word and then post them the day of? Thats a super smart way of doing it! I did that last year too.

        Liked by 1 person

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  2. sonofabeach96 says:
    7 May 2018 at 8:36 am

    I thought most of it was fact, not fiction, with just names changed. That’s the sense I got. 😃

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Meg says:
    7 May 2018 at 9:15 am

    I loved the story! It felt like a real dairy with authentic characters. I could imagine every one of them. 👏

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Arlee Bird says:
    7 May 2018 at 10:35 am

    Thank you for your thoughts (or reflections). Your review of the 2018 Challenge is encouraging and helpful. We’re glad you joined us this year and hope you’ll be back again in 2019.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Bill says:
    7 May 2018 at 12:47 pm

    I never had a thought about any character being real or not. Even looking back, the best I can do is say they were all real to me. But then I like it when real stories are given some twist.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Peter's pondering says:
    7 May 2018 at 4:52 pm

    I totally agree with Bill. The characters were real, and alive. I loved some of them, and I hated one of them, as you obviously did. I would quite happily have helped dispose of the body had you asked!
    Don’t wait for next year’s challenge – get going now – PLEASE!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. jrvincente says:
    7 May 2018 at 9:07 pm

    Your story was great! Thanks for sharing!

    I’m so glad you liked the way the challenge was run! They brought me onboard as a co-host because I was able to pitch the idea of the daily forms, so the feedback is great!

    Sorry you’re hitting that slump again. I know what you mean, though. The end of any challenge is definitely a letdown.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • what sandra thinks says:
      7 May 2018 at 11:50 pm

      Thank you. I’m glad I was able to write my story.

      The daily forms were a great idea. So much better than years past.

      I do always tend to feel lost when a story ends… but I was empty before this one, too. Was hoping this challenge would get me out of the slump for longer than April…!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  8. Marquessa says:
    8 May 2018 at 12:19 am

    You know I loved your story!!! And I can likely guess the “real’ stuff. ☺ Here’s thought…actually, I will DM you instead!😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. Lennon Carlyle says:
    20 May 2018 at 6:20 am

    You did an outstanding job!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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