when we met. | post-challenge reflection. #atozchallenge

Posted on 4 May 2022 by what sandra thinks

when we met. reflection.

I am a total bitch because I’m just going to say this:
I really don’t love any of the a to z graphics.

As I’m sure you are dying to know, here are my thoughts on this year’s a to z challenge.

Traffic
I had about the same total views this April as I did last April. I didn’t expect an increase because I hadn’t been blogging as actively/regularly during the months between Aprils.

My heaviest traffic day was April 19, the day I posted p/phone, but my most liked post was c/crush, which was also the one with the most comments. Maybe people like a fun, flirty high school romance. I’ll have to revisit that.

Theme
I loved my theme this year. I think it may be my favorite of all seven years, followed by 2018 Dear Diary. I guess I like my fiction themes. And again, as I mentioned in my theme reveal post, thank you to Jayden (jrvincente) who gave me the idea for this year’s theme.

Everything else
I probably don’t need to tell you that one of the best parts of this year’s challenge was the extensive research I did to find the perfect image (or as close as I could get to perfect) for each letter. I even fell in love.

I mean, seriously, is this guy even human?
(Simone Bredariol, as if you didn’t know by now.)

I also spent an insane amount of time coming up with names for all of my characters. I made a spreadsheet so I didn’t accidentally use the same name twice. (I know. A fucking spreadsheet. I am such a nerd.)

I wish I could develop every single one of my posts into a full story. I suppose that could be a goal, but I’d be setting myself up for failure. I’m having trouble coming up with entire plots which is the reason this theme came to be in the first place.

My top ten
(in alphabetical order because I can’t decide which is actually my favorite)
c/crush
e/elevator
i/inheritance
l/locker room
m/mechanic
p/phone
t/toddler
u/upset
v/vacation
w/wedding

Fun facts
I wrote the last post, z/zipper, first. I wrote x/x-ray last.

My favorite names I used are Enzo (from m/mechanic) and Delaney (from v/vacation).

If you made me choose my favorite picture from the whole month, after I finished cursing you for making me pick only one, I would choose this one from m/mechanic.

I want to lick his… arm. For starters.

I now have 332 pictures of Simone Bredariol on my laptop. Excessive, I know. Let’s not talk about it.

I have no idea what I’m going to post now that this challenge is over. I feel like I need a push, like the challenge I made up in February and this one that I just finished. Failing that, I will probably fall into posting about my life struggles again, and I don’t think anyone wants that. However, I have pretty much no support system, so I come here.

• • •

If you missed any of my a to z posts or want to read them again, you can go to the top menu and select a-to-z challenge, then a-to-z challenge 2022. Or click here. The list will come up in reverse order, but you don’t have to read them in order so that doesn’t matter.

I could post a list of links for all of the letters (even though I’ve linked twelve of them already in this post). If you really want that, let me know and I’ll do it. Because I’m a people pleaser. But not for people I don’t like. So I guess I’m not much of a people pleaser. You know, because I hate people. But not you. You’re the best kind of people.

—♥—


And we return to ‘hot guy at the end of every post’.
Even though this post has already been heated up repeatedly by my favorite Italian. 

p.s. — Do you think anyone would notice if I ran off to Italy and never returned?

Every hot guy in this post: delicious Italian model Simone Bredariol


©2022 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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16 Responses to when we met. | post-challenge reflection. #atozchallenge

  1. scr4pl80 says:
    4 May 2022 at 9:26 pm

    Had a good time reading your posts and looking at your fun pictures. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Ronel Janse van Vuuren says:
    5 May 2022 at 7:42 am

    Congrats on finishing the challenge! He is yummy… As for support: why not check out the Insecure Writer’s Support Group? We have Facebook, blogging, Twitter and Instagram — and we meet once a month via blogging to support each other. https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/about-us.html

    Ronel visiting for A-Z Challenge Reflections 2022

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. TheDreamGirlWrites says:
    8 May 2022 at 12:15 pm

    Again, I loved the challenge!
    And you know what? No pressure for you to make it to a full-fledged story
    Even if next year you do the same theme- I will read the heck out of it!!!
    Alsoo, you could pick one or two of these stories and write another scene for the A-Z!
    I know by suggesting this all I did is set myself up for a year-long waiting xD
    Anyway,
    I agree the Mechanic photo has to be the hottest!!!! 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • what sandra thinks says:
      9 May 2022 at 12:06 pm

      I’m glad you agree on the mechanic picture. My daughter doesn’t see the attraction. I think she may have been switched at birth. 😀 (Kidding! She looks too much like me!)

      I have some ideas for continuing some of these little stories. I’ve made notes or started writing more for phone, elevator, upset, crush, inheritance, locker room, toddler, wedding… and maybe a few more!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. timsbrannan says:
    9 May 2022 at 2:41 pm

    Excellent and well done this year. And 332 images is not excessive. 😉
    Congrats on completing the challenge!
    —
    Tim Brannan
    The Other Side | The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. jrvincente says:
    12 May 2022 at 7:48 am

    Even though I didn’t read a single one until May, I’m so glad you did this theme! It was fun and light and lovely. I hope you turn some into something more, however it works for you. Thank you for writing! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. mydangblog says:
    15 May 2022 at 3:09 pm

    Do you name your characters after people you know? I often do that–I even have contests where that’s the prize, lol!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • what sandra thinks says:
      15 May 2022 at 4:17 pm

      Sometimes I do, but most of the time I don’t. I seem to have an issue where I associate names so closely with people that I sometimes can’t separate that association from a character in my head. I especially can’t use my kids names. That just feels very weird. Although I have named mean characters after people I don’t like in my real life. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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