I really hated A-Z because it caused bloggers to write about what they HAD to write about rather than what they WANTED to write about. Or at best, figuring out a way to hammer a square peg into a round hole to accomplish both.
As Herb says above, I enjoyed some more than others. It needn't need to be the "square peg in round holes" that Greg mentions though as many bloggers blog more than once a day and when you're covering subjects as broad as RPGs, for instance, it's not that difficult to cook something up in advance for a single post a day.
I wish I'd participated now as the discipline it required probably would have been a useful focus to my usual ramblings. I hope something similar is initiated next year (but not next month!)
As a participant I found it both an enjoyable and a frustrating exercise. I used it to prove to myself I could be creative rather than lazy and from that perspective it was a success. However, halfway through the month I lost enthusiasm and wanted to return to my normal blogging. I have a self-imposed one blog per day limit and so I felt locked into the A-Z. In the end I dropped out after 'R' in order to return to normal services.
As a reader of other people's blogs, my pleasure or displeasure subjectively depended on the subject matter. Some efforts were pure gold, others were on subjects that didn't interest me, and in the latter case that meant after a week or two I was frustrated by the thought I would have to wait weeks for those bloggers to return to their normally very interesting blogging.
All in all it was a good exercise, but I won't be participating in it again.
I didn't mind the concept at all. As "seaofstarsrpg" noted, I didn't add new blogs to my reading list just because they were participating in the challenge. I just kept reading the same ones that I normally read. Good writing is good writing, and the "challenge" shouldn't have stifled anyone's creativity.
I didn't come across any of my regular blogs that were participating in the challenge whose A-Z posts bugged me. To me, they were just writing what they would normally write, but assigning a letter to them.
For example, here on your blog, you just kept talking about subjects that interested you, but they just happened to be in order alphabetically. I thought that was cool.
I was glad Grognardia, Jovial priest, quicklyquietlycarefully and austrodavicus did it, because they all wrote outside their usual blogging schedule on interesting themes. I think I'd like to see theme months in future (or maybe weeks), because it can lead to creative stretching. I've been inspired to do a series of posts on artists by the challenge, though I won't get to it for some weeks.
The A-Z was quite a mixed bag for me, some entries were very interesting and enjoyable, others sounded a bit forced. Overall I think it was a decent attempt to do something different.
as was said before: it felt too forced sometimes. In places it was awesome, but in others plain boring. I actually stopped really reading that many blogs this month because there didn't seem to come anything really interesting. One didn't mind when some people were doing it, but one would have read them anyway, but some others were just... meh.
I enjoyed it and some other blogs. I didn't in other places.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest reason I enjoyed it here is it didn't seem forced. If you hadn't labeled them I wouldn't have known you did it.
I really hated A-Z because it caused bloggers to write about what they HAD to write about rather than what they WANTED to write about. Or at best, figuring out a way to hammer a square peg into a round hole to accomplish both.
ReplyDeleteAs Herb says above, I enjoyed some more than others. It needn't need to be the "square peg in round holes" that Greg mentions though as many bloggers blog more than once a day and when you're covering subjects as broad as RPGs, for instance, it's not that difficult to cook something up in advance for a single post a day.
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd participated now as the discipline it required probably would have been a useful focus to my usual ramblings. I hope something similar is initiated next year (but not next month!)
Yes. It was fun, but it did rather dominate my posts for the month.
ReplyDeleteIt was an interesting challenge and acted as a good excuse for learning about lesser Greco-Roman deities.
I did not go out of my way to read A to Z posts just because of that, I just kept reading the people I usually read.
As a participant I found it both an enjoyable and a frustrating exercise. I used it to prove to myself I could be creative rather than lazy and from that perspective it was a success. However, halfway through the month I lost enthusiasm and wanted to return to my normal blogging. I have a self-imposed one blog per day limit and so I felt locked into the A-Z. In the end I dropped out after 'R' in order to return to normal services.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader of other people's blogs, my pleasure or displeasure subjectively depended on the subject matter. Some efforts were pure gold, others were on subjects that didn't interest me, and in the latter case that meant after a week or two I was frustrated by the thought I would have to wait weeks for those bloggers to return to their normally very interesting blogging.
All in all it was a good exercise, but I won't be participating in it again.
I didn't mind the concept at all. As "seaofstarsrpg" noted, I didn't add new blogs to my reading list just because they were participating in the challenge. I just kept reading the same ones that I normally read. Good writing is good writing, and the "challenge" shouldn't have stifled anyone's creativity.
ReplyDeleteI didn't come across any of my regular blogs that were participating in the challenge whose A-Z posts bugged me. To me, they were just writing what they would normally write, but assigning a letter to them.
For example, here on your blog, you just kept talking about subjects that interested you, but they just happened to be in order alphabetically. I thought that was cool.
Cheers for finishing the challenge!
I was glad Grognardia, Jovial priest, quicklyquietlycarefully and austrodavicus did it, because they all wrote outside their usual blogging schedule on interesting themes. I think I'd like to see theme months in future (or maybe weeks), because it can lead to creative stretching. I've been inspired to do a series of posts on artists by the challenge, though I won't get to it for some weeks.
ReplyDeleteThe A-Z was quite a mixed bag for me, some entries were very interesting and enjoyable, others sounded a bit forced. Overall I think it was a decent attempt to do something different.
ReplyDeleteas was said before: it felt too forced sometimes. In places it was awesome, but in others plain boring. I actually stopped really reading that many blogs this month because there didn't seem to come anything really interesting.
ReplyDeleteOne didn't mind when some people were doing it, but one would have read them anyway, but some others were just... meh.