Reflecting on the April Challenge

I made my way through the month of April in a kind of blur, and somehow managed to complete my fourth annual A-to-Z Challenge. Because April was going to be a particularly  busy and difficult month for me, I knew that this time I needed to keep the entries brief and upbeat, without being Pollyannaish. I needed to remember the small, simple joys and pleasures of everyday life. The list wasn’t very well-planned or coherent. About  half of the entries were on subjects that I had come up with in advance, in a quick brainstorming session when I first decided on the theme, while the rest were thought of as I went along.

I wasn’t able to visit and comment on many other blogs regularly or consistently, and still haven’t got around to responding to the fellow-bloggers and other readers who generously posted comments. If I haven’t yet responded to one or more of your comments, I promise that I will do, eventually. As soon as I had pressed Publish on my entry for Z, my workaday life took me back over with a vengeance, and I’m still in its grip.

I wasn’t able to seek out and follow many new blogs, in large part because I didn’t have the time, and to a lesser degree because, I think, the Challenge has got so huge that it is tedious to scroll down the long list and find new, simpatico blogs and bloggers. As a result, many of the people who “Liked” my posts and left comments regularly were bloggers with whom I already keep up and correspond, some of whom I had met in previous years of the Challenge. These included Finding Eliza, Aotearoa Seasons, Modhukori, My Ordinary Moments, Wangiwriter’s Blog, Calmgrove, Nina Grandiose’s Blog, and galeriaredelius. But there were some new discoveries, blogs and bloggers whom I visited and who visited me in turn. These included (and forgive me if I leave out one or two inadvertently): To Wonder at Beauty, Chez Shea, Punarjanmam, The Life of Ordinary Me, Islam on my Mind, Enchanted Forests, The Widow Badass Blog, The Shameful Sheep, Weekends in Maine, The Incoherent Ramblings of a Moose, and Laughing Tree Space. It was a delight to receive a comment from Arlee Bird, the founder of the A-to-Z Challenge, who blogs at Tossing It Out. And as always, I treasure the visits and sustaining comments from friends and family: Hayat, Jaya, Sartaz, Lesley, Jude, Norah, Sarah, and Asghar.

Did the writing bring me joy? I think so, at least momentarily, for the time I was actually caught up in it. Did it bring you joy, or at least a smile to your face from time to time? Do let me know if there were particular posts that moved you.

Thanks to the hard-working organizers of this annual blogging binge, and here’s my A-Z list for 2016, hyperlinked for your convenience.

Bringing Me Joy: Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2016

The Pursuit of Happiness

Accomplishment

Bookshops

Chillies and China

Darjeeling

EastEnders

Friends

The Guardian

Henion’s

India

Jai Jagat!

Kindred

Lemons and Limes

Movement

Night

the Outdoors

Pre-dawn Raga

Quirks

Real Country

Singing

Thrift Stores

Unions

Verandas

Writing

Xýpna / Ξύπνα

Young People

Zoe

 Tell Me Another (Contents to Date)

Chronological Table of Contents

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