Reflections - A to Z Challenge !!

26 Posts in a month !! The feeling is yet to sink in !!

Yes. I have written 26 posts in 30 days after accepting the AtoZ Challenge. I wanted to take up this challenge last year but let it slip by. Did not want to let it go this year and took it up, in the last moment. I finalized my theme at the list minute and was not very sure about how or what I would write. 

As if the challenge in itself was not daunting enough, I made it more difficult for myself by complicating it. The theme for my challenge was Emotions, where I decided to write about one emotion every day. The complication kicked in when I decided to write a story and express each emotion thru a character in the story. 

The adrenaline rush helped me zip through the first few days. But as days passed by, the amount of time I spent on my blog increased exponentially. More than the actual writing, it was building the story line which was exhausting. I had to be sure of defining every character, getting the story line right to ensure continuity and on top of all this, stick to the emotion beginning with the alphabet for the day !!

The last week of the challenge was even tougher. Making sure the story had a proper ending was one challenge but the biggest challenge was to find emotions that begin with letters X, Y and Z. 

As I look back at all the posts now, I can't help but feel proud of myself. Having written a grand total of 20 posts in 5 years, I have now written 26 posts in the last 30 days. There were no scheduled posts, making sure I blogged on every day. I missed out posting on two days and had to cover up the next day with two posts. 

I have to admit, watching the page views increase everyday gave me the confidence to keep writing. A big thank you to all the bloggers who stopped by my blog and to the generous ones who commented on the posts. It felt great to read comments from people across the globe. 

This challenge would not have been possible without the help of  three people. 

To Abhi, who lent a patient ear every time I discussed about the story and the characters. She was my go to option every time I needed to visualize a character or take the story forward. Her curiosity about how the story would shape up, made sure I put in more effort every time I wrote. She was also generous enough in letting me write at home while she took care of the kid

A big thank you to my friend Cauvery for her constant support, encouragement and feedback. She was the one who introduced me to the world of blogging and made me write my first blog 7 years ago. ;-). She is a brilliant writer and I really wish and hope I can write like her one day. You can read her posts at www.countdownbegun.wordpress.com

My friend and colleague Dinesh, who was the self appointed story consultant during the challenge. We debated every character and more often than not ended up disagreeing with each other. His critical feedback on every post made sure the story stayed on track.  

Finally, a special mention to the entire team at A to Z Challenge for their super effort in pulling this off. Their response to any queries through email was quick and helpful. Thank You !!