It is close to eight years that I am a blogger yet I never undertook the A-Z challenge even once. I always felt that A-Z is not meant for bloggers like me. I presumed it is exclusively meant for ‘serious’ bloggers and not for someone like me who blogs only to unwind and occasionally rant.
Last year, I took part in a couple of blogging challenges and that somewhat boosted my confidence. Therefore this year, I am trying to gather the courage to take the plunge and take part in A-Z Challenge. Few fellow bloggers like Shalini, Rajlakshmi, and Shilpa with her Instagram video for beginners have been very encouraging and I am feeling slightly confident to take part. I am feeling like a nervous young girl who is about to start her new job.
Honestly speaking, even though I have been blogging since long, I am challenged in the department of blog statistics. I consider writing therapeutic and always enjoyed writing and never cared much about my PA, DA or Alexa ranking. I felt happy with few genuine comments and never lost sleep on my blog’s traffic. However, lately, I met few bloggers who explained to me very nicely, why blog statistics is important. Simultaneously, recently I moved into a content marketing profile in my job, and that made me understand the importance of keeping track of blog statistics even more.
April is going to be a crazy month. I am honestly worried about how I would be managing. I would also be travelling in April. I really am sceptical yet I want to try. I am planning to schedule my posts well in advance and in April I would only like to visit my fellow A-Z Challengers. The one thing that I am feeling excited about the A-Z Challenge is the opportunity to meet new bloggers and read new interesting posts based on various themes.
I am sincerely hoping to meet few genuine readers through A-Z Challenge. I am challenging myself to live up to the occasion and write posts that readers would engage. I love to read comments and in April I am hoping to receive loads of comments. However, the comments should be meaningful and engaging and should not be restricted to false praises like ‘nice post’ and ‘great post’. I love when my readers engage and leave meaningful comments. I also love when readers constructively criticise. I always appreciate when a reader points out grammatical or typographical errors. I absolutely love when they give me suggestions on how to improve a particular post. We all are imperfect and learners. We all have room to grow and I appreciate when readers help me improvise instead of falsely praising and making me feel complacent. Well, I do love praises as well. I love it when a reader comes and tells me that my post made their day or how they felt inspired after reading my post.
When I started my WordPress blog my main intention was to write memoirs. I named it ‘Trina Looks Back’ because I wanted to look back and bring out stories, anecdotes and experiences from my life. I wanted to curate the stories that I have been directly or indirectly part of. And I wanted to write both fictional and true stories. However, somehow story writing has taken a back seat. Therefore through A-Z Challenge I again want to revive my story writing. I would have a common theme for those stories but that I will announce later.
I have certain aspirations for April. First and foremost is to write some beautiful post. Second is to connect with fellow bloggers. Third, is to increase followers on my blog. Fourth is to improve my ratings. And, Fifth is to increase my blog’s traffic.
With so many hopes and aspirations I am taking the Challenge of April with Blogchatter, are you?
Trina Looks Back 
Wonderful Balaka. I had taken up the challenge last year and really enjoyed the experience. Meeting so many new bloggers, reading such a varied content, I had a great time at the challenge. Wishing you good luck 👍
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Thanks Radhika..am still apprehensive…lets see
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Hey balaka, this time i too am participating in this challenge this year. I do hope i will be able to complete the challenge. I hoped to meet super bloggers too. Hope you can read some of mine. I will definitely follow you. (i already do! 😀)
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Great Meena, even I am hoping to complete it..with so many other commitments it seems difficult. Let’s hope for the best…both of us can motivate each other. I started the NanoWrimo but couldn’t complete.😥
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Looking forward to reading your posts Balaka. It’s going to my first time, let’s see if I can finish it
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Wow…my first time too…all the best to you… looking forward to read your posts
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good luck Balaka. I am sure you can ace this since you are already clued in on how blogs work, stats etc. I found this all too hectic. In the first year I was completely at sea. The scond year was better when I found that most bloggers had written most of the entries before hand. This kind of defeats the purpose of writing every day: it becomes more of posting every day. Then I found that commenting on blogs, visiting other blogs is equally important and all this takes a lot of time. It helps to make an excel spreadsheet of all the bloggers you want to follow so that you can go to their posts easily. I used to spend a large amount of time just hunting them down on GOOGLE ??? How naive is that.
My third attempt last year was more enjoyable and I got many more followers and also began understanding the whole process of blogging simply by interacting with other bloggers and following their blogs. But this year unfortunately, I know I am going to be very busy with my own home issues so don’t want to add to the stress by blogging furiously in April.
I will follow you and cheer you on and am sure you will emerge top blogger in this challenge too!
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Awww…thank you for the last line.💓💓💓
I am worried that I may not be able to complete the challenge as I would be traveling.
Excel sheet is a great idea and than you for the same… Thanks for all the encouragement😘😘
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Aoril is an awesome month indeed for bloggers. This would be my third year, and I cant help but look forward to it. Its fun, irrespective of what theme you choose. What can I say, but just go with the flow enjoy it and you would successfully complete the challenge. All the best to you!
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All the best to you too… I will keep reading your posts
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All the best Balaja for A to Z challenge. Am sure you will ace it with your stories!
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Oops.. a typo mistake….
I meant “Balaka”
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I understood it was a typo😁😁
Thanks for encouraging me…do visit and read them..i would look forward to your comments.
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I am participating in this too. Had taken up this challenge twice but succeeded only once in 2015.
Anxious a bit. Scared too. Hehe. Hope we successfully complete it this time.
http://Www.magic-moments.in
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All the best pratikshya…Will visit your blog for sure
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