April has ended, and
with it, the A to Z 2013 Challenge! What
a rush! What an outpouring of writing
and talent!
Reflection time? You betcha.
Introspection:
I approached this
year differently. I wrote two letters in
a combined theme---A with B on April 1 & 2, etc. I really enjoyed this as it was a challenge
and mentally entertaining.
Also challenging was
keeping the posts short, two-hundred words or so. The K-L posts were the longest, since those
were stories. Using less and more
precise words strengthened the writing.
Playing with words
and ideas—those are the joys of writing.
Overall Reflections:
What others’ blog postings did I consider
successful?
Topics which were
universally interesting engaged me immediately. I enjoyed reading and learning about people's lives, countries, cultures, etc. Good writing is
good writing, period.
What made some blog postings hard to read, thus
shortening my interest?
Lengthy dense writing lost me.
Long,
over-written paragraphs with no space-breaks were difficult to follow
and to maintain interest.
I have migraines and
my eyes suffer as a result. On my own blog, the background is almost black, the
print is white, and the font is “Bookman Old”.
This helps my eyes.
As a teacher, I found that using a pale blue
or green was easier for students to read; the glare was reduced and the words
were ‘anchored’ on the paper. Fonts and colors should be considered for readability, not for artistic value.
What made some blogs better than others?
Most people enjoy
visuals, photos, cartoons, YouTube, etc.
A picture truly is worth a thousand words.
The A to Z Team was awesome.
An over-used word, “Awesome”,
but it applies here. I loved the daily suggestions
and helpful hints found at different Team Members’ sites. I appreciated how the two-thousand
participants attached their genres next to their URL.
Will I participate in
the next A to Z? You betcha.
I overuse the word Awesome. But I chalk that up to all the years I lived in California...lol
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I found your blog through A-Z! And I too suffer from migraines, so I get what you mean about hard to read blogs. After a while, it does start to hurt your eyes and your head.
Like, California is so, you know, its own country. Awesome, dude...you are right!
DeleteAlso glad to be following you!
Yeah those big long arse paragraphs were just a pain, plus the font was so small it hurt the eyes, then you get stuff like green on black that gives my eyes a fit haha
ReplyDeleteThe dense writing, compacted together, was tiring after checking twenty or blogs!
DeleteThe Eye's have it. I totally agree with you and shorter blogs with easy on the eyes fonts and colors keep the readers interest. I used to write long posts, but have gotten less wordy along the way.
ReplyDeleteYou did a marvelous job on the challenge, Susan.
Thanks, Arlene! I am pleased that you enjoyed the posts and checked in on me daily!
DeleteIf the font is too small on someone's blog just control/plus sign as many times as you need to enlarge the print. (control/minus sign to reduce again).
ReplyDeleteI will try that the next time! You are much more computer savvy than I am!
DeleteOh I HATE those 5 font, big big paragraph ones that make you strain to see. Then they are a funky color, why do that? Dumb.
ReplyDeleteI love the way your poems are laid out, and give the reader time to digest and ponder.
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed the posts of those of my blogging friends who had the stamina, the talent and the determination to undertake the challenge. But snap on the difficulties of reading teeny-weeny print in difficult colours. And thank you to Delores for a handy hint that I didn't know about.
ReplyDeleteAnd I will assuredly be looking forward to your alphabetical posts next year.