The Vagabond

I have been blogging for almost 4 years now. What started as a mere scribbling of my thoughts, gave rise to a blog of which I am proud of. I got to know about A2Z challenge in year 2017, but towards the end of April. I kept reminding myself throughout the next half of the year, as it seemed so intriguing to write down 26 posts, over 26 days each with a different alphabet.

2018 was my first year with A2Z and I absolutely loved doing it. My fellow bloggers encouraged me to register for E book, and thus I published my first book as a result of A2Z.

This was my second year of participation in A2Z Blogging challenge. I would have almost missed it this year, as I had deleted all my social media accounts in Jan. ( Social detox, you may say ). But thanks to my Friend @Soniamusings, I did not miss it. I was busy having my family time in China when I messaged her and that was how I hopped on this train. Last year, I had not revealed my theme till last, and even after that I did have many doubts over whether I could do it.

As a second time participant, many things were easy. I had two topics in my mind, as usual my first love fiction, and a non fiction topic close to my heart. I choose the second one, as I wanted to brush my skills in the same.

“Parenting” was my theme this year, and writing it was reflective over how I had grown as a parent, and what I would like to add further to be the kind of parent I want to be. As I was writing it, I shared my personal experiences on many aspects of parenting.

All my post can be read Here

I do not like reading long posts, so I kept my posts short and crisp. Infact I do not let a post go more than 650 words. I did not write posts in advance. I started writing on 30th March, and wrote one post each day.

Next comes Reading. Last year, I was more regular and would hop on to many blogs. Offices have become stricter and since WordPress is blocked in my office, all I could do was read 5 – 6 blogs in a day after I reached home. However, I have bookmarked and followed all I liked, so that I can go back and read them.

Was it useful and What did I gain?

1. Research says if you do a thing daily for 45 days, it becomes a habit. While the first time I got distracted by Ebook, and didn’t write regularly. The second time, I was clear from Day one, that I do not want to publish an ebook, so this has actually become a habit. These days I am daily penning one post even after the Blogathon, and the day I do not put my thoughts in writing, I feel like I am missing something.
2. Many people say they write for pleasure of writing and are not bothered by readers. Here, I differ. Why not just write a diary then? I too write for pleasure, but I do like interacting with like minded people and A2Z has helped me grow as a blogger and reader.

Will I be participating in the next one?

Yes I do hope to participate in 2020. Of course, if time, health, personal and professional commitments allow.