Motivational Monday . . . and The Blogging from A-Z Reflections Post 2014

I HATE HOUSEWORK!

YOU MAKE THE BEDS,

YOU DO THE DISHES ---

AND SIX MONTHS LATER 

YOU START ALL OVER AGAIN."

(Joan Rivers)

Okay, it's not that bad in my house right now. It's not pretty, but you know what? I don't mind so much anymore. I have so many other things I want to put time and effort and energy into. Housework is no longer a priority. It's something I've come to learn in general but it was The Blogging from A-Z Challenge this April that really solidified it for me. 

During this year's Challenge, I was not only a participant but a Minion (Hi, Alex and fellow Ninja Minions!) My theme - a flash story of 100 words or fewer for every letter of the alphabet - pushed me creatively. I visited lots of blogs - regular and new ones. I commented and returned comments. I "followed" and was "followed." I entertained and was entertained. I learned so much about so many things by reading all of your blogs, I'm pretty sure I'm a lot smarter now than I was at the beginning of April. 

I did less vacuuming, less dusting, less laundry, less cooking. Don't get me wrong - no one went unfed, no one went unclothed (except the tortoises, but they prefer it that way.) I was reminded that life is not about how clean my house is; it's about how full and creative and energized and interesting my world is.  

And you all help make it that way. Thank you.

The 2013 A-Z Blogging Challenge Reflections Post

This was my second year participating in the glorious craziness that is the A-Z Challenge. I think I enjoyed it more this time around, possibly because I knew better what to expect.

I had a theme again, and I prepared a chunk of posts ahead of time, both of which freed me up to visit more blogs. That's one of my favorite parts of the Challenge - being reminded how many talented and creative and passionate people are out there in the world - writers, photographers, craft people, artists, travelers, teachers, soon-to-be retirees, librarians. 

The comments and Followers on my blog increased - thank you all! I visited a ton of blogs and left lots of comments and added a number of new blogger buddies to my blogroll and email list. 

Now, how do we keep the momentum going? Okay, not at that rate - do you know how much coffee I'd have to drink? - but where we keep regularly writing our own posts, and making a point to visit each other and comment so we know for sure our words are not floating out there unheard and unread? How do we do this and keep our own writing and our own lives going strong? 

I don't know about the rest of you, but about halfway through the Challenge, I was feeling a bit burned out - I was missing the oomph I had in the beginning. Any ideas on how to keep more of that initial enthusiasm? Is there something we could put into the Challenge itself - a halfway mark giveaway? - to give everyone a fresh bump around the letter M or so?

A huge thank you to Arlee and all the Co-hosts and Minions for all their hard work keeping us going and on track!