Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Lessons Learned from the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge

1. It wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be... this go 'round.

Honestly, once I'd settled on the A-to-Z new monster thing, it wasn't all that difficult, especially compared to my original A-to-Z intentions (a 1-page-dungeon-a-day). I do have to admit that I had many of the monster posts already completed and "in the can" before the month began, but many of them weren't. Monsters that were prepped (offline) before the challenge: zathoa, xanther, whipwhirl, üuloch, taega, saleerandee, psi-bat, orling, izzoo, hibagon, firefox, emerald stinkbug, dwarf (red), batar, adarna bird. Monsters that I wrote up and illustrated during the challenge: yak-man, rarog, quickslime (illustration already done), nightmander, lithopede, kala, jenglot, giant generator, centaur (cyprian), batar. About half of the items that were unprepped when the challenge began did exist as a word (monster name) on a "to do" list before the challenge started, and the other half were discovered/decided/etc. during the challenge (usually the night before/the day of). Prepped listings only took a few minutes to post. Everything else took anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to get illustrated, scanned, written and posted.

2. It was nice always knowing the subject of my next post.

Here I sit facing May feeling like I have no idea what to write about next. Which isn't entirely true. Before the challenge, part of the reason this blog had a loose schedule for day vs. subject (e.g., new illustration/monster Tuesdays, d30 Fridays, et al.) was so that knowing what to write about wouldn't be a problem. And with a month off from my normal content, I have a backlog of ideas. For d30 day, I'm planning a "Plant Monster Generator" (very likely this Friday), as well as a "Lycanthrope Generator." And even though I just posted 26 new monsters for April, I have a handful more I'm excited to get up (that's what she said), including a giant anti-magnetic insect called a fluxbug (mostly because I love how the illustration turned out). There's also an "ink" article planned to complete the trilogy with the previous "paper" and "quill" posts. And I plan on participating in the 24-RPG design contest at some point, and posting updates on the day I undertake my attempt. Wait- what was that I said about feeling like I have nothing to post about?

3. It provided me with many new followers.

I picked up nearly two dozen followers during the 30 days of the challenge. Many of those were folks whose blogs I already followed and it was nice to have them come aboard here. A few of those were RPG bloggers I had not yet discovered, but now follow as well. But I don't exactly credit those to the A-to-Z list. I believe most of them came to this dragon's lair via ADD Grognard's Eternal Keep, and I can't begin to give him the credit he deserves for what he's gone through to keep that OSR beast fed!!! Thank you!

I did also pick up a few "random" bloggers who accepted the added A-to-Z challenges of: 1) visiting every site on the A-to-Z master list, 2) posting comments to a number of those sites, and 3) joining some of them. So welcome to you as well. Your next challenge... learn what the following letters mean: OSR, Oe, 1e, and BX. You'll enjoy this blog a lot more if you do.


So will I do it again next year?

As me again next year.

No comments:

Post a Comment