Monday 5 May 2014

A-Z reflection post - Journey of a Survivor!

What is it all about?

       I hadn't even completed a whole month since I started blogging when I signed up for this challenge. I certainly had no idea about what it was but when I saw the excitement it was creating in the blogosphere, I understood it was something important and I couldn't stand the thought of being left out! So I dived into it without thinking much! Little did I know it would be so much fun and tiring at the same time.

      When the time came for deciding the theme, I wanted to select something that would be easy. So I selected the theme emotions which was easy enough as there were lots of them to choose from and writing about them should be easy enough. Well that was what I felt about it initially. But trust me, it was anything but that!


How I survived it?

       At first I hadn't scheduled any posts, I thought I would do it when the challenge begins but thanks to the lovely people in our facebook group, I got to know the importance of scheduling posts before hand. Four days before the challenge, I started scheduling. I couldn't complete much. All the later posts were written the day before the particular letter. It was truly a challenge. I was juggling between college and blogging. There was so much to do. Internals, project, competitions to attend and obviously that meant time for practicing; which left me with less time for blogging!

        With everyone actively doing blog hopping, I felt guilty that I couldn't do it with the same rate. At first I tried to visit all the blogs in the group but soon realized that it wasn't possible. I was neglecting everything else in the process. So I decided to go easy on myself and bookmarked a few blogs that I liked. There were some 20 - 25 blogs. I stated to get up early by an hour than usual to go through their posts and comment. Then I commented on few while I traveled in bus till college. Whenever I got spare time, I used to blog hopping till the extent that my friends started complaining about not giving time for them! Some days it even happened that I returned home by 9 pm due to project and wrote the post for next day! With wifi not working at home few days, I have even gone to the length of borrowing dongle from my neighbour to schedule posts. It wasn't easy at all and there were a lot of hurdles. But I finished it! Yes there are many blogs which I couldn't visit but I am planning on doing it in the coming months.


Who helped me?

       I seriously couldn't have completed this challenge without all the love and support I got from my friends. I would especially like to thank Shailaja V for adding me to the group, which has now become like a family to me, my dear friend Nibha and Porthos aka S(t)ri for the constant support and most importantly, my best friend Sadiya for putting up with me. I have made her feel sick of the term blogging by bugging her always about what to write. In middle of a class or during a study period, I would suddenly get an idea and I would make her listen to it and ask for her insight about it. I used to bug her to suggest me the emotion beginning from the letter or a story to go with an emotion. She used to get irritated sometimes but still she helped me a lot till the end to complete this challenge. A big thanks to you Saddy :) And also Usha MenonNabanitaSushreeSreejaKathyTitliSunday VisitorShilpaPheno MenonPrasannaLiz ASuzySulekhaSachin, RajlakshmiBelooProactive Indian; thank you for your constant love and support :)


What I learnt?

       I have read so many posts and have got an opportunity to connect with many wonderful bloggers. I have learnt that there is much more to blogging than just a few random posts that I used to write before. The comments from my readers have helped me improve my writing style a lot. And I have learnt that scheduling the posts before hand can save a lot of difficulties during the challenge. I have learnt to manage time and most important of all, I have learnt to face the challenges head on! I have made many friends too. Hoping to keep in touch with all the people I have connected with during the challenge.

       Congratulations to everyone who completed the challenge :) Yay! We survived it :) And now I proudly flaunt the badge of the survivor on my blog :)


Until the next post (Challenge? ;) )
Keep Smiling :)

Love,
Swathi :)

66 comments:

  1. Such a wonderful, reflective post, Swathi! Kudos to you for juggling it all and managing to churn out such beautiful posts day after day. Very commendable indeed :) Hats off and YAY for completing A-Z! Thank you for the mention!

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    1. Thank you so much ma'am :) <3 It was all possible due to the support I got from you people :) I truly loved it :)

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  2. Congrats on the completion, Swathi ! I know it must've been hectic for you, with college and studies and all that. But you never let that reflect on what you wrote ! Keep up the good spirits and the good work :)

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    1. Thank you Sreeja :) Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me throughout the challenge. And congratulations to you too on completion with 2 posts a day! Keep in touch :)

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  3. Congrats, Swathi! How exciting to take on this challenge as a brand-new blogger! And to finish it as well! I would say that completing the posts the day before was quite impressive; I was often down to the wire, posting near midnight, and several times spilled over into the day after.wards I love the fact that you learned so much: I still haven't learned how to schedule posts in advance! I too didn't get a chance to visit as many blogs as I would have liked: will try to go back and read some more of your posts. All the best!

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    1. Challenges teach us a lot isnt it? I am glad u completed ur posts and thus the challenge :) congrats on that! Wil try n read ur posts too :) thanks for the wishes :) keep visiting :)

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  4. Congratulations on completing the challenge with so many obstacles!
    What will we all stress about in the evenings now:)

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    1. Thats so true Doreen :D thinking about the next day's post had become a routine during the last month :D

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  5. Finalllyyy the challenge is dne,,,,,,,,,,, ur welcum,,,,,, :-P,,,,,,,, this post is very systematic in approach it is reminding me of.our project report "what you learnt " n such stuffs,,,,,,,, lolz,,,, aise hi report bhi taiyar kardo ;-)

    And thankx for mentioning :-)

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    1. Lol :-D report bhi cumplete kardenge jst like challenge cumplete kiya :-P i guess!! N i know saddy, mention ni kiya hota to u wud have written a long list of complaints in d comment :-D to meine hi kar diya ;-)

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  6. Congrats to you ! you succeeded despite all odds ! great post !

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  7. I never knew your blog was less than a month old when you started writing for the challenge.You looked a seasoned blogger.Congratulations for completing successfully.Blogging comes only after studies.Balance well both

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    1. That's a huge compliment to hear my writing appeared matured :) Thanks a lot :) And yep, I am balancing both :)

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  8. congratulations on completing the challenge. It certainly was a good one and took up a lot of time but was well worth it.

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    1. Thank you Cecilia :) I agree, it was totally worth it!

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  9. Congratulations Swati..you did great with all the other things happening around you!

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  10. I know its so difficult to manage one month of blogging esp when u dont have pre scheduled posts, college assignments, internals etc.
    BUT you did a GReat job dear ! Proud of you !

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    1. Thank you for ur kind support ananya :) means so much to me :)

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  11. Congratulations Swathi! You did a fabulous job with your posts! You should be very proud of this accomplishment :) Thanks for the kind mention! Appreciate it.

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  12. Congrats, you did it :) You had your hands full but still emerged a winner, that's great.Borrowing the dongle was the ultimate thing, nice neighbors you have :) Enjoyed reading your posts, best. Thanks for the mention.

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    1. Hehe they sure are friendly, my neighbours :-D thanks for visiting my blog throughout the challenge sulekha :) keep in touch :)

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  13. Yes, you made it. And it sounds like you learned a lot in the process. It is the commenting that seems to take so much time during April. You wouldn't think it, but it's true.

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    1. True liz A the commenting does take a lot of time! I still have so many blogs pending!

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  14. congratulation for the success :)

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  15. Congratulations first of all!! Yayie we did it Swathi!!! Hi-5!! Thank you so much for the mention dear, I'm flattered!

    and for anymore challenges we Will keep rocking them!

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    1. Yo we wil rock them all! Bring it on :-D hi - 5 on the completion :)

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  16. Congrats on making it through!

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  17. congratulations swatz :) so happy n proud of u :) tnx for mention ;) i'm wid u :)

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  18. Congrats Swati :)

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  19. Awesome! Congratulations indeeeeeed!

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  20. Yayyyyyyy! Congrats!!! :D

    Phew! I made it too! :)

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  21. Congrats Swathi on completing the challenge and thanks so much for the mention. Following your blog now and will be dropping by to read. Thanks for visiting my posts.

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    1. Thank you suzy :) n congratulations to u too :)

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  22. that was a nice sum up of your A-Z journey.....almost found you echoing my thoughts!! congrats on the successfulcompletion and thanks a lot for the mention and the award!! really means a lot!!

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    1. My pleasure titli :) congratulations on the completion n d award :) keep in touch :)

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  23. Congrats Swathi :) I went off blogging after completing the challenge and took to books to relax and now I feel charged up again :) This was my first time too and although we came out of it unscathed, we did learn a lot :) So next time we will be better equipped no? :)

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    1. Ofcourse we will be :) n thanks to this challenge, I got to meet u :) congratulations as well on completing the challenge :) i am going to relax n read books nly once am done with xams! Phew there s a lot of tym for dat

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  24. Congrats, Swati! Believe me, most of us didn't schedule our posts. The thrill in completing the challenge without planning is awesome, isn't it! Hope to keep in touch :)

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    1. Congrats to u too nisha :) Yeah the thrill of challenge was there. Nly regret being I cudnt visit many wonderful blogs :(

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  25. Congratulations and I loved sharing this journey with you :) Many more wonderful years of blogging to you !! Keep writing!

    Reflections on A2Z Challenge-Random Thoughts Naba

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  26. I am glad you were able to complete.

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  27. Congratulations on completing the challenge! It was an honor to do the A-Z with you and get to know you better through your wonderful posts! ♥

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    1. Thank you kathy :) i loved sharing the journey with u too :)

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  28. Swathi, congratulations on completing the challenge. That's a lovely post looking back on the month and well done for managing it all along with your studies. :)

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  29. It's been an awesome journey, Swati, isn't it?! Congrats for pulling through like champ and the few I've read were superb.
    Cheerz

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    1. It sure was! Thank u vishal :) congratulations to u too on completion :) i still have to comment on ur posts! I knw am lagging behind but wil catch up soon :)
      Cheers :)

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  30. Wow...congrats for completing the challenge. And you got it precisely correct about how arduous it gets sometimes to stick to the blog routine. :)

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    1. True! But the satisfaction n joy we get in the end, its totally worth the tiring routine! Thank you n keep visiting :)

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  31. Thank u so much ananya ♥ means so much cuming frm u :-)

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  32. Enjoyed reading ur posts, Swathi and ur a champ of the challenge. Looking to read more of u:)

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    1. Thanks a lot Vishal :) It was nice knowing you :)

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  33. Congratulations for acing this challenge, Swathi! It was truly an exciting journey! Thanks for the mention.
    Cheers :) ♥

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    1. Thanks Shilpa :) Congratulations to you too :) Cheers :)

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  34. My God! There was too much to do for you. It is interesting to read how fellow participants have managed the challenge with their daily hustle through such awesome reflection posts! :) And your write ups were really nice (reading your posts I felt you must be blogging at least for a year now). Congratulations for completing the challenge nicely and wish you good luck for good marks in internals and projects :)

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    1. Thanks a lot Shesha :) *Beaming with happiness as I type this* It was wonderful connecting with you and reading your posts too :) Congratulations for you too on completion :)

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