A to Z Reflections 2014 #atozchallenge

afsmakeup September 28, 2022

About Wrote By Rote

This blog has been my pet project since its beginning in October of 2011. At that time my main blog Tossing It Out splintered out into three additional blogs in order to move my interests in memoir, dreams, and Bible study onto their own sites and leave the main blog with more focus on issues of writing, promotion, and controversial topics. The memoir pieces that I had been writing on Tossing It Out had been particularly popular and since I have a strong interest in writing memoir Wrote By Rote has been the blog I've been trying to grow.

For the 2014 A to Z Challenge my thematic approach was as follows:

"During the month of April I will be doing a different spin on my memoir posts. It starts with a song. Each song will be followed by a brief essay that is evoked or inspired by that song. You might want to click on the YouTube link to hear the song as you read the piece I've written. Or you can listen to the song lyrics first and then read. Whichever way you choose, I mostly hope you'll read and leave a comment with your thoughts about my post. "

April Results

Since the opening of the 2014 sign-ups Wrote By Rote has gained another dozen or so new followers. If you are not yet following I'd love it if you'd be so kind to click on the "Join This Site" button in the sidebar at the right. It would be nice to see the block of followers hit the 300 mark as a result of the 2014 Challenge.

During the month of April my highest number of views came on day two with 161 visitors and my best day for comments was on the opening day when I had 26 comments. As would be expected, after the first few days my numbers dropped significantly to an average of about 50 views per day and 10 comments. This is much lower than my average per post views during the rest of the year when a post gets an typical average of about 250 views, but keep in mind that this rate is for posts that are active for a period of a week rather than posts coming up daily. And my comment per post rate averages at about ten most of the time so that rate shows little change. Taking into account the six posts per week count in April, my weekly numbers are considerably higher.

The turnout was somewhat disappointing as most of the time I was promoting Wrote By Rote by using the signature link to this blog in all of my comments. Reciprocated visits nevertheless mostly went to Tossing It Out. I don't know whether to attribute this outcome to a fear of clicking on the links in the signature or the bloggers I visited just going to my main blog as a matter of habit or clicking on the name that leads to my profile. Not many visits were reciprocated to Wrote By Rote.

Also it is important to add that I fell very short in my visiting to other blogs and leaving comments. This was mostly due to issues with slow computer or internet as well as other interferences to my blogging activity. I'll blame most of my shortfalls on all of my blogs to this factor. There is a direct correlation in regard to reciprocated visits based on numbers of blogs commented on. I scored very poorly on this account and my stats show this. I don't blame the Challenge as much as I blame my own performance. The large numbers of participants certainly diffuses visits on all blogs, but the active blogger is more assured of increasing visits to their own blogs when they show more attention to other bloggers.

My A to Z Posts Can Still Be Read

I still have hopes that some of you might go back to read through my Challenge posts and leave your comments. This is the blog that I had hopes would have the most readers. My thanks go out to the following readers and I include what some of them had to say about my April posts on Wrote By Rote:

First a somewhat lengthy endorsement from Faraway Eyes at Far Away Series:

I’ve read all of these A to Z posts this year. I have not commented before this because I didn’t want to be tempted to start in on some of my own ‘stories’ that might relate to your post. Cheap, I know, but then, ‘you know me’. It’s my opinion that NOTHING should take away from the sheer beauty of your words here.

Today I decided to come back because I wanted to tell you something about you. These are marvelous posts, wonderfully written, the best thing I’ve read anywhere in the A to Z Challenge (or elsewhere for that matter) EVER. I have also been reading and following your posts at ‘Tossing It Out’ and perhaps if I was more interested in marketing or currently had something to market I would be more excited, but really it’s just more of what everybody else is posting, BUT these stories here are something I could read/listen to all day.

You state openly that your desire is to be a published author. Well, my friend, here is your ‘gold mine’.

I hope you don’t take this wrong, but after reading Wrote by Rote, I’ve decided you are a writer with real author potential and not just a yakker, like most of the bloggers out there. Oh look, now I’ve offended a whole ‘nother group of folks. Oh well, like I said earlier; ‘you know me’.

Please feel free to use any portion, or all of what I have said in your A to Z Reflections post. Actually I would be honored. I wish more of the A to Z posts were this interesting and well written. I've been faithfully following about a half dozen or so of the A to Z blogs, and some of them are really interesting, but not as well written as yours. So many of them are the same old, same old. So many of the participants are writers or at least wannabe writers, that it becomes easy to see who has any chance of making it as a real author.

FAE

Teresa at Journaling Woman, who posted her A to Z entries at her memoir blog The Ruralhood with some her own wonderful stories with accompanying photos, was another regular visitor at Wrote By Rote with uplifting comments like: "You know what???? I'm really enjoying your Wrote by Rote posts. Love your choices of songs and artists." My thanks to my long time blogging friend Teresa.

JoJo at Tahoma Beadworks & Photography blog was incredible in her support at not only this blog but my other blogs. I believe she left comments everyday and on a few days at my dream movie themed posts at A Faraway View she was my only commenter. A long time supporter of the April Challenge JoJo didn't participate in the A to Z on her own blog, but she played a big role behind the scenes as a member of Tina Downey's Terrific A to Z Team. Thanks JoJo!

CW Martin at Tilting At Windmills said: "What a wonderful life you have led. Every story makes one wonder how you packed it all in."

I want to give a special mention for the support given by my long-time blogger friends Larry Cavanaugh at DiscConnected and Stephen T McCarthy at Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends.

A big thanks also to all of the rest of you who visited and commented during April and the rest of the year as well. I hope you will keep coming back.