April is over!! And with it the Blogchatter’s A to Z blogging challenge. What a month it was!! Assimilating thoughts, writing them down, reading posts of fellow bloggers and tweeting like crazy… Wow!! I still can’t believe I did it all.

I came to know about AtoZ challenge from a blogger friend in mid March. I read about the challenge and found it fascinating. I realized it was time I stepped out of my weekly blogging comfort and challenged myself to write daily.

Finding a theme was the most difficult part. I went over a few interesting themes, but then I thought I should write about the one that was the closest to my heart. And so I chose to write about a woman who is so influenced by her past that she refuses to appreciate her present. However, she realizes this in time and saves her future.

During the last 30 days, I met quite a few bloggers who I didn’t know before, we read each others’ posts daily, commented on them (critiqued and appreciated them all in a respectable manner) and became like a big happy family. Every morning, I would wake up desperate to read new posts and comments on my posts. It was so exhilarating.

My takeaways from this challenge:

• If you believe in yourself, you can do it. There is no challenge greater than your spirit.
• There is a beautiful blogging universe out there. You just have to reach out to them, and they will be there for you!
• Read, read and read other blogs. You come across so many novel ideas.

I have made some amazing friends over the month whom I can’t thank enough. Also, they have taught me a lot:

• Shalini who has read such fascinating books and whose book reviews urge you to leave everything there and then to go grab a copy for yourself. https://www.shalzmojo.in/
• Balaka Basu who portrayed her characters so well that you wanted to meet each one of them. – https://trinalooksback.com/
• Deepa Karthik who is one of the wisest bloggers I have met. Her posts are simple, wise and full of universal truth. – https://syncwithdeep.wordpress.com/
• Neethu in whom I see my reflection. Her posts are quirky and fun just like her. https://outlawnee.wordpress.com/
• Priya who is a master of all forms of writing. Be it poems, caligrams, sci-fis or murder mysteries. https://priyreflects.com/
• Seema who fascinated me with the description of beautiful old houses of India and her lovely illustrations. https://lonelycanopyblog.wordpress.com/
• Aesha who told me about this contest and saw me through it. Her understanding of midlife is practical, fun and deep. https://aeshasmusings.com/
• Akshata who wrote a lovely story about Myra, a strong woman we all aspire to be. https://akswrites.com/
• Anagha who kept us in splits with the funny anecdotes of Mrs. Chitterchatter and her nutty family. https://canvaswithrainbow.com/
• Meha who has observed people from close quarters and shared their storied s through the soul of a dog residing in the colorful Rainbow society.  https://oflifeanditsfollies.wordpress.com/
• Dipika who wrote insightful articles on parenting. She understands the problems from the viewpoint of a child and gives practical solutions.  http://www.gleefulblogger.com/
• Meena who made us proud of our Indian heritage all over again. https://balconysunrise.wordpress.com/
• Ashwini who wrote about issues many would be only too glad to brush them under the carpet. A true feminist! https://ashwinis-perceptions.blogspot.in/
• Shirley who wrote about medical conditions in depth. https://riseandsoar.com/
• Rashmi who wrote on such a wide array of interesting topics. https://bewildagain.wordpress.com/
• Shilpa who wrote fascinating stories on anything under the sun. https://shilpanairy.wordpress.com/

And many other bloggers, especially Amit from @doc2poet, Mahak from @babyandbeyondin and Rohan from RohanKachalia.com who I read from time to time but couldn’t pursue for lack of time.

Now that the contest is over, I feel this kind of void. My mornings are dull, it feels there is not much to look forward to. However, a few of my blogger friends suggested I should get my story published into an ebook through Blogchatter. I am currently busy with preparing the manuscript.

I know it’s too early to say this, but I think I am already prepared for the next Blogchatter AtoZ blogging challenge, 2019.