A to Z Reflections

How was the A to Z this year? Not too shabby. Weird science was my follow-up to 2015's Mad Cool Math Nuggets. My posts weren't always as short as an ideal A to Z entry should be, but it was fun (if not maddening) to discover the topics. They worked well as a launching board to promote the speculative fiction anthology Parallels: Felix Was Here.

Parallels had its own blog participating in the A to Z Challenge and it was my duty to handle days L, X, and Y. Getting visitors to comment on one blog is a job. If you can get people to comment on more than one during this challenge, please let me know your secret.

Being a cohost's helper was wonderful. (Give it up for the hosts and co-hosts, in particular Heather Gardner, Stormy the Gnome, and his reattached tootsies!) This gave me twenty blogs to visit periodically, and since inactive blogs were being removed, this group changed with almost every check-in. (Whoever was working behind the scenes to keep things updated: Kudos to you!)

I also found a dedicated group of bloggers who believed in paying back comments with comments, so that added another 20 or so bloggers to visit. Do I wish I visited more? Of course. Hopefully I can get my blogs done in advance next year (fingers crossed) and spend even more time reading and commenting.

Most of the blogs I visited did a fantastic job. I loved learning about werewolf cats, phobias for every letter, and visiting exotic places. Leaving a blog link in the comments helped me a ton. A few A to Z list links sent me to a website page instead of directly to a blog, and a few I just could not find the comment button to save my life.

Will I be back next year? Oh, yeah. I'm already thinking of a theme, and hopefully I'll have my short story collections up on Amazon to promote in a fun way that isn't repetitive. 

How do you feel about blogs that promote books (or other things) during the A to Z challenge? Annoyed? Intrigued? Have you bought books because of the A to Z challenge?