So Many Challenges, So Little Time!

48 Replies to “So Many Challenges, So Little Time!”

1. Trying this as an experiment after seeing your comment re on the flower show post re my previous comment on this post. I don’t normally have any problems posting comments on any of your posts so when my yesterday’s one didn’t appear I thought maybe it was because I’d included a link to someone else’s blog so you had to approve the comment first. I have Akismet on my own blog so I would have thought it would recognise me as being genuine. If this appears as normal without me needing to contact Akismet then I’ll follow up with my original comment but without the link.

   1. Yep, that’s worked, so it must have been the link I included which caused the problem.

      I aim to post on my blog twice a week, though depending on what I’m writing about and how much research I need to do it can sometimes feel like a full time job! Although I’ve seen many interesting challenges on various blogs and would like to take part in some of them I don’t really have time so I only do one which I’ve been doing for quite a while. I used to do Jo’s Monday Walk as I’m regularly out on walks and exploring new places with my two dogs, but as I don’t now have the time to read through all the other walks she links to I don’t feel it’s fair to include mine if I can’t read anyone else’s. I still read Jo’s walks though, and I post a Monday walk myself but just keep it as a feature of my own blog.

      The one challenge I do (which is the one I originally included the link to) is a monthly Scavenger Photo Hunt, 6 photos inspired by the prompts and words inspired by the photos – some of them can certainly be challenging enough to get the creative thinking cap on. If you have a look at my Scavenger photo hunt post for August there’s a link highlighted in blue towards the bottom of the page if you’re interested 🙂

      1. I’m adding a link to your post incase anyone is following the thread:

         Scavenger photo hunt – August

         
         I see it’s a link up party. I’ve only rarely tried that style of challenge – not for any good reason, just because I tend to stay within the WordPress community out of a strange mix of love, convenience and familiarity.

         You’re right – especially with some of the more popular and meaty challenges like Jo’s, it must take quite a lot of time to read through every entry. I feel confident that Jo would not expect anyone linking their post in to read all the other contributor’s posts, but I understand your feeling if you don’t have time to read any, it seems fair not to link.

         One thing I learned from the old official WordPress BloggingU courses was to read at least one post from someone else for every post of my own I shared. In practice I read much more than that.

         1. I think people use the challenges to suit themselves, ladies. Some people who link to my walks just post two or three photos, and some are only walks in the loosest sense of the word. It’s partly for this reason that I include walk posts that appeal to me, but that haven’t been linked. It kind of redresses the balance a little, and I will always do this if I spot a good walk, but I can’t be everywhere or read everything so inevitably some get missed.
            The Lens Artists challenge has an incredible number of participants and with the best will in the world it’s not possible to visit them all. I understand Eunice’s feelings and am just grateful that she follows along. I know she has a busy life. Many thanks for your comments and appreciation. 🙂 🙂

            1. It takes all sorts! 🙂

               Your comment about people’s different interpretation of a walk somehow made me think of Etcetera Stroll by The Monochrome Set, though it’s more than a gallop than a stroll.

               The main point is that most hosts, like you, are very flexible – they’re not doing it for their own benefit, but to make other people happy.

   2. Phew! You’re right, comments are held for approval if they contain links, but they usually go in a pending file. Thanks for trying again.

2. That was a great post which highlighted some of my own thoughts too about all the Challenges available. I think it probably is a case of dipping into quite a lot and settling with a few that seem to met your own style. This provides just a little stability and also a supportive community of fellow-users. Like you, I prefer the challenges that like and expect you to take maybe a few days to develop an idea. This was one of the reasons I left the lovely Ragtag team. A daily challenge just didn’t fit my own style. And as one of the team, I felt obliged to read every single contribution made to my own prompts, and it became too time consuming. I’ve started following the Weekly Photo Challenge too, and I’ve been a fan of Jo’s Monday Walk for a while. Debbie runs several challenges apart from Six Word Saturday, and is a cracking photographer. But much as I like the variety of challenges available (and thanks Cee, for cataloguing them!) they can become an obligation(self-imposed) as well as an inspiration. Getting the balance right can be a challenge in itself. But then again … if it hadn’t been for the original WP Challenge …. I wouldn’t have ‘met’ you – and many other encouraging, perceptive bloggers whose posts I much enjoy.

   1. Ditto (especially the last bit).

      You’re right to highlight Debbie being a great photographer. I do follow her. Cee of course either runs or has seeded (perhaps that should be Ceeded) and handed over several other great challenges, including the Oddball Challenge. I could also have mentioned some of challenges I enjoyed that no longer take place – HeyJude’s gardening challenges, for example. I have a feeling for how much effort goes into hosting the challenges because of applying lessons learned from my BloggingU experience. That was almost overwhelming at first. I think it’s a good, natural thing when the hosts after having given a lot of their time can hand on their challenge to someone else. It’s almost as if there is a point at which the popularity of a challenge becomes a problem… perhaps that was part of the Daily Post’s demise.

      I try to keep in mind what I originally wanted for my blog, which was to be a happy, inclusive, thoughtful place where I could share things that gave me pleasure or gave me pause and lots of flowers! Doing too many challenges could distract from that. By their nature, most of them are random and whenever I cheerfully write a post on ‘inscape’ or ‘toys’, some part of me is aware that I have garden visits languishing in my files.

3. As you know, my family considered me the queen of the pokes (I still maintain I am deliberate, not slow), so you also know that mulling is my modus operandi. Sometimes I can be impulsive with blogging but most of the time I have to be reflective. I’ve looked at some challenges and they seem overwhelming so I’ve never tried any of them; I admire all the ways in which you and others participate. There are some wonderfully interesting people out there, aren’t there? Your textures, by the way, are so good that my fingers itch.

   1. I much prefer writing the impulsive posts – they are easy compared to the mulled ones. Sorry about the itching – that would be the feather and wool one, I dare say. I had a blogging buddy who took part in some writing challenges you might have enjoyed. He is a creative person and used to write quirky short stories I used to look forward to reading. Looking from the sidelines, in the ‘real’ world he seemed to have had his heart broken so badly that he stopped blogging and although several of us tried to coax him back, he hasn’t posted for several years.

      1. That’s sad about your blogging buddy, but I can understand; blogging requires a certain stamina, and sometimes we just can’t pull it up. Maybe some day your coaxing will be heard new. We never know when an encouraging word will bear fruit.

4. Great post! I have my favorite challenges too. They keep me coming back to my blog during periods when I am distracted by other things.

   1. It’s good to have something to motivate us, especially as blogging is a habit we can easily fall out of, for some reason, even when we enjoy it.

      The challenges sometimes distract me from what I had planned to blog about, but on a personal blog, that’s no big deal.

5. Great post … thanks for all the challenges info! 🙂 congratulations on 250,000 views!

   1. Thanks, Julie. 🙂

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