My Gratitude Cup Runneth...

When I first heard of the A to Z Challenge, I thought what a creative way to entice people to check out other blogs.  I knew I wasn't going to have a problem writing a post daily because I'd been doing that very thing every day since December 6th of last year.  The theme was a bit tricky to decide on, but I finally went with a double-header theme where I covered a new word each day that most people (including myself) had never heard of and a bit of a "teaser" about a children's book.  My gratitude cup was empty starting the challenge, but I hoped to fill it while visiting other blogs and meeting new blogger friends along the way.

We were challenged to visit at least five new blogs per day but I wanted to do more.  So I started with the first blog on the list and began to fill my cup with wonderful tales of family histories, or creative works of art and illustration, or just the different views my soon to be new friends wanted to share with me.  By the end of the month and 600 blogs later, I am amazed with the talent and creativity I found in the blogosphere.  I fully intend to visit the other 1100+ participates over the next couple of months until I have said hello to as many bloggers as possible!  My gratitude cup was filling up but there was more in store for me...

For myself, I can proudly say I completed the challenge.  It was fun and I am eagerly awaiting next year!  As writers and bloggers, we all have this need to feel like someone is interested in what we have to say.  Challenges like the A to Z one allows people to gain new readers (I picked up over 100 in less than a month!) while sending a little encouragement to others as well.  Blogging daily gave me the ability to fine tune my messages while strengthening my writing voice on a willing audience.  And as far as how my gratitude cup runneth...take a guess!