Reflections on the 2019 A to Z Blogging Challenge

The 2019 A to Z Blogging Challenge didn’t go as expected for me. I spent the months of January and February writing posts for both, Facing Cancer with Grace and Heather Erickson Author/Writer/Speaker. I scheduled them to publish automatically, as I have done in past years, planning to use April to comment on other A to Z bloggers’ posts. In past years, this has been extremely helpful. This year A to Z would take a back seat.

In March, my husband’s cancer took a dramatic turn for the worse. By the end of March, after repeated visits to the hospital, including a couple of extended visits, he returned home to begin in-home hospice. That month was so intense. There wasn’t a minute that went unaccounted for.

My beloved husband died on April 26^th.

Then, we began funeral preparations. His funeral was Saturday, May 4^th. Now, we are trying to figure out how to live without him with us.

In regards to A to Z…

I did a pitiful job of commenting on other sites this year. Hopefully, I can call a mulligan. I did get to about 100 sites, in the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately, I also realized during the last week of the challenge, that my Jetpack plugin stopped working for me in the beginning of April, so my posts no longer auto-post to my social media accounts as they have in the past. This hurt my readership. I’ve looked into other plugins, but as of now, my site is “http”, rather than “https.” In order to authenticate my site with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, I will need to pay the added cost to change to “https.”

So, to sum up my reflection on this year’s A to Z, it didn’t go so well for me, but it was also really low on my list of priorities. I do enjoy visiting other A to Z Bloggers throughout the year, so I plan on participating in the road trip, and even publishing a book based on my posts from Facing Cancer with Grace.

If you would like to read any of my A to Z posts from Heather Erickson Author/Writer/Speaker, here are the links:

April

1             A             Challenge Your Assumptions

2             B             Adopt a Beginner’s Mindset

3             C             Discover New Connections

4             D             Disrupt the Rules: Caregiver Klatch

5             E              Experiment and Learn (the Joy of Knitting)

6             F              Fast-Forward into the Future

8            G             Explore the Gap: A Fitness Journey

9            H             Take a Helicopter View

10           I               Imagine the Ideal Scenario

11           J              Join the Dots when Problem-Solving

12           K              Broaden Your Knowledge (3D Printing)

13           L              Listen to Feedback

15           M            Don’t Be Afraid of Making a Mistake

16           N             Let Go of What’s Not Needed

17           O             Consider Opposing Viewpoints

18           P             Making Prototypes

19           Q             Question Everything

20           R             Reframe the Problem

22           S              Simple Ideas for Problem Solving

23           T              Trust Your Intuition

24           U              Explore the Unknown by Making Pancakes

25           V              Visualize Success for Confidence

26           W            Find the Wow Factor

27           X              Use X-Ray Vision to See Beneath the Surface

29           Y              Your Charisma is Powerful

30           Z              Foster Your Inner Zen. Then Write it Down

May 8th                  A to Z Reflections

 

What Are YOUR Thoughts?

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About Heather Erickson

I am an author, writer, and speaker and homeschooling mom of 3. Since doctors diagnosed my husband, Dan with stage IV lung cancer in 2012, I’ve focused my writing and speaking on helping cancer patients and their families advocate for themselves and live life to the fullest, in spite of their illness. My goal is to help people face cancer with grace. My books are available at Amazon.com:

The Memory Maker’s Journal 

Facing Cancer as a Friend: How to Support Someone Who Has Cancer

Facing Cancer as a Parent: Helping Your Children Cope with Your Cancer

I also blog about living with cancer at Facing Cancer with Grace.