So. The day has come. Pack-up, ta, ciao, buh-bye, hasta la vista, so long, kthxbai, etc. Time for the bar to go back to hibernation. Aka zzzzz.
Or maybe not.
On this last post, marking the end of the A-Z blogging marathon that I was simultaneously brave and foolish enough to undertake, I thought I'd share some andar ki baatein.
- It was a good thing to happen to me. Doing this marathon made me slow down. And think.
- Following the letters of the alphabet, and posting every day was not easy. Fun, yes. Easy, no.
- At times, the pressure was not so much about blogging every day as it was about sticking to the letter to blog with. Having said that, sometimes it was the letter that helped to generate new ideas. I had never thought, for instance, that I'd ever think about or write a post about why I love SRK and Changi so much. In that order.
- In terms of time-management, the toughest were the two weeks that Viv was away and I was doing everything.
- Yes, I had days of panic.
- Honestly speaking, I wasn't too confident if I'd be able to pull through all the way to Z.
- Yes, I googled stuff like 'words starting with v' and 'words starting with x' because I didn't want the V post to be obviously about Viv, and the X post to be obviously about Xena. I also googled 'gardening-related words' because I really wanted to post about the plant on the W-day.
- X was a really tough one because even google didn't have much to offer me. After 'Xerox', my other options were 'xenophobia' and 'xylem'. (I did consider xylem. Seriously. But I'd already written my plant post the day before. Damn.) The last option was Himeshbhai's upcoming movie Xpose. (It's actually 'The Xpose', but it's Himeshbhai's movie so nothing really matters.) And then I thought it's better saved for an SSSK post after the movie releases.
- Sometimes I got stressed about posting daily and cheated a bit. I jotted down ideas or typed out basic drafts the night before, and then added finishing touches before publishing it the next morning.
- Usually, I set personal work deadlines for myself a week ahead of the actual ones the publishers give me, because I need to have some leeway for Xena's possible hospitalisation episodes. During the marathon, I was pushing my work to the actual deadlines. *Gulp* Thankfully, I met all.
- On some levels, this felt like a big achievement. That's kind of sad too because when I first opened the bar 9 years ago, I used to blog every day. Naturally. Without a blog marathon hot on my heels.
- I think the traffic to the bar increased because of the marathon as I noticed a sharp spike in emails from companies requesting product/service placement in my posts. Some even had suggestions such as "We think our product will fit well in your 'S is for...' post." Complete with compensation offers. I have not replied to any of them yet. I will do so as soon as I can figure out how to best put this in English - Bhaiya/Bahin, tum toh mujhe compensate kar doge. Lekin mere bewdon ke dimaag ka jo dahi ho jaayega, uska compensation unko kaun dega?
- I thought I wouldn't like some of the posts because over-blogging would compromise their quality, but I'm generally happy with how things have turned out.
- It's only April but I've written more posts this year than I did the whole of last year.
- I got some lovely notes of appreciation and encouragement from bewdas, which really helped me to complete the marathon. Many of you sent me emails. Bewdas from the ancient days who had disappeared from the bar suddenly resurfaced and started commenting. My dad wrote to me almost every day, with his comments about my posts. People I did not think read my blog were sending me FB messages. I have written back to all of you, but here it is again -- Thank you. Thank you. And a big thanks to my sis-in-law for telling me about the marathon.
- Right now, I'm feeling a little weird. It's bittersweet; kind of like how you feel at the end of a great holiday, when you know it's over and you have to get back to your normal life and you can't have this forever. Because one, you can't afford to, and two, if it was a forever thing, you'd not enjoy it as much.
But this is not a 'See ya next April, bewdas!' post. I will make a stronger effort to post more regularly.
Thanks for reading. :)
Or maybe not.
On this last post, marking the end of the A-Z blogging marathon that I was simultaneously brave and foolish enough to undertake, I thought I'd share some andar ki baatein.
- It was a good thing to happen to me. Doing this marathon made me slow down. And think.
- Following the letters of the alphabet, and posting every day was not easy. Fun, yes. Easy, no.
- At times, the pressure was not so much about blogging every day as it was about sticking to the letter to blog with. Having said that, sometimes it was the letter that helped to generate new ideas. I had never thought, for instance, that I'd ever think about or write a post about why I love SRK and Changi so much. In that order.
- In terms of time-management, the toughest were the two weeks that Viv was away and I was doing everything.
- Yes, I had days of panic.
- Honestly speaking, I wasn't too confident if I'd be able to pull through all the way to Z.
- Yes, I googled stuff like 'words starting with v' and 'words starting with x' because I didn't want the V post to be obviously about Viv, and the X post to be obviously about Xena. I also googled 'gardening-related words' because I really wanted to post about the plant on the W-day.
- X was a really tough one because even google didn't have much to offer me. After 'Xerox', my other options were 'xenophobia' and 'xylem'. (I did consider xylem. Seriously. But I'd already written my plant post the day before. Damn.) The last option was Himeshbhai's upcoming movie Xpose. (It's actually 'The Xpose', but it's Himeshbhai's movie so nothing really matters.) And then I thought it's better saved for an SSSK post after the movie releases.
- Sometimes I got stressed about posting daily and cheated a bit. I jotted down ideas or typed out basic drafts the night before, and then added finishing touches before publishing it the next morning.
- Usually, I set personal work deadlines for myself a week ahead of the actual ones the publishers give me, because I need to have some leeway for Xena's possible hospitalisation episodes. During the marathon, I was pushing my work to the actual deadlines. *Gulp* Thankfully, I met all.
- On some levels, this felt like a big achievement. That's kind of sad too because when I first opened the bar 9 years ago, I used to blog every day. Naturally. Without a blog marathon hot on my heels.
- I think the traffic to the bar increased because of the marathon as I noticed a sharp spike in emails from companies requesting product/service placement in my posts. Some even had suggestions such as "We think our product will fit well in your 'S is for...' post." Complete with compensation offers. I have not replied to any of them yet. I will do so as soon as I can figure out how to best put this in English - Bhaiya/Bahin, tum toh mujhe compensate kar doge. Lekin mere bewdon ke dimaag ka jo dahi ho jaayega, uska compensation unko kaun dega?
- I thought I wouldn't like some of the posts because over-blogging would compromise their quality, but I'm generally happy with how things have turned out.
- It's only April but I've written more posts this year than I did the whole of last year.
- I got some lovely notes of appreciation and encouragement from bewdas, which really helped me to complete the marathon. Many of you sent me emails. Bewdas from the ancient days who had disappeared from the bar suddenly resurfaced and started commenting. My dad wrote to me almost every day, with his comments about my posts. People I did not think read my blog were sending me FB messages. I have written back to all of you, but here it is again -- Thank you. Thank you. And a big thanks to my sis-in-law for telling me about the marathon.
- Right now, I'm feeling a little weird. It's bittersweet; kind of like how you feel at the end of a great holiday, when you know it's over and you have to get back to your normal life and you can't have this forever. Because one, you can't afford to, and two, if it was a forever thing, you'd not enjoy it as much.
But this is not a 'See ya next April, bewdas!' post. I will make a stronger effort to post more regularly.
Thanks for reading. :)
18 comments:
Well done, you! Read each and every post of your marathon and enjoyed every bit! Wishing you, Viv and lil' Xena well always! :)
Yes, hats off to you! Couldn't have been easy. What with a threenager, and Viv away on a business trip for some of the time, no adult to talk to, and then all the other things of daily life.
This series was enormously entertaining. But you do realize what you are now responsible for? Bewdas, re-addicted to six times a week postings, will now be maaraa maaraa phiro-ing for their daily fix :)
Well done, Sayesha. You did a great job. I read all the posts. The one terrible two was quite interesting and I took away few ideas from the post. Keep more posts coming. Cheers.
Congratulations on successful completion of A-Z marathon!!
Firstly, congrats for completing this marathon!!
Secondly, I was addicted to your blog since 2007 n really missed it when ur posts became much less in frequency!
But now with this marathon, u have got me addicted again to it!!!
So plllllssssss do continue to post more! Its become a habit for me to check your blog the moment I come online ! :-) :-) :-)
Congrats on completing the marathon...great that you managed with work and managing Xena..:)
Is the marathon over :( :( :(
The first thing I did each morning after I reached office (on weekdays) or after breakfast (on weekends) was hop on to Sayesha on the Rocks to read your blog post...
I kept wondering each night what you would post for the next alphabet...
It is such great way to start my day reading your posts...
Thank you for bringing a smile to my face each day...
Keep posting Bhai...
Damn, I wish there were more letters in the alphabet. Try the HINDI alphabets next time... or the Barahkhadi (even better).
Just kidding. ;)
Yes, but the thirst for the posts is undying. Keep them coming.
I wish I could revive my blog.
well done bahin, i have been reading all through out and will miss having a daily post from you!!
Yeh bahut jaldi khatam ho gaya, zara aapka calendar check karo, woh fast to nahin hai?
psst....did you hear about the blogging ultra-marathon? A blog post every alternate day, for two months. Starting from May 1. Entry free. You can even make a post every three days. And did you know entry is free?
Well done! I'm so glad you did this... I'd check your post first thing every morning to see what you'd written about, and it was great coming back to something new every day! :D
I think we could both use some time off, but what say we do something fun like this again (after a break)? Maybe not A to Z, but something theme-based?
Over-vaaa? Che :-(. So enjoyed reading the posts! You even managed to beat the letter-topic predictability. Aye please please do a post on how you manage it all in a day. Please give scatter brained mortals like me some hope on getting more organized and packing more into a day. Bhai pileej :-D
//Bhaiya/Bahin, tum toh mujhe compensate kar doge. Lekin mere bewdon ke dimaag ka jo dahi ho jaayega, uska compensation unko kaun dega?
- It's only April but I've written more posts this year than I did the whole of last year.//
ROFL..
and oh Congrats on you deciding to continue this marathon for the rest of your and our lives!! we are honored :D
It was great reading your psots everyday. Pls do not go into hibernation and do chun out more such beauties.
--Seema
Immensely enjoyed your blogathon! Thanks for all your effort which brought smiles on many faces :-)
Congratulations Sayesha! You are an inspiration in so many ways.. :)
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