A to Z Reflections for A Faraway View

       This is one of four blogs that I had entered in the 2015 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.   I have entered four blogs for the past four years.  Of all my blogs other than my Tossing It Out blog, A Faraway View showed a performance that was more consistently in line with my normal weekly posts and about the same as the A to Z posts in previous years.  In other words, there was neither drastic decline in visits nor any appreciable increase--traffic and comments was essentially business as usual.

      My posts were kept very short as I have done in the past Challenges.  The quality of the content of my Elements of Dreams theme was rather decent I thought--I was pleased with the overall series as a whole.  The general theme of "Elements of" was one that I used in all of my blogs and where I could I used the same element which made it helpful for me to focus on keeping all four blogs active in a parallel sense.

        As some others have mentioned on their blogs and in my comments sections, I would agree that this challenge of 2015 is probably the best yet from the standpoint of quality of blog posts presented by a number of bloggers and the smooth operation of the Challenge by the A to Z Team of co-hosts.

       For me each Challenge seems to get easier as I learn new tricks and prepare posts in advance.  As in the past not all of my posts were completed before the Challenge opened and I was composing some right up to the end, but considering the task of content preparation for four blogs I was not in too bad of shape.  Next year if I can manage completing all posts prior to April, I will be sitting pretty where it comes to networking.

       So bottom line:  Great year, successful Challenge from my standpoint, and congenial visits from a cozy few.  My thanks to all of my regular readers as well as to the few new ones who dropped in now and then.  I hope you'll come back more often.


To participate please add the link to your Reflections post to the following list:
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A to Z Reflections for the Challenge of 2014

An Increase in Followers for A to Z?

           For starters, if you're reading this and not yet following this blog, I would appreciate it if you'd take the time right now to click on the "Join This Site" button at your right.  I'd love to hit the 200 follower mark for the 2014 Challenge.   Thank you in advance if you have done this.   Let me know in the comments that you've done so and if I'm not following your blog already I will do so now.

           During this year's Challenge on this blog my follower increase was relatively small which would be expected since my visits here were very low in numbers.  As typical during April there were more visitors at the beginning and these dropped to about half by the end.

         Putting it into actual numbers brings into perspective how poorly this blog did.  During the first half of the Challenge I was getting an average of 15 to 20 page views per post with about 5 comments per post.  After the letter "N" my views dropped by about half averaging a paltry 10 per day with 2 comments on each post.

           Granted this is one of my lowest performing blogs.  I don't do much to promote it either so I guess I shouldn't complain about the visitors.  Judging from my stats though I can see how some A to Z participants might be disappointed if they were showing something similar.

           Taking into account my own lack of promotion, my increase of posting to six days per week instead of the usual one, and the vast competitive pool of A to Z bloggers I was up against, my showing though not stellar was not stagnant by any means either.  I had my usual visitors who remained loyal.   If I were to measure weekly visits and comments without taking into account the number of posting days, there would be an increase of visitors and comments to this blog.

The 2014 Challenge Theme

          I kept the theme simple with short posts.  During April each post featured a film that had to do with dreams or had dream-like qualities.  I had hoped that the nature of the theme would have attracted more viewers with more discussion.  My films may have been overly obscure or it may not be a type of film that many people are interested in.

            If you missed my recommendations I encourage you to review them and leave comments wherever you find one that interests you or where you have something to say about the film.   I generally respond to all comments even when they are on old posts.

The Future of A Faraway View

            This blog mostly exists because of my own interest in the topic and the fact that I do have a small pool of regular visitors.   The blog has potential, but due to my current blogging load I will probably continue here as I have in the past.  Posts may continue to stay short or even become shorter.   Guest posts are always welcomed, but I have not been active in soliciting posts from guests.

             My dream blog is not going anywhere--at least not yet.  Since it is an underperforming labor of love it would probably be my first blog to go if I were to start dropping blog efforts that consumed too much of my time.  Or if not dropped, this blog might go to sleep for an extended period.   We'll see about that.

           In any case, I want to thank all of you who visited A Faraway View.  A special thanks goes to JoJo at Tahoma Beadworks & Photography and Lisa at Lisa Buie-Collard--they were constant visitors to this blog during April and I appreciate that support.

             Hope to see more visitors and get more comments in the future!

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A Respite Despite the Dreaming

"The Dream" by Edouard Detaille. Soldiers dreaming about glory. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        It's A to Z Challenge Reflections week in case anyone is not yet aware.  If you have anything to say about the April Challenge, put up your post before Saturday night and then add the link to that post on the list which can be found at the A to Z Blog.   We want to know what you think about the Challenge.  Since my focus is on the A to Z Reflections posts this week, my entry here today will be themed as such.

        My sleep dreams have been relegated to the back of my mind of late.  With the Challenge and the Reflections and all of the related catching up with things, I have dreamed during sleep.  I remember the dreams--sometimes vividly.  Then I stop thinking of them and busy myself with other things until the dreams are completely forgotten.  It's been like this for a month and a half now.  I've been too busy to bother with dreams--waking or sleeping.

        What I have noticed about what I do remember about my dreams is that they mostly were related to blogging.  A few times I even awoke from dreams about blogging to go to my computer and check my blog--to see if my daily offering had posted yet, to check if I had gotten any new comments, or to begin another blog post that I had thought of while dreaming.

          Have you ever been so focused on something that you thought about it when you were awake and asleep?   Do you often dream about work or things you are responsible for getting done?    How often are your dreams pure escapism?

Related articles

• A to Z Reflections: Dreaming About the Music (afarawayview.blogspot.com)
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• A to Z Reflections Linky List: #atozchallenge (a-to-zchallenge.com)