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Reflections on the A-Z Challenge 2023 Edition

Another April has gone by and it’s been another successful A-Z Challenge here on ElenaSquareEyes.

This was the tenth year in a row I’d taken part in and completed the challenge and I think it was the most organised I’d ever been. I had written and scheduled all the posts before April began which had never happened before. I was also on top of replying to comments and visiting other blogs taking part in the challenge at the start of the month. Unfortunately, that didn’t really continue as real life got in the way; I had a friend’s wedding I had to travel to so that took a few days of my time and in the middle of the month I started a new job. The new job is full-time but it’s kind of shit work too which I’ve never done before so I’ve been getting used to working alternate Fridays and Saturdays and starting and finishing at different times, not the usual 9-5 which I’ve pretty much always done.

I am going to try and reply to all the comments I missed by the end of the week, and return the favour to the blogs that came and visited me. While the A-Z Challenge is a personal challenge, I think the community aspect is still really important.

This year’s theme was very different and was all about Doctor Who. My most popular posters were on “Dalek”, “Amy’s Choice”, Christopher Eccleston, and Sarah Jane Smith. My favourite posts to write were on “Rose”, “Dalek” and “Utopia” (they’re such good episodes!), and about x-tra/would-be companions. It was really fun to focus in on one show and the different aspects of it that I love so much and sharing that joy with other people, whether they were familiar with the show or not.

At the moment I have no idea what my theme for the A-Z Challenge would be next year or even if I’ll take part. I always said I wanted to make it to ten years which I have so if I don’t think of a theme or don’t have the time to for the challenge, I won’t feel too bad about it.

I hope all of you who took part in the challenge had fun and a successful A-Z in April. Thanks to all those who stopped by my blog and liked, commented or followed – it always means a lot. For more information on the A-Z in April Challenge visit the website.

Also wanted to give a shout out to fellow A-Z in April blogger Tim Brannan, The Other Side who also had Doctor Who as their theme but included the original/classic Doctor Who characters and stories too. I’ve learnt a lot from their posts and one day I will watch the original run of Doctor Who for the first time!

The Blogging from A-Z Challenge 2023 Edition

It’s fast approaching that time of year again! And this year is a huge milestone for me and this blog. This April will be the tenth year of me doing the A-Z in April Challenge. Ten years! The challenge is to post on your blog every day in April except Sundays – though this year is a bit different. Not including Sundays, there are (usually) twenty-six days in April which matches with the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. That means on 1st April you write something beginning with the letter A, on the 2nd something beginning with the letter B and so on and so forth. This year though the Z post will be on the last day of the month which is a Sunday.

This year it’s a completely new theme, though it’s not something completely foreign to my blog. Last year I re/watched all of New Doctor Who, from Christopher Eccleston to Jodie Whittaker. I say re/watched as I’d seen Nine and Ten’s eras multiple times, I’d watched most of Eleven’s but kind of stopped watching when the Ponds left, then completely missed Twelve’s era, and only started watching the show again properly halfway through Thirteen’s era. So, it was a case of revisiting characters and stories I loved and had a lot of nostalgia for, and watching things for the first time.

So, as I was spending six months watching Doctor Who, I couldn’t help but think ahead to this challenge and start making notes as to what characters, episodes, and themes could fit this challenge. That means April on here is going to be everything Doctor Who. It’s been fun picking out episodes that I have a lot to say about or having the space to gush about characters that I’m five or more years late to meeting. This is probably the year I have been most prepared ever as I had already noted down what each post/letter would be by the end of 2022 and started writing and scheduling posts in January!

There’s still time to sign up for the A to Z in April Challenge. I do recommend it; it definitely makes you stretch yourself to think of something for every letter and it encourages you to be organised – something I’m always trying to be better at when it comes to my blog.

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2022 Masterpost

I somehow forgot to do this after I completed the challenge in 2022 and as I’m prepping for the 2023 challenge I thought it was about time I put together my 2022 masterpost. 2022’s edition of the A-Z blogging challenge was full reviews of films that began with each letter of the alphabet.

Sign Up Post
A – Absolute Power (1997)
B – Blue Steel (1990)
C – City Heat (1984)
D – Dead Man’s Shoes (2004)
E – Enough Said (2013)
F – Firefox (1982)
G – The Good Shepherd (2006)
H – House of Flying Daggers (2004)
I – The Immigrant (2013)
J – Jenny’s Wedding (2015)
K – King Leopold’s Ghost (2006)
L – Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
M – Matchstick Men (2003)
N – Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)
O – One for the Money (2012)
P – Psycho (1960)
Q – Quincy (2018)
R – Rope (1948)
S – Space Cowboys (2000)
T – The Trouble with Harry (1955)
U – Upside-Down Magic (2020)
V – Vita & Virginia (2018)
W – White Hunter Black Heart (1990)
X – X+Y (2014)
Y – The Year of Spectacular Men (2017)
Z – Zoe (2018)
Reflections Post

BOOK BLOGGER HOP: Have you ever skipped ahead to read the ending?

Book Blogger Hop

I definitely went through a phase of always reading the last sentence on the last page when I was younger. It was fun to see the final moment even though I was far from reaching it. Nowadays if I do read anything on the final pages it’s by accident when I’m flicking through to see how many pages/chapters the book has.

When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, my copy arrived while I was at work at my Saturday job. My mum, who had never read a Harry Potter book and had only seen the first two films, decided to read the last few chapters just so she knew how it ended before I did. She didn’t spoil anything for me but it was funny how she just had to know the ending even though she didn’t have any context for the vast majority of characters mentioned.

It’s blogtober time!

It’s that time of year again and as I seem to have gotten into the habit of alternating between blogtober and blogmas every year, this year it’s blogtober’s time to shine. Thought I’d do a little intro post as it gets another day used up which is always handy and I can forewarn you as to what’s likely to end up on here over the next few weeks.

As you may have noticed about the past weekend, I’m planning to post spooky/horror film reviews every Saturday and Sunday. I’m a self-confessed wuss but I do like pushing myself out of my comfort zone a bit with this. I mean, last blogtober I watched some great films like 30 Days of Night and Practical Magic for the first time. I’ve gone through my watchlists of the various streaming platforms I have and have put together a potential watchlist. I think there’s a nice mix of different kinds of horror films, and some are more family-focussed if I do get scared! I will say while I’ve included them, I doubt I’ll watch the Fear Street films as slasher-horror films are probably the kind of horror films I can deal with the least. Creature-horror films like zombies, vampires and werewolves are much easier for me to handle.

London Film Festival is this month and I’m going to spend one day in London to see Call Jane and Till on the big screen and I’m planning on taking full advantage of the films available online on the BFI Player so there may be some reviews for some of those films this month. Also, this month is Cambridge Film Festival which seemed to come out of nowhere – I feel like it’s usually in November? So, to have it this month was a surprise but one I’m going to try and take advantage of as it takes place around the corner from my work so it’d be silly not to. After rereading The Hunger Games trilogy, I rewatched the films so there’s going to be reviews for each of them every Friday this month.

I haven’t really been doing my usual Monday film reviews recently but I’m going to try and get back into that habit and on Thursdays there should still be book reviews even though I’ve now finished my Read the World Project. It’s fun but almost daunting to be able to pick up any book I have on my shelves, it almost feels like too much choice right now. Things like Top Ten Tuesday, Book Blogger Hop, and tags may also help me fill in the gaps.

So yeah, will be a lot busier on this blog this month. As I’m writing and scheduling this post at the end of September, I have 14 posts scheduled (including the two from this past weekend) which I think is pretty good going – especially as I got COVID at the end of September though thankfully I didn’t have it bad at all, was more like a bad cold for three days, and I’m now testing negative.

Reflections on the A-Z Challenge 2022 Edition

Another April has gone by and it’s been another successful A-Z Challenge here on ElenaSquareEyes.

This was the ninth year in a row I’ve taken part in and completed this challenge and I think this was the year I was closest to failing. I refused to fail because I don’t like failing anything and while I had the best intentions and had over half of the posts written and scheduled before April came around, the latter half of the month got away from me. It feels somewhat apt that I’m only just putting together my reflections post, days after the so called deadline, because the last few weeks have definitely blurred into one another for me.

I do enjoy writing film reviews but I seem to always forget how long they take and watching and reviewing 26 films in a relatively short space of time does take a while. I watched some films I’d been putting off for ages so this challenge was a success plus I watched some that I liked for more than I expected to like Letters from Iwo Jima and Rope. Rope especially is a film I can see myself revisiting often.

The most popular posts/reviews were of House of Flying Daggers, Space Cowboys, and Blue Steel which is an interesting mix of genres. Funnily enough the most popular film review of the month was XXY which was featured in 2020’s April A-Z Challenge. That was the last time I did film reviews for the challenge and after two years of it I’m not sure if I’ll manage a third.

I didn’t visit and comment on as many blogs as I hopped to but I did enjoy reading the ones I did visit and I really appreciate all the comments I received. I think next year I will aim to get all my posts written and scheduled before April actually begins, that way I’ll have far more time to visit all the other blogs taking part. I don’t know what my theme will be for my tenth year doing this challenge. I’ve done film reviews, favourite characters, favourite songs, favourite anything, and I have a whole year to figure it out. I say this and watch me panic about it in March 2023 so if you have any suggestions for a theme please do share!

I hope all of you who took part in the challenge had fun and a successful A-Z in April. Thanks to those who stopped by my blog and liked or commented – it always means a lot. For more information on the A-Z in April Challenge visit the website.

The Blogging from A-Z Challenge – 2022 Edition

It’s fast approaching that time of year again! For me and this blog April has meant the A-Z in April Blogging Challenge for the past eight years and this year is no different. The challenge is to post on your blog every day in April except Sundays. Not including Sundays, there are twenty-six days in April which matches with the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. That means on 1st April you write something beginning with the letter A, on the 2nd something beginning with the letter B and so on and so forth.

Part of me can’t quite believe this will be the ninth year I’ve attempted this challenge and like the previous eight I hope to succeed at it.

This year my theme is the same as it was in 2020 – a film review for each letter of the alphabet and FYI “the” and “a” at the beginning of the film title doesn’t count. I still have over 60 unwatched DVDs/Blu-Rays sitting on my shelves so those films are likely to make up a big chunk of those featured in the challenge. Any letters I don’t own unwatched films of, I will go to the various streaming platforms I have and see what’s on my watchlist. In those instances, I will make an effort to find, watch and review a film that’s directed by a woman. That way it’ll help me hit my goal of (at least) 52 films by women directors watched this year plus I’ll finally watch something that I’ve probably been meaning to for ages.

I doubt there will be non-A to Z in April film reviews next month but there should still be book reviews on Thursdays. I’m going to try and get as many films watched, reviewed and scheduled before April starts as having the posts scheduled really does make life easier – especially as I’ve got a friend’s wedding in the first week of April that I have to travel to so I won’t be online much then. I currently have 10 posts written and scheduled (unfortunately they aren’t for the first 10 letters of the alphabet) with another 11 days left in March so I should get some more films watched, reviewed, and posts scheduled before April comes around.

There’s still time to sign up for the A to Z in April Challenge. I do recommend it; it definitely makes you stretch yourself to think of something for every letter and it encourages you to be organised – something I’m always trying to be better at when it comes to my blog.

Book Blogger Hop: If you were in a book, would you rather be the main character or in the background?

Book Blogger Hop

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly feature hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer, to find bookish blogs and to learn more about the bloggers themselves. You can find more info on the feature on their website.

This week’s question is: If you were in a book, would you rather be the main character or in the background?

While I like the idea of being the main character and the hero in a book, I think it’s a lot of responsibility to have. I think I’d rather be a bit more in the background, maybe help the hero. I’m a bit of a people watcher so I think being in the background watching what’s happening would be helpful to the hero. Also, I do like to wonder what the every day kind of character thinks about all the drama that goes on around them. Whether it’s a bystander to some big romantic miscommunication or to a big fantasy showdown.

BOOK BLOGGER HOP: Why did you start a book blog?

Book Blogger Hop

 

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly feature hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer, to find bookish blogs and to learn more about the bloggers themselves. You can find more info on the feature on their website.

This week’s question is: Why did you start a book blog?

I had to look up when exactly I started this blog as it’s been a part of my life for so long, I can barely remember not having it. My first posts were in the summer of 2013 but I started blogging pretty regularly from 2014 onwards.

While I’d definitely count this as a book blog it’s also a mix of everything. I think I started it as I wanted a place to talk about books (and films) and try and improve my writing skills as I was at uni at the time. I had tried my hand at starting a BookTube channel but didn’t really feel comfortable in front of the camera nor had the time or editing skills to make them so a blog seemed to be the best way forward for me to share my love of books and to perhaps meet some likeminded people.

Welcome to blogmas 2021

So probably to my detriment, I’ve decided to attempt blogmas again this year. I last did it in 2019 and it seems as if I somewhat unintentionally rotate doing blogtober and blogmas each year so now it’s time for blogmas.

I have not been posting as regularly as I usually do this year, in part because I’m not watching as many films or reading as many books, so I thought it might be a good idea to push myself and hopefully give my yearly blogging stats a boost while I’m at it.

While blogmas is supposed to be super Christmas themed, I’ll just be hoping that I post something every day between now and Christmas. There will probably be book and film reviews (including a few extra ones from Cambridge Film Festival), some tags as they’re always good to take up a couple of days and the weekends will be for Christmas movie reviews.

Including this one, I have ten posts already written and scheduled, a couple half written and plans for the rest so I’m not going into this completely unprepared. It would’ve been nice to have had more scheduled but I only really decided to attempt blogmas last week so really the fact I’ve got the next week’s posts already scheduled is an achievement and gives me some breathing room.

This is really your warning that there will be more stuff from me on your feed and perhaps make you panic about how close to the end of another year we are – I certainly felt like that when I saw it was the 1st this morning!