The Secret Formula......How to succeed in a blogging challenge!
I am about to reveal my secret formula for completing the 2012 BIG Jumpstart Blog Challenge. This closely guarded secret formula has been under lock and key in the secret draw in my secret upstairs office since the start of the Challenge. It only comes out after dark, when there is no one home but me. Since I have received so much help from other AR Members, I have decided to share this very valuable secret formula:
This could be more valuable than the original recipe for Coca-Cola, so please keep this formula in strictest confidence.
It started life as a fairly simple spreadsheet, but it became much more than that. You'll notice the required topics for blogs down the left edge, with columns for the dates of the completed posts acroos the top. Being organizationally challenged, I knew I was going to have fun getting a blog completed each day, and completing all the required topics.
Where the real value in the secret formula lies is in the subtle details. Note the careful pencil shading of the areas that were completed first. This helps keep the owner of the formula focused on the topics that remain unfinished. Check out some of the smallest writing in the completed blocks. Before those blocks got a title and a completion date, the small note were ideas about the topic to help me get started.
Don't try to make sense out of the right hand edge, or the notes across the bottom. These were interruptions that arrived when I was trying to get the Challenge done. It was handy to have a place to write this stuff down so I could keep working on the Challenge.
The red circle in the lower center is a reminder to myself to make my excuse to the sponsor of this challenge for the one post that was 10 minutes late. Being in Wisconsin, I have to post before 11:00pm to have my post dated correctly, and AR response time at that time of day is incredibly long. There was no way to anticipate how long it would take to complete a post under these conditions. So after this experience, I am doing my writing off-line, working ahead, and trusting that AR will continue to work on their performance.
Please thank the author of this Challenge with your comments here. She carefully chose a wide variety of topics that drove me to an excellent learning experience! Thanks!
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