iTunes Weekly Top 50 – Pop Music & AprilA2Z afterthoughts

UNDERCOVER by Zara Larsson

Good morning, kittens & dawg! I have to admit I could not listen to one of Zara’s albums in its entirety. She’s a talented, cutie pie, but there are only a few female voices I can listen to for a long period. That’s all good and fine because today is Freebie pick.  Join me on Monday’s Mewzik Music Moves Me for more iTunes Weekly Top 50 – Pop rock hit songs!

I thought while I have you here listening to my song choices this morning that I’d take a look back on my #AprilA2Z experience with you.  Taking part in a month-long blogging challenge is daunting. This is my third go at it and my second year to finish it back-to-back. First up, congrats to all who made it this time! And second, for your listening pleasure enjoy the groove of the mewzik!


UPTOWN FUNK by Bruno Mars

Last year my focus was on photography and this time it was on music.  My initial thoughts on how to approach A2Z was to incorporate my daily song or artist choice in with the things surrounding my life or memory or my passion for photography.

HONEY, I’M GOOD by Andy Grammer

My idea worked somewhat but in retrospect, I see that some of my posts were missing these personal elements that I feel is what I’m about and instead, you got a post about music. Boring?! Well…I hope not, but on these days I feel the flavor was lost somewhat and was less interesting than if I had spiced it up with pieces of who I am or where my memories took me or what I was doing.  How well did you enjoy my personal tidbits mixed in with my daily song/artists feature?

CHAINS by Nick Jonas

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Another thing is, I failed miserably short at visiting other bloggers. I was pretty courtesy in doing return visits but I didn’t take the time to truly explore many new bloggers on the sign-up list. Sure, at first I did okay and then I gradually slipped away from my original intent. Commenting on someone’s comment or visiting someone who stopped by became a daily handful with life going on around me. Did you struggle with these things, too?

One thing I’d like to say to others doing the challenge next year. Please be sure to place your blog in a category even if it doesn’t fit your blog. Give it a  classification.  I felt overwhelmed looking at all the sites on the list with only a few music listings.

The whole A2Z affair gave me a new focus on my blog. It’s not off the mark too much from where I was going and allowed me to sweep away some of the cobwebs in my path. I haven’t decided on resuming daily posts. Maybe, I need to take a step back and post a handful of times per/week.

What are your thoughts? Do you blog every day or every other day or do you have a schedule? How do you keep up with other bloggers’ new posts? By chance or BlogLovin’ or email subscription or some other way? I know personally speaking I am more likely to visit someone after getting a new post email notification and I invite you to join my email list to get my newest mews.

Thanks for sharing this dance and for reading my A2Z musings. Let’s continue the party. If you have tunes to share then link up and join the fun with XmasDolly & company. Have a tunetastic week!

What mewzik moves you?

A-Z posts…

  1. Against All Odds
  2. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
  3. 10 Cathy Facts
  4. Daddy’s Little Girl
  5. Easter’s Long Ago
  6. Feel Good Music for a Feel Good Mood
  7. Golden Sunlight
  8. Halls & Oates
  9. Ice Cream
  10. J.Lo
  11. Let’s Go Fly a Kite
  12. Love Will Keep Us Together
  13. Mulberry Tree
  14. Nobody Does It Better
  15. Old Days Meet My Grandparents
  16. Perfect Together
  17. That Girl is QUIRKY
  18. Rock the House Down
  19. The STORY
  20. Long TRAIN Running
  21. U is in yoU, which makes you, U
  22. Luther Vandross
  23. Why Can’t We Be Friends
  24. X Marks the Spot in Music
  25. Follow the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
  26. ZZ Top

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30 comments

  1. Found you via Reflections post. Wish that I had found you earlier. I, too, wrote about music. check me out at http://www.jinglejanglejungle.net Congrats on completing the A to Z Challenge! Looking forward to next year! See you on the Road Trip!

    Mary @ Jingle Jangle Jungle

    1. Mary, there are many people I wish I could’ve met, but didn’t during the challenge. The important thing is finding our way to one another in the aftermath. Thanks for stopping by!

  2. It’s interesting that you say that about the female voices. I notice I mostly listen to men’s voices in worship stations.

    And yea, I’m really trying to visit all the blogs these days, with family and such, it’s harder.

    Hope you had a great week Cathy!

  3. Hello there.
    Congratulations on surviving another challenge!
    I did get to visit your blog during my AtoZ journey since your number fell in the range I have already visited…I started with those blogs immediately below me in the original list (as per AtoZ instructions). Music was very popular in Biblical times too and God did give us ears to enjoy music…just has to be the right kind. I love piano music (I used to play eons ago) and actually have music playing in the background on my blog. Hope you get a chance to pop over sometime to hear 😉
    Thanks for reflecting.

    Entrepreneurial Goddess

  4. I must admit, I didn’t put my blog in a category purely because of inexperience. But I did find that as I was popping in here and there, I stumbled across interesting ones that I might not have clicked on if they had been labelled.

  5. Yeah, the visiting is what took the most time for me. I was able to keep up with the list, but barely.

    I do post almost daily, but I don’t think most bloggers do. Most of the blogs I follow keep to a schedule of a couple times a week. We all must do what works best for us.

  6. I’ve heard more than one person say they’d like to have a better idea of what the blogs in the challenge are all about. I think we need to make that part of the signup mandatory, telling people what kind of blog you’re running. Of course, mine defies description…

    I’ve been blogging daily since last July (in fact, I need a post for today). I use Feedly to keep up with the blogs I follow; I know WordPress has a feed reader, but Feedly’s integrates well with Pocket so I can come back and read a post later if I don’t have time.

    1. John, I just think folks doing the challenge need to place their blog in a category whether it is in a particular one or not. This gives people the option to visit all of a particular kind of post types regardless if that blog author normally has a specific niche like writing, musings, photographer, music, reviews/giveaways, etc. Maybe next year bloggers will make more effort to list a category.

  7. First of all – congrats and taking part and finishing the A2Z challenge! I have never blogged every day and there is no way (!) I could. I think even if I did not have a day job, I would not do it. At one time I posted my iPhone shots daily, but I felt that was too much (and too superficial?) for my RSS feed, so I stopped that. Those who like to see those pictures can connect with me on Instagram 🙂 I am now on a three posts per week (FR/SA + MO/TU + TU/WE) schedule and if I feel like it I throw in a fourth. That seems to work pretty well for me.
    Good luck in finding your best way!

    1. Thanks, Claudia! The one thing the challenge made me rethink is my continuous daily posting routine. I’m feeling like it’s a bit superficial, as you put it. This will be part of the change to come in my blogging schedule. I’m working the kinks out at the moment. I WILL find the best way for me! 😉

  8. I agree entirely with your comment about having put the blog in a category – it is definitely something I will do next time around!

    1. Sarah, I think we all are taking other people’s A2Z experience to heart and nodding in agreement with those points that drive closest to home with us. It’ll be fun and interesting to see how things actually go down next year, don’t you think?

      1. Definitely! I know there are things I would change next year (other than the tag) – more along the lines of, ‘prepare in advance so you don’t totally neglect the rest of the blog.’

  10. Good suggestion that everyone should pick a theme. It helps them and the rest of us. There’s never enough time to visit everyone but I hit some new ones every day and extra on Sunday. Congrats on finishing.

  11. Cathy,

    I found you after hopping over to Stepheny’s blog. I started out as a daily blogger, and moved to a “when it suits me” blogger. I really enjoyed getting back into the daily habit. Since January 2014 I have had music on every single blog post I write, so, your theme was very enjoyable to me. I loved the 10 things you didn’t know about me, in particular.

    xo

    1. Maggie, Before the A2Z challenge I was posting every day. Now that it’s passed, I’m having trouble getting back into the groove or even if I want to at this point. I’m sure that I will, though. The one thing I decided while doing this year’s round of A2Z is that maybe I should include music with each of my posts, too. I don’t want my daily entry to be too long because I know how bloggers (including myself) will completely skip over most of the content or dart off your homepage to the next blog. So, I’m playing things by ear to see where my mood takes me. Thanks for stopping by!

  12. Cathy that first gal I don’t know, but her style just reminded me so much of Rihanna she sounds so much like her… tone & style, and Bruno Mars woooo who does love his work. Love this song. Also that Honey I’m Good song video is really cute. Love that one too. The next song is new for me, but neat to listen too. Thanks for joining us my friend. YOU ROCK!

  14. I started out blogging by doing it everyday. That’s why the first year I did it the everyday thing was no big deal for me. Eventually I found the everyday blogging too much so I quit, but then I did the crazy thing of starting up 3 more blogs which put me back into everyday blogging again. I think I need to cut back at least for the summer.

    Thanks for the great job you did during April and for your thoughts on the Challenge. Hopefully we all learn a little more about blogging while expanding our social media reach.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

  16. I didn’t visit during the challenge, but your reflection has brought me to you. You brought up a great point that I forgot to mention. I agree with you that adding a classification is helpful. I know I started with fellow writers (WR) as a way to attack the list. Some of the blogs I visited were neither here nor there, and not worth the time to return. I think having a classification gives the blogger themselves a reason to focus with better results. Like you, I am questioning the future of my blog, how often, what is of interest to others??? I love the challenge and finding new sites like yours. Hope you will have time to read my reflection and let me know if it is helpful. Yours is!

    1. Stepheny, I will certainly hop over to read about your experiences with the A2Z challenge. I’m delighted that you found me this morning & decided to visit. Like you, I did not get a chance to visit your blog during the challenge, but post event then I’m happy to have this opportunity to jump over in a few. For a non-writer, I did visit some bloggers in the (WR) category and for me it was hard to get into the groove of the stories. I didn’t know, if they were building on an existing story or creating a short post just for the alpha prompt. These bloggers I found less appealing to follow. Not to say, I didn’t follow any because I did. I think for someone like myself it would be more interesting to get to know the writer by writing about him/herself. Oh well…I just thought I’d throw that out there just in case someone could benefit from my little tid-bit.

    1. Steve, both of the songs have played so much on the airwaves that they really have grown on me quite a bit. I never thought I’d say that about any of the Jonas’ brothers music, too. lol Of course, Bruno Mars I totally dig just about everything he does! Great to have you dance with me this morning. I’m hopping over to your place now!

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