Hello my lovelies!
It is Saturday and that means that it’s time for our Weekend Coffee Share!
If we were having coffee today we’d meet at the ice cream parlour in town for coffee and ice cream. The A to Z Challenge is over and I feel we all need a treat for completing it.
If you’ve been reading this blog then you’ll know that my theme for the A to Z Challenge was “Postcards”, but I extended it a little and it turned more into “Letters” and “Travelogues” as time went on.
Participating in the A to Z Challenge was fun, but definitely more work than anticipated. I never got around to scheduling posts, so I had to write them on the day, plus find and edit relevant photos. I managed, but I’ve learned my lesson. Except for the post on Xanten, my blog posts for the challenge contain my own photographs. I did some press photography in the UK but I had never really shown my travel photos to a wider audience. Have you seen some of them? I hope you liked them.
Travel writing was fun. After all, it’s what I got my B.A. in, but I have not really written about anything travel-related (or published travel photos) since I had to put my own travel magazine Shoestring on hiatus. Some of the articles, like my entry for L – Leconfield Farm – were first published in Shoestring. It was my final project and I continued as editor-in-chief until my work schedule including commute was too demanding for a one-person operation like that. I’m still hoping to revive and rebrand the magazine at some point.
I used April’s Camp NaNoWriMo as a NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) and my goal was to write 10,000 words during the A to Z Challenge. I verified my win at 19.330 words but finished the month on 30,916 words – more than three times my target word count! Plus uni assignments – let’s just say I’ve done a lot of writing this past month.
If we were having coffee today and you also participated in A to Z I’d love to know what the challenge was like for you. Are you a plotter or pantser? I found it hard to find a decent theme and then fill all the letters. At first I thought I’d be able to post more than one post per day where appropriate, which is the reason I wrote about Auckland and Alice Springs. For this last week, I wrote about Wellington (New Zealand), Xanten (Germany), Yellowstone NP (United States) and Zanzibar (Tanzania). My full list of A to Z Contributions for 2015 can be found here or via the top navigation bar.
If we were having coffee I’d also tell you that my studies are going well. Yesterday I received my Statement of Accomplishment with Distinction (100%) for the Theatre & Globalization course I took from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
I do believe knowledge is addictive. Or maybe I’m just curious. These MOOCs offer great insights into various fields of study, even if the course is just an intro. I have signed up for a few more throughout the year, while keeping in mind that my M.A. still comes first. But the courses have so far given me a few ideas career-wise and thesis-wise, so they are definitely useful.
If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you that I’ll be returning to my usual study tips and writing prompt posts this month, but for the entire month of May, I’ll also post a Song Of The Day every day. It’s spring and it’s getting warmer and good tunes always brighten my mood further. So tune in at 7.30am GMT+1 every morning!
If we were having coffee today, then I’d have to leave in a minute and get back to my studies. But feel free to have coffee with the other Weekend Coffee Sharers via the lovely Part Time Monster once the Linky is up and running! Alternatively, you can always stop by for a cuppa on #WeekendCoffeeShare.
Same time, next week?
Study. Read. Write. 
Congratulations on the Statement of Accomplishment and on finishing the A to Z. And, thanks for the ice cream treat – I definitely feel like celebrating because I got through the challenge! I’m definitely a pantser, and though I try to find a balance, there were days during the month I began to wish I was more like the plotters in the world. But I am who I am, and it was fun.
I’ll look out for the music posts, and catch you next week for coffee 🙂
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Thank you! Oh, and you’re welcome, there’s enough ice cream for everyone.
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Congrats fellow A to Z Survivor! I tried out the scheduled posts feature on my blog and it worked alright. I noticed that I didn’t get much traffic through for many of my posts for the challenge. I may try a different theme next time…
Also congrats on finishing your latest MOOC! I agree that knowlege is very, very addictive. In addition to Coursera, I take classes from time to time through Codeacademy and OpenLearn. Just started a few classes through FutureLearn. Any experience with them?
Have an awesome rest of your weekend 😀
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Thank you! Yes, I had the same problem with traffic, but it all worked out all right, I’d say.
I’ve been doing courses on Coursera and FutureLearn since February and I love them both. Coursera is a bit stricter with assignments and actually giving a completion grade but I love the set up of FutureLearn and find them very organised and easy to work through. I’m still doing Writing Fiction and Understanding Language on FutureLearn, finishing up Modern Business and about to start Modern Korean History in June. On Coursera I’m doing Modern Middle East II and a few courses you can do in your own time. Which ones are you doing? Thanks for having coffee with me!
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On FutureLearn I am also doing Writing Fiction and STEM Assessment. Through Canvas I am taking How Writers Write Poetry. I am also learning Python through MOOC-E. I’m just a “little” bit of an autodidact 😀
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Nothing wrong with that! I’m using the courses to complement my online M.A., so I know what you mean. so far I’ve done courses on Theatre & Globalization, Filmmaking, Cultural Studies and Modern Languages, Global Health and Humanitarianism, Modern Middle East I, International Developments, Australian Literature, Dutch as well as Community Journalism. How writers write poetry sounds interesting! I’ll have to check out those other MOOC providers LOL. In case I get bored with my current workload 😉
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I’m enjoying your Song Of the Day posts. The first one caught me by surprise, not just because it was different from what you normally post but because it came in while I was still up from the night before ( pacific time). It was a catchy tune. The second I haven’t played yet. I was waiting for morning. I’ll have to hit play when I’m done posting this.
I enjoyed your A to Z posts, as I’ve mentioned before. I wish more people would have read them, or commented on them. I rarely check site traffic so I usually just go by comments and likes.
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Thank you! Yes, I thought I’d do something a little different. I’ve been listening to a lot of indie music lately, and I love sitting outside and enjoying the sunshine while listening to good tunes, so I thought I’d start my collection and share it. I’m glad you liked it! Statistics show that my posts get read, but I agree, in terms of likes and comments it could have been better. Ah well, they’re out there now, so maybe somebody will find them one day. 🙂
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Congratulations on completing the MOOC I’ve started a few coursera courses but life always seems to get in the way half way though and I end up missing the deadlines.
As to the Plotting v Pantsing writing style I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I start off plotting then just go with the flow and pants the rest of the way. Congratulations on the A-Z challenge a great accomplishment. 🙂
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Thank you very much! FutureLearn is a bit more flexible than Coursera, as they don’t have strict deadlines and allow you to continue to complete the modules even if the official course is over. On my first Coursera course I noticed an assignment was due with 50 mins to spare, so I totally get that life gets in the way sometimes.
I’m a plotting panster myself. I’ll have an idea and save a vague draft, but when it comes to the actual writing it’s all pantsing. 🙂
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Thank you for the ice cream! I just came in from planting tomatoes, and ice cream is a welcome treat!
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You crushed it last month. Good for you. I’m doing my first MOOC. I’m really excited. I don’t know what to expect really.
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You should be getting very organised modules, clearly defined assignments, video lectures and active discussions. That’s what all of mine have been like so far.
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We had a combo of winging it and planning with A to Z this year. We picked all the topics in advance, but only had the first 6 post written on April 1st. A few, like you, I needed to finish up the day before. I really don’t know how solo bloggers do it! Being part of a team and doing 26 posts is hard enough. At the end the challenge was a bit too much for me. Commenting in general is not something I feel comfortable with, but I’m getting better. Or at least I’m trying to do better. : )
I want to give some of these online education programs a try. I’ve never known anyone who was doing them before, at least no one that talked about them they way you do. You make them sound fantastic! So I think I need to explore the offerings and take some classes.
Thanks for sharing some wonderful travel posts and your photos are awesome!
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Congrats on finishing A-Z! I really enjoyed both your writing and your photography and I’m amazed you could do all that while pantsing. Now, take a well-deserved break 🙂
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