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This year’s version of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge went by pretty fast.

I had a lot of fun with it, too.

Though some of the themes were slightly difficult for me, it was still fun trying to come up with different things to write. Through it all, I had the chance to bring Earl back to life some, and go through some other fun posts.

Challenges are fun like that.

I know at some point this year I’ll want to find another one or two to maybe enter. I don’t need to run another one until next January, though (besides the monthly Photo Blogging Challenge).

This year, we had a total of 11 people participate at one point or another. Though I would have loved to have seen a few more take part, or even just everybody participate nearly every day, it was a nice group. I enjoyed reading and commenting on everybody’s posts and seeing what they had to offer.

It’s always nice to find new people to read and such, so that’s cool.

The ones who completed it all include:

• Me
• Hachland
• Paul (webfoot)
• Linda (though she did combine days 1 and 2!)

Then there were some who gave it a solid effort by doing more than 10 posts!

• Cat Palmer
• Ladyleemanila

Then we had a couple who also had more than five posts:

• Denise
• Kathy M

Finally, a few people joined us just a few times, but it was welcome!

• Jan
• Clare
• Cherrytato

No matter if you were there for one post, or all 20, thanks for taking part. It’s the beauty of a challenge like this. We’re not doing it for prizes, we’re doing it for a fun and the challenge. And when there aren’t 100 people participating, it’s easier to check out other people’s posts.

Challenges have their ups and downs, though. Not everybody visits all the other blogs. Not everybody comments. I guess that’s how it is, which is a shame. If one just blogs, links up and wait until the next day, I truly believe they are missing out on the overall interaction of a challenge. But it is what it is. I made the rounds on every post and commented on each one as I really thought it was cool what people came up with for the prompts.

I’ll likely run it again next year as it gives me a kick in the tail to do some blogging at the start of a new year.

Anyway, let’s wrap it up.

A writing challenge really can get somebody to think outside the box, but at the same time it allows the writer to shape the themes as they see fit. There’s some pride when you complete a challenge, that’s for sure.

I’d love to see things continue to grow. Maybe that means I’ll need to recruit more, or try and find other ways to drum up interest. I know I’m feeling the blogging kick a lot more at this point this year than I did last year, so I’m hoping to not have that lull that I often have after month-long challenges.

The weekday only setup is nice, too, as it allows me and others to have the weekend to break from it or post other things.

The challenge was fun, though. I hope everybody who was involved enjoyed it. Maybe next year I’ll bring the attempt at the t-shirt back (though there didn’t seem to be interest in it last year).

If you like blogging challenges, make sure you check out my monthly photo blogging challenge. If you are already in that one, I hope you stick with us. Also, later this month, I’ll be announcing a challenge I am co-hosting with another blogger. It will be a monthly thing, but end in October. So stay tuned for that.

With that, so ends the second 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge. See you for the next one in January 2017!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

It’s all over!

For the few of you who joined up with this year’s 20 Days of Chill writing challenge, today marks the last day. The end! Finished!

It actually went pretty fast this year, which is nice. Some of the themes were hard, some easy, some definitely off the wall.

And I’ve enjoyed reading everybody’s posts.

I love challenges for blogs as they keep people focused (usually) on trying to complete it. A lot of times, the community gives back in regard to visiting other blogs, commenting, interacting, and having fun.

I would have liked to have seen a little more interaction with this year’s challenge, I can’t lie.

Part of the challenge is getting out there and seeing other blogs. Knowing your fellow bloggers who are participating etc.

Some challenges get a ton of participation like that, some don’t. But it’s only common courtesy to do so. I don’t want to sound like I’m scolding or anything – I’m not – but I always wonder when people link up and never come back to see who else has linked up. When I’m in a challenge, I always try and get back and look the next day and see if there are any others who have linked up.

Alas, what can you do, right?

The group was small this year and unless I somehow missed something, I should have been out and commented on every single post the challenge produced. I enjoyed each minute of it.

I’ll do a wrap on the challenge in the next week or so.

But this is the end. At least for this year. Will the challenge come back again next January? It’s highly possible. But I’m going to need to get the word out there a bit more as I was kind of slow on it this year.

As the end has come, though, I’m curious how those who participated enjoyed themselves. Did you like it? What kinds of thing can I do to improve the challenge? Did you like the prompts? Should I do something different with them?

There was definitely a wide range of writing styles and interpretations, which made things interesting.

But it’s over.

It seems like it just started and now we are staring February in the face!

And allow me to plug on thing that is not at the end – the Photo Blogging Challenge. If you like challenges and photography (DSLR, film, phone, whatever) – I run a monthly photo challenge. On the first of the month, I post a theme. On the last day of the month, everybody posts a blog post and then goes and links up. In between those days, you take photos and make a post of five images to work with that theme.

Simple!

For information – visit this link.

I hope everybody enjoyed the 20 Days of Chill!

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

I had to dive deep into this one to come up with my choice.

There are so many things I love. And the range is wide – anything from hot dogs and hamburgers to steak, lobster (and most seafood) and so much more.

For example, when I was on a cruise a few years ago, my lord did I enjoy all the food.

Then there’s dessert – such a great part of any meal. I can’t always take part with the blood sugar and all, but it’s hard for me to turn down crème brûlée – in face I can’t turn it down. On a trip to Seattle this past summer, I had it twice in one day, though the second place had a smaller version, which was very helpful. Carrot cake and peanut butter desserts are also my weak spots. And a cannoli – yum!

Pizza!

But, all that in mind, my favorite meal is the one I would want to have if I knew it was my last meal. What would my final meal on Earth be, if that were the case.

This was a tough one – but I think I figured it out.

Pizza.

I love pizza. I mean I really love it. I also fancy myself a hot dog connoisseur, but pizza is that one meal that I can’t say no to. Have it two or three days in a row? Sure. Different toppings? Why not? Thick crust, thin crust, deep dish, New York style, brick oven – whatever. Just give me the pizza.

And in my area, add some cold cheese and score it up for really taking it to a new level.

I love pizza.

All the other things I mentioned up top are great meals and are at the top of my list, too, but I am not sure I’d definitely be able to eat it every day for a week like I could with pizza. OK, maybe I could. But pizza is so different in that regard.

It’s pizza!

How about you? What’s your favorite meal?

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

OK, in all honesty, this theme has absolutely been one of the toughest.

I have no idea what to write.

I could write about the 1937 dime a friend gave me when my father died. That was the year my dad was born, so it was a very cool gesture.

Or what about crappy coins in some board games? There are way better ones – thicker cardboard, plastic, or metal (rare), but it seems there’s often cheap ones.

Then there’s looking at the overuse of coins in society. Look at the United States – penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, full dollars etc. There are even some higher denominations, I believe, but they may be more for collectors. In Canada, you have the two- and one-dollar coins.

If you have too many coins, it can really weigh you down!

However, I got a gift a few years ago that makes coins not too bad. It’s basically a small bank and when you put a coin in, it counts out how much you have (until you reset it). It’s pretty cool.

I saw a show – one of those pawn show ones – where a guy brought in some really old coin. Something from the 1870s or something, and the coin was really rare if it had a marking on it.

Apparently, the wife of this person decided to clean off the coin and screwed up some of the markings. If it had the markings needed, the coin would probably worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

From what the pawn shop owner was saying, it likely wasn’t that coin anyway.

But still – could you imagine? In the end, he didn’t even sell it.

Jerry Maguire was the Master of Coin, though pronounced Master of Kwan, if you remember that movie.

In the end, coin to me rarely gets used. I let it build up and eventually cash it in when I want to use it and it often gets me a couple of hundred bucks. So I can’t complain about coin, besides when it weighs me down!

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!