My A-to-Z Expedition Into the Wild West - Reflections

I had such a rip-roarin' good time this year on the A-to-Z!  It was my second year participating, but it was a year for firsts, as well.  First time I had the privilege of being a co-host.  First time I worked with a theme.  First time I did this as an established blog, as last year I had never posted publicly or tried to get attention to my writing at The Warrior Muse.

You, too can grab this badge and stick it on your blog. Thanks, Jeremy!
There were also many people I got to meet for the first time, many who I gained a friendship with.  There were blogs I found for the first time, read for the first time.  Fabulous firsts!

Boy, did I have fun!  I loved poring through information about the Wild West.  I spent hours reading and researching before I sat down to write my posts.  Sometimes I got so lost in what I was reading that I'd come around at 1 AM and realize I still needed to put all that information into an at least vaguely readable post.  Then would come the image search, with some being easier than others.  That was cool, too, with sometimes some fairly gross pictures, considering I was looking at post-hanging and post-shoot-em-up photos.  Some of you out there are probably quite relieved I skipped posting those photos, while others have already stopped reading to go hunt down some of those photos.  Happy searching!

What did I learn this year?  I learned that I'm still a little kid when it comes to researching history.  I learned I still enjoy research and the Wild West immensely.  I learned that I was right to think that I should have pre-written my posts and had every. single. one scheduled to post.  That was my intention, but I completely underestimated how sucked in I'd get and how long each post would take me to write.  Next year?  Haha, yeah, we'll see...

Despite my girlhood flirtation with the Wild West, I learned a ton I hadn't previously been aware of during this Challenge. Wyatt Earp a pimp...whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?  There were things that didn't make it into posts, because something else came along, such as the fact that Samuel Clemens was out west as a prospector before he became Mark Twain.  I bet when he washed his face in the stream he found gold dust in his 'stache.
  

I had so much fun, in fact, that I'm considering doing some posts on historical topics, just for fun.  For now, I'm resting.  This girl is tired!  I'm already considering themes for next year, though...

If you'd like to post a Reflections post and have everyone come on by and see what you had to say, sign up below.

Are you already thinking ahead to next year's A-to-Z?  Got any ideas?  What would you do differently?  The same?

May you find your Muse.

*Censored stamp courtesy of Mohamed Ibrahim, clker.com
**Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens picture from Appleton's Journal July 4, 1874; See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons