The Best Of 2009 Challenge

by Derek on December 1, 2009

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The following is a guest post from Gwen Bell (twitter), of Kirsty and laptop yoga fame, who just launched a social project to help close out the year on everyone’s blogs.  She recently published “Yoga for the Social Web.” It’s part of the Unconventional Guide to the Social Web package.

Welcome to the end of the year. It’s time to do your year in review – with a group – one day at a time.

This is The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. A challenge to get you reflecting on your year.  31 days, 31 prompts for writing.   Starting December 1st.

How to participate:

1. Write on one or all thirty-one of the prompts for the month of December.

2. A post can be a sentence, photo or 3,000 word essay.

3. Link up your blog.

4. Tag your posts and photos #best09 on Twitter (click to view aggregate). Follow others sharing their stories from the year.

Share your best moments of 2009 over the course of December. Don’t get hung up on details or length – if there’s an aspect of the question that doesn’t resonate, change it to meet your needs. Note: it will be helpful to keep a separate document open/piece of paper nearby to write down the loose ends you’ll come across as you reflect. If you’re looking for new inspirational blogs, want to resolve to write daily and are up for a challenge to round out your year, join us.

December 1 Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?

December 2 Restaurant moment. Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

December 3 Article. What’s an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious’d and reference throughout the year.

December 4 Book. What book – fiction or non – touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?

December 5 Night out. Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

December 7 Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you can’t believe you didn’t know about until this year.

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

December 9 Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

December 10 Album of the year. What’s rocking your world?

December 11 The best place. A coffee shop? A pub? A retreat center? A cubicle? A nook?

December 12 New food. You’re now in love with Lebanese food and you didn’t even know what it was in January of this year.

December 13 What’s the best change you made to the place you live?

December 14 Rush. When did you get your best rush of the year?

December 15 Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves?

December 16 Tea of the year. I can taste my favorite tea right now. What’s yours?

December 17 Word or phrase. A word that encapsulates your year. “2009 was _____.”

December 18 Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

December 19 Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?

December 20 New person. She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009?

December 21 Project. What did you start this year that you’re proud of?

December 22 Startup. What’s a business that you found this year that you love? Who thought it up? What makes it special?

December 23 Web tool. It came into your work flow this year and now you couldn’t live without it. It has simplified or improved your online experience.

December 24 Learning experience. What was a lesson you learned this year that changed you?

December 25 Gift. What’s a gift you gave yourself this year that has kept on giving?

December 26 Insight or aha! moment. What was your epiphany of the year?

December 27 Social web moment. Did you meet someone you used to only know from her blog? Did you discover Twitter?

December 28 Stationery. When you touch the paper, your heart melts. The ink flows from the pen. What was your stationery find of the year?

December 29 Laugh. What was your biggest belly laugh of the year?

December 30 Ad. What advertisement made you think this year?

December 31 Resolution you wish you’d stuck with. (You know, there’s always next year…)

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[...] in #best09, Communities, Uncategorized , on December 3rd, 2009 so i just found out about the u00e2u0080u009cBest of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u009d two days late, but i really want to participate! iu00e2u0080u0099m sure i wonu00e2u0080u0099t post everyday, [...]

[...] with the Best of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u00a6 December 24 Learning experience. What was a lesson you learned this year that changed [...]

[...] with the Best of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u00a6 December 21 Project. What did you start this year that youu00e2u0080u0099re proud [...]

[...] 2009, under general So I know I havenu00e2u0080u0099t posted in a whileu00e2u0080u00a6 and I didnu00e2u0080u0099t do the Best of 2009 like I promised Kristan, but a late late late post is better than no post, [...]

[...] with the Best of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u00a6 December 15 Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in [...]

[...] a blog challenge that a lot of 20 something bloggers are participating in. Itu00e2u0080u0099s u00e2u0080u009cThe Best of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u009c. Basically itu00e2u0080u0099s reflecting on your 2009, with a writing prompt for each day. [...]

I'll participate but in a different way. I'll start a series of posts called The Best of 2009 on December 26th running all the way through New Year's Eve. For the first 5 days, I'll detail 5 prompts each day and on New Year's Eve, I'll detail 6 prompts. I'll be making 3 changes for my contribution...

TEA OF THE YEAR. I only drink tea when I'm home in Alabama and I didn't do so during my summer visit so I'll replace this with BEST NEW DRINK.

BEST STATIONERY. I'm pretty basic when it comes to stationeries. I've used the same writing materials for the last 7 years and I don't anticipate that to change in the next 2 weeks. Instead, I'll replace this with BEST OUT OF THE BLUE MOMENT.

RESOLUTION YOU WISH YOU'D STUCK WITH. I don't do New Year's Resolutions though I do outline goals that I want to get done over the next year on my birthday blogs. Instead, I'll go with BEST THING FROM 2009 THAT'LL ROLLOVER INTO 2010.

[...] now, continuing with the Best of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u00a6 December 12 New food. Youu00e2u0080u0099re now in love with Lebanese food and you didnu00e2u0080u0099t even know what it [...]

[...] actually doing 2 Best of 2009 Challenge prompts todayu00e2u0080u00a6 December 7 Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you canu00e2u0080u0099t believe you [...]

[...] its unexpected moments u00e2u0080u0094 for good and for ill. Todayu00e2u0080u0099s Year in Review Post (according to this site) is supposed to be the best moment of [...]

[...] with the Best of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u00a6 December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was [...]

[...] with the Best of 2009 Challengeu00e2u0080u00a6 December 4 Book. What book u00e2u0080u0093 fiction or non u00e2u0080u0093 touched you? Where were you when you read [...]

Sounds like fun...is it bad I have no idea how to link up my blog?

Haha. Not being tech savvy is NOT a bad thing. You can link to Gwen's site by heading to her blog and you'll see a list at the bottom - click to add yourself and it should work pretty easy. Let me know if you have any issues!

gwenbell.com/blog

too bad, i've missed two days already,,is it okay if i still join this blog challenge ^^ ?

Of course! Write up whatever posts you'd like to!

i'm two days late, but i'm in!! i love this idea!!

[...] round out 2009, 20 Something Bloggers is running a Best of 2009 Challenge, in which every day of December is assigned a topic, and bloggers are supposed to write about their [...]

Sweet! Love this idea. I don't blog every day so I'm definitely going to pick and choose, but I look forward to reading everyone's posts!

[...] definitely, the best trip of 2009 for me. (Updated to add: The guidelines of the Best of 2009 are here. I am wavering about doing them all, although I think a u00e2u0080u009cBest ofu00e2u0080u009d or u00e2u0080u009cYear in [...]

Jaime: I look forward to your posts.
Grace: Hooray!
Red Pen Mama: I'm in my 20s but strongly believe age is a state of mind. You're more than welcome to participate! And I hope you will.

Whoops. That should be "I'm over 30." Der.

And, no, I'm not saying by how much...

rpm

AH. haha. Still good to go!

Heard of this earlier on Twitter. I'm over 20, but I hope I can still play along!

ciao,
rpm

Over 20? 20SB is for 20-29 year olds! Join us!

[...] things I did, travel Leave a Commentu00c2u00a0 This month, I am going to attempt to participate in The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge.u00c2u00a0 Go and do it along with me!u00c2u00a0 Here [...]

I cannot wait to participate in this!

Trackbacks

  1. [...] things I did, travel Leave a Comment  This month, I am going to attempt to participate in The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge.  Go and do it along with me!  Here [...]

  2. [...] definitely, the best trip of 2009 for me. (Updated to add: The guidelines of the Best of 2009 are here. I am wavering about doing them all, although I think a “Best of” or “Year in [...]

  3. [...] round out 2009, 20 Something Bloggers is running a Best of 2009 Challenge, in which every day of December is assigned a topic, and bloggers are supposed to write about their [...]

  4. [...] with the Best of 2009 Challenge… December 4 Book. What book – fiction or non – touched you? Where were you when you read [...]

  5. [...] with the Best of 2009 Challenge… December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was [...]

  6. [...] its unexpected moments — for good and for ill. Today’s Year in Review Post (according to this site) is supposed to be the best moment of [...]

  7. [...] actually doing 2 Best of 2009 Challenge prompts today… December 7 Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you can’t believe you [...]

  8. [...] now, continuing with the Best of 2009 Challenge… December 12 New food. You’re now in love with Lebanese food and you didn’t even know what it [...]

  9. [...] a blog challenge that a lot of 20 something bloggers are participating in. It’s “The Best of 2009 Challenge“. Basically it’s reflecting on your 2009, with a writing prompt for each day. [...]

  10. [...] with the Best of 2009 Challenge… December 15 Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in [...]

  11. [...] 2009, under general So I know I haven’t posted in a while… and I didn’t do the Best of 2009 like I promised Kristan, but a late late late post is better than no post, [...]

  12. [...] with the Best of 2009 Challenge… December 21 Project. What did you start this year that you’re proud [...]

  13. [...] with the Best of 2009 Challenge… December 24 Learning experience. What was a lesson you learned this year that changed [...]

  14. [...] in #best09, Communities, Uncategorized , on December 3rd, 2009 so i just found out about the “Best of 2009 Challenge” two days late, but i really want to participate! i’m sure i won’t post everyday, [...]

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