A review of the best and beautiful — taking the 7-links challenge

When my blogging friend Julia e-mailed to tell me she nominated me for the 7 links challenge, for some unknown reason, I initially thought she was talking about golf. Which is a big surprise because my short-lived golfing career ended several years ago on the sixth hole of a 9-hole course when I put away my five-iron, got in the golf cart with my husband and said, “I’m done.” I have been on the golf course since, but only in a cart and with only a book— no clubs. Why do something that brings only frustration?

Anyway, I am way off track here, and you would think with the regular, almost daily, hyper-linking I do on my posts, I would immediately realize that those were the links Julia was talking about.

Here they are, my seven links to seven posts out of the 253 I have written since I began blogging near the end of January.

What I consider to be, after a careful, albeit brief, study of said numerous blog posts:

My most beautiful post — A Rainbow Over Paris (February 15th).

The most popular posts by far, and I have to include two here, are the travel posts that were selected as Freshly Pressed early in my blogging career. It was short-lived popularity, but nice while it lasted —  Hopping Hilltop Towns in Tuscany (February 21st) and The Soft Footprint of St. Francis in Assisi (March 2nd).

My most controversial post was probably A Matter of Faith (June 29th). In general I try to avoid controversial topics, after having blasted off a couple of “Your Voice” editorials on controversial issues that subsequently got published. I find it all too stressful and usually not worth it. But don’t hold me to it.

My most helpful post was  Putting Pictures on Posts in WordPress (August 24th). At least one reader thought so.

The post that was surprisingly successful was  Self-Publishing Update— The Proof Copy has Arrived (September 22nd). That was a regular big screen production. I almost took the first train to L.A. and started a career in film after it’s wild success.

A post that didn’t get the attention I thought it deserved was  Fiddles, Radio Broadcasts, Signing Off, and iPads (January 23rd), but this was early on and I had about two or maybe three readers.

I like a lot of the posts I’ve written about my father and Alzheimer’s. But I think the post I am the most proud of  is probably one of my excerpts from Dancing in Heaven for several reasons. First, I put a lot of work into writing my memoir and getting it to the point where I could publish it. It may be one of my single greatest accomplishments, if you don’t count childbearing. So I am proud of the work that the excerpts represent. I also had to learn how to record a digital file and get it onto the post. Actually a fairly simple task, once I knew how to do it, but I’m not sure I would have been able to without my website where I uploaded the file. I also had to be able to read the excerpts, a large challenge in and of itself. Of the three excerpts that have audio, I suppose I’d have to choose Regrets because it most closely captures who Annie was and the light that she shone.

And finally, a salute to five bloggers I enjoy reading and now nominate to continue the 7 links challenge:
Sue Dreamwalker’s Sanctuary for Inspirational Thoughts of Light, Love and Peace
JoDee Luna’s blog full of creative ideas and inspiration
Suzicates’ gentle and beautiful observations and photographs at The Water Witch’s Daughter
Mark who has a big heart, and I’m sure is not nearly as incompetent as he would have us believe in The Idiot Speaketh and Pedaleth
And last but not least, the human experience at Touch2Touch

Previous seven links posts from terrific writers:

Julia Munroe Martin  7 Links: Past, Present, Future
Melissa Crytzer Fry  Seeing: Now & Then
Jolina Petersheim  The 7 Links Challenge — A Roundup of the Best (& Worst) of THE HAPPY BOOK BLOG