Last of the Summer Fluff: The 7x7 Link Award

            Oh boy, I almost forgot to post about this.  It seems I missed so much while I was away, like Rachael Harrie’s Writers Platform Building Campaign.  I did manage to sign up for one of her groups, but since I missed the deadline, it didn’t work out.  My loss, for sure.

            Something else I forgot about was this little award I received from my BFF, Lisa Regan.  She got this little thing called The 7x7 Link Award and passed it along to me.  Now, I told myself I wasn’t going to do these things anymore, but since I have one more short trip this week before my summer is officially over, I thought I’d allow myself one last hurrah.

For this award, I’m supposed to categorically list my best blog posts:  Most Beautiful, Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated, and Most Pride-worthy.  I only have about fifty posts to choose from, but I’ll do my best. 

So here it goes:

1.                  Most Popular:

Definitely “Stories Don’t Happen in a Vacuum” which has to do with backstory in a query letter.  It struck a chord with a lot of people back when I wrote it, but that post still gets 12 hits a day on average for whatever reason.

2.                  Most Beautiful:

This is a toss-up between “Finding My Book’s Theme:  Forgiveness” which deals with how my book’s theme relates to me personally, or “The Puzzle” which explains why I started to write my book in the first place.

3.                  Most Controversial:

Grading on content, I think this would have to be “To Prologue or Not” which asks whether I should I include my 250 word intro as a prologue.  People have diverse opinions about prologues, as do agents.  I’m still up in the air, but have included it with my three recent requests from agents. 

4.                  Most Helpful:

 Well, I’m not sure that this post was helpful to anyone else, but my “Gearin’ Up to Get Agent Blogfest Week 1” post garnered me so much helpful information that I rewrote my query into what I believe is my best one yet.

5.                  Most Surprisingly Successful:

That’s an easy one; it’s “Networking, Blogging and Other Fluff.”  While this post was over 1,800 words, it garnered me the most comments, I think because it struck a chord with so many of you writer/bloggers out there who are struggling to make connections with other writer/bloggers and have found camaraderie here within the Blogger ranks.

6.                  Most Under-Rated:

I guess it would have to be “My Thoughts On Writing vs. Publishing” which explains why, though I love writing for its own sake, I am so driven to find and land an agent and have my book traditionally published. 

7.                  Most Pride-Worthy:

I think I have two that qualify here.  The first is “Everyone Needs a Champion” where I speak of those few people who have helped me get through the most difficult periods in my life during this journey toward publication.  The other is “How I Was Saved” which is similar and tells how my friend, Lisa, kept me going.

Now for those I’d like to bestow this award upon:

Tara at More Than Fiction (Yes, Tara, both Lisa and I have requested your participation!)

Robin at Robin Weeks because I find her fascinating and brilliant!

Lora at Lora  Rivera Inside Writing because she’s talented and always writes about writing.

Joylene at Joylene Nowell Butler, Author because she’s a fellow thriller writer and published, too.

Hektor at Hektor Karl because he’s interesting and loves dogs!  You can’t get much better than that.  Well, okay, he’s very handsome, too!

People I’d love to see participate but am too much of a weenie to ask:

Alex at Alex J. Cavanaugh because EVERYONE loves Alex and I think he’s totally cool!

Julie at Julie Musil because she is chock full of fantastic writing advice.

Lynda R. Young at W.I.P. It because she’s wise and smart and gives great writing advice.

Now, I’m off to Portland to spend hours and hours at Powell’s City of Books.  Have any of you ever been there?  It's the largest book store in the world, taking up an entire city block, and is full of new and used books, any title you can imagine.  In other words:  HEAVEN!