my seven deadly sins

Ok, so they aren't sins.  I think.  But it got you past the title, right?

Normally I hate chain letters, chain messages, chain recipe club emails, chain Facebook posts, any type of chain.  Because it means I have to continue it or break the chain.  I have broken so many chains that Cool Hand Luke would have been proud to have me as his getaway partner in crime.

So when I saw my name on Thom Brown's blog To Gyre and Gambol, I cringed.  Literally.  I really enjoyed reading his list of choices from his own blog (click on the link above to read some amazing posts).  But I didn't feel I had the ability to pick any of my own.

So I've mulled it over for a while, as I tend to do when I am perplexed or uncertain of something.  And then decided to jump in.  Heck, what's a challenge like this for, but to stretch your mind and reasoning?

The piano part is that I have to pick from my blog list.  And after a year of posting some weird, sad, funny and hopefully insightful things, I had to wade back through them.  Not an easy task since I have posted 213 times in the past year since I first hit "publish post".

So here goes.  Remember, these are my choices (mostly) and so if you don't like 'em, skip 'em.

my most beautiful post:  I think that probably it would be this post.  It sprang from a ride home one evening, when life was weighing heavy on me.  clouds got in my way 


my most popular post:  That would be the one with the most views, and the easiest to choose.  I checked my blogger stats (don't we all want to know who is reading what?) and it was a tie, so I am posting the links to both: brothers and sisters and morning has broken.

my most controversial post:  I don't often step into an area of criticism of others' writing or thoughts, but when I read the article that spawned my post, I just had to speak up.  I feel, very strongly, that there is way too much misinformation on the web about addiction, mental illness and medications.  I know, because I work with the mentally ill and monitor medication efficacy.  the flip side


my most helpful post:  I try to share thoughts in this blog that are uplifting, and often use humor to get a point across.  This is not an advice blog, or a self-help blog by any stretch of the imagination.  Just me sharing my thoughts and ideas, and sometimes those thoughts resonate with someone.  That is good to my way of thinking.  I believe we all grow through connecting and sharing ideas, and the blogosphere is a wonderful way to do it.  prejudice


the post whose success surprises me:  I just wrote this the other day.  I was driven by negative emotions after an encounter online that was negative and full of anger (not my anger) and felt, as I often do, a need to create something positive out of the negative.  I was shocked at the number of views and comments it got.  I thought it would slide under the radar, because basically it was not written in the usual happy, peaceful vein that I prefer to live and write from.  litany

a post I feel didn't get the attention it deserved:  This is a hard one.  People read what they want to.  I write because I am expressing myself.  I don't really have angst about what people choose to read.  Not everything I write will hit people's eyeballs and stick.  Sooo...I will just close my eyes and choose from one of the posts that didn't get any comments.  the long black limo 

the post I am most proud of:  This was also the hardest one for me to write.  I have taken the liberty of adding my dad's favorite song to it.  I hope you will take the time to read and listen.  And understand why I still hate august....

The people I wish to pass this test of blogging endurance on to are:
oh hell...they've all been used up by other blog buddies who are faster than me at posting...so here are links to their links of their seven links:
40blogSpot
Skank, Rattle and Roll
Reflections from a Redhead
Catharsis
The adventures of Cilgin Kiz
DON'T hang up!
To Gyre and Gambol
Hajra Kvetches!
What Little Things?

Oh, wait!  I do have a few blog favorites left, so they can feel free to respond to the 7link prompt, or just be the wonderful bloggers posting just for me (that I feel they have been):
A Blog Day Afternoon 
Jerened's Blog
bloggingmyproclivities
Sweepy Jean Explores the Webby World


And if I can't convince you, or overwhelm you, or guilt you into reading all or any of these many links...I want to encourage you to at least click a few...and read...there is a world of ideas out there...in blogs...read a few a day, and comment when you can...it takes just a moment and is such a small thing to reward a writer's hard work with.

Thanks to Thom for listing me, and reconnecting me with my written thoughts, and to Hajra for starting this off.  The community of bloggers I have connected with and who have supported my humble endeavors and given me such good advice never ceases to amaze me.  You are all outstanding human beings...

~cath xo
Twitter @jonesbabie