My 7 Links
I.K. Brunel (1857), and his set of impressive links
This self-congratulatory award nomination was more fun than the usual “tell me secrets and nominate others” routine, because it requires you to mull things over a little in order to make choices based on their criteria. Sandra Pawula (Always Well Within), who I think must be seated part-time at the Reference Desk for the Akashic Records, nominated Galen Pearl (10stepstofindingyourhappyplace.blogspot.com/) to participate, and then Galen nominated me. Thank you both, ladies. This one’s called My 7 Links, and is offered by a Travel site called Tripbase. Here are their Three Rules (complete with interior monologue):
1) Mikey is nominated to take part (Yay!)
2) Mikey publishes his 7 links on the blog – 1 link for each category. (Check)
– My choice of my most beautiful post (ok)
– My most popular post (bah, fooey, oh well)
– My most controversial post (Au contrere? Moi?)
– My most helpful post (They all help me. I’m practicing!)
– A post whose success surprised me (Among many possibles)
– A post I feel didn’t get the attention it deserved (All the early ones?)
– The post that I am most proud of (besides the next one, I guess)
3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.
My choice for “most beautiful” was pretty arbitrary. I think everything that’s true is beautiful, and a lot of made up things can be as, or even more beautiful. This is my (true) story Valentines in Kindergarten.
https://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/valentines-in-kindergarten/
I’ve written often about how important it is not to confuse quality with popularity. Does this ever underscore my point! I write about love, music, ethics, aesthetics, religion, psychology and all kinds of other important topics. My most popular post of all time was the one I wrote about the scientific classification system devised for all the different kinds of POOP. Many weeks it gets more views than whatever I post currently, and I wrote it over a year ago! It’s called “Have a Nice B.M.”
https://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/have-a-nice-b-m/
I don’t often write for controversy. If I wish to be confrontational, I prefer to do it face-to-face. However, I got pretty tired of reading comments from bloggers complaining about how they felt their self-published, non-copyrighted, highly derivative posts were being “stolen” unfairly. It’s the free digital idea stream, folks. No one owns it. Still, you readers may enjoy The Reassuring Illusion of Originality.
https://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/the-reassuring-illusion-of-originality/
Everything I publish is an attempt to be helpful to someone. Sometimes I can help more in more ways at once. This was a meditation on linguistic symbolism and its effect upon action, called The Power of RE.
https://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/the-power-of-re/
The success of this post definitely surprised me. I was trying for a Robert Bazell or Bill Nye kind of “hard science for dummies” article on the physiology of singing. Lots of readers were interested in what physically happens when we sing!
https://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/the-best-instrument-part-three/
This early post didn’t get the attention it deserved, but early posts rarely do. They are audience-builders. I wanted to get across the intense heat and skewed worldview that takes place in New Orleans during a music festival. It’s called Old Joe’s Act.
https://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/old-joes-act/
I’m reasonably proud of all my work in this space. This post was riskier, so I was proud because it hurt almost as much to write it as it did to live it. It was the story of my divorce, and having to give my son up for adoption, called My Dilemma.
https://invisiblemikey.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/my-dilemma/
Put your tissues away. My episode is over. Now we can all celebrate some of the other writers of great range I read, whose blogs might shine under this sort of exercise in self-examination/self-promotion.
Mikey’s Nominations for “My 7 Links” (Should They Accept)
Once upon a time Jennie Ketcham (Becoming Jennie) got famous for having sex on camera under a pseudonym. She has so many more lasting, worthwhile qualities beyond being an object of anonymous desire. She thinks and writes with real passion and careful thought, and she’s so funny when she wants to be! She wrote as part of keeping herself sober, having no idea she was helping me move in that same direction. When I was stuck on my Mom’s couch, waiting for four months for an X-Ray license to be issued by the state I had moved to, reading her blog gave me the inspiration to write one myself, instead of consuming every drop of alcohol in the vicinity. She has many readers and doesn’t need this kind of networking, but I wanted to honor her anyway, since I can’t afford to buy her paintings.
I never give Matt at Just Wondering the props he deserves. When you write about your family with enough of an open heart and mind, you are actually writing about everything meaningful in the known universe. Seattle is just the frame for the plot and characters. He also devises fun contests!
Deborah Bryan at The Monster in Your Closet (http://deborah-bryan.com/) Did I fool you by reading and not commenting? You are a wonderful, clever author.
Since Tripbase is (I guess) a travel blog, I’ll finish with a travelin’ sort of writer-photojournalist. Kiwidutch (Local Heart, Global Soul) and her husband (Himself) and their children traverse the globe to places you and I gaze at in magazines at the Doctor’s office. We dream. They actually GO. Then she takes beautiful photos and posts them so we can all feel like we were there. Sweet!
Invisible Mikey 
What fun visiting your myriad of posts. You really do write about a variety of topics…but BM’s? Of course, I had to check it out. Very informative. Who knew all this crap!? (Pun intended) I couldn’t really figure out if getting more points was better or worse of the poop point scale.
Really appreciated you sharing so honestly in “The Dilemma.” I think I share very honestly in my blog…some think too much. I find these blogs get the most response and connect to others. I think, by being blatantly honest, we help to alleviate others shame and pain a little.
Couldn’t agree more on the “Illusion of Originality.”
Yes, I remember you were quite courageous in presenting the story of your own loss of spouse and children. I agree with you. It helps others, because so many suffer this kind of loss and must find their own way to cope.
Glad you liked the assortment of rides, Debbie.
I learned so much about you today! Congrats on the award.
Thanks very much, K8.
Some of these posts I remember and I look forward to reading them again. Some are new–the poop one, for example! Can’t wait! And I look forward to checking out your chosen blogs. I am so glad you took the time to do this because I am grateful for the chance to revisit some of the posts that stood out for you. Thanks for taking the time. And for writing such great “acceptance” posts for the two awards!
People all over appear to be far more focused upon poop than I had previously understood – lol. (Do you suppose it will be one they pick to reprint on their “7 Links” blog?) Thanks for nominating me, Galen!
I’m guessing I really don’t want to know what some of the poop-based google searches that lead people to that post are?
Oddly enough, most of them seem to arrive via a search of “bristol stool scale”. I’m not quite sure I want to tour the campus of the University of Bristol, though you might, and send me some snaps!
I was looking at your charts and diagrams in the poo post and used them to assess the current state of mine. I am now officially scared.
Congratulations on your awards.
Usually an alteration in eating habits and an increase in proper hydration is all that’s needed to make healthy poo. Your whole body will feel better, and it increases vitality overall. Don’t worry.
— and thanks very much!
Congrats–what a fascinating range of topics. Loved how you wove the elements together in the “best instrument series”. I used to sing solos until my early 30s, when depression and an abusive marriage took me captive. Although I have since discovered other “buoys”, it is only in the last 18 months or so that I have come back to singing and am loving it. I hadn’t really thought about why it felt so good. Then I read your words: “You are stimulating the place where pictures and dreams come from.” Yes! What a wonderful sentence, in a wonderful series.
And on an entirely different topic, I am also privy to photos and discussions of poo. My brother is a natural history prof and I sometimes attend his public talks. Many’s the time I’ve seen scat magnified many times over on the big screen! And after he shares the details about what it reveals about the habit of the animal itself, he invariably works in a joke about “crap.” And it always gets a big laugh from the audience.
I forgot how important examining animal poo must be to that branch of science! Thanks for the moment of amusement, and for visiting, reading and commenting, Karen. First-timers get a “gift basket”. —
(Karen Runtz got downsized from her corporate job and now supports herself writing for the web and assisting others in using social media. Her tips and strategies can be found at http://karenruntz.wordpress.com/ )