My 7 Links Challenge and Why I Made it 8

I usually don’t respond to chain letters or emails that ask me to answer questions and forward them to other people.  I don’t fill out questionnaires that offer loads of personal information about me either.  I don’t forward jokes and I don’t share recipes and pass them on.  I’m just not into that kind of thing.

But when I got a request from one of my favorite bloggers turned IRL friends, Rebecca from BeccaRama, I couldn’t say “no”.  First of all, I was flattered to be short-listed; secondly, the topic is blogging, which I love to talk about.  It’s a challenge called the My 7 Links Challenge where I have to curate my own blog posts and pin-point my favorites in certain categories, like the most “beautiful” or “popular” or “controversial”.

At first, I wondered, how am I up for this challenge?  Don’t my readers think of me as purely event focused and NYC-centric?  After all, I talk a lot about theater, travel, films, reading, television, etc.

Well, if you haven’t realized it, every now and then, I let down my guard and write about my personal life.  It isn’t always here on this blog, however.  Sometimes I guest post over at friends’ blogs where I can escape the attentive eyes of my family members, or simply to garner more comments than I would get here.  And you know what?  These are the blog posts that I treasure the most, being able to start a conversation amongst my readers and peers.  I admit that I do have some controversial parenting skills – some that I have written about, some that I haven’t.  I did write about how I regretted quitting my full time job to trade in my paycheck to become a SAHM, but I have never written about the fact that I used Benadryl to get my kids to sleep on planes when they were younger.  My good friend,  Scary Mommy, did that instead.

But, who knows?  Maybe I will.  For me, the comments and conversation have created a forum and outlet like none other I have ever experienced.

I’m actually looking forward to digging into my  own archives and pointing out some of my more personal stories to you.  Think what you may, but I do aim to write more of them.  The question is, which blog will they go on and will you be able to find them?

My most beautiful post:  One of the first posts I wrote for New York City Moms, a site that is now defunct but  truly brought me into the mom blogging world, was this one about the bond between my first child, and how quick it was to form.  But with my son, it took much longer to form.  Here it is: They Had Me at Hello .

My most popular post:  Well, I might have to say that my recent BlogHer post was quite popular.  I came back from BlogHer happy yet conflicted.  The comments really helped me grapple with the experience.

My most controversial post:  Like I said, I don’t blog personal very often, so when one post about work vs. staying home over at Scary Mommy garnered 90 comments, I was chuffed. (If you haven’t noticed, yes, I am a huge fan of hers).  There was a bit of debate over the fact in the comments that I never liked being home, but, for the most part, I got a lot of support and realized that I’m not alone feeling this way.

My most helpful post: Since I blog a lot about culture, I was honored when the New Victory Theater asked me to be a guest contributor to their blog.  The topic was Integrating Culture Into Family Life.  I enjoyed writing this post and I’m still proud of being asked by one of the best kid’s theaters in New York City for a feature.

My post whose success surprised me: One day I was lying in bed with a terrible sinus infection and I got the news (on Twitter, of course), that Amy Winehouse had died.  I was instantly dismayed and blogged about how much I despised the fact that people were pointing immediately to hard drugs as the cause of her death and seemed to be undermining the news that she had left the world before her time.  I found the discussion on Twitter as heartless.   Sympathy for Amy Winehouse led to various commentators, many of whom had never visited my blog before, some of whom belittled me for ignoring what had happened in Norway (the shooting) that same day.  Strangely enough, today’s news says that the toxicology reports of her death state that she had no illegal drugs in her system when she died.

My post I feel didn’t get the attention it deserved:  Well, I don’t blog personal often, so when I do, not many people stop by for a read.  I really liked this one: I’m Not Perfect.  How do I Know? Ask My Kids.

My post that I am most proud of: Well, this is hard for me.  I still haven’t written that great post that will help change the world.  I’m working on it.  Advocacy is a priority and I hope to be getting involved in some very special projects that will help me achieve that goal; stay tuned.  Meanwhile, I wrote a blog a few months ago called Advocacy: Teaching Kids to Make a Difference in which I described a clothing and toy drive that I spearheaded at my synagogue’s nursery school.  It got little attention, but I was proud of it regardless.

To end, I have to talk about one more post of significance to me.  One of my first personal posts right here on this blog was called Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes about aging and losing track of time.  Since I started writing this blog and since I have entered into this amazing community of bloggers around the world, I have been inspired and am on a daily basis by Rebecca mentioned above who recently started her own business, KidzVuz, I have been compelled to make changes in my life.  I am not afraid to do anything and am more pro-active than ever.

My 7 Links Challenge has become 8.

Now I get to nominate 5 Bloggers I love to name their 7 links:

1. TheTwinCoach.com
2. MommyShorts.com
3. DustyEarthMother.com
4. TheseLittleWaves.com
5. MarriedMySugarDaddy.com

Disclosure: This blog was written out of pure enjoyment and nothing else.

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