The Seven Link Challenge

I sometimes read Problogger. I have no intention of going pro with my blog in terms of making money from it, but I do want to present it in as professional a manner as possible, and some of the Problogger posts help to drive this.

Their most recent post invites people to take The Seven Link Challenge - and I thought it might be quite good fun.

The idea is to publish a post that is a list of 7 links to posts that you and others have written that respond to the following 7 categories. Your links should be to:

* Your first post
* A post you enjoyed writing the most
* A post which had a great discussion
* A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
* Your most helpful post
* A post with a title that you are proud of
* A post that you wish more people had read

So, without further ado, I present my seven links:

1) My first post

Actually done way back on Friday 7th August, despite the fact that I consider my blog to be only six months old, since I started working on it more vigorously in January of this year. Actually, I'm not too disappointed or embarrassed about my little introductory post - it describes why I wanted to start the blog and lays out my reading/book buying habits. Those TV series reviews slipped by the wayside though! I remain very grateful to Nymeth for being the one and only person to welcome me to the blogosphere.

2) Post I Enjoyed Writing the Most

This would definitely be the Sam Sykes interview I did. I thoroughly enjoyed my email exchanges with him, and he led me through the process of my first interview as painlessly as possible. It still remains my best interview to date, in my opinion, and is very very funny!

3) Post Which Had a Great Discussion

Definitely "What Qualifies a Book Blogger?" I reached out to so many readers with this one and the comments were illuminating. Plus the discussion remained very civil, when people had conflicting views.

4) A Post On Someone Else's Blog I Wish I'd Written

"Would I Lie To You? Memory, Vagueness and the Unreliable Narrator in the work of Gene Wolfe." I love this post - it is a wonderful essay that inspires me everytime I (frequently) re-read it. Paul's command of the English language is superlative - I am both jealous and in awe. I would like to do more work of this nature on my blog, but I have neither the skill nor the knowledge to do it justice, and it remains something to strive for.

5) My Most Helpful Post

I have to confess, most of my blog posts are not written with the intent of offering help (unless you count all my book reviews, which may or may not influence the reader to buy the book). I guess the nearest I came was my Arthur C Clarke final thoughts post.

6) A Post With a Title I Am Most Proud Of

Easily "Book Bigamy?" It is a quirky way to address the idea of whether people read one or more books at the same time.

7) A Post I Wish More People Had Read

I have a couple, actually, and both from January 2010, which is when my blogging activities increased exponentially, but before I had garnered many readers.

The first is my not so serious UK vs. US Book Covers quiz - something I pulled together as a bit of fun.

The second is an article I wrote about reader and author interaction called Sometimes the Magic Works.

Those are my seven links in the Seven Link Challenge - how about doing your own and linking back to me? It would be interesting to see the results!