In looking back over my posts, I couldn't believe I'd reached 150 posts in 14 months! Some of these categories were a bit hard to answer--it's just my opinion, after all, and you may think differently. I'd love to hear it if you do.
But, here goes:
MOST SURPRISINGLY SUCCESSFUL: I think the post that surprised me the most (aside from the massive Pottermore hits) was one I did early on: The Godric's Hollow of Backstory. It surprised me because it's one of my simplest and shortest posts (maybe I should get a clue from that!), but it got lots of hits.
MOST CONTROVERSIAL: Likewise, I think it's another backstory post that has been my most controversial, but much more recent. I decided with Was the Pensieve Foul or Fair to for once not present a post from the slant of everything JK Rowling did was right, but to rather open it up for discussion and disagreement from you all. But, everyone who commented had no problems stating the Pensieve was most definitely not only fair but fabulous. So I was crazy for even questioning it! :-)
MOST BEAUTIFUL: There's two that appeal to me for this category. The first was a summary of the beginning of the Pottermore experience, Follow the Owl. I especially liked this post because it summed up for me so much what had made Harry Potter the beautiful experience that it was. Then, on a more personal note, my recent Family Stories is one of my favorites because of the memories involved.
MOST POPULAR: This is the only easy one to answer because the popular post widget does it for you. In fact, I'd taken the widget off because my Pottermore posts all dominate it, with The Quill Quest is On having garnered the most hits with 35,339 pageviews. (Truly, it's not me, it's the insanity of Pottermore!). It's not that I'm not proud of these posts, but most of them were attempts to figure out the secrets of the mysterious Pottermore before it was opened, so they are now a bit old news. The first non-Pottermore post to appear on my popular post widget is That Deathly Hallows Symbol.
MOST UNDERRATED: Maybe it was that I posted this one right before the July 4th weekend, but The Secret Handshake, JK Rowling Style, got fewer comments and hits than I was expecting, because in my POV, it's one of my most important posts. I think if we as writers can understand the "engage the reader concept," most everything else falls into place along with it. (Along with a lot of hard work, of course!)
MOST PRIDE WORTHY: Probably the post I have the most pride in is One Potent Word. I think I love this one so much because it was such an insight for me to see the power one word can have, and that one word being one I'd overlooked for so long while studying the text! Also, as I'd put this post together originally as a guest post, I'd sought out and gotten permission for the fanart I'd used to highlight the points. And the fanart is really awesome! I need to do that more often.
MOST HELPFUL: For this one, I'd almost like to say -- YOU tell me! I don't know, what's been the most helpful post to you? I'll toss out one I think was helpful -- The Shining Moments of Character Development, because of the study of how JK Rowling developed character arcs even for her secondaries -- but, truly, I'd love to know what you think.
Thank you, Laura, both for the award and the opportunity to look back over some posts I'd not remembered in a while.
And now, I'd like to send this award on to the following fabulous bloggers:
Jami Gold
Laura Pauling
Melinda Collins
Ava Jae
Finally, please be sure to come back tomorrow when Laura Pauling will be our guest blogger. You'll want to be sure to hear what she says about high concept, because, as usual, Laura brings her own interesting spin to the topic!
