Top Five Friday: La Belle's Top Posts of All Time

Do not yearn to be popular; be exquisite.

Do not desire to be famous; be loved.

Do not take pride in being expected; be palpable, unmistakable.

~ C. JoyBell C.

Beginning in January, I am participating in the One Page a Day Challenge.  Hopefully by the end of the year, I'll have 365 pages worth editing.  I’m also trying to follow My Plan for 2014.  I may need therapy in December.  Oh wait…

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hat makes something go viral?

Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books were a few of the first books I ever checked out of the local library, spending many an afternoon my body ensconced under my favorite tree, my mind and heart far away in the drawing rooms and flats of Victorian England.

But even my devotion never reached the fever pitch of present day BBC Sherlockians or the sub-fandom, Cumberbabes/Cumbercookies.

This interests me as a writer, not because I crave fame or popularity.  I tend to write about topics, things, and people that I am passionate about or very interested in, not what is “trending.”

Still, when I tooled around the blog (like the new header, by the way?), I noticed that some posts received over a thousand views, while others received less than twenty.  And I have no idea why.  For either scenario.

For today, let’s look at the Top Five Most Popular Posts – based on page views alone.

Image credit: Pinterest

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (2011) – 3,892 Page views

My love and near obsession with the PRB is well documented here.  So maybe if you’re an art lover, or a fellow PRG fan, then I can see why this made the top five.  But over three thousand views?! 

You love me, er, Rossetti ~ you really love him!

John William Waterhouse (2011) – 2,419 Page views

Another PRB heavy hitter.

Del Amado (2005) – 1,010 Page views

An oldie from back when my blog had a different look.

Saint John of the Cross and his Spiritual Canticle.  I love him, love his poetry and his spirit.  Was it the man or the poem that drew over a thousand of you?

Impressed with Impressionism (2012) – 735 Page views

Another art post.  Hmmm…sensing a trend.

The Comfort of Music (2009) – 639 Page views

Interestingly enough, this post is short ~ just two paragraphs ~ and is about the music of Jon Foreman, Image Journal, and Last.fm.

You’ll notice none of these are from 2013.  Two posts from 2013 made the top ten list, one just missing being in the top five.

Now you tell me, dear readers ~ what made you like these posts so much?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

If you are a blogger, what were your most popular posts…of all time?  Of 2013?

Kicking Myself in the Writer's Block: 10 Day Letter Challenge

And none will hear the postman's knock

Without a quickening of the heart.

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

~W.H. Auden

Beginning in January, I am participating in the One Page a Day Challenge.  Hopefully by the end of the year, I'll have 365 pages worth editing.

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ood thing I chose Flexibility as my word for 2014: I journaled for six days straight and then stopped for eight.  I posted only two blogposts this month.  And I haven’t detoxed at all.

So much for the grand plan.

But January is all about letting go, so I’m releasing all the self-criticism and focusing on journaling today, writing a blogpost for today.  And detoxing tomorrow.

But how can I get back into the daily writing habit?

Begin at the Beginning

My fear of being late borders on the pathological.

Image credit: Green Like Bathwater

It must have been that day in first grade when I was late and was convinced that I had neglected to put my uniform on.  Hence I always check to make sure I have on bottoms (trousers for the Brits out there).

Related to this fear is my refusal to come late to a movie (must see the previews!) and my insistence that I start a TV series from Season 1.  Even if that means I miss the current season.

When I looked back on 2013, I was surprised and elated to see that I had one hundred and sixty-seven blogposts.  That is almost sixty more posts since 2012.  This jump was due almost entirely to the number of blogging/writing challenges I participated in.  And while blogging every day can be daunting, it is apparently the only way to jump start my ink pen. 

However, today is the fifteenth ~ and as you may have already guessed ~ I hate beginning in the middle.

What to do?

Ten Days, Ten Letters

You write for ten days instead of thirty.  Or in this case, you write ten letters in ten days.  This challenge is posted over at Tumblr ~ that black hole of random fandoms.  I would never have joined up if not for being a proud member of the most insane fandom in the history of British telly. (Hint: check out my Anglophile Board.)

There aren’t any instructions, so if you would like to join me, you can take this challenge in any direction. 

Write longhand or on the computer.

Post it on your blog.

Tear it up and throw it away.

Paste it in your journal.

Mail it to the person you’re addressing it to (yes, even yourself).

Tumblr

Day One is a doozy, so I’ll think about what I would want to say to the younger me and post it later.

Right after I journal.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What about you?  Have you joined any challenges this month?