Bullwinkle Or a monkey out of my butt, whichever you prefer. The last section of this article contains the most important paragraphs in this article, but don't let that stop you from reading the paragraphs between this one and those.

The Wrong Hat?

Unlike how Bullwinkle always reached for a rabbit, and pulled out something else, I've managed to reach for just about anything and pulled out a few nuggets of gold.

I'm not a professional writer by any stretch of the imagination, but a few people consider me an authority (like Sandee) on some of the topics I've written about. Over the course of my lifetime (short or long, depending on your perspective), I've worn many hats and here are just a few:

  • The student's hat.
  • The military hat.
  • The manager's hat.
  • The programmer's hat.
  • The writer's hat.

While the writer's hat is the hat I've worn for the least amount of time, it's the hat I enjoy wearing the most.

Nuggets of Gold

Over the course of about 18 months, the short lifespan of this blog (eons in Internet years), I've managed to write a few gems that have garnered more than their fair share of exposure. Here are a select few:

Blogging Versus Writing and Articles Versus Posts

Whether you're aware of it or not, there's a difference between blogging and writing. Blogging is a term which means posting on a blog — any kind of posting. Writing, the word itself, means exactly that — writing. It doesn't include the images and other things that are included in a post.

For the most part, "article" is synonymous with "post". There's a subtle difference that I'm pointing out. Articles tend to include more text than anything else and are more than just posting an image or two. Articles include tutorials, historical narratives, and other topics that are much more focused than the typical post. What I'm writing right now would be considered an article.

Share Your Wisdom

I'll make a deal with you.

Write an article to share your best "nuggets of gold" and find a way to link to any of my nuggets. The ones that YOU consider nuggets, not me. Make sure you tell me about it somehow, just in case I don't receive a ping, a Google Alert, or it fails to appear as a link on Technorati. I check all of those things, but I'm not infallible and I miss as many as I catch.

In return, I'll find a way to mention that article, and probably some of your nuggets as well. Don't expect it to happen overnight, however, because I'm writing at the mercy of an ISP which can't keep me online for even 50 percent of the time. If you tell me about your article, I'll be able to specifically target your blog. Otherwise, your backlink could end up in a mere "Backlink Bonanza" type of post.

You may be thinking, "Why should I link to this guy's blog? He has a lowly Google PageRank of ZERO!" Well, after my last sponsored post becomes an unsponsored post on January 9th and I request reconsideration from Google, I'm guaranteed to get some kind of PageRank back. I had a PR of 4 before the first round of Google's slapfest. With enough linkage from some of your PR 4, 5 and 6 blogs, I suspect it could be higher on the rebound.

Seriously, I'd like to be able to show Rocky that I can pull a real rabbit out of my hat!