Blogs That Make You Think . . .And/Or Do Other Stuff

On April 26th, Lillie Amman awarded this blog the Thinking Blogger's Award. As described on her blog:

Iker Yoldas at The Thinking Blog* created the award and describes the award and the rules in Thinking Blogger Awards. The award recognizes blogs that make people think, and those who receive the award then pass the award on to five blogs that make them think.

*NOTE: This blog is no longer online, but the award lives on. Tres cool! {NOTE: Cartoon courtesy of www.weblogcartoons.com.}

Needless to say, I was flattered beyond belief. So, for my five picks:

1. Problogger.net: If you want to know about blogs, this is THE blog to go to. Darren (the blogmaster) is a six-figure blogger and the depth of information to be found on this site is astounding -- especially about monetizing a blog.

Other things I like about this blog -- it's professionally written; the topics are timely and relevant; and the best thing about this blog -- the information is in-depth and helpful.

Darren doesn't gloss over topics like a lot of blogs do. He really goes into detail so you always come away feeling like you got a new, better and/or different take on an issue.

2. The Golden Pencil: This blog reminds me of my own in the sense that it relays helpful information to freelance writers via articles. It also lists jobs for freelance writers and has links to other blogs on freelance writing.

3. Paula Mooney's Blog: I first encountered Paula's writing on AssociatedContent.com. A black woman who knows tech stuff -- I was jealous and incredulous all at once.

Paula writes across a broad spectrum and her pieces have great headlines that just suck you in. Eg, a recent entry is Paula's List of Blogger Salaries...Are you on the list? Who wouldn't click on that?! NYU School of Journalism, you should tag her blog to teach how to write effective headlines.

FYI Paula, I'm going to tap you to help me cowrite a book on tech stuff -- as soon as I can finish formulating the idea in my head -- this should be before the year 2020.

4. Hot Diggity: This is Jenna Glatzer's blog. She's a successful freelance writer who's collaborated on a book about Celine Dion, has authored children's books and was the founder and editor-in-chief of AbsoluteWrite.com, one of the best freelance writing sites on the web.

Even though I first ran across Jenna's writing while doing some research on freelance writing for an article a few years ago, I read her blog not because she is a fellow freelance writer, but because her sense of humor cracks me up.

On her blog, she writes about almost everything but writing -- which is the blog's purpose -- to get away from writing about and promoting writing.A sample of Jenna's humor can be found in the following missive from her 2/7/07 post:

I love my electronic toothbrush, but it seems I can't handle it. I manage to get toothpaste on myself about every other day. And toothpaste has this supernatural quality-- you can rinse it off, really rubbing the fabric so it looks like it's all gone, and when it dries, poof! The toothpaste is still there. Taunting you. Like those birthday candles you can never blow out.

5. Jason Kottke's blog: I rarely check in to Jason's blog anymore, but for a while it held me spellbound because he made a big splash in 2005 when he quit his job as a web designer to blog full time. Stories were all over the net and in newspapers about it.

Jason's been blogging almost daily since 1998 -- which is a major feat, when you consider that most bloggers give up after a few months. During the year that he blogged full-time (he gave it up as a full-time gig in 2006), he raised $39,900 from 1,450 donors. Read an update in this piece.

Jason blogs about any and everything and his blog is neat and well organized -- always a big hit with me. I check it out from time to time out of loyalty and admiration.

So, there you have it -- my picks.

I don't spend too much time reading blogs because as a full-time freelance writer, time is money and I'm usually trying to beat a deadline.

To Darren, Anne, Paula, Jenna and Jason -- continued success with your blogs.

Sincerely,
Yuwanda
InkwellEditorial.com
InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com
P.S.: Re the freelance writing e-books that I've been promising will be back online forever and a day now. Finally, finally got them proofed and ready to upload. BUT, what happens. Software problems -- arrgghhhh! Got the kinks worked out last night and -- fingers crossed -- just have to put in the PayPal codes for payment and back up they will be by tonight (I pray!).

P.P.S.: Look for the great discounts!

Tomorrow's Topic: What to Do When You're Tired of Writing (Advice for Freelance Writers)
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