Until I realized she’d heard wrong.
I do follow twenty-three blogs (TWENTY-THREE), and sure,
I can point the way if you’re looking for commentary on celebrity children from
the perspective of a celebrity child (Suri’s Burn Book).
If you’re interested in nonstop hilarity that involves taxidermy more often
than not, hit up The
Bloggess. Fav resource for all things pop culture? Vulture. Looking for somewhere to
revel in feminism and femininity (along with Zooey Deschanel)? HelloGiggles.
In need of DIY inspiration? Young
House Love. Have a friend/acquaintance/frenemy whose wedding
website you can’t seem to find? You just let me know. Have a meme to show me I
that I haven’t seen yet? It’s adorable that you think that. I have Googled
“Google,” people. I kept webcam vigil over a pregnant giraffe in the days
leading up to the birth. I have seen the
whole internet.
Oh. Except for all the literary sites, that is. Of
which there are many. Of which many are good. And it’s shameful (not as
shameful as the giraffe thing, but shameful) that I – that many of us, I’d
guess – have not been taking advantage. It’s not that I’m suddenly down on
downtime (People.com,
I don’t even want to know how to quit you), it’s that I’ve realized that we as
writers should be spending a little more of it on literary pursuits.
The beauty of blogs is that they’re a direct line to
the lives, thoughts, insights of others. To news, to opinions, to questions
that might get us thinking, that could get us writing. There’s nothing wrong
with doodling around in less-than-intellectual corners of the internet, but
easy access to the wisdom and musings of other writers and readers is something
we should not be passing up.
So I made it my mission over the past month to squeeze
some blogs of a literary nature into my busy browsing schedule. Here’s the
deal:
- Many of us are probably aware of Writer’s Digest, but
check out the editor
blogs for thoughts on everything from craft to publishing.
- Another publication you may know of that has a
blog you should know of: Brevity. Visit for the self-described “creative
nonfiction miscellany,” which is, as promised, miscellaneous, and also helpful
or thought provoking or humorous or all of the above.
- If you haven’t yet experienced The Rumpus, you, my friend, are in for a TA-REAT.
You can peruse blog posts here, but the
whole site is like a playground for fans of pop culture and the arts, only with
essays, reviews, poems, comics, interviews, etc. instead of slides and swings
and stuff.
- Bookslut is, first
of all, called Bookslut. If that’s not reason enough to visit, in this monthly
online magazine/daily blog
“dedicated to those who love to read,” you’ll find, as the site says, “a
constant supply of news, reviews, commentary, insight, and more than occasional
opinions.”
- At Writer
Unboxed, you’ll find posts on writing and the writing life from countless
contributors (I mean, I guess I could have counted them), which means multiple
voices, multiple perspectives. Really, no one person has all the answers when
it comes to writing, so here you have a shot at finding a voice, or voices,
that might speak to you.
- OK, so, The Second Pass,
brainchild of the New York Times’
John Williams, has been on hiatus for more than a year, but hear me out: it’s
really worth clicking around. The content might be ‘old,’ but it’s good. Some
of the last blog posts from
before the break feature correspondence between writers, and the letters are
really neat to read.
- In addition to her writing blog, new media guru and editor Jane
Friedman (former Writer’s Digest
publisher) offers on her site a “Writing Advice Archive” where you
can find (wait for it…) writing advice in one easily accessible, user-friendly
spot.
- Maud
Newton, widely published and praised (check out her About page),
writes a great blog that offers, as she puts it, “occasional literary links,
amusements, culture, politics, and rants.”
- I’m not exactly sure who’s behind Moody Writing, but I
know I liked the first entry I saw, in which the writer mourns not being able
to snoop at what others are reading on public transit because of coverless e-readers…
while pulling out a Kindle. The blog is full of lengthy entries on various
elements of craft. It’s worth perusing and deciding for yourself which
ideas/advice hold merit/resonate.
- I stumbled upon Kim’s Craft Blog in doing
research for Teaching Creative Writing and find author Kimberly Davis’ craft
lessons to be quite accessible and often illuminating.
- And clearly I’m not the first person to
attempt such a compilation, so here are some “best” lists:
http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.com/2012/02/best-blogs-for-writers-to-read-in-2012.html
- Also, Twitter, if you’re into that sort of
thing*. This is obviously a very brief and kind of
random selection, but most publications and a great many authors tweet. Following
their feeds is a fantastic way to ingest writing-world goings on in small and
timely bites.
@judyblume (Her tagline is “Are You There, Twitter? It’s Me, Judy” – !!!!!)
*I am. @RisaAriel if you’ve a
tolerance for nonsense.
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