10 Blogs I Read Quietly

October 9, 2008 · by Joanna Paterson · in

I wrote a while back about my appreciation of silent readers… not least as I read many blogs silently myself.  Brad Shorr at Word Sell picked up and developed this idea, including a hat tip to the blogs he reads in silence.

This seems like an idea to swipe back, so here’s my list of (some of) the blogs I read quietly.

Blogs on Blogging and Social Media

Although I don’t comment so much on these blogs just now, I think they’ll always have a place in my feed reader to keep me up to date with ideas, suggestions and good practice on social media and blogging.  One of the things I enjoy about each of these blogs is that they’re written in an easy, engaging style, and don’t assume technical expertise or in-crowd knowledge.

Chris Garrett on new media – blogging and internet marketing advice

Problogger – pitched as how to  make money online but full of practical advice for all bloggers

Chris Brogan -  on all things social media, including the relationships and human dimension

Blogs on Writing

I read and comment on many writing blogs but there are some I enjoy reading without the need for comments: reading for ideas, prompts and resources (especially if I’m looking to compile material for a links post like advice on e-mail management or editing techniques).  That includes:

Business Writing by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston.  Practical advice on how to improve your business writing and deal with common problems and concerns about business communication including e-mail.  I’d read even more if there was a full not partial feed… but this site is a great resource if you’re learning about or researching a particular issue.

The (new) legal writer by Raymond Ward.  Aimed at lawyers but the posts are short and to the point, and often help illuminate a more general writing issue.

Writing, Clear and Simple by Ray Jacobson.  Sharing tips, quotes, resources and ideas in an easy to read format, easily digestible and not demanding of my comment time!

Manage Your Writing by Kenneth W Davis.  Kenneth posts about once a week so it’s an easy read – plus his posts are always commendably short.  That being said he always introduces valuable ideas, tips, resources and take away points to work on.

Blogs that Make Me Think

Seth’s Blog: perhaps the most well read blog that doesn’t have comments so of course I need to read this one in silence… but actually I love the format, the well written material, the frames he comes up with to hit us with new thoughts and ideas, a take away that will often linger and percolate through the day

Levite Chronicles: written by Jon Swanson, with food for thought and quiet reflection, often coupled by an intriguing photo of the modern world.  I do often comment here, but many times I enjoy reading and contemplating more quietly.

Heroes not Zombies: also combines photos with thought provoking ideas about health, medicine, philosophy, how we live, and what it means to be the hero of your own life.  Written by Bob Leckridge, who works at the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital.

[Side note: interesting that 9 out of 10 of these blogs are written by men.  I suspect that the proportions would be the opposite way round if you looked at the blogs where I'm most likely to comment.  I wonder if there's anything to read into this?]

Jon Swanson reminded me the other day of how lucky we are to have this free reading material at our disposal.  Blogs that help us to learn, to improve what we’re working on, to make connections between things, to flourish, and to grow.  That’s because we’re spreading free manure… meant in the best possible sense.

It is the kind of writing that I pay for, all packaged and processed from Amazon sometimes, but blogging has made it possible for quicker, fresher, more local delivery of ideas, with the possibility of immediate application and effect in my life.

Thanks to everyone out there who’s helping to spread ideas, share good practice, and inspiring us to tell stories, write with confidence and make the world that little bit more human as we go.

Thanks to Brad Shorr for getting me to share some of the blogs I read in silence. It’s always useful to find out what other people are reading, so why not share what’s on your silent reading list too?

Photo Credit: pompidou by ciro@tokyo on flickr