By Tracey Arial
There are four types of blogs I love reading: community news, informative rants, personal musings, and blogs about the business of writing.
Many of my favourites are based in Montreal, but there are several worth reading in the rest of Canada too:
Community news
People who know technology, journalism, politics, food and other news beats have joined an active community news aggregator site founded by Ben Peterson and Jonathan Wong. Newsana.com has been a great way to keep up with the best stories about subjects I care about. The news site blog Newsana shares updates about how our community is evolving.
I’ve also joined spundge.com, a collaborative site that enables me to aggregate links to important stories by others on my own blog for readers to discover. Their blog keeps members up to date with what’s happening. Here’s a sample of how I’m using the service.
A group of ecologists and community activists have created an inspiring public space in Toronto at the old brickworks site on the Don Valley River. I keep up with their activities through this link.
Informative rants
My favourite all-time blog to read is the one written by Ottawa doctor Yoni Freedhoff. Freedhoff campaigns for healthy weight by pointing out nutritional lies and exaggerations told by major corporations, governments, schools and anyone else he notices. Be sure to check out his post about Canada’s Food Guide to UNHEALTHY Eating.
I’m just starting to get into the Homeless Hub newsletter distributed by the Canadian Homelessness Research Network, but the implications of the research at this site are mindboggling. See how important shelter is at this link.
Everyone interested in the Canadian Magazine industry enjoys the blog by D. B. Scott. Scott talks about layoffs, pay rate drops and other disasters in an impassioned ironic blunt way.
Personal musings
Several writers I know publish blogs about their lives as business entrepreneurs, moms, creative spirits and adventurers.
One of my favourites is Lisa MacColl, who guest-blogged on Wednesday. Check out her poetic posts about daily living at Lisa Mac’s musings.
This week, my friend Doreen Pendgracs wrote about the emotional heartache when a beloved pet dies.
I’d been reading the musings of Michelle Greysen, a colleague at the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) for several years, before I finally got to meet her at a conference last week. She’s just as opinionated and funny in person as she is on her blog.
I began reading Perry Greenbaum’s blog when he lived in Montreal. Greenbaum’s musings about living with cancer and politics are just as interesting now that he’s in Toronto.
Suzanne Boles musings about her husband’s illness and death, writing and the freelance life and anything else she considers important are always worth reading.
The business of writing
Interested in how one goes about setting up a freelance writing business? Consider reading either Nate Hendley’s blog or Paul Lima’s blog. Both are full of great hints.
John Degen posts the latest news about the writing industry and interjects with podcasts of his interviews with Canadian poets.
Peter D. A. Warwick muses about the business of freelance writing.
All of the above
My friend Ann Douglas has several blogs. Her social justice commentary can be found linked to her Citizen Parent radio show blog. She’s also started documenting her weight loss and active lifestyle. Her parenting musings are at this link. Her writing musings are here.
Note, re subscriptions:
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