Other People’s Blogs

By Shirley Blair - September 13, 2018

Photo: iStock.

I love reading other people’s blogs. But what constitutes a good blog for me?

I like a blog to be both informative and entertaining. I also think one of the most interesting things about writing blogs is seeing which ones other bloggers follow. It’s a rabbit warren once you start clicking on the links.

There are a number of good writing blogs that I read regularly, each one for a different reason.

My favourite writing blogs

First, of course, is Womagwriter’s blog which Patsy Collins manages beautifully. Sometimes the Friend gets a mention. Sometimes it’s praise. Sometimes flak. But it’s always helpful for keeping in touch with what’s going on in the wider sphere of women’s magazines. It’s a terrific forum and resource for writers of all levels of ability and experience.

I regularly pop in to read Friend writer Kate Blackadder’s blog. Here she writes book reviews of what she’s read each month, and I often pick up recommendations from her. She has a very wide and varied taste, which is a great prompt to try different genres and writers.

Another blog I think is excellent is Helen Yendall’s. Helen always has something to talk about. She’s an excellent writing tutor, and we were lucky enough to have her co-present one of our PF writing workshops when I headed very south to Bristol a couple of years ago. And she brings that enthusiasm for teaching to her blog. It offers advice, news, thoughts – I always enjoy it.

If you want a blog that’s chock full of solid writing advice, it’s hard to look past Della Galton. It’s practically a workshop in itself.

Most of these are the blogs of regular People’s Friend writers. They probably don’t know I follow them because, like so many, I lurk silently! I do follow others, too, but I’ll leave them for another time.