Five Thought-Provoking Writers/Bloggers

Those of you who read my blogs have probably come to realize that I’m a bit of a blog junkie. I read over a dozen every week because I like to stay informed about writing, publishing, and bookselling issues, trends, successes, and failures. Change is so rapid these days and opinions so varied that keeping well informed is a challenge. Let’s face it, little about the book biz is black and white.

As you probably realized from last week’s post, plenty of discussion is happening about the proverbial balloon bursting for indie writers, or is it? Hugh Howey doesn’t think so. In fact, in his latest post he writes that the glut of books on the market is good. Other writers would disagree with that while some still see opportunity in the glut.

Rather than elaborate on all those opinions, I’m going to give you the names of my five favorite writer/bloggers who constantly write, insightful, thought-provoking posts on this crazy business. I don’t agree with them all the time, but they always give me something to think about.

Aside from Hugh Howey, other favorites include two I mentioned last week: Russell Blake and Kristine Kathryn Rusch,. Another is Anne R. Allen, and last, but certainly not least, is Joe Konrath. Oddly, I haven’t noticed a new blog from Joe since Dec., but I bet something will be in the works soon.

If you have blogs you regularly follow, let me know what they are, so I can add them to the list.

http://www.hughhowey.com/

http://russellblake.com/

http://kriswrites.com/

http://annerallen.blogspot.ca/

http://jakonrath.blogspot.ca/

 Debra

The Blogging Grannies

If you're like me, you may find it difficult to convince your mom of 65 years old that blogging is something she'd enjoy. Too many moms that age still don't know how to turn on a computer, much less understand the benefits of the internet. And some moms (and dads) who are 60+ don't even know what a blog is.

But there are 2 lovely ladies who love to blog and have a lot to say and share. I stumbled across Maria Amelia Lopez, who is 95, and Olive Riley, who just turned 108. These 2 gals put the rest of us to shame! :)

Maria's grandson set up her blog as a birthday present, and no one knew it would take off the way it did. In her first blog entry, she posted "Today it's my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog." Maria is billed as one of the world's oldest bloggers, with Olive Riley in the lead by 13 years. Maria's blog has seen over 340,00 hits since December 2006. Spain's "little grannie" has become a hit world-wide, although most of her blog is in Spanish. She talks about everything--life, children, war--and she does it with wisdom and often humor. She talks of the past and her youth, and of current affairs, and she does so bluntly. I wish I could read Spanish!

Olive Riley, fondly referred to as Ollie, at 108 is blogging with the assistance of Mike Rubbo. I'm not sure if he's family or a friend, but regardless, he has a great heart and is the film industry. In fact, he has put up some never before audition footage from his Canadian film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveler. Mike is trying to track down some of these 'kids' who auditioned for the Tommy Tricker movie. Olive is from Australia, a great, great grandmother, and she also talks about a wide variety of topics, although for the most part, Mike does most of the talking. I have to laugh at some of Ollie's comments. She prefers to call her blog "my blob". This gal has got spunk!

This just goes to show that our senior seniors still have something to say. And they're gonna say it, by golly! And all the power to them. Gotta love 'em! :)

And for my not so seniorly friends and writer pals who haven't gotten up the nerve to start a blog, what the heck are you waiting for?

Visit Maria Amelia Lopez's blog.
Visit Olive (Ollie) Riley's blog.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention
http://www.cherylktardif.com/