Thursday, January 13, 2011

A Blogger's Dozen: Good Eggs Who Write Stuff I Read

Many of the blogs in my aggregator are, like mine, relatively amateurish and/or personal. Few are  updated regularly. Sigh... There are, though, some active sites I've enjoyed in recent months which might have a broader appeal. Thought I'd share the pleasure. Not meant to be a complete list.

1. Paul Merrill: "Observing the shiny bits of life since I can remember. I love: the mountains, my wife & kids, good chocolate, strong dark coffee, autumn, perfection, and imperfection." See Shiny Bits of Life.
2. Jon Swanson: A friend of Paul's, Jon is a pastor, writer, and "social media chaplain." See Levite Chronicles and 300WordsADay.
3. Donald Miller: The popular author of Blue Like Jazz, etc. also works out ideas on his blog.
4. Jon Acuff: Stuff Christians Like "is a blog about the funny things we Christians do." It's hilarious, and has helped fill the gap I felt when the wickedly funny Lark News went into reruns (SCL's a bit gentler).

Several of special appeal to people part of the whole missions gig:

5. Check out Missionary Confidential ("everything a missionary isn't supposed to say")
6. See Ben Meredith's Assume the Best ("how to laugh at the process of raising support") 
7. And don't miss Jamie the Very Worst Missionary ("inappropriate remarks, embarrassing antics, and generally lame observations about living life as a Christian missionary in Costa Rica")
8. A leader with Wycliffe Bible Translators, Eddie Arthur blogs on a variety of topics at Kouya Chronicle.
9. More than a blog, Justin Long's site The Long View is "about the unevangelized, mobilizing new missionaries, swarms, and mission issues." Justin is also a prolific tweeter, passing on news from around the world. Super useful for my work.

On and off I read a couple business/communication/tech gurus:
10. Seth Godin
11. Chris Brogan

Hmm... where's my #12? Maybe you can suggest something. What blogs have you been enjoying? Any you'd specifically recommend to others? It might be bad form to suggest your own, but please include the URL when you leave your comment here.

Note: Get frustrated reading too much on-screen? Buy some more eye drops, or see For Happier Reading Online: Some Browser Tips (The Subversive Copyeditor).

8 comments:

Paul Merrill said...

Hey Marti, many thanks for the mention!

I'll have to check out the links I didn't know about.

eddie said...

Thanks for the link, Marti!

Marti said...

My pleasure! And I appreciate the other sources I've found through recommendations from both of you.

Scott Fields said...

I appreciate the list, Marti. Some of these are sites I'm really excited about, now that I've seen them--and I never would have, if you hadn't recommended them. Again, thanks.

Justin Long said...

Thanks for the mention, too! JVM is a guilty pleasure; nice to know I'm not alone among my friends following her antics.

Missionary Confidential said...

Hi Marti, thanks so much for the shout-out! It means a lot to me because being an anonymous/pen-name blogger means that I can't rely on my friends or family to push my blog--because they don't know about it. Really appreciate your Culture Shock post.
--C. Holland

Ben of BenandJacq said...

Aww Shucks. I really appreciate it!

Megan Noel said...

i have a request! unless you've already written this one. what are your tips on being a better listener?