Tag Archives: Blogs

Blog Awards

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Bloggers are a supportive group. And one of the ways they support each other is to pass awards around.  Some time ago I

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Lovely BLog Award

proudly displayed the Sisterhood Award.  Yesterday when I was checking traffic, I found that some people clicked over from the site of Ellen Barone and I wondered why, so I wandered over to Ellen’s site.

And there I discovered the Lovely Blog Award. Ellen had included A Traveler’s Library among the fifteen blogs she awarded this blog to.

The rules for this award are:
1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I thought it might be quite a challenge to list fifteen blogs that I had newly discovered, and I confess that some on the following list have been friends for a while. Here are the blogs that I find lovely, and I hope that you may enjoy some of them yourself.

Will My Dog Hate Me? asks Edie Jarolim, author of a humorous dog owner’s book to be released in September.

The Gypsy’s Guide, a new version of a blog called Just go, written by Angela K. Nickerson, author, guide  and travel writer with expertise in Italy.

A Life Divided, by Sue Dickman covers India and food and gardening in her home in the United States.

Bike With Jackie, gives tips for a happy and productive life by travel writer and author Jackie Dishner.

Velvet Escape, is the beautiful travel article blog and website of Keith Jenkins, who has circled the globe.

My Itchy Travel Feet takes us on adventure travel particularly aimed at Baby Boomers, filled with beautiful photography, courtesy of travel writer Donnal L. Hull.

Music Road, by Kerry Dexter, brings us music she finds as she roams, particularly in Ireland and Scotland.

Mother of All Trips Mara Gorman brings beautiful writing to her stories of family travel.

Facing the Street In this and a sister website, La Vida Local, Laura Byrne Paquet answers all your questions about living like a local when you travel.

Bookstore Guide provides travelers with information on bookstores around the world.

My Melange brings a joyful travel experience, mostly to Italy and France from the knowledgable freelance writer Robin Locker.

A Very Curious Mind is the personal blog of busy travel and food blogger Alison Wellner.

Horrible Sanity, the title borrowed from Edgar Allen Poe, presents the personal musings of freelance writer Danielle Buffardi.

Trust the Universe, by Rosie Colombraro, says “There’s Always Plan B”

And that Friends, is my FOURTEEN Lovely Blogs. I hereby change rule two to state “as many as you want”.

Other Sources for Books for Travelers

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Home Library
Home Library

As much as the Traveler’s Library would like to think it is unique in the world…it isn’t. Get over yourself, Library–there are others doing good work with travel literature.

Biblio Travel is a site presided over by a couple of librarians with contributions from a wide variety of people.  You type in a country, region, or state in the United States and a recommendation list of books for travelers pops up.  These books follow the same kind of rules we follow here–anything goes as long as it helps with the travel experience. Sense of place is very important.

Wandering Educators provides a lot of information for teachers who travel with or without students, but of particular interest to the Traveler’s Library, they have a compendium of book reviews. Our contributor R. Todd Felton is the Literary Editor of Wandering Educators, and I am proud to say that I am now their Traveler’s Library Editor.

The Hieroglyphic Streets has a lot in common with A Traveler’s Library. Here are the differences. They give you more links to book reviews. They list one book per post. They invite others to post (well we kind of do that). They have read Thomas Pynchon, and apparently, they even understand him. That’s where the title comes from. I am so NOT a Pynchon reader that I could not even get through the entire explanation (?) of the name Hieroglyphic  Streets.

However, here’s what I do love about this site. They say “We recommends books for places — fiction and non-fiction that explain or evoke a neighborhood, city, or country. You could call it literary tourism.” And “The question we ask is, would we recommend a book to a person traveling to or reading about a given place? When we travel, we like to read books about or set in wherever we’re going. This includes fiction from a local author, or that happens in that locale. It also includes non-fiction like memoir, travel writing, and history. We don’t think we will include guide books, which are easy enough to find somewhere else.”

Now that’s something that we all agree on, don’t we? Bravo!

That explains three of the links in the Library’s  BlogRoll.  I intend to tell you more about the others in the future. And I encourage you to visit these sites and see what you can find of value there.  Please check back here and share your thoughts. You might also leave a comment at their site and mention who sent you.  Thanks.

Ye Merrie Month of May–a Bloggers’ Marathon

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Michelle Rafter, who daily dispenses good information and advice for Writers in the Digital Age, came up with the bright idea that bloggers should spend a month during which they post something every day.  Good for the constitution, or something.  Heaven knows we wouldn’t want to be outside enjoy May flowers, now would we?  Well, anyway, a bunch of her devoted followers, friends from the wonderful writer’s resource of Freelance Success, have signed on for the duration. (The root construction of dur-ation being “hard”, y’know.)

These are the Hard-y souls (besides me) who have committed to the chase. Pay them a visit if you can, and pat them on the back. They’ll need it.

Tim Beyers – The Social Writer – Motley Fool tech contributor and co-host of Twitter’s #editorchat.
Melanie Bonsall – Expert Editing – The online home of this editor, proofreader and writer.
Heather Boerner – Serenity For the Self Employed – Advice for the self-employed among us.
Jane Boursaw – Film Gecko – May Movie Madness and Other Related Stuff.
Danielle Bufarrdi – Horrible Sanity – Random thoughts of a mother & freelance writer
Sona Charaipotra – Sona Charaipotra – for entertainment topics and Ishq In a Backback – On travel and food.
Rosie Colombraro – Trust the Universe – There is always a Plan B.
Sue Dickman – Life Divided – Food, gardening, travel, books and more.
Jackie Dishner – Bike with Jackie -Improving your life with the B.I.K.E. spiritual tool.
Ron S. Doyle –Blog Salad – The literary equivalent of fruit salad and Cyclorati – Exercising my cyclophilia
Kelly Estes – Big Government in Your Wallet – A political blog.Jennifer L.W. Fink – ‘Bout Boys – With 4 boys between 11 & 3, this writer knows her subject.
Sydne George – I’ll Have What She’s Cooking – Good eats.
Debra Gordon- Wine on Tuesdays.
Nancy Hall – Floating Ink – How to fit making art into your every day life
KT Hinderer – Write Beyond the Cubicle – Musings of a full-time freelance writer and editor.
Heather Holliday – Zazou Marketing – Putting your best words forward.
Elizabeth Humphrey – The Write Elizabeth – Introducing creativity into daily life.
Leah Ingram – Suddenly Frugal – Tips for Frugal Living.
Joan Jagroop – This Dame Cooks – Recipes from Alaska to the South Pacific
Sara Lancaster – No. 2 Pen Blog – Blog of this Denver, freelance Web & marketing writer
Doug Lance – Freelance Fiction – “I get paid to tell sweet, sweet lies.
Jared Lopatin – Sign in Ink – Everyday life as motivated by astrological happenings.
Lisa Mann – Sonoma On the Cheap – One of the “On the Cheap” blogs, this one on Sonoma
Jenn Maciejewski – Cities on the Cheap – Freebies and deals in multiple cities across the U.S
Eric Mack – Wrecking Ball Report, MountainDaddy and SaveThatReceipt
Joy Manning – What I Weigh Today – A food writer reflects on weight and body image issues
Teresa Mears – Miami on the Cheap – A Cities on the Cheap blog for Miami.
Amy Rauch Neilson – Rauch Neilson – Thoughts of a breast cancer survivor.
Jennifer Netherby – Parenting by Trial and Error parenting by learning, growing and staying flexible.
Michelle Rafter – Word Count – Freelancing in the Digital Age.
Kate Reilly – Polka Dot Suitcase – Finding fun in everyday life
Meredith Resnick – Inner Writing Journey – Authors & professional creatives in quirky dialogue on how they write and why it works.
Melissa Sais – Digital Mom – Raising kids in a digital world.
Brette Sember – Martha and Me – One Martha Stewart makeover every day.
Kathy Summers – Eco Pregnancy and Baby and Health Writing Hints.
Jodi Torpey – Western Gardeners – Your online guide to gardening in the West.
Sarah Webb – Webb of Science – Where science meets life.
Jennifer Willis – The Green Soul Guide – Where sustainability and spirituality meet.

I encourage you to visit some of these fine people. Oh, and if you leave a comment, tell them who sent you to see them, would you?