blogs i'm reading

Since you are here, I’ll assume you read blogs, at least occasionally. Or look at them, anyway. Have you noticed how so many blogs have lots of images and few words? This of course makes sense for a lot of blogs. I really enjoy design, food and photography blogs that are picture-heavy. But I also enjoy a good writing blog, or at least a blog with good writing. A site where stories and sentences can sing.

I’ve recently found two that I’ve come to particularly treasure, so I thought I’d share them, and maybe you’ll feel inspired to share your favorites with me.

A quick note: What I appreciate about these blogs is that I feel like they are a backstage pass to the practice of writing. I’m sure these bloggers write and revise at least some of their pieces (and it shows!) but that’s it — no boss or editor involved. What you get is the result of the imagination and motivation required to simply wrestle with words. And many of the posts are about very ordinary events told in a way that brings out the extraordinary in them, which is what writing is all about, I think.  

Djiboutijones is the blog of freelance writer Rachel Pieh Jones. A few months ago I read her moving story of pregnancy and childbirth as an expat in Somaliland, and it whetted my appetite for more. I googled her and found her blog, and with it more reasons to read: She shares stories of faith, running, getting published and motherhood in addition to her third-culture experiences in America (during an extended visit) and Djibouti (where she and her family live and work). I love how she writes about anything and everything. I feel invited to observe with her and inspired to be as open to opportunity to simply write. 

A friend introduced me to this one, and I'm so glad. Mount Custard is the home of sweet stories of a mother of two boys in New York City. On the surface they are about a very ordinary life, and then with the turn of a sentence this writer opens up this whole new layer of complexity. I think I tear up or nod or sit with an open mouth or all three during every one of her posts. My friend and I both agree that her writing voice is phenomenal — gentle and strong.

Any more recommendations? What about a blog makes you want to keep reading?