Blogs of Note: First Inspirations

As I am so new to the whole blogosphere thing and keeping a blog of my own, I've spent a bit of time recently reading other people's blogs.
My goal: get some fresh ideas, investigate blog styles, and see what works for me as a reader.

As a rule I don't immediately add every blog that sounds interesting to my Newsfox Feedreader. I bookmark them, read through their back entries from blog-start to current. That way I get a feel for the way the blog has developed and grown, and it gives me a good idea if I am going to be able to relate as a "regular" reader. If I can't get past a couple of entries, I'm out of there.

What I have discovered: there is a huge range of choice (no surprise there!), and there is great diversity in quality.

I have browsed my way through poorly written, visually overwhelming, gaudy and just plain exclusionary blogs. They were consigned to the delete button.

Then there are those that have made it to Newsfox.
There haven't been many, I have to say. And I am beginning to see a pattern.

Visually the blogs are clean, normally minimalist, and not full of flashing advertisements. Don't get me wrong, I understand that if you are paying for server space then you need to make some money to meet the costs, just don't poke me in the face - I'm here for your content, not your revenue building.

Writing style is pretty distinctive too. If the blog has a purpose, then the tone is usually friendly and informative; or sometimes passionate when in rant mode, but never truly obnoxious. If the blog is primarily about personal experiences or opinions, then they tend to be direct, are often quirky and display a hint of self-and-others-mockery.

And content, even those writing on personal experience, tends to the creative. This includes technologically, artistically and literally creative.
And before you say "writing a blog is a creative action", I would suggest that while you may be technically correct, in actuality some of the blogs I have bumped into over the past couple of months are simply places to gossip or to spew forth vitriol in lieu of seeking counselling.

I have enjoyed reading these blogs and it occurred to me that they deserve more note than simply being added to my sidebar Blogroll. In the first few months of writing this blog I have gained valuable ideas and inspiration from reading each of them, so I thought it was overdue to give them a little bit of proper recognition. So here they are.

On the technologically and literally creative front I would recommend that you visit Lorelle on WordPress and browse through her work. I have found it to be a good source of thought-provocation and useful tips on both Blogging and WordPress. The visuals have been through a recent revamp after the WordPress announcement about upgrading to Custom CSS, as Lorelle is undoubtedly testing it out for future articles.

Still on technology, especially things Mac and Internet but with gadgets and photography thrown in for good measure, I would also recommend visiting Bioneural.net. I like to keep up with the photography articles and images as I find it's good for boosting my creative inspiration and also the Internet articles gives me an easy-to-understand window into what I might be able to do one day. Also the person to thank for my migration to WordPress.

In the personal observations and experience category, I can recommend a blog that has a relatively short history (a couple of months) that I have greatly enjoyed because of the sense of humour and observations. You may be surprised to note, with my minimalist tendencies, that this blog is called Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things, but the title says it all really. :)

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Postscript: I am currently making my way through another few blogs that are meeting my criteria for a creative, informative and inspirational read. They will no doubt be added to both the Blogroll and a Blogs of Note entry shortly. I am open to new reading recommendations - just leave a note for me.