As part of my ongoing professional development, every day I check in with a handful of writers in the blogosphere-mostly via RSS feed, a few notices via e-mail.

I am so impressed by the high value of the information being shared on these writer blogs I read regularly, that just about every day I am tempted to commit one of the cardinal sins of blogging— the re-blog (as opposed to the re-Tweet). Frequently, I do forward the link on to clients when there is a topic that matches their needs. I struggle to believe it is worth my time and energy to write my own take on a subject for my blog when someone else has written about it so well, particularly when my blogging goals are really so small (I’m not trying to grow or go viral, I just want clients and potential clients, in short—you, to know I am alive and connected).

So, for this post, I’ve decided to share the names of a few of these writers who do such a good job and greet me in my Mail each morning. Some are well known, others not so much.  In no particular order:

 Anne R. Allen with Ruth Harris: This particular post about the work-shopping advice to eliminate “to-be” verbs from your writing is right on, and helpful for most writers who haven’t had the advantage of a post-graduate degree in grammar.  Look at how complete her explanation of the verb tenses is! Most of her posts are extremely well written and provide very useful information.

Jody Hedlund: This writer gave her readers a fun opportunity to vote for the book cover option we liked the most, which I really enjoyed. But this blog entry, in which she discusses putting the “social” back in social media, was really concise and put into words what I had been feeling. There is too much promotion and not enough connection in most social media. The other thing she does really well is link to other articles worth reading.

Nathan Bransford: Now this guy is famous for his impact on and skill with social media to sell books, and I rely on him to keep me in the know about what is hot and what is gauche in this area. This particular entry about why you shouldn’t post your Tweets to Facebook makes so much sense to me, and goes hand in hand with Hedlund’s blog above without saying the same thing.

Kristen Lamb: This blog about the things that are killing self-published authors (#1: publishing before we’re ready. AMEN SISTER!) is representative of her posts. She’s completely an overachiever; I think she’s trying to catch up with Bransford.

Alan Rinzler: Shifting gears a bit, Rinzler isn’t a writer, he’s an editor. I am essentially a disciple of this man, who has spent a lifetime in traditional publishing editing books that everyone has read and has now jumped into self-publishing advocacy and support. I’ve studied his model for editing and taken his opinions to heart. Here’s a piece he wrote about developmental editing, and I love to check in with him to see that my practices are aligned with his, which I perceive to be the best-practices of the industry. He has a lot of good information for writers considering hiring an editor; true, he’s hoping you’ll hire him—so why am I sending you over there? I’m just. That. Confident. No, seriously, because he’s a real pro.

Things worth knowing and sharing, written well. 

I encourage all writers to connect with these and other bloggers; to learn from them and, when appropriate, interact with them.

What blogs do you follow and why would you recommend them to me?