Thinking Blogger Award

Thanks again to Nick for giving me a Thinking Blogger Award (go here to read about the origins of the award). Below are my five picks for blogs that provoke thought and dialogue. If the blog-owners choose to accept the award, they need to honor these guidelines:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;
2. Link to the Thinking Blog to that people can find the exact origin of the meme;
3. Optional: Display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

Without further ado, five blogs I admire (and haven't seen nominated elsewhere):

32 Poems / Deborah Ager - Deborah is one of the most dedicated and coherent bloggers I know. Her posts strike a nice balance between personal and poetry matters.

Every Other Day / Kate Greenstreet - Kate's series of first book interviews is the single-most rich resource of industry experience that I've found on a blog. It takes diligence to keep gathering and posting these, and we should all thank her wholeheartedly.

Lorcaloca / Eduardo Corral (with Diana Delgado) - When I started reading beyond blogs by people I knew in the "real world," I stumbled across Eduardo's postings and was instantly drawn in. He's pretty fearless; there's no sacred cows. Probably the blog that makes me laugh out loud (in a thoughtful way) most often.

Awfully Serious / Ali Stine - Okay, it's a bit of a dodge to nominate this blog, since it has pretty much shut down--but of the blogs that have evaporated, it is the one I miss the most. Ali's postings were beautifully crafted mini-essays--it would not surprise me if they were reconstituted in memoir form down the road.

Cackling Jackal / Reb Livingston - Reb is really willing to commit and discuss publishing issues in depth, not only on her blog but in the comment sections of other people's blogs. She's a tireless defender of online and POD publishing. She'll kick your ass, basically, and you'll thank her for it.

Okay, those are my champions of the day. If you haven't visited these blogs yet...what are you sticking around here for?