Diversity, Thy Name Is Blog

The Blog Shout Contest has reached the next stage, the part where I start naming names and sending you to weird and wonderful places.

If I counted right, I will have five links for you every day for the next seven days. I want you to be friendly, go over and visit, and add yourself to their follower lists.

And I trust that if someone visits you and adds themselves to your list, that you will also return the favor.

It's all about getting out there and finding new people. Don't be shy. Make the first move. If you take the time to stop in and say howdy, you're likely to gain a new reader yourself.

Add your blog to their list (if they have one). Drop in, comment or introduce yourself. You'll be glad you did.

Like books, some blogs click with you while others don't. Here's your chance to get a wide sampling and meet brand new people.

About the contest itself: Sadly, a few people didn't follow directions and one had to be disqualified. I felt uncomfortable sharing this link because of the perverse nature of the topics. Even the blog title was R rated. Sorry about that. My blog, my rules.

Okay, so who's in the line up today? Rather than go by order, I'm going to try and sort blogs by topic. And I'm going to start with diversity in food, travel and lifestyle.

Here goes!

Mike Keyton, Record of a Baffled Spirit

This began as the record of a family beginning with Sergeant John Keyton who died in the Boer war and whose parents came to Liverpool from Cork in 1870. Our family is widely scattered and family trees only tell you so much...names and dates. I wanted a more fleshed out history. The story has reached 1982 and my tour of America.

The blog can be seen as a chunk of social and cultural history, encapsulating, amongst other things, two world wars, Liverpool in the 1960's, and what followed after that. I've tried to make it idiosyncratic and readable, so my unborn grandchildren won't be unduly bored, or indeed anyone else who dips in to it.

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Kaz Augustin, Cooking with Kaz

This is a brand new blog! About food/fusion cuisine with recipes from all over the place!

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Marguerite Butler, Marguerite Says

It's sort of a mish-mash of writing, homesteading, and soccer mom philosophy--with chickens!

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Jeannie Miernik, The Magic Nutshell
I write about writing and about homesteading--though I'm doing it in a township outside of a medium-sized city, not truly out in the country. For a city girl, though, this is rustic living. I write self-empowering tips for living the "starving artist" life in style. Lately I have focused my blog also on parenting, as I am expecting my first child and have noticed that many other writer/bloggers are parents.

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April Hollands, Le Franco Phoney, www.lefrancophoney.com
A humorous look at life in the French Alps - through the eyes of a complete outsider. As an Australian, the blog topics vary from comparisons of Aussie life and tastes with French life and tastes, to local happenings, culture and sports. The writing style is down to earth and the audience tends to be English-speaking people who have lived or still live in France, or those who have visited France on holiday and love keeping up with day-to-day life in France.

I've spent five years in France and almost six years in England prior to that. More than ten years ago, I promised my mum I'd be back in Australia after a year of living in London, but I never quite made it home. I've been a writer all my life, but only recently took the plunge into fiction from technical authoring, travel writing and journalism. My blog gives me the outlet I need when I can't find enough time to concentrate on fiction.

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That's the first line up. Go over and visit and tell them I sent ya! I think you'll like these.

Enjoy!