20 blog reviews - is your blog included?

Premier League Blogs

http://www.lookingforcarolinemarie.co.uk/

I love this blog. I have wracked my brain to find a single caveat that I could use to create the impression of editorial balance but I have failed miserably.  

Every entry has got me thinking and many of them have made me re-assess where I stand on a whole range of issues. The number of blogs that have had this impact on me is exactly three – and this is one of them! 

Score 10/10

https://improvingslowly.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/create-without-expectation/

I love this blog so much. It is stuffed with good ideas and sheer common sense in a writing style that makes you feel that you are just chatting with a long-term friend in the pub or in the JCR. 

There are so many little gems to be found in this blog that I am in awe of the author. Yes, it really is that good!

Score 10/10 

https://katieibaker.wordpress.com/

I’m in my 20s so I suppose it is almost inevitable that I am going to feel more empathy towards a blogger who has been round the block a few times than I would towards a 16 or 17 year old. 

Lengthy and thoughtful posts that will have an impact on Ella and I are something to treasure and I hope this blog will be around for years! 

Score 10/10

http://awayabroad.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/getting-back-to-studying.html 

I love therapeutic blogs. But of course I’m biased because I wrote a therapeutic blog/newsletter for several years. This guy is a writer, don’t have any doubt about this. I read his entire blog in a single session and that is almost unprecedented for me. 

OK so I’m a nosey girl but I would have liked to have known a bit more about what went wrong when he was at university. In my experience writing a “warts and all” blog is more helpful to the author than writing a sanitised version. 

Score 10/10 

 

Championship Blogs

http://darknesslight1.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/the-deceased-are-frozen-in-time.html

I have to admit that I have met the author of this blog but only twice and only for a total of 1 hour. The blog started in July 2013 and there have been 75 entries since then so it scores highly on reliability. This is a niche blog, a blog that all of us hope that we would never need to read, but I think it is worth supporting nevertheless as it deals with coping with bereavement. 

The author is a post-graduate and in the nicest possible way you can tell she is because of the maturity of her writing. 

Score 9/10.

http://issuesofhumanity.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/why-not-polygamy.html

I suppose it is easy to enjoy a blog when you agree, strongly, with the view point of the blogger. But there is more to it than that. When a writer has style, when they can present a reasoned argument and when they know the basics of spelling, punctuation and grammar it easy to get engaged with what is on offer. 

The blog owner is somewhat older than most – and it shows. 

Score 9/10 

 

https://itiresias.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/on-chelsea-and-why-they-wont-win-the-league/ 

I am not particularly interested in sport – although my husband is – but I was very impressed by both the quality and quantity of material the blogger has created. 

There are so many shocking poor sporting blogs around that I would love this one to be a success just to show what is possible! 

Score 8/10

 

https://improvingslowly.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/keep-goals-to-yourself-or-tell-everyone/ 

Sometimes I find myself enjoying a blog without being able to put into words why the blog works for me. I suppose it is some combination of the content being of interest and the blogger appearing to be a reliable and sensible member of the human race. 

I like this blog and I intend to keep reading it because I’m finding material in almost every posting that will be of value to me. 

Score 8/10 

 

http://tobefrankmagazine.com/opinion-pieces/six-words/ 

I enjoy blogs that cover the broad area of creative writing. I want this blog to succeed and to succeed it needs an active readership. I hope that this positive review will encourage the blogger to keep writing. 

Score 8/10

 

League 1,2 and 3 Blogs

 

http://politicaltarget.uk/2015/07/24/budget-2015-students-is-it-as-bad-as-its-made-out-to-be/ 

There is something mildly pretentious about many political blogs that does little to encourage me to become a regular subscriber. When the author writes like a stereotypical Telegraph reader then my enthusiasm drops still further. 

But that said this is rather better than many such blogs. The brief articles are well constructed and put a cogent case forward. Time will tell if the author will be around for a sustained period. Blog entries of this quality take lots of time to write and if circumstances change the blog can often be the first thing to go.

Score 7/10

  

http://www.lifeofkitty.co.uk/ 

They say that it is a good idea to leave the reader wanting more but perhaps this blogger has taken this principle a bit too far. I really enjoyed what I read about finding the inspiration to write – I just would have liked to have read more.

This strikes me as a blog that might stand the test of time so if you see yourself as a author I suggest you add this blog to your reading list.

Score 7/10

 

https://reflectionnights.wordpress.com/2015/08/01/for-all-those-who-dont-feel-ready-for-university-but-feel-pressured/ 

There are far too many university related blogs around and most that are started in the long summer before starting the course don’t make it to the first Christmas. 

But this blog is well above the standard fare offered by most similar blogs. A well written and thoughtful analysis about the academic treadmill suggests to me that this is a blogger who is well worth supporting. 

Score 6/10 

 

https://daigakunichijou.wordpress.com/ 

I am usually quite pessimistic about the survival chances of a blog that starts during that curious time between finishing school and starting at university. Once the excitement of “Week One” kicks in and the academic component of university life starts little time is left for blogging. 

That said I would like to see this blog succeed partly because the author writes rather better prose than many new bloggers and partly because I have often wondered what it would be like to study a foreign language at university.

Score 6/10

 

Minor League Blogs 

http://kasimskorner.com/ 

This blog is something of an enigma. I’m not clear what the blog is trying to achieve other than perhaps being a meeting place for like-minded writers. Something about it grates, perhaps it feels rather more pushy and commercial than most blogs? 

But if you are a creative writer this might just be what you have been looking for. 

Score 5/10 

 

https://thousandnotesoneinstrument.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/a-friend-in-disguise/ 

I seem to have discovered this blog shortly after it was launched. The first blog entry seemed sensible and quite well-written so I suggest that people support this new blogger by reading and commenting on what is on offer.

That said it is easy to write high quality material once. The best bloggers and blogs tend to have been around for years rather than days so time will tell if this one is going to join the elite group.

Score 4/10

 

http://studentmentalhealthnursejourney.blogspot.co.uk/ 

I have two friends who have recently gone into nursing so I was rather predisposed to be interested in what this blogger was proposing to cover. It is still quite early days for this blog but if the enthusiasm can be maintained then I can see it filling a gap in the market.  

There is something about the current layout that doesn’t quite work. The overall impression looks somewhat messy but the factual content looks sound. 

Score 4/10 

 

https://farahaspiringmedic.wordpress.com/ 

Career related blogs have a ready-made audience and if they are well written and the blogger retains their enthusiasm the blog can run and run.  

The jury is still out on this particular blog simply because only time will tell if the work-load associated with becoming a doctor will allow the blog to keep on appearing. 

Score 4/10 

 

http://ninefivesixteen.com/ 

I don’t like religious blogs and I’m not particularly interested in either food or fashion so a blog that includes these three components has its work cut out to get a good score.

However the blog does have a certain sense of style and it might be that the blogger will attract enough readers to encourage them to continue with this writing project.

Score 3/10

 

https://masonjtking.wordpress.com/ 

One man’s meat is another man’s poison. The blog looks good, well above average, but the content is a bit thin and is mainly in areas that don’t appeal to me. So it isn’t a blog that is likely to make it onto my “must read” list. 

Blogging is a fiercely competitive business with loads of me-too blogs around that are almost indistinguishable for hundreds of others. Somehow I don’t think this blog is going to be able to carve out an audience. 

Score 3/10  

 

https://schemingserenity.wordpress.com/ 

Sometimes I get a feeling in my gut about a blogger and their blog. I just “know” that they are not going to be for the long haul partly because of their posting frequency and partly because of what they write and how they write it. 

This quasi-motivational blog fills me with horror but it might be just what another reader is looking for - although somehow I doubt it! 

Score 1/10