Roberta Rosenberg of the Copywriting Maven tagged me as one of the five blogs that make her think (if only a little).

I got a little rush from that; I read Roberta’s posts religiously (at her own blog and her guest posts on the Copyblogger site). We’ve both been around a long time, and frankly, she keeps me honest. Her “ground truth” approach nicely counters my wilder flights into the aether, serving as a reminder of what it takes to survive for better than two decades in this business.

Can You Name Five Thought Provoking Blogs?

The “Five blogs that make me think” meme is a good litmus test for your RSS reader; how many of the feeds on your reader have never given you pause?

I thought about it, cleaned out a few, and picked five more for this post (well, ten actually, but…). You’ll notice that many fall outside the copywriting blogosphere, and several don’t focus on marketing.

Rough Type by Nicholas Carr: Sure, he’s on a hiatus right now, but his take on the “new media” world is always interesting, especially this post about business blogs. I don’t wholly agree with his thinking, but if you only read the people you agree with, your brain is on the express train to Mushville.

Idea Grove: Baradell is always entertaining, but between the bouts of laughter, he manages to fire off a stream of intelligent posts. Good stuff.

The Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor: You won’t find even a hint of commercial writing in this daily journal, but you will find interesting stories about past writers and the struggles they endured. Available as a podcast (narrated by Keillor), it’s inspiring stuff.

Bad Language by Matthew Stibbe: Matthew does a great job of speaking to the interesting (and humorous) bits of the copywriter’s life. I check his RSS feed often.

Collateral Damage: Consistently funny, Collateral Damage turns an comedian’s eye on the world of Marketing and P.R.

Honorable Mentions go to The Copywriter’s Crucible (a copywriter focused on engagement topics) and Martin Dugard (a talented writer focused on endurance sports).

Who are your five thought-provoking blogs?

Keep writing, Tom Chandler

[tags]blog, marketing, writing, copywriting, thinking[/tags]