Blog Bytes

by Kristopher Zgorski

Electric Lit (https://electricliterature.com/) has a long standing in the writing community. It began in 2009, becoming a nonprofit organization in 2014. They have a tradition of prioritizing diversity and inclusivity, with a strong focus on topics related to important social issues in our society. Written vehicles for this include essays, interviews, and links to trending news items. The essays range from craft concerns like “How to Write a Query Letter” to personal narratives that link one’s lived experience to larger zeitgeist areas of exploration. The Books and Culture entries tend to be part review and part examination of a work’s (book, television, or movie) relevance within current contexts. Of particular interest are their frequent Reading Lists, which highlight selections that fall under some random but very intriguing umbrellas (ie. novels set on fictional islands or books featuring Black characters who pass for white). The interviews on Electric Lit tend to be more hard-hitting that one might expect. Readers and writers who have never read the novels written by the interviewees will still come away from the conversations having learned something valuable that may prove useful moving forward in life. Electric Lit is also a viable outlet for publication of short stories, poetry, flash fiction, and essays—with an easy-to-understand submission process and guidelines.

Book Frolic (https://www.bookfrolic.com/) is a blog based in Canada by a book-lover named Stephanie. It features a wide variety of book reviews listed both by title and author. In particular, cozy-mystery fans will find a wealth of reviews of titles that often get overlooked by the more mainstream outlets. Each review is thoughtfully constructed with solid information to help guide fans in their reading choices. A nice touch is the inclusion of a brief quote from each of the novels reviewed. Stephanie’s interviews feature authors whose names will be very familiar to readers and they’re a fun way to procrastinate from other activities. An occasional feature is the Five for Friday, which highlights five titles that are somehow linked (e.g. historical mysteries or culinary mysteries). Book Frolic has a sister site called Kitchen Frolic (https://www.kitchenfrolic.ca/) where Stephanie posts cookbook reviews, recipes, and food-related travel suggestions. Be prepared to come away hungry after a visit to that blog.

The Write Life (https://thewritelife.com/) is a subsidiary of Selfpublishing.com where wordsmiths can find a plethora of useful information about writing and the authorial profession. Probably the most useful are the craft essays that cover topics both expected and unusual. For those with work already completed, the marketing tab also contains feature articles that document tips and tricks to help with the after-writing tasks of getting your writing projects out into the world for readers to find. Many of their topics are divided between traditional and self-publishing so that writers can find the correct information for their particular writing journey. Finally, there is a resources tab that contains handy links to useful sites and products. (Just be aware that often these linked sites are owned by the same over-arching source, so remember to do your due diligence when researching which are right for you.)