Business writer and author Michael Stelzner has compiled his list of the top ten writer blogs. He says they "all provide extremely useful information for writers." See if you agree. Check out the list here.

Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle board of directors, lists its members' favorite books of 2006. Critic Bruce Allen talks about his:

"The one book of 2006 that I would urge readers not to miss is Edward P. Jones's second short story collection All Aunt Hagar's Children. It's easy to lose track of Jones, who publishes so infrequently. But his first collection Lost in the City and Pulitzer-winning novel The Known World are genuine classics: richly detailed, brilliantly imagined explorations of Afro-American life, both as history and as images of the here and now, that are unsurpassed in our fiction."

To read about more books, check out the website here.

When Miguel Guhlin isn't spearheading groundbreaking technology-in-the-classroom initiatives as Director of Instructional Technology Services for the San Antonio, Texas, school system, he publishes his views on 21st century learning on his respected blog, Around the Corner, read by thousands of educators around the world. We caught up with Miguel for a provocative, and inspiring, discussion.  Continue reading...

Check out a word sleuth in action: See how this lexicographer, who writes the Language Hat blog, answers the question, "why is that there is an 'oldfangled' and a 'newfangled' but no 'fangled'?" Click here for the response.

Tom Asacker, marketing guru and author of A Clear Eye for Branding, writes the blog "a clear eye." In it he shares his thoughts on clarity, what he calls marketing's new task. Tom says: "Clarity should be the guiding principle behind every marketing effort. Clearness of thought. Clearness of appearance. Clearness of message. Clarity should inform every campaign, drive every question, and rationalize every dollar spent and every piece of data captured and analyzed." Read the piece here.

Steal Thunder, a brand-development company in California, writes a blog about "brand moves that get our attention." Here one of the partners writes about inspiring branding from, well, not exactly the world's sexiest retailer: "So I enter the local Smart&Final and have to walk past the checkout, and as I glance up I see the little tagline on the checker's LCD, right where it pays to be reminded: 'The Smaller, Faster Warehouse Store.' So many of the companies we work with struggle to position themselves simply. They want to get to that nirvana of 'one simple, repeatable idea' that not only sets them apart from everyone else, but helps the right customers love them." Read the entire post here.