http://yabookscentral.blogspot.com/

Mitali’s Fire Escape: Mitali Perkins came to visit my school a few years ago and her presentations were a big hit. She’s as approachable in real life as she is in her blog. Highly recommended for kids, teens and adults alike.

http://www.mitaliblog.com/

I.N.K.: Interesting Non-Fiction for Kids: Great collection of non-fiction writing and resources for kids and teens.

http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/

The YA YA YAs: Written by three YA librarians, this is a great resource for new literature. They design the blog well and it’s kept up-to-date frequently.

http://theyayayas.wordpress.com/

YA Fresh: As it promises, this blog is fresh, especially since it speaks directly to teens. Written by two YA authors, it’s a definite favorite of mine.

http://yafresh.blogspot.com/

Mother-Daughter Book Club: It’s a nice collection of books recommended my members of a book club. Naturally, it has a girl bent to it, but there are some boy books recommended here, too.

http://motherdaughterbookclub.wordpress.com/

The Goddess of YA Literature: This blogger writes succinctly and well, throwing book reviews into short narratives of the goings-on in her life. I enjoy reading this blog a great deal

http://professornana.livejournal.com/

The Picnic Basket: Deborah Sloan, this blog’s author, writes about all types of new and up-and-coming books for children and teenagers. She links librarians, teachers, and book-lovers to publishers who give free ARCs if the recipient is willing to write a review on The Picnic Basket. It’s a wonderful resource and always interesting and updated.

http://www.thepicnic-basket.com/

Mad Woman in the Forest: Laurie Halse Anderson’s blog makes me want to quit my job today, build a little cottage like hers, and write forever surrounded by stuffed bookshelves. Someday. For now, I’m content reading the ever-engaging posts she writes and happy in the knowledge that if she’s reading about American history then she must be well on her way to finishing the sequel to Chains. I love this blog.

http://halseanderson.livejournal.com/

YA Authors Cafe: Nice selection of YA book reviews written by three YA authors. I love it when authors blog about other author’s books. It’s a delightful community that has formed publically among them all.

http://yaauthorscafe.blogspot.com/

Flamingnet Young Adult Book Blog: Teens reviews books for teens! Any teen can sign up to review books. I always find something useful on this site.

http://www.flamingnet.com/blog/blog.html

Other favorite author blogs:

• E. Lockhart’s
  
• Libba Bray
• Niel Gaiman
• The Journal of Laini Taylor
• Teen Fiction Cafe (a group of YA authors)
• Cynsations – Cynthia Leitich Smith
  
• K. L. Going

And a few lit, too:

• Miss Rumphius Effect
• The Elephant Rag
• The Compulsive Reader
• Guy’s Lit Wire

The world of blogging is so vast, especially among people who write for a living, too. It’s a fun place to hang out for a while to see what’s new in the bookstore or learn about an author’s day-to-day doings. Enjoy!

Most of all, it had to be eye-catching without being obnoxious. There are plenty of themes out there that are so much fun to look at, I almost got carried away. But when I think about wanting to use this for professional use, I ended up with the theme you see now. Hopefully, it’s perky and clean without being boring or overbearing.

My ability to understand this vast world of Webpage building has increased exponentially in the past few weeks. One thing I know for sure: I’m so excited to start making this blog come alive. My promise to be “back in April” might have to be broken; I may be back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next…

Why have I gone through hours of translating techno jargon when I could have easily moved my blog from NL Communities to another Web based browser? At this point, the reason is not as clear. I wanted a few things like the ability to add plugins and widgets as needed and wanted. I wanted access to more themes than provided in many Web-based blogging software.

But the coolest part? I am my own domain. Norah Connolly is now a .com.

I know that anyone can do it for about $50 a year, but really, how cool is that?

So I’ll be back mid-April when my blog officially moves to Wordpress. I’m excited to start this more technical form of blogging and to see where my writing takes me on this new format.

Until then, see you at Librarian(‘)s Matter, November Learning style.