More international bloggers have signed up for the 2012 WordCount Blogathon than at any other time in the event’s five year history. So many, I’m thinking of renaming it the WorldCount Blogathon (sorry, a little late in the week humor).
This year, there are bloggers in the month-long challenge posting from throughout North America as well as Europe, Asia and Africa – if there’s anyone in South America let me know, I didn’t mean to overlook you.
Bloggers are posting in English, Spanish, French, Finnish and a couple African languages that I’m not familiar with (again, if that’s you, drop me a line about the language you write in and I’ll update this post).
Here’s a sampling of the international bloggers in this year’s challenge, with links to some of their most recent posts:
Danielle Bileski is also a Canadian writer, from Toronto, who blogs about families and digital culture on Porridge Report – often with a humorous bent. A recent example: Thank You Internet For Introducing My Son to Dumb Blonde Jokes.
Marijke is a nurse turned writer based in Montreal, Canada, who blogs about the latest health and safety news at MedHealthWriter. In one of her most recent posts, she listed all the days of this month devoted to health awareness: May is Busy with Health Observances.
Joan Lambert Bailey is a U.S. expat living in Japan, where she blogs about urban gardening at Popcorn Homestead. Joan is a veteran of three blogathons – go Joan! I’ve also had the pleasure of interviewing Joan several times in the past year for SecondAct.com about what it was like to live in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s north coast in the spring of 2011 (here are my posts about her experiences immediately following the earthquake, a month later and a year later). Here’s one of Joan’s typical posts: New on the Tokyo Vegetable Scene: Koenji Farmer’s Market.
Like Bailey, Suzanne Schultz Pick is a U.S. expat. Pick, who goes by “Missus P.” on her blog, The Tales of Missus P., moved from Titusville, Florida to Newcastle-Gateshead, England in 2011. Pick calls herself a “Librarian seeking a library” and writes about writing and books, including this recent post on books she likes to read.
One more U.S. expat: Sheila Callahan was born in New Jersey, lived in New York City for 25 years and now resides with her Polish husband in Warsaw. Callahan is a freelance journalist, writer, editor, translator and teacher, and uses her blog, Help, I’m Blogging!, to expound on a lot of things, including learning the technical side of blogging.
Mridu Khullar Relph is a freelance journalist and blogger in New Delhi, India. Her blog, also named Mridu Khullar Relph, covers topics of interest to writers and freelancers, such as a recent post called Why I Write.
I first “met” Silja Hurskainen, a Finnish freelance writer living in Estonia, when she came to one of the monthly writer chats I host on Twitter. Silja uses her blog, Eilisen uutisia, to write about her work and life. Ever wondered what life is like in the Baltic States? Read her post on 5 reasons to visit Estonia, which is in English; she also posts in Finnish.
Lise Capitan lives in Montpellier in southern France, and works as a translator from English and Spanish into French She uses her blog, Lise Capitan Traduction & Redaction to discuss her business, languages & translation. Capitan blogs in French.
Caylie Price is an Australian blogger who runs the Better Business Better Life blog to help small business owners “live the life you aspire to.” She’s in the midst of planning a website redesign. Take a look at her blog and then send him suggestions for improvements you’d like to see.
Masa is a Slovenia-based blogger who writes at HEARTing Handmade about “DIY, eco-friendly, vintage, creativity and giveaways.” In addition to competing in the Blogathon, this month she’s also in a reading challenge, which she writes about in Reading Challenges 2012: The Book Garden.
Suzanne says
Thanks so much for the mention!
Danielle says
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for the mention! I am really enjoying the blogathon challenge. So glad I joined. Also love your posts on writing.
Michelle V. Rafter says
Thank you for joining us, I’m glad you find WordCount helpful.
Michelle
Alana Mautone (@RamblinGarden) says
Michelle, you might think that “WorldCount Blogathon” is an attempt at humor, but I loved it. To this late 50ish woman, one of the most fantastic things about the Internet is the ability to connect with others around the world in “real time”. This would have been so difficult if not impossible just a few years ago. I welcome our international participants, and look forward to looking at some of your blogs.
Michelle V. Rafter says
I agree with you about the ability of bits and bytes to keep us connected to people in places we’ve moved away from, friends from high school and college, and now virtual friends who we’ve yet to meet but with whom we have so much in common.
Michelle
Lise Capitan says
Oh, wonderful to see we are from so many different parts of the world. Nice recap, thanks a lot, Michelle! I’ll also occasionally post in English. First example today 🙂
Michelle V. Rafter says
You’re welcome – and I’ll definitely be reading your posts.
Michelle
Marijke says
Thanks for the shout-out. I joined this blogathon late on April 30th because, well, I had nothing more going on in my life, right. 😉
But I’m glad I did it. I’m enjoying a renewed zest for the life of my blog. Thank you for giving us this encouragement and opportunity to share with so many people.
Michelle V. Rafter says
Thanks Marijke, it’s great having you in the group this year!
Michelle
Maša says
thanks for including me! I’m really loving this challenge so far. 🙂
Michelle V. Rafter says
Great!
Michelle
Sheila Callahan says
Thank you so much for this nice roundup. What a fabulous thing you are doing, Michelle.
Sheila
Michelle V. Rafter says
Thanks Sheila.
Michelle