Best of the 2011 blogathon guest post exchange

On this and every Saturday during the 2011 WordCount Blogathon, I’m sharing links to what other bloggers in the event are writing.

When a friend invites you to visit, it’s nice to bring a little something with you as a thank-you gift.

This week, bloggers in the 2011 blogathon visited each other’s blogs, and brought a little something with them – guest posts.

It was part of the annual blogathon guest post exchange, held on May 16. This is the second (or maybe the third? I forget) time we’ve held a guest post swap during the month-long event, and it’s become a blogathon highlight.

Over the years, the guest post swap has helped people discover other bloggers who cover the same subjects. It’s also led to lasting friendships and regular guest post swaps.

Here are some particularly interesting trades from this year’s guest post exchange:

A better world

Eco blogger Kris Bordessa, Hawaii-based author, features writer, and the voice behind the Attainable Sustainable blog wrote about protecting the seas from pesticides and other poisons in a post called We All Share the Same Ocean on Alexandra Grabbe’s blog, Chezsven Blog: Wellfleet Today. Meanwhile, Grabbe wrote about her efforts to run a green B&B in Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, in a post called Green Initiatives from Chez Sven.

Billie Noakes, a Pinellas, Florida, freelance writer, storyteller and children’s author visits Laura Newman’s Patient POV health-care blog to describe the frustrations a deaf 78-year-old friend encountered when a medical emergency landed her in the hospital and she couldn’t get a sign-language interpreter. Over at Noakes’ blog, The BillieGram, Newman talks about the virtual friendships she’s made because of the blogathon (thanks!).

Food and travel

Travel blogger Nisha wrote about five countries on her bucket list for her friend Anjuli’s blog, Unbirthday Escapades, and in exchange, Anjuli wrote about her five favorite cities (one’s in the United States, but not the one you think) on Nisha’s blog, Le Monde, a Poetic Travail.

Food bloggers Jennifer Walker and Julia Munroe Martin traded posts, with Walker writing on Martin’s Wordsxo blog about using food as an inspiration for writing and Martin writing on Walker’s My Morning Chocolate blog about blueberry bran muffins (that’s them in the photo at the top of the post). Yummy exchange.

Culture and crafts

Aspiring children’s book author and writer Kristie Bernard from Overland Park, Kansas, swapped posts with Pavithra Kodmad, a 23-year-old software developer from Bangalore who writes apps for Android smartphones. In this Q&A on Bernard’s blog, The Neophyte Writer, Pavithra says there are three things in life she does no matter what: read, code and write. In a similar Q&A on Pavithra’s bog, Pavithra Kodmad’s Pages, Bernard shares her criteria for a good book, regardless of genre.

Craft-y stay at home mom Chris, invited fellow crafts fan Mary June to write a post on taking photos of your kids for her blog, A Matter of Life & Craft. Meanwhile, Chris shared different ways to store family memories including traditional scrapbooks, online photo albums, and more, on Mary June’s blog, Writing Who I Am.

Veteran blogger Anyes explained why she loves black and white movies (me too) in a guest post at Nicole’s The MadLab Post blog, and Nicole wrote about movie quotes that inspire her on Anyes’ blog, Far Away in the Sunshine.