Feminist Friday--the blog edition

Taking a break from fiction this Friday to look at a bouquet of blogs celebrating women and their passions. First up is SheBiz, which bills itself as looking at life from the "passionista's" perspective. The work of Renee Daniel Flager, and assorted sister-friends of the blog, the site has invented teh motto "KIC" (Keep it Confident), which is a great thing to remember, kind of the modern variation of "Never let them see you sweat."
The site has a badge from the Lady Blogger's Society on it, so check them out too. They seem to be a support group, a social networking site and a job source all in one.

On confabulicious, I found a post called "This List of Top 10 Blogs by Women will change your life."  Among those cited are Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman; Rosalind Gardner's Net Profits Today (helping real people make real money online), and Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project." (For the full list, go here.)
What I love about so many of these cited sites is that they are powerfully empowering, going way beyond the "mommy blogger" stereotype.

I am a fan of the Women on Writing blog, where today's post is a call for "no more query letters."  There's a WOW ezine, quarterly writing contests, links to classes and a freelance job board besides. (There are 10 listings just from today and they're quality corporate communications gigs, not oppoprtunities to write blog posts at $5 a pop.)

I am also a big fan of BellaOnline,  A writing community conceived by Lisa Shea, BellaOnline is a writers' community, primarily for women. Each "editor" for BellaOnline is put through a four-week course that teaches her (or him, they do have male bloggers) how to set up newsletters, manage forums, use SEO, and basically, get their names out there. There are hundreds of topics available to write about (I was the BellaOnline "chocolate" editor for more than a year), and the skills are invaluable.
It's also a really supportive environment to work in--you're assigned mentors, and other editors are always available for questions, support, advice and encouragement. There's no pay, but the process of posting weekly and seeing the statistics from week to week is invaluable. They're always looking for new editors,  so if you're looking to beef up your non-fiction portfolio, you should definitely check them out.
Women supporting women, loving themselves and others--that's what feminism is to me--not exclusive but inclusive. Even if you're disheartened by news of rollbacks on wromen's rights, even if you feel isolated in a community or family or situation where you're not appreciated, you can find a home on the web. Your sisters are out there, waiting for you.