LovetheStacks: This online-only bookstore is owned and operated by Michele Andrews and also has its own blog, featuring interviews with up-and-coming authors. (Check the bylines… You might recognize one.)

Old Single Mom : Writer J.A. blogs about her experiences as a single mom (whether 40-something is old is anyone’s guess) for ChicagoNow.com. Not your typical mommy blog, JA refers to herself and her son, G, only by the initials of their first names in posts with titles like “A Note to the Crappy Mom in Target Yesterday”, “Why My Five-Year-Old Son Hated Frozen” and “Target Gift Cards Are Gateway Drugs”. (In case you were wondering, she spends less time in Target than you’d think.)

Big Top Family : Ashley, the “Ringleader”/mom/only female in a family of five, is living proof that if you’re going to have a family, you also have to have a sense of humor; she posts about her childhood in an Irish Catholic family of eight, as well as her experiences as a wife and mom of three boys.

StARTistry : Becky Blades, author of the book Do Your Laundry Or You’ll Die Alone and owner/operator of StARTistry Consulting and Publishing, blogs about finding your inner artist by actually beginning the projects you’ve always dreamed of starting.

Thoughts From Paris : No, this blog isn’t about a Frenchman–it’s made up of the rantings and ravings of D.J. Paris, a single man living in Chicago who gets flipped off on the subway, used to wear tight jeans, is unable to soothe himself and occasionally goes on a vacation to Nicaragua. Much better than ruminations about escargot and hating Nicolas Sarkozy, right? (Shhh… these jokes are for me.)

Peaked Curiosity : Montana Napier is a fascinating human being. I was lucky enough to be in a writing workshop with her in fall 2013; while we were in that class, she wrote about being part of a competitive rock climbing team in high school AND part of an all-female research team that lived on top of a mountain to do research on ice. Now she’s thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail with her boyfriend, Lucas. (If you’re not sensing a theme here yet, you should. Clearly Montana has found her purpose in life and it involves climbing lots of things that are hard to climb.) They post updates about their adventure semi-regularly on this blog. Check it out!