I have to admit that one of my guilty pleasures is listening/watching
Wendy Williams. Personally, I think she's a genius at what she does.
Listening to her interviews, it's obvious that she's mastered the art
of celebrity psychology. Sure, her ratings don't hurt her ability to
bring guests to the show but Wendy's talent for ego chess is a great
compliment the success she's already built. Anyone can sling gossip but
not everyone can make it an art form.
With that said, you are not Wendy Williams.
Click
after click, I find blogs--written or otherwise--that attempt to
capture the celebrity slamming vibe Williams is known for and most of
them come up short. Either they're too obnoxious or flat out corny. the
I'm not saying that all of them suck but a hell of a lot of them do.
Worse than that, they try to mask actual writing talent with an
overused and now stereotypical persona. If you're getting mad reading
this, guess what, it's probably you.
Being
a writer on any level takes a certain amount of skill no matter what
the subject. You may have a style you want to run with but get the
basics down first. When you begin your venture into the world of word
manipulation, a writer is what you become. Operative word being
"become". That means it doesn't happen overnight and your "exclusive"
interview with Lil' Flesh Wound from Dusty City Iowa dissing Jay-Z
doesn't cut it. You don't have to have mega star power just blog about
something that doesn't make me want to eat glass.
Here are a few things to get you off on the right foot...
There's a groundbreaking invention called "Spell Check" and it's free!
A misspelling here and there won't kill you but if you want anyone to
take you seriously, knowing the difference between "there" and "their"
might help.
Unless you're really not able to control the volume in your voice in real life, caps lock is a no-no.
Do not write jokes on pictures using the squiggly, handwritten looking
font. Too many people are doing it already and no one likes biters.
Just because you're interviewing a rapper/thug/prison inmate doesn't
mean you have to front like one for them. Real recognizes real beeyotch!
On video, stop talking like a damn mixtape DJ. You're not my boy or my
girl and no matter how many times you try to convince me, I'm not going
for it.
I'm sure there are some more annoyances that bunch of you have come
across. Let me know in the comments below which bad blogging habits get
your goat. I'm very curious to see what you all come up with.
-The Blackspot