i think i opened the floodgates when mentioning my "blog writing style" in a few posts back. since then, i've received numerous emales about how i write and, interestingly, my intelligence (or lack thereof).
for example, one reader wrote:
why don't you take the time to make your blog more readable? i never understand what you're talking about and it doesn't read well. it reads like you're talking off the top of your head instead of engaging your readers to a point you want to make.
my answer is this:
sooo very rarely am i trying to make a point, especially a point i want to communicate to an audience. it's never that important. if anything, i almost always write via a stream of consciousness. i have a thought, i then expand upon it via a blog post, i click submit, and i hold no personal expectation of anything happening thereafter. i don't wonder if i communicated clearly or correctly. i almost never go back to fix spelling errors after the initial spell check. i don't ask for feedback. i'm not here to impress anyone. that was never my intention and it certainly isn't something i will try to improve upon in the future. this isn't graded. this isn't going to senate review. it's not being printed for mass distribution. no bigwig headhunters are scouting obscure blog writers for the next...perez hilton (his writing ability is unarguably at a 3rd grade level beeteedub, so if he's the competition then i should be considered the freakin tolstoy of the blogosphere). so, in the words of a faux joy behar, so what, who cares?
i'm big into blogs, and i actually read quite a few that aren't on my ilike list. i mainly read blogs because i enjoy reading the varying perspectives of others...and rarely do i judge their writing style. i'm basically content if bloggers spell things correctly and use 101 grammar.
trust me, many MANY blogs read like college essays...which i don't care for. i especially hate intro, body, conclusion type blogs. it just takes me back to my college days where i wrote ENDLESS amounts of formal essays. i'm so over that. i'm not saying every blog should reflect a writing style of rosie o'donnell...but to each their own. do what you want, no one is making me read their blog, and vice versa with my own.
i think a lot of the bloggers who aim to impress their readers via a sophisticated writing style are probably non-writers who like to write. they're IT managers who write scripts. or perhaps actors who think they're jennifer lopez by being able to sing, dance, act, AND write because, you know, they're "artistic."
whatever the case may be, i can spot it a hundred miles away. so much of their writing is tainted by their own ego and, therefore, no longer comes across as super intelligent, but showy...what, with their big words, flashy transitions, and white glove grammar. laa dee! do what you gotta do, but i don't believe it necessarily makes reading their work any more impressive or fun than someone who writes like myself. i, myself, tend to gravitate toward a writing style that's a little more vulnerable...a little more human-to-human. instead of an egotistical writer building a wall between their work and their readers...i much prefer they construct a picket fence. something slightly see-through. let's understand one another, shall we? let's relate. yes, writing is a skill and we like to take pride in it if we can do so, especially considering a large portion of our society cannot write worth a damn...just read any youtube comment or twitter @response. but let's come back down to earth - blogs are about communicating. and, since i hold skill (and an education) in writing, i like to translate my writing to my audience on a slightly different perception level. i want you to read what i think as well as how or why that thought occurred. and wow those thoughts are almost never clean, literally or figuratively. but they're mine, and i want to share them with you. i don't mind showing flaw, weakness, or imperfection in my writing or within the subject of my writing. that's what a blog is about, right?
and if you don't believe that line of bullshit, just cut me some slack already. it just is what it is. i write on this blog almost every day, several times a day. so what if i don't provide you with masterpiece literature - that doesn't mean i'm lazy or stupid. in my opinion, i've been known to publish some nicely written opinion pieces...but i certainly don't have the time, strength, or energy to do that on a daily basis, multiple times a day.
i have a full-time job and a social life, you know.
