10 Questions with The Original Glamazon of The Glamazon Chronicles
1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
Like me, my blog can’t be described in less than five sentences but I am going to try (dang I just wasted a sentence to describe my blog talking about how it can’t be described). Black southern female reality blogging, actually it’s a reality blog that is colored by the fact that my reality is affected by my race, gender, and where I was raised. I like to believe that I bring a creative aspect to blogging; I’m a different kind of voice that combines the melodies of spoken word and how words roll off your brain or tongue. I love words and how they sound, and when I write my tone and cadence makes you feel as if I am there holding a conversation with you, many of my blogs can be read aloud like music or poetry. My blog is written for therapy and release (every time OG writes a blog pimp hand goes down) more than anything it’s a view into my world that helps you see a different side of the world, because I, like everyone else in the blogsphere, think I bring a unique perspective to the table.
2. Link us to one post that best defines who you are.
Black Like Me
This was an extremely hard choice for me. Its one of the reasons I do not do best of list on my right hand side. My blogs are like children. I think they are all wonderful and should be read. Ok, well most of them. I choose this post because I think it speaks to a dynamic beyond racial duality while being completely about it. I think we all struggle with the many faces of the prism that make up who we are as people. We are but a sum of our parts, and some of us have lady parts. Lady parts are cool.
3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
I think my cadence and tempo. I think my love of the English language and music with my slightly offbeat humor makes me an OG. I think the way I deliver stories about my life and my convictions is not the average delivery of today’s blogger, but doesn’t everyone think that? I think that my blogs are layered and full of life they can be read over and over and something new can be found with each new read. Maybe it was a play on words you didn’t see or a pop culture reference that had escaped you until now. In that way I’m kinda like Family Guy, except I’m single and black and southern and not a cartoon. I think my willingness to experiment outside the box and do things I have never seen before on my blog always makes it exciting to visit my blog. I think my quick wittedness (is that a word?) and positive view even on the negative things sets me a part from a lot of blogs, it’s not Pollyanna but it’s not doom and gloom. I like to think of it more as if Pollyanna woke up and found out she was black. She isn’t, is she? Is she colorless like God? I think my refusal to address things that the mainstream media wants us talking about makes me unique. In my space it will always be about what I want to talk about. I often wait for topics to die down or last longer than a sound bite before I weigh in, because some of this news we are discussing in the blogsphere IS NOT NEWS! So to sum it up, I think me being me is what sets me a part from other bloggers.
4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
Man, I remember blogging like yesterday. It happened in December of 2001. A very good friend of mine works for MS. She told me they had just set up a beta blog site. So I just started blogging about my seemingly happy life. Nothing too deep, just blog fodder, almost like reading the diary of a seven year old. You know how you think at seven what you are writing is scandalous and then you realize that writing about your crush on your neighbor in the 5th grade is hardly what they make playboy movies out of. Then not too long after my blogging life started, I went through a separation, divorce, and a few of life’s other hard knocks. Blogging became my way to address the pain. Unlike journaling it allowed others to weigh in and let me know I was not crazy for feeling how I felt.
5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
Good question. I live most of my life in the black blogsphere, not really a conscious choice but we gravitate to those things that affect our lives. I think I hate the fact that many bloggers don’t spend a lot of time putting out solutions. They critique everything under the sun, but they never put out solutions. I also don’t like the amount of refusal to listen to other thoughts or views by commenters who jump on sites and refuse to see the other side of the coin. You would think as a computer operating human, being there would be more brain power to have rational discussion, but really there isn’t. So Sad. So Sad.
6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
I don’t know if I have one. *lol* I don’t use a lot of widgets of services. My blog is organic; I don’t even have Adsense on my blog, as of now. I try to view this as a passionate hobby. I guess I’m like Q-Tip from a Tribe Called Quest. He said it was just him and his microphone; well, it’s just me and my laptop. Ok maybe Sitemeter.
7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog,who would it be and why?
I’d have to say no one. I’m not really big on it. I guess Jay Leno does have a guest host and teachers have subs, but to me blogging is not one of those things that you need to have stand-in for. If I don’t blog, then oh well. The world keeps on spinning and the big wheels keep on turning and Proud Mary keeps on burning. When I’m away I do sometimes schedule posts and while I do try to blog daily, sometimes I don’t. I think for my blog having a guest blogger would be hard because of my writing style. I like to think of it as unique and different and that bringing someone else in would disrupt its flow FAR MORE than a few days with out OG. However if that question is to just see who I admire as a writer or person in the world, I would just tell you Toni Morrison is the truth!! Despite that fact, she still can’t write a guest post on my blog. Plus I’m sure they have some special blog for Nobel Laureates to post on.
8. How has blogging made you a better person?
I essentially grew up on my blog. I don’t think we ever stop growing and evolving. Well, enlightened human beings don’t. I learned from my mistakes and pushed through them into this great mental space I am in right now. I chronicled all of that in some form or fashion on my blogs. Blogging about those things really helped me look at my feelings objectively and not just internalize them. Blogging saves the little bit of sanity I have left. I call it working my life’s problems out on paper. To me, blogging is the metaphorical equivalent to showing your work on your math homework. You know people want to know how I got to this space, how I found my answers and if they really want to know, all they need to do is READ my blogs from day one. You will see me work out my ideas and my life and my friends and everything right there in front of you. Some of it only I know the specifics to, but most of it you can chart. You can see me in my valleys, you can read a post and say “Oh this is where she carried the 1”. It really is the best therapy there is for me.
It has allowed me to be easier on myself. It has allowed me to see my growth as a person. The one thing about chronicling your life in cyberspace is IT IS THERE FOREVER AND FOR EVERYONE TO SEE. I made it a hard fast rule a long time ago NEVER to delete any post I published. I think because of that rule I really have to be sure when I am writing the blog it is something I am ready to share and ready to get the truth about. My blog folder is full of blogs that never see daylight. When I tackle personal subjects about people I know I have learned to be more tactful and discerning with my words just out of respect for their privacy, because you never know who is reading. It definitely makes me more creative when sharing my anecdotes. I very rarely address people that I know lurk. It’s tacky to me, but that is all growth on my part as a person and a blogger. It has also made me a better writer. It has made me a better researcher even though I very rarely use my research for anything else other than double entendre and pop-culture jokes. Man I am telling you I’m the Family Guy of blogs.
9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Be honest and be open. Spell check (this is my thing) and read your blog to yourself both as your editor (I am learning more about content editing the more I blog) and as your target audience. Lucky for me I’m my target audience. Realize that more people than you can imagine are reading you and take it as your opportunity to shine. Find your writing strengths, learn who your audience is as opposed to who you think they are, and above all else be true to whatever YOUR vision is of YOUR blog. Only change what it is and what you are writing on it for you. I am a firm believer in “If you build it, they will come.” I call it the Field Of Dreams philosophy. Please remember you have to build it on solid foundation; otherwise, when they come, it will crumble!
10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Man, I read so many, but I do have my regular stops. I don’t let my friends know I read their blogs often because I know as a blogger it sometimes inhibits your creative space when you know friends or family are reading/lurking; however at some point it becomes unavoidable. I would have to say Raving Black Lunatic. Can I say that on TV? (Just jokes people, just jokes) I have watched him develop and evolve his own style which is different from other political and social commentary blogs I see out there. I think that he offers an insightful and intelligent look at his life as a black man in New Orleans. He also isn’t afraid to tell the truth, even when it means he needs to step up his own personal growth game. I admire that. Big Man never disappoints me with his take on things and our world today.
Categories: Personal, Ten Questions
Welcome to the 4th edition of The Friday Five! I hope you’ll enjoy the blogs I’ve chosen to spotlight this week.
The Blog – 
The Blog – 
