On Hiatus

You read the title.

Lesson Two - What's the matter?

Continuing on the 'Starting Your Blog' theme, this lesson will be regarding knowing your stuff.

As a dedicated voyeur of all things blog-related, I can tell you that one of the largest turn-offs when discovering a new blog is when it's a constantly yo yo-ing between being a gossip blog and what I like to call a 'diary' blog (A blog such as Memoires of a Medoll that can simply be about any Stardoll-related stuff)

I have no problem telling you that I was never any good at the gossip side of writing. And that's the reality of owning a blog - you have a strength, and you play to it. There will be a lecture later on in the course from one of the most (if not THE most) successful gossip blogger of both Stardoll generations on how to successfully gossip, so I'll give you a few tips here but I'd really stay tuned if I were you.

Diary Blogging

This is the easiest form of blogging, which in many respects, makes it the hardest. Deep, right? Well, because it's so easy, there will be always be a million other bloggers trying their hardest to get noticed. This means you better be pretty special to stand out. It's lucky you have us to guide you!

The most important thing to remember about Diary blogging is - don't be patronizing. Your readers know that there is a sale in the Starplaza, or that there are new HotBuys. They don't need you to tell them that, what they rely on you for is your hilarious and riveting insight.

Nothing turns off readers more than a two-line post reading 'OMG New HotBuys! What do you think guys?' It's something anyone could write, and it doesn't invoke a propane-fuelled debate in the comments - which is ultimately the fun in blogging, right? Your posts should hit just the right balance of long enough to be engaging and short enough so people don't immediately just skip past it.

If you've hit the solid brick wall known as 'writers block' (it happens to the best of us) then reference pop culture, or current world events. Although I'd use discretion here, because the death of Osama Bin Laden cannot be linked to a new shop in the StarPlaza in anyway that is not a) Offensive b) Unfunny c) Kind of a stretch.

A good example here - finding an 'elite' wearing harem pants and comparing them to McHammer. Or someone acting kind of crazy and inferring that they have been partying with Charlie Sheen. And in the unlikely event of it happening, if someone on here happens to marry Guy Ritchie and adopt several Malawian children then the Madonna comparison is screamingly obvious.

And that's all for todays lesson on Diary blogging. Any questions, queries or furious rants, feel free to send me a mail at Welsh_Witch.

More Homework

Ok. So, I set you the task to do with PERFECT DAY which had no relation to the first lesson. Now, I must go back to the first lesson and create a task using and about that.

Some of you DO have a blog. And some of you DON'T. Just for the purpose of this blog, you must create a NEW blog. Call it whatever you like but remember it MUST HAVE A LINK. You are to have NO employees and should have own this blog manually and on your own. As soon as you have finished making it looks nice and have finished making it - sign your name in the comments with the web address (URL). I will then visit it. It should have an introduction as I can judge it from there. For all the new tasks and old tasks, you use your blog to present them to us. For example, you can post the PERFECT DAY task on your blog so that it makes your blog more interesting and I can see your task at the same time!

Anyway, find a hook, make your blog and post the link in comments.
The Professors.

Extra Homework

If wanted, here is the extra work that I set someone through and email. Just send me another email if wanted. Plus, the 26 people who signed up should - by now - have sent and email (even if it is just a reason why you aren't completing the task) with the homework.

The task:

You've been hired by a blog manager and she says that you need to write about the shop: Perfect Day. You've 'been told' to relate to the Royal Wedding on Friday.

What would your post be? Remember to have good grammar and remember to grab the reader's attention and FIND A HOOK!

Find a hook my friends. Find a hook.

Send your pieces again to homework.blogschool@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Blog School.

Revision Day One - Getting Hooked.

You've now had your first lesson and have had time to really take it in. Now we would like you to take this a step further. Rather than just finding a blog and reading it - you need to think about it. You need to find five blogs with five different themes. You could write about them. You could take pictures/screenshots of the blog and put it into a collage stating the true theme and reason for the blog. Then comment with your work or send an email to: homework.blogschool@gmail.com.

Thank you everyone.
Work hard and you will be absorbing information without realizing it.

Lesson One - Getting Hooked.

So there you are - an inspired young writer, ready to change the face of the internet through your witty perceptions and challenging insights. But how to present your ideas to the general public?

Our first lecture will be just this - how to create a blog that will make people sit up and pay attention to you.

- Find a hook.

Look at all the biggest blogs in Stardoll history. Perez Hilton of Stardoll. Elite News. Stardoll's Fashion Police. They all had a hook, a theme. Find your own unique theme, and you pull in a whole new audience. The trick with this is to not pick anything too obscure - e.g. a blog called Medolls That Look Like Steve Buscemi. Because how far can you take that, really? Also, deciding to write a fully-blown film each week starring all the famous 'elites' on Stardoll may seem like a good idea at first, but you'll quickly get bored after the second essay. Pick an idea that can stand the test of time.

Create a whole new persona, if you have to. When you are acting, taking on a whole new character can enhance your confidence, and the same applies to blogging. Creating a new Medoll, a new name and a new personality takes you outside your comfort zone, and helps you to become a better writer. Of course, it's not always necessary - people respect you having the guts to put your own name to a 'bitchy' comment. And the golden rule of writing under a pseudonym? Never ever make that pseudonym 'Gossip Girl'.

I'll keep these lectures short, one point at a time.

Next time: Knowing your subject.

Start of the Semester.

Just wanted to inform all students and potential students that the first lecture will be posted early next week, so check the back here regularly. I would also like to remind all reading this that there is still time to enroll, by commenting in the first post of this blog, and of course, following this blog.

Please feel free to tell your friends about this project, it would be nice for us to be able to spread the word as much as possible.

Thank You

Welcome

Welcome to the Academy of Blogging - to take part in the 'school' and go through simple and easy writing courses to make your blog more successful and have more content, sign below in the comments and we will get back to you. There is not a minimum of people who are being let in to the school, we feel that the world of Stardoll related blogging will be much friendlier and easier to understand and read and just more interesting if the writers knew how to write properly (with no slang words - that, by the way, don't make the writers any cooler or more popular). So, just to reiterate, comment with the following:

Stardoll Name:

Blog/ Project Name:

Why do you want to be a part of the Stardoll School of Blogging(?): (Two or three lines will do)

Thank you,

The Professors

Footnote - It would of course, help if you followed this blog too. Just to keep you updated on the admissions and lessons!