The dog days: Problem and opportunity

We are smack dab in the dog days. I'm not talking about the hot, humid, oppresive dog days of summer, but rather the dull, uneventful, lethargic dog days of summer news. This is the first summer that this blog has experienced the dog days, as last year's presidential election offered up a treasure trove of material to write on. The challenge during the dog days is to continue to write interesting material at a time when even the hot button topics are rather dull. This leads to the problem of the dog days of summer news; there is the temptation to blow the few stories available into something much more than they really are just so we desperate writers have something to write about. The good writers have a huge opportunity during the dog days of summer news. They find topics of interest and they write entertaining pieces on them. They begin to rise above the also rans who are either kicking dead topics, writing on the absurd, or writing cheap, gimmicky pieces. This is the time of the year to see who the pros are, and to learn which writers are truely talented.

So, which am I? The writer who is part of the problem, or the writer who will rise above the rest? Well, I'll tell you this much: Expect to see that gobbledy-gook style (see below) at least three or four more times by the end of August. That is just plain good stuff. ;-)