Julia Allison

I don’t know if any of you outside NYC read Julia Allison’s blog, but I’ve been following it for a while now. She is Editor at Large for Star Magazine, among other things, and often you can find her on different talk shows, discussing celebs. She also keeps a very detailed blog about her life. In fact, she and her last boyfriend actually did a joint blog, posting everything and anything about their relationship. (It didn’t end well and now he does his own blog that literally takes everything she says and makes fun of it.)

Anyway, by putting everything out there on the web, Julia has invited in some pretty harsh criticism, commentary, and mean jokes from other national blogs. The question is, since she puts it all out there, is she fair game for their biting commentary? And when should common decency and humanity kick in? I feel like with a lot of blog stuff, people forget that there are actual human beings on the other side of the persona. Human beings who hurt, just like everyone else when publically humiliated—whether or not you argue that they asked for it by accepting their role in the public eye. It’s so easy with blogs to get a cheap laugh, I think sometimes we forget how hurtful it can be.

The situation totally reminds me of this past summer when Liz Maverick and I were blog slapped for our “costumes” at the RWA National signing. I just remember how badly it hurt to see authors we had long admired slamming us and ridiculing us in front of all our writer/reader peers. Every morning I’d wake up, dreading to see what had been posted now. I knew I should just walk away, but come on – who could do that when you know you’re being discussed on the web?

One of the things that got me through that was emails from others cheering us on and lending their support. So today I decided to write a note of solidarity to Julia. She’s probably bombarded by them, but still, I felt it was the right thing to do. I hope she goes back to her blog, too. Cause I like reading about her life. Actually she should just start writing a memoir or even a chick lit book! I’d definitely read it if she did.

Marianne