Writing is a hidden and unexplored talent in many. Amateur writers who desire to make it big by contributing articles to newspapers and journals are quite confused. No writer is born overnight. Budding youngsters slowly metamorphose into skilled writers. A person aiming to pen articles must have loads of patience. Patience does not mean an endless wait; but a ‘dignified wait’. Initial rejections must not put a stop in an author’s mind and he or she should continue to pursue their passion with vigour. As they say, slow and steady wins the race.
Patience, persistence and perseverance are unbeatable ways for success, and this applies to writers, too. Waiting eternally may be bitter but its fruit is always sweet. All literary contributions were difficult before they became easy. Great works are done not by strength but by perseverance. An article may demand intense research and the writer may have to scan various tools like the computers, especially internet. Collecting details from the net cannot be construed as ‘copying’ because many news all over the world are based on internet stories.
Friends and people of mettle can always be consulted. Shyness is not an able companion; so is laziness, and sometimes writers will have to burn midnight oil to finish a task. Quite often, for regular contributors, who are also professionals in other fields, time may be tough deadline. Hard work is the work one does after tiring out doing the work already done. A writer has to be very punctual in his chosen field of pastime. Any amateur work demands the same respect as a professional one does. If an article has to be sent today, it has to be dispatched TODAY and not tomorrow. One cannot respect someone and disrespect their time. Punctilious writers, giving great attention to details, are valuable souls. They deliver more than the receiver expects. It would augur well for the writers if they maintain some etiquette and try to avoid intentional plagiarism. If stories are penned based on a thin strand of plot, not much harm is done.
However, line to line repetition of a published piece is dangerous. When writing on a person or a place or an event, a passing mention of past incidents relating to the subject is a homely way of putting things together. Command over the language being used in the article is the biggest asset of a writer. Grammatical mistakes or errors in joining words can put off the publishers as well as the readers.