This writer recently discovered that Suite 101's forum offers the perfect medium to satisfy my passion for literary free expression. Unfortunately, the writing profession is not an easy career to make a living at, let alone the education one needs to acquire the skills to write intelligently.
Before the Information Technology's (IT) "Big Bang" explosion in the early '90s that brought us e-mails, the Internet, mobile electronics devices, and World Wide Web publication, writing for print publication was an arduous literary art form. Breaking in a writing career was difficult; perfecting my English (as a second language) composition skills was a self-motivating process; and one could count the number of local publishers on one hand.
For example, I would write part time, and often waited as long as a month before articles were published, and except for daily newspapers, paychecks came by "Pony-Express" speed. When finally I switched to online freelancing (Officiating.com, 2000) as a rugby law columnist, I was paid monthly via PayPal. Suite 101 is also paying by PayPal, on the first $10 earned, but one needs to keep his/her full-time job until one masters the skills to excel in e-publishing.
Globalized IT Offers Writers Endless Opportunities
Today, with an iPad, a cellphone, or a notebook-laptop PC, anyone could instantly become an ubiquitous (from anywhere) journalist writing for one of the thousands of on-line blogs and Web-publishers, such as Suite 101. From a beach in Hawaii, for example, one could write articles and shoot photos of his/her vacation with one's mobile phone, upload them onto Suite 101, and Bingo! one is published and gets paid instantly.
In this the 21st century, IT has made "e-commerce" the new rule of business. Veteran writers can recall writing collegiate 101 papers on clunky manual and electric typewriters. But armed with a portable PC, and a cellphone opened endless opportunities for serious aspiring journalists. Writing job opportunities are available globally because they cross national borders, penetrated cultural and language boundaries, liberalized religious confines, and decentralized readers' educational opportunities (online education).
Creating the Unique "Voice" in Your Writing
The writing process, however, has not changed. Especially in academic and business writing, the research part is still the most important and most rigorous procedure required in the profession. Business ethics and moral governance are the honor codes, but plagiarism is the most deadliest disease affecting college students and professional writers. Stealing intellectual properties and fictionalizing non-fiction writing is a common cheat.
Creating one's own style is intrinsically a writer's DNA property. Writing skills can be taught and learned (Gunersel & Simpson, 2009); they're not endowed to "gifted" individuals as in the "Great Man" theory. With a talent to learn how to express one's ideas with logically composed sentences and paragraphs, literary expression can be communicated clearly, freely, and intellectually.
For example: Throughout the years, this writer's "voice" was built on sound research and clear critical thinking (Jacobson & Lapp, 2010). With a goal to inform, educate, and entertain readers, articles' contents are always supported by logical reasoning, original composition, ethical governance, and borrowed ideas are always credited to the original artist(s).
Sources
Williams, P. J. (2007). "Technological Literacy: A Multi-literacy Approach for Democracy," Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA 6050, Australia. Retrieved September 29, 2010, from EBSCOhost database.
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
Gunersel, A. B., & Simpson, N. (2009). "Improvement in Writing and Reviewing Skills with Caliberated Peer Review." International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, Vol. 3, Issue 2, pp. 1-14. Retrieved October 8, 2009, from EBSCOhost database.
Sione A. Mokofisi. (2004) "U.S. referees isolated in world rugby," Officiating.com. Retrieved October 08, 2010, from http://rugby.officiating.com/x/replay.
Sione A Mokofisi - Writing brings transparency to humanity's experience; it's a solemn duty to inform, educate and entertain the public in a free society.
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