Never in a million years would I have thought that someone would take my work and use it as their own. Plagiarised my writing.  Not a few sentences, but the entire piece, word for word.

Upside: someone likes my writing

Downside: someone stole my writing

What do I do about it?

I’ve contacted someone in relation to the matter and hopefully they will get back to me within a few days. Has anyone dealt with this sort of thing before?

Each time I send off a story to a magazine my stomach turns and I start to panic. Did I run the spell check? Did I check grammar? Coherence? Structure? Presentation? Did I remember to include my contact details on the email?

Sending out queries is stressful. Sending out articles requested by an editor is ten times more stressful. I’m wondering whether this feeling will go away as I become more experienced and gain more publication credits.

Comparing the feeling of sending out an article to a waiting editor and my TEFL classes, the feeling is similar. I panic and stress before every lesson and I’ve been teaching English as a foreign language for nearly two years.

I’ve come to the conclusion is that the moment I stop stressing and worrying about the writing or the TEFL work, is the moment I have stopped caring and no longer should be following this path. A little bit of stress keeps us on our toes. Prevents us from making too many mistakes and makes us appreciate all that we achieve.

Normally my output would be greater than it has been but lately it has hit a slump and everyday it feels like I am climbing up hill. I’ve got many ideas in my head but I’m not sure how to bring them to fruition. One at a time is the best advice I can give myself and anyone else’s who has a similar problem but even though I know this, something is holding me back.

Over the past few weeks I have seriously wondered whether writing is the appropriate passion or career for me. Whether when whoever upstairs was deciding on my dreams and goals, made the right decision in giving me writing as something I can’t imagine living without. The doubt in my writing ability and in the future of my success has been rather depressing.

Last night I watched ‘In Pursuit of Happiness’ starring Will Smith. It’s a film I’ve been meaning to watch for a few years now, and I wish I had done so earlier. The thing is that life does sometimes kick us in the butt on numerous occasions, but we always have a choice as to how these kicks or bumps in the road affect us. The film sends a good message, regardless of where we start in life, with hard work and determination we can get lucky and achieve even what may at first seem like the wildest dream.

In the film, Will Smith’s character could have given up and forgotten about selling the scanners to doctors surgeries and hospitals, he could have left his family and the responsibility behind, he could have become a drunk, a thief or a wanderer with no future. But he didn’t. Even though the odds were constantly against him – no money, car, home – he worked his butt off and didn’t let any of it dissuade him, instead he persevered, more determined than ever to achieve his dreams and become a success regardless of which part of town he came from.

Some might say say he got lucky. Yes, he was lucky. But he created his own luck first. He created his luck by being aware that something had to change, by applying for an internship in a stock broking firm, working harder and harder for no pay, making sacrifices, and getting himself out there in order to attract luck and success. If he hadn’t done the things that he did, than he probably wouldn’t have achieved all that he had. As most know, this film was based on a true story.

We can all be lucky, and we can all make many of our dreams come true. The ones who fail are the ones who give up too easily. So while I’ve had second thoughts about my writing ability and future as a writer over the past few week, I refuse to give up. Looking back at the past two years, I can say that I’ve made progress in the right direction. A year ago my writing brought in no money. This year I receive some income from my writing. This is luck combined with hard work. If I hadn’t completed the work and sent it out to prospective markets, I wouldn’t have been lucky and landed writing assignments in the first place. Luck and hard work, alongside one another are going to help you achieve your dreams, whether they are as a writer, stockbroker, doctor or entrepreneur.

Not every month can be as productive as we’d like them to be. Sometimes holidays are necessary and time off is OK. It’s even recommended. My output for August was OK. Plus it’s summer so I’m allowed to relax and enjoy the sun. A slacker is not something I’d call myself but this month really lacked quality work.

– Wrote between 1 – 8 articles for Helium every day

– Rewrote and edited the first 30 pages of my novel in progress

– Sent off 11 queries to magazines including follow ups

– Researched and wrote two articles due mid September

Now that September is here, it’s time to get back to work, take off the lazy hat and get productive. Here are my top five goals for September.

1 – Submit 30 queries to magazines

2 – Write 3-5 400-word articles daily for Helium

3 – Edit/rewrite my novel in progress up to page 150

4 – Write an essay and submit to specific market I’ve been wanting to break into

5 – Write a travel story and submit to a new travel market

Getting off the topic of writing, last week I managed to break my personal best in the 10km run. I ran it in 50 minutes. This time last year, I participated in the Nike Human Race in Warsaw and ran the 10km in around 56 minutes. I’m stoked with my new result which is six minutes faster. Now I’m motivated to start training for the half marathon. The next one in Warsaw in six months away so that gives me plenty of time to train and get a good time. Let’s hope I will be able to keep up my running schedule as the temperature cools for Autumn and Winter. I’ve found running to be a fantastic way to unwind, get moving and brainstorm some of my stories.

My mind is blank for new query ideas once again. I feel a little lost. Everything I come up with seems like total crap that I’d be embarrassed to send out to magazines.

I want to increase my chances of getting more publication credits this year and to continue on to the next year. How? What am I an expert in? Or at least have an interest in?

I have a business degree in economics and marketing so writing on these topics could work, I haven’t tried yet and now is as good a time as any. I’m a certified personal fitness trainer. I love running, cycling and being trying out new types of sports and activities. There’s more topics to write about. For the past 2 years I’ve been working as a TEFL teacher, and living in Warsaw and often travelling around Poland. My hobbies and interest beyond writing, travelling and sports, include, photography, finance, parenting, relationships, further education, personal success, forensic science, psychology, investment in real estate, and finding solutions to health problems including dyslexia, depression and obesity.

That’s about 20 topics that I could start coming up with ideas for. What am I waiting for?

What are some things in your life that you could use to start writing about?

Writing is tough. Writing a novel is easy. Writing a decent novel is difficult. Writing a good novel is a challenge. Rewriting is the hardest part.

Over the years, the past 12 or so, I’ve managed to write and destroy about eight works in progress. Each one at about 60-80,000 words. That’s about half a million plus words written, then, deleted, forgotten about, and destroyed. The thought is frustrating and I continue to ask myself whether I should really be doing this.

My current work in progress is on it’s third or fourth rewrite. I started last year, wrote about 85,000 words, edited them and realised something wasn’t working. A month later I decided to change the point of view and add some more characters and subplots, and again rewrote 80,000. During the editing stage something didn’t work. My new characters deserved stories of their own, they had become more complex than I had originally intended which meant they no longer fit as secondary characters.

I stopped and put the novel in progress aside for a few weeks, maybe a month. I was frustrated and ready to rip it all apart. Did all this writing and rewriting make sense? Was it worth it? Would I ever finish the story and be satisfied with the finished product? Would I finally be ready to use it to search for a literary agent?

Most of me wanted to scream ‘NO’ and be done with it but I couldn’t do that to myself. I couldn’t deny myself the dream of being a writer. Persistence was the only option.

After my short holiday and break from writing, the story came to me and how it should be told. I returned to my original first person point of view with just the main character. Now I’m writing every day. The words are flowing and the story is working much better than before, though I doubt I would have reached this point without the previous rewrites. A lot of the previous scenes will be recycled and used, so not everything I’ve written is wasted, which does put a smile on my face.

What has this all taught me? Self criticism comes naturally for me. Writing is the part that doesn’t involve much sweat. Rewriting is what helps the story work. A novel doesn’t happen overnight. Persistence, patience and determination goes a long way when it comes to writing a novel.

At about the same time I started this writing blog, I also started working on a blog that’s about my life in Poland, and the country itself. I wanted to write about the way of life, the culture, the politics, my opinions and views, and my life in this beautiful and broken country that has so much potential and opportunity to grow and become the great nation it was, once upon a time ago.

Recently I realised that my life in Poland and my writing path have crossed. Being in this country has almost forced me to focus more on my writing and I’ve realised the best thing to do is try and combine my life in Poland blog with my writing blog. For the time being I will be writing on both, but please feel free to check out www.an-aussie-in-poland.blogspot.com for more blog posts about my writing experiences, tips, and Polish customs, culture and my experiences.

Do you think our location has a huge influence on our writing?

I’m sorry for being away from this blog for a good two weeks now but I was on holiday in the Tatra Mountains in Zakopane. One condition of my holiday was no Internet and no computer access. So the trusty and reliable lap top had to stay at home as I climbed mountains.

I must say my writing needed the break. The past few months have been spent writing at every spare moment I had, and since it’s the summer holidays the TEFL work has halved and there’s been more time for writing. This is going to change from next month when all my lessons will return and I will be back to full time TEFL teaching.

Since coming back from my short break in the mountains I feel like my writing has improved. My mind is clearer and there’s more interesting ideas flowing on to the page. My novel in progress has taken a new turn which I am much happier about and I think it’s finally going to be ready to be sent out in search of an agent to represent it.

The trip was definitely an active one with up to 8 hours a day walking in the mountains, up steep hills. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t that great, we couldn’t go anywhere without the umbrella and there was lots of fogs which meant we missed out on a lot of the spectacular views. But that’s OK, it gives me an excuse to go back again, though next time for a few extra days.

Now I am ready to get back into my writing but also to plan my next trip away. Taking breaks is important to keep the writing flowing. Sometimes a change of scenery is the best thing you can do for yourself and your writing.

How has your writing been coming along? Have you taken any breaks during the summer?

I’ve managed to land another short assignment. I’m very excited about it and it’s all thanks to following up. I sent the original query at the beginning of June and had received no reply. At the beginning of this week, I sent the editor a quick follow up and two days later she replied with a positive response to one of my proposed ideas. I sent her three.

Now I have two articles due in September for two different magazines. One on line and one print. Slowly, things are starting to happen. So I’m off to do some research for these two, and come up with more article ideas to propose to editors.

July Sum Up

• 25 queries sent this month, a fair bit shy of my goal but it has shown results. Procrastination has prevented me from achieving my original goal. I’m still pleased that I sent out 25 though.

• I’ve got 2 assignments so far, one maybe, and a few more editors to get back to me. I’ll be following up with any queries that haven’t been responded to at the end of August. Any queries that have been rejected will be aimed towards another magazine.

• Kept up regular posts with both my blogs. This month I raised a few eyebrows and got some angry comments for both. I hope that I have supported my point adequately. There’s still so much to learn about writing, journalism and the entire game that it’s going to take time. I know that there are going to be mistakes along the way. The important thing is to learn from them.

• I’ve put in a lot of attention to Helium. I’m learning to write fast, and I get to write about topics that interest me. I’ve written loads of articles about health and fitness and personal finance for this site and have been rewarded financially. Passive income is at about $10 per month, but I’m also earning per article I submit. I’ve averaged about 60 in a month, though I’m hoping to double this in August for financial reasons.

• I’ve been asked to join the steward program on Helium. Something different that I hadn’t even considered, but I’m happy to give it a go. I’m open to new experiences when it comes to writing, editing and revising.

• Unfortunately, I still haven’t been paid for an article I wrote in April. Payment was due in June, and I am still following up. I have high hopes that the overdue amount is going to hit my bank account within days. If not, I’ll be calling the editor again.

• I’ve been contemplating what to do my Master’s degree. I’m battling between a Master of Arts in Writing/ Masters in Communication/ or do a second bachelor degree, Bachelor of Behavioural Studies. It’s a tough choice. I’m not sure what’s going to give me the biggest benefit.

• I’ve managed to keep up a regular exercise program at least 3-4 times per week. It’s a combination of weights, running, cycling, kayaking and Pilates.

• Unfortunately I’ve slacked off with my novel writing. I’m still editing and changing lots of scenes. Each time I look at it there seems to be so much more work I need to do.

For me, to be a writer is to put words on paper. The world is saturated with writers, good and bad, experienced and inexperienced, honest and dishonest. Writers write, I don’t think it can be put any more simply. They write books, fiction, non fiction, poetry, short stories, news stories, humour, travel piece, blogs and much more. Ethics still enter the equation when we’re writing fiction to some extent.

A broadcaster communicates with the public using the spoken word. Sometimes it is relaying news on the radio, but sometimes it’s relaying news and views on a breakfast show for entertainment purposes. I think the ethics of journalism should still apply here, but that’s my opinion and others are free to disagree.

Journalists report the news. They uncover truths and show us what goes on in our local community, in the cities, in our country and around the world. These people are the ones that we supposedly trust to bring us an honest glimpse of what is going on in the world.

According to the Society of Professional Journalists,

“Journalists should -

• Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do the public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrustion into anyone’s privacy.
• Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
• Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.”

Source: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.as

Check out www.spj.org/ethicscode.as for more guidelines.

Unfortunately, sometimes it does occur that one writer/journalist/broadcaster makes a bad judgement and makes the industry look bad. Most writers/journalists/broadcasters have the right intentions and make good judgement, the same as we’d like to think that the majority of society, of people, are kind, generous and decent. It’s the ‘black sheep’ that stands out though. Insufficient praise is given to someone publicly for an achievement or success, instead the negative is highlighted for the world to see. Therefore it didn’t surprise me to read the following in  Journalism Ethics for the global citizen,

“A concept that many journalists would find shocking, but is important nonetheless, is that people may trust the commentary and news written by ‘Joe Average’ in the blogosphere more than what is written by a professional journalist. The annual Public Trust barometer, put out by the Edelman global public relations firm based in the United States, found that, after doctors, people trust people ‘just like us’ above all others. Journalists rank sixth on the list, just ahead of CEO’s.”    
Source: http://www.journalismethics.ca/citizen_journalism/blogging.htm  

Of course there are exceptions to this, and millions of people will trust the professional journalist before the amateur one with a blog. Even so, I have to ask why is it that a portion of the population is more trusting of the ‘Joe Average’ rather than a professional journalist trained to report on events and the latest news and views?

Personally, I think it’s due to the fact that there are writers/journalists/broadcasters who have used bad judgement in the past that have led to this distrust. That’s why it’s important to be clear about what we want to say, but also find a method to transfer the information in the correct way which will do the least harm to an individual in question, and not to inflate what is being written, reported or broadcasted.

I’d like to think that we can trust journalists of all types - freelance, broadcast, television, newspaper, - just like we should be able to trust teachers, doctors, and the other people that are a part of our lives. Most have the right intentions at heart and act ethically and morally. But just like with everything else, we shouldn’t always take everything that is said as set in stone, nor should we assume that they are lying. Instead we should question what is being said and gain the right answers to help us make up our own minds about a topic or event in question.

What do you think about trust and the media?