Writing is Hard!

            I have never been a fan of writing. Writing is about coming up with your own ideas and I lack the creativity to do so. My writing tends to be bland and boring, full of similar sentences and boring phrases. But I’ve come to accept that fact. Despite my lack of ability to write engaging pieces of literature, I admire the people who can. My best friend in high school was a pro writer. She would rattle off poems, song lyrics, stories, and essays with no effort at all. I instead had to observe the writing habits of others and mimic their example. I never considered what I did as plagiarism… I was simply regurgitating information with a slight twist. But after reading the Penguin Handbook, I’ve realized that I probably need to be more dramatic with my “twists”.

            Like I said, I admire the skill and creativity of writers, and therefore, I think that they deserve credit for their work. As readers, it is our duty to give credit to anyone who sparks our own writing. When I read something that catches my attention or makes me understand a concept better, I want to use that same sentence or phrase in my own writing with hopes of getting the point across to my reader as well. However, we need to be careful in the way that we do this. It is acceptable to use others' ideas, but we need to be sure to give them credit for their work. We also need to remember that when writing a piece, we should be writing a piece of our own. It’s no good to completely mimic a piece of writing that has already been written… There would be no point!

            Writing is hard work. Sure, writing may come easier to some than others, but it is still time consuming so writers should receive credit for their efforts.