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The Highlight of My "Writing" Career

March 17, 2009

I’m a frustrated writer. I have no conscious effort to be a writer, more so to be a good one. But I want to be a good writer.


When I was in grade 1 or so, I used to write poems when I’m bored. English poems about the clouds, plants, or animals. In a cross-wise paper, I wrote with big round letters. I felt I was a genius. haha. Since I learned to write until about grade 5, I wrote cards for every occasion to my parents and created the card itself. My illegible writing was bad, my artwork was worse, but my thoughtfulness was at its finest.

 

When I was in grade 6, my school planned to launch its first school organ. The advisers chose me to be Features Editor-English, and the very first front page was my article on the upcoming school election. The school year ended, and so was my career for the organ.

 

During high school, my laziness and mediocrity decided to stay with me throughout. I had no interest in joining extra curricular activities, except sports, and all I wanted was to go home every school day as soon as I can. I belong to the “cream” section, and I had classmates who were very good writers, joining writing contest even at the national level. I admired them and secretly wanted to join them in the school paper but never even tried to take the exam. I was confident I’d never make it. I’d never know if I was right.

 

I took up English Studies as a preparatory course for my dream job. Besides, it’s the only subject I’m good at! In UP, my insecurities grew even stronger, meeting good writers and speakers. Given the option to choose being a Language or a Creative Writing Major, I chose Language. I do not like forcing myself to write, and being a Creative Writing Major meant submitting more and more required papers, papers written creatively. It meant more demand of my time and my creative juices. The time I can manage, but creative juices I did not know where to get. Instead of improving my “writing” skills, I enjoyed my critical-thinking classes.

 

Five years ago, I began working as a copy editor. I was trained to be meticulous about grammar and punctuations. This, however, impeded my writing (as well as reading) skills, instead of helping it. I sometimes become overly concerned with grammar, and starting my sentences in conjunctions here is kinda “difficult” for me.

 

To help sustain my income and to somehow stimulate my dulling brain, I’ve been working as a freelance writer since 2006 but have been inactive for the past 2 years (dollar is lower now, and topics are more difficult). I wrote about pet supplements which I hardly know, reviews of book which I never read, and comparative analyses which somehow interest me but were never rarely available. Point is, I never got the satisfaction I expected from freelance writing. Forced writing was never a pleasure.

 

Less than a year ago, I started blogging. All your comments make me smile. Writers are good writers when they can play with words and when they can elicit emotions or responses from the readers. At least I have your comments.

 

And then dear sheng asked me if she can publish my article in the journal where she is an editor of. I hope she saw me when I read her message asking permission as I was thrilled, and I hope she saw me when I received a copy of the journal. My grin reached my ears, and I was excited and exhilarated. Sheng, thank you.

 

This is the highlight of my “writing” career. It has become more special for me because the article was written in Filipino (friends say I write better in English) and the topic was very close to my heart (nationalism).

 

Who knows? I may actually start at true writing career. haha

Posted by mordsith at 11:11 pm | permalink

Previous Comments

Congratulations! I am very happy for you. I read your article, and I felt your passion for the country. My tagalog isn’t that good, so I envy you for writing and expressing so well in tagalog fluently. I can understand and speak limited tagalog, but there are still words I need to learn. You are a wonderful writer.

Posted by kayni at March 18, 2009, 2:32 am

mordsith, don’t let your being a copy editor impede you from pursuing writing. you can always CHOOSE to write! :)

i believe that whatever career you are in, writing is just a pen or computer away, if you really want to do it. hopefully, you can also make money out of it. so go and start now! :)

Posted by kg at March 18, 2009, 6:22 am

You make us so proud! (feeling tatay, hehe)
Getting your writings published is a big achievement. Just believe that you deserve the glory and that you are a good writer. Sabi nga nila, kung ikaw mismo hindi naniniwala, sino pa ang maniniwala? Or something like that. Basta magaling ka.

Posted by Rico at March 18, 2009, 7:03 am

Yay! That’s so great, mordsith!
I can agree that even if you love to write, forced topics are never fun. So just keep on writing about things you enjoy and mean something to you and you’ll never go wrong.
[Some forced writing on the side for $$ sometimes does good, too. At least it can be educational at times He he.]

Posted by zarine at March 18, 2009, 7:25 am

[kayni] Thanks, kayni! if you were here, I’d teach you Filipino words, especially that I hailed from the province and we have “deeper” Filipino words. hehe.

[kg] Yeah, I know I can always choose to write. Then again, wouldn’t it be great if this something you actually do and not just on the side? :)

[rico] hehe. I don’t have that much faith in my writing. Sabi nga nila, you are your self’s worst critic. haha. saying vs saying.

[zarine] Yeah, even if I like the topic, when the article is forced on me, it gets realllly hard. Psychological siguro. :)

Posted by mordsith at March 18, 2009, 9:51 am

Mordsith, more! Hehe, the mag is circulated nationwide, and many students would love reading your creative juices. Thank you so much too!

Posted by sheng at March 18, 2009, 9:54 am

Congratulations! Pursue what makes you happy. I’m reading the article now. =)

Posted by witsandnuts at March 18, 2009, 11:41 am

i honestly think you’re a good writer. and i was equally happy to know that one of your articles was published. kudos!
i love to read your articles, so keep on writing, mordsith :)

Posted by kaka at March 18, 2009, 12:47 pm

tama! you are a good writer.
Sabi nga ni Forrester, “You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is… to write, not to think!” (eks peram ha!)… so just keep on writing. :)

Posted by grachie at March 18, 2009, 8:07 pm

hi there!

i agree. forced writing is no fun at all

tulad ngayon…

nosebleed na ‘ko wala pa akong maisip na topic hehe (am talking about sponsored posts)

ako din frustrated writer :)

friends and family ko lng naniniwala sa ‘kin

haha!

pero passion ko talaga ito

gusto ko before I turn 60 years old, so that’s 35 years from now, makapagsulat ako ng novel.

yung may sense

yung malalim

hindi tulad ng blog ko

puro “nyahaha” at “toink” lng ang mababasa

haha!

basta yung tipong pang best seller!

pero pangarap lng naman yun :)

hehe

:)

Posted by sterndal at March 18, 2009, 11:54 pm

[sheng] wow! it’s nationwide! :) i just hope somehow the young ones would find sense in what i wrote. :)

[wits] sana nga i can pursue it as early as possible. if not, i’ll write for myself na lang. hehe.

[ka] thanks for the compliment! it’s the people like you who give me courage to write in this blog, kahit medyo palpak talaga minsan. hehe.

Posted by mordsith at March 19, 2009, 9:28 am

[grachie] wow, forrester! paburger ka naman! :) i’ll keep on writing, basta keep on reading ha. :)

[sterndal] hi little star! i hope i can read your novel once you’ve written it. as for me, i’ve dreamt of writing poetry, and all i can achieve are elementary-sounding poems. hehe.

Posted by mordsith at March 19, 2009, 9:33 am

i have always believed (peksman) that being a copy editor is a very noble and rewarding job. it’s like you are part of the academe or the research community. but i didn’t know this was a dream of yours.

(”I took up English Studies as a preparatory course for my dream job.”)

*mordsith toinks eks*

oh! you’re not referring to copy editing! sorry. hehehe. peace, mordsith. :-) i still believe it’s a great job.

hey, i know you can come up with an article out of phonebook entries and people will still love your work. ;-)

keep them coming, mordsith.

Posted by eks at March 19, 2009, 11:07 pm

Honestly, you’re a very good writer Mordsith! English or Tagalog parehong maganda. I’m looking forward to read more articles from you! Congratulations! Keep it up! :)

Posted by jetty at March 20, 2009, 1:11 pm

[eks] on being a copyeditor: i used to think that, by editing the articles, i am somehow part of the academe and part of a helpful research or a good discovery. at some point though, i was disillusioned for some reasons. :)

on writing: that’s a bit exaggerated but thanks for the thought. hehe. :)

[jetty] thanks, jetty! nagbablush naman ako. hehe. :)

Posted by mordsith at March 20, 2009, 4:50 pm

You go girl. Im so proud of you. Kepp it up sistah. :)

Hope sheng will give me a copy of your writing. She usually send me the mag pag may time sya. :)

Posted by jeanny at March 22, 2009, 4:23 pm

Where is the article?

:)

Posted by Angeli at April 17, 2009, 1:51 pm

I found the article and fell in love with it, too. :)

Just a thought: why do you think UP makes students choose between Communication and Komunikasyon for non-Communication majors? Why not both? :)

Posted by Angeli at April 17, 2009, 2:13 pm

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