Why Originality Matters?

Because you are unique. And that is just one of the reasons that I can immediately think of to say why.  But for anyone, whether or not he is an aspiring writer, poet, artist, blogger, musician, and journalist, originality should be more than just that. It is there like a laminated diploma meant to highlight one's individuality and insight. One could dare say, I can be copied but it should not be me who is copying.

Please admit, we are unique in many many ways. And by being original, we does show the world that we are confident with the gift given us and what best we can do with that gift.

Who will deny that when we are starting we did imitate some of our favorite authors and role models? But imitating is different from stealing. You imitate because you love or like the style, the way sentences are weaved, the words are used and how the poetry of words caresses your ears. But you will soon let go of imitation because you will find your own voice. How do you say you already found your voice? It is your readers who will detect it for you. You will feel it when people recognize it is you they are reading. But after the very long voice-searching, you must protect it.  And from that standpoint, it is once again back to square one: you are now about to begin. 

Imitating someone, say a writer, it is said is more like an expression of admiration or respect to the person being imitated. But copying is a different thing, even if one claims he's lifted just a chunk of a sentence or a parcel of idea. Stealing is hard to conceal. Hiding the act committed is short-lived because it is especially easy nowadays to discover who copied from whom and what. Dare tell that to Google.com.

Aren't the act of copying sentences or paragraphs or concepts an act of admiration too? Yes that too is triggered by admiration at the beginning. If someone plagiarized, something evil may have lurked hereafter, however.  Ideas are sacred and we must remember that always. Original ideas or concepts should remain as intellectual properties of the author or the artist who may have spent tons of coffee, sleepless nights, and other unflattering rituals just to arrive at that eureka of discovery. Thus, it is still not fair to steal.

Now comes the sad news we heard of late.  Though not something very very new because we read or heard similar stories before of writers, editors, professors, journalists and even CEO accused of plagiarism or stealing words, ideas or concepts from somebody without the guts and heart to give credit to the source, their tribes, however, are increasing. From published authors to bloggers, plagiarism is fast spreading as a disease.

It is just disheartening to know what the deluge of information has brought us lately.  From tons and tons of published works down to the Internet, we get to see and swim through oceans of great works of many brilliant talents.  We get to discover new voices we formerly do not know we have in our midst.  Meanwhile, it is sad and ironic that in spite of the boon that technology has brought us, it also created insecurities, fear, and envy among many people. Even great ones and the more awarded ones are not even immune.   

Now, I am sharing here an open letter by some Filipino writers. This is both sad and at the same time alarming that plagiarism is spreading even in the Parthenon of arts and letters in my homeland. My hope is that we will learn a lot from this and may this be the end.

Shattering the Silence

Why originality matters? It matters highly because it is genius that you admit that you are not perfect. And being true to oneself is self-respect. It is also a form of compassion to oneself and other people.

Don't be deceived that when you copy or steal something it is you who will get all the spotlight. It is just an illusion that you are doing yourself a favor. Because after all that's been said and done, there is always that stinging feeling in your heart that will bother you and say: You are just fooling yourself!

Restarting a Passion - at least online

If you like writing, your second passion might be easy to guess. Reading, perhaps?

It has always been like that, isn't it? It was as if you are compelled to say (if you are what people dubbed as writer) to answer the required field when asked or interviewed about your hobbies or interests. Reading is to writing as writing is to reading.

And I know millions of people around the world are like me, those who love writing and reading yet continue to grapple with the fear of really beginning to write. Though I don't know if these people indicate writing and reading as interests in their profiles at Facebook, Twitter or at the once-popular fancy autograph.

I could also sympathize with those who are afraid to write, citing as reasons lack of confidence, bad grammar, and many other excuses. I have been beset with these worries, if not most of the time, at least every time I would pick up my laptop to write (before it was a typewriter and my pen and paper).

What's ironic sometimes is that when asked to give advice to those who are writing, I can be very passionate in giving tips and lists of what a writer should be and what a writer is not. But I myself is like these people, always struggling to start a line or a sentence when confronted by a blank page. I am always telling myself I would begin one day but it's always been like that. Never really starting.

Looking back, I have joined a local broadsheet as a business correspondent immediately after graduating in college a decade ago but such writing is not very personal. Not the kind of writing that I could simply breeze away what I think about just about anything.  Now I am called a freelance writer but that is still work, and not really writing.

Just a day ago, I decided I will return to blogging. Really excited to begin, my mind was busy thinking of a good title and a good way that my blog should care to produce. I guess a blog is a good platform to write what I think at the spur of the moment and perhaps give myself a reason to read.

With this new blog, I hope that I could gradually find my own voice as this online space matures every time I write my thoughts away. And finally I hope to make this new blog a useful and interesting place for others.  Just pray that I could muster enough confidence, motivation and determination to persist the pressure of coming up with a post on a regular basis.

With slew of other interests, I might go write about my commentary about headline-grabbing news, technology, design and sometimes science and health, and more of the like.

By opening a blog, some will obviously not care. But I am hoping that you, dear readers or stumblers, will support me in this endeavor. (So much for my shameless plug, let's all get back to work.)

World, am officially announcing the birth of my blog! In other words, it is writing without paper and ink. Thanks to Google's Blogger.com with few clicks, am officially in as a blogger.

I hope to be a better blogger soon.