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Instant gratification

Natalie Faulk
Aug 20, 2017
3 min read

I was talking to a friend the other day who is interested in writing but isn't sure if his stuff is good enough to put "out there." I told him that the most difficult part about embarking upon a writing career is to overcome that fear that you may not be good enough. If you write, you are good enough. Period. Writers really only need to please themselves, after all. Well, that is, unless you want to make money doing so. Then some consideration of your target audience is necessary.

I began my writing "career" as (what a friend of mine called me) a "paper prostitute." Let me 'splain. I was a professional plagiarist, writing research papers for college and graduate students. For six years, I researched, wrote, and cited nearly 1,000 papers on so many topics that I swear I have the equivalent knowledge of 14 master's degrees right now. No joke. I also am intimately familiar with nearly every citation style under the sun: MLA, APA, Turabian, Chicago, Harvard, AMA, APSA, and Bluebook, to cite the most common. In-text citations, footnotes, endnotes, works cited, bibliography, sources, references, abstracts: you name it!

In addition to my own areas of specialty (criminal justice, homeland security, and psychology), I composed a plethora of papers on such topics as: aircraft safety, sociology, history, ethics, genetics, literature, pop culture, information technology, and a host of medical topics. In some cases, I had to rewrite the same paper multiple times for different people. And before you ask, yes, this is legal. Just don't get caught. I rationalized my efforts as providing an in-demand service and I wasn't plagiarizing anyone else, after all. But, to be technical, I was selling my work to someone who passed it off as his/her own, and herein is where the ethical dilemma lies. Regardless, as I was able to get through graduate school and support myself during this time: so be it.

Needless to say, after six years I burned myself out in this sphere and pursued a more creative journey. While sponsoring my inmate writing group during my stint as a prison GED instructor, I became enamored with sonnets and set out to craft as many as I could. I embraced other poetic styles as well like limericks and haiku. The end result: I just published my eighth poetry collection.

So, how did I garner the courage to put my work out there, you may ask? I discovered a wonderful online writing community at Prose. You can check out my profile and work here.

Not only has Prose helped me get my stuff "out there," it has helped me through my chronic writer's block as many fellow Prosers post challenges. I have also met some amazing people and have acquired quite a following which satisfies my latent need for external praise and recognition. Additionally, Prose provides instant gratification. If you're like me (and pretty much every other human being on the planet), instant gratification is quite the motivator. I remember one day I undertook 14 challenges. And whoa, the instant gratification from likes, reposts, and comments were amazing!

Another great outlet for the burgeoning creative writer who is interested in poetry is Twitter. Because you have only 140 characters, micropoetry is the rage on Twitter. I began posting my haiku and tagging certain people and organizations with a large following who would retweet my work and get me "out there." One of my favorites is the Micropoetry Society (@pssms). So, if you don't have the time for time-consuming writing, micropoetry is a fun and mentally stimulating avenue.

Questions and comments are, as always, welcome.