Aspirations

One of my classmate's, Clifton, spoke recently in his blog about becoming his own boss by publishing his own writing online and hoping to attract attention to it. While I agree that the online arena is the one most likely bound for success at this point in time, I still have my doubts about self publication. There are a lot of talented writers in each of my 300 and 400 level journalism courses at EMU. With that being said, there are a lot of talented writers in a lot of 300 and 400 and level courses at schools all over the state, the country, and the rest of the world as well.

With such a large pool of talent and so many individuals wanting to get in the fast line towards success through self publishing, how can anyone succeed? The truth is that we need each other. We need agencies (to this point newspapers) who are willing and able to seek out the best of us and combine our best work into some accredited publication. Without this kind of cohesion, it will be impossible for any of us to be discovered for the sheer number of "professional" writers that will try to make a living this way. In this dog eat dog world where anyone will do anything to get ahead, journalists need to stick together with a strong core of ethical, grammatical, and cultural standards that will keep our craft relevant and respected by the mainstream world.