Half-Hearted Writing
I’m putting this plea out there to all the people that throw together a bunch of words, or worse plagiarize an article, or two, and then publish the mess. If you are not going to put effort into your work, then don’t clog up the system with junk. A half-hearted effort will earn half-hearted (or less) success.
The mess, that is published on whichever website appeals to you, makes it difficult for readers looking for an insightful, intelligent article. If the article is designed to attract SEO (search engine optimization) readers have to dig through all of these junk articles to find the relevant, meaningful articles.
“Those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around.”
Author: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Are you cut out to be a writer?
Are you enthusiastic about writing and look forward to improving your writing skills?
Ask yourself a couple of questions that can offer insights.
Are you enthusiastic about writing?
- Yes! I hope to make a career of writing!
- Not really. I’m hoping to make some money!
#1 This is a great outlook, but writing well, and consistently can be hard work, but you will improve.
#2 you have a long road ahead of you. Monetizing your writing requires a level of skills that will shine above and beyond other writers. You must possess a solid grasp of the English
You Know Who You Are…..And So Do We
You know who you are. The writers (I use the term loosely here) I’m referring to are the people that see that writing can earn money, albeit not much, but enough to spark interest. They decide they know how to write words, so they toss together something, and publish it. Or worse, they copy someone else’s work, put it through a word spinner and submit the chaotic output to the web.
We know who you are because when your mess doesn’t earn any money, then you end up on the forum asking why you’re not making any money? Then, we go read what you’ve written and realize, “This person isn’t serious.” Do we have to remind you to use proper English, spelling and sentence construction?
But now your mess is in the pile with everyone else’s work. If someone wants to read an article that happens to be what your mess was written about, they have to search through all the messes to find a good one that can be read and understood.
I’m Talking About…
I’m not talking about writers that are new on the scene and they publish something that needs a lot of corrections. That’s not a problem, we all had to start somewhere. The thing that sets the new writer apart from the mess writer is…their work improves over time! The mess doesn’t improve. They just want to make a quick dollar and think writing is easy money, so they throw together a mess. Well, it’s not.
Are you cut out to be a writer?
Have you ever published work on a site just for the purpose of writing with no monetary interest?
- Yes I have. I like writing, getting paid for it is just an extra value.
- No. Why would I waste my time when I can make money writing.
- That’s the spirit! If you enjoy the process of writing you’ll go a lot further in the writing business than if you”re just producing copy for the sake of making a dollar somewhere somehow.
- You’re writing is most likely poor and will never make the grade if your only after the potential money it can provide.
I’m Not A Professional
I’m not saying that I’m a professional writer in the least. There are several writers, like Ken, that I admire, and hope to write as well as they do someday.
I have been writing on Hubpages for thirteen years, and I was writing prior to that for five years. I’ve been through several classes, and seminars, on how to write. I want to write better for my readers. I strive to learn more. It is beyond me to spin someone else’s work. I have plenty of knowledge to share.
If you don’t feel you have knowledge to share, think about that. You may be selling yourself short. Read articles, look at q and a forums. Learn what people want to learn. You might find you do have knowledge to share!
Before I publish anything, I go back and edit it. Editing is where it is at! Edit, edit, and edit again! The last book I wrote, 280 pages, I must have poured over it fifty times, at least! Over and over again. At one point I had to start reading the book backwards! I had poured over it so many times I wasn’t seeing the mistakes anymore. To snap myself out of repeating what was in my head and not what was on the paper, I started from the end instead, and it worked.
With the advent of AI it’s even easier to edit your work! You can write an articles give it a title, save it to your computer, then drop it into an AI chat. AI will check your article within seconds and give you advice and corrections to make your work better! How easy is that? Asking AI to check your work is not the same as asking AI to write for you. These are your words that you have saved. AI is just checking your words for punctuation, run-on sentences and sentence structure. It’s like an English teacher right there in your computer!
I want my work to be correct. It’s important to me that I put out good work. My readers appreciate that I apply myself to the task of editing as many times as it takes.
After thirteen years I’m seeing a decent income from my writing.
Not Everyone Should Be A Writer
Yes, with the internet, anyone can write anything, and throw it out there. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. If you’re not going to bother reading your own work over for mistakes, why should you toss it in with people that spend hours correcting their work?
Digging through the piles of mess published on the internet only aggravates the people looking up information, and takes focus away from the writer that is working hard to put their best work out there.
Ask Yourself Before Publishing a Piece of Work…
| QUESTION | WRITER A TRUE WRITER | ARE YOU SURE WRITING IS FOR YOU? | PLEASE DON’T PUBLISH ANYTHING….EVER. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do I know the English language well? | Absolutely | I really don’t know. | ?Que? |
| Will I have any inclination to edit my work after I write it? | Yes | Maybe | No |
| Do I have the stamina, or desire, to edit my work over and over? | I have stamina! | How many times? | Nope |
| Am I doing this because it looks like easy money? | I can get paid for my writing? | I like writing, and I could use the cash. | I read that writing online is one of the top money makers. |
Before you write a single word, and clog up the system with a mess, ask yourself these questions.
Well?
If you sat down to write something, and you went over the above questions, think to yourself, “Did I hesitate on answering yes on the first two questions? What about the third question? Did you answer “I have stamina!”? “I can get paid for writing” on number four, does that sound like you? If not, then put the pen down, and step away from it.
Thank you.
Why Do I Say This?
Some people may wonder why I would write such an article, well it is simple. Lately I have had the task of looking up information for a couple of people with totally different topics. I was inundated with article, after article, written in complete haste. Spelling was atrocious, sentence structure did not exist and the point of the article was never met. There wasn’t just one, but multiple articles like this. I was absolutely wasting my time looking for the information I was seeking. Some of the sites that I had always thought to be reputable had these messy articles!
There are so many money making options online, if your not into writing, look for another avenue for income. Here is an Amazon link with a few idea’s to help you on your way elsewhere. Make money online.
© 2026 Ms. Millar