I crossed my fingers when my son first informed me that he planned to apply for a position in their school paper. He wanted to be the cartoonist but as fate would have it, he ended up qualifying as a writer. Now I'm thinking, can this be considered a case of "Like Mother, Like Son"?
Exposure to Writing
My children are pretty much exposed to my writing activities day in and day out. Unless I am doing some household work, they will wake up seeing me writing and sleep still seeing me writing. Their standard question to me is "What are you writing about today?".
All my children have blogs with the eldest one using it as one component of her profile as a learner of digital marketing. My son, the second child, uses his to experiment on doing movie and gaming reviews. My youngest daughter at 8, pretty much uses hers to display her artwork as well as her juvenile attempts at photography.
Journalistic Writing and Blogging
Writing for a school paper which is categorized as journalistic writing is a lot different from blogging. While the former provides for specific rules and guidelines in form and content, the latter allows freedom to writers in how they wish to bring their content to their audience. Journalistic writing is associated with formal training and even a relevant degree in Journalism. Blogging, on the other hand, has allowed people from all walks of life, trained or not in writing, to be self-published writers.
Journalistic writing and blogging have certain parallelisms and differences as well. While both seek to either inform or entertain, they can cater to their own audience. Both also have to conform with writing ethics no matter how different they are in presentation.
A Mother's Advise to a Son
How does a mother like me who earns her living writing and blogging teach a son who is starting on his discovery of journalistic writing? Except for one semester of taking Journalism as an elective in school, I have no educational background to speak of to consider myself an authority. I am very thankful that my son together with the other students working on the school paper have been made to undergo a workshop which should take care of the technicalities of the task.
I do however love to read, read, and read, and because of that, I have learned to see the difference in what I believe is good writing and not. Here goes my fearless advise to my son:
1. Never write about anything which you have no reliable information to base on whether thorough research or actual experience.
2. Never write merely to inflame emotions and to add in to a raging controversy but instead aim to put in your 2 cents worth of genuine opinion and view.
3. Never try to imitate another writer's style as it is always harder to write that way and instead develop your own style which you are most comfortable with.
4. Never provide purposely misleading information as you cannot earn a reputation for reliability that way.
5. Never stop learning especially from mistakes as they are the kind of learning that will never be forgotten.
My Say
It is still too early to tell whether my son will travel the writer's path in adulthood. Still, I am happy to share with him today a common passion for writing. Finally, we found a common ground.
That said, I promise I will not stress myself nor him about his writing (pursuant to the anti-stage mothering code LOL) and let him enjoy what has been giving me joy for the past several years.
All my children have blogs with the eldest one using it as one component of her profile as a learner of digital marketing. My son, the second child, uses his to experiment on doing movie and gaming reviews. My youngest daughter at 8, pretty much uses hers to display her artwork as well as her juvenile attempts at photography.
Journalistic Writing and Blogging
Writing for a school paper which is categorized as journalistic writing is a lot different from blogging. While the former provides for specific rules and guidelines in form and content, the latter allows freedom to writers in how they wish to bring their content to their audience. Journalistic writing is associated with formal training and even a relevant degree in Journalism. Blogging, on the other hand, has allowed people from all walks of life, trained or not in writing, to be self-published writers.
Journalistic writing and blogging have certain parallelisms and differences as well. While both seek to either inform or entertain, they can cater to their own audience. Both also have to conform with writing ethics no matter how different they are in presentation.
A Mother's Advise to a Son
How does a mother like me who earns her living writing and blogging teach a son who is starting on his discovery of journalistic writing? Except for one semester of taking Journalism as an elective in school, I have no educational background to speak of to consider myself an authority. I am very thankful that my son together with the other students working on the school paper have been made to undergo a workshop which should take care of the technicalities of the task.
I do however love to read, read, and read, and because of that, I have learned to see the difference in what I believe is good writing and not. Here goes my fearless advise to my son:
1. Never write about anything which you have no reliable information to base on whether thorough research or actual experience.
2. Never write merely to inflame emotions and to add in to a raging controversy but instead aim to put in your 2 cents worth of genuine opinion and view.
3. Never try to imitate another writer's style as it is always harder to write that way and instead develop your own style which you are most comfortable with.
4. Never provide purposely misleading information as you cannot earn a reputation for reliability that way.
5. Never stop learning especially from mistakes as they are the kind of learning that will never be forgotten.
My Say
It is still too early to tell whether my son will travel the writer's path in adulthood. Still, I am happy to share with him today a common passion for writing. Finally, we found a common ground.
That said, I promise I will not stress myself nor him about his writing (pursuant to the anti-stage mothering code LOL) and let him enjoy what has been giving me joy for the past several years.
