Dear fellow Whyvillians,
A while ago there one was a series called, "Exotic Animals A to Z". The writer had a good future for herself . . . but one mistake ruined it all.
Yes, I am that writer and a lot of you know what that mistake is. For those of you who don't, I cracked under pressure and plagiarized. The weight of a series was a lot heavier than I thought, and I rushed myself into a "great" series. I tried to please everyone at the same time. But as I would soon find out, that wasn't possible.
"It's easy to do that!" you might say. That is what I said and boy was I wrong! I actually didn't have to please anyone, I just wanted to because I wanted everyone to say, "Good job!" in my BBS, just like a lot of other people. I wanted to please the people that said it needed to be longer, and the people that said I needed facts, emotion, humor . . . on and on and on it seemed to go, until I finally did that one thing that changed my "career" forever.
I plagiarized an article. I sent in something that wasn't mine. It was my fault and my fault alone.
I cracked under pressure and I set my goal way too high. My goal was to please everyone. I wanted perfection. And that is exactly what I didn't get.
I know that many of the people that respected me, or were starting to, have dropped every ounce of that respect. And I understand and respect your decision. I will continue writing articles no matter the feedback. I just hope I can rebuild what I once had.
I am not trying to make you feel sorry for me, but quite the contrary. I am trying to get out that I am sorry for what I did and if I have no friends left, I accept it. Just please, don't fight over what I have done. What is done is done.
-Girl4God2
Editor's Note: Plagiarizing an article is a big deal in publishing. If you are not familiar with the Times' plagiarism policy, please see article ID #7460. With that said, Girl4God2 paid the consequences for her actions, understands what she did is wrong, and it is now time to move on. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves another chance. Please remember that Whyville is a website that encourages us to support and build each other up, not tear each other down. Please support your fellow writers so that they know they can improve on their own and don't need to copy someone else's work. Happy writing!
