The other day a new Constant-Content writer asked if he should wait before submitting articles to the site or not. That question is fairly common, especially when writers learn about CC’s strict editorial guidelines and lifetime suspension policy.
While yes, you could have your account suspended forever, it’s not like Constant-Content will suspend an account lightly. Sure, your articles may be rejected for errors, but unless the errors are major and never improved upon or you’ve plagiarized content, your not likely to be at risk for a lifetime ban.
If you are reasonably confident in your writing skills, waiting may be a form of procrastination. Unless you’re willing to be proactive during your wait time, what’s the point? What do you plan to do differently between now and whenever you decide to give it a try? If you have plans such as taking an English course or reading a grammar book, then great! If not, then what?
Here’s how I answered:
“If you think your writing skills aren’t quite up to par, you have two choices. You could wait, but what will you do in the meantime? Take a class? Buy a writing book? On the other hand, you could write and polish an article to perfection and submit it. I’d do both.
First, I’d buy Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style if you don’t have it already and read it from cover to cover (it’s less than 100 pages long). Then, I’d write an article for CC keeping all those pesky grammar rules in the back of my mind. Once you’re confident in the article, give it a try. It may get rejected or it may not. Unless the article is horribly written or plagiarized, your account is unlikely to be suspended. Most of us have had initial rejections here and lived to tell about it. The rejection notice will tell you what was wrong such as semi-colon misuse, comma problems, typos, spelling errors, etc. From there, go back to your Strunk & White book and re-read the specific rules about the specific problem, make the corrections, and resubmit.”
What do you think? Should you wait? Should you go for it? As for me, I submitted my first articles to Constant-Content without over thinking it and was delightfully surprised. You need a blend of writing skills and confidence. Waiting may be prudent if you’re not sure of yourself, but only if you make the most of that time by improving your skills or polishing your articles. Don’t let “waiting” turn into another excuse.
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