Ladies and gentlemen: I've got a serious announcement to make: I am annoyed. Not just a little, no, I am very annoyed. You see, I have a serious problem with some people who call themselves writers these days. These people's writing has been published in papers and magazines. Now don't go saying that my name suits me perfectly, because it's not envy that's causing my annoyance. I am frustrated with the fact that these people call themselves 'columnists', the say they write 'columns', while they clearly have no idea what the a real Dutch column is!
My frustration started back in 10th grade, when I had to write an essay on whatever had my interest. I couldn't care less about writing this essay, but I did want to know more about another type of text: the column, which is slightly different in the Netherlands than in other places in the world. I did a lot of research and wrote an explanatory text with the great title 'What the f*** is a column?!'. I bet that was the first and last time my teacher saw a sophomore frop an F-bomb in the title of an essay. As much as I hated writing this essay, I learned a lot about the Dutch type of column because of all the research I did. So since the age of 15 I've known that a Dutch columnist writes short pieces of text (about 400 words long), mostly about current affairs. They're sometimes written as a kind of satire and most important: their main goal is to make people both think and laugh. Pretty clear, right?
Two weeks later I got an A on my essay, which was a small miracle considering that I had used the big scary F-word in the title. It wasn't the end of my interest in columns though: after writing about it, I wanted to write one myself. I just didn't know what to write about (quite frankly I still don't know), so I started reading lots and lots of columns. That's where it went wrong.
Every morning I read the paper. Every day this paper publishes a column written by a reader. And those people who write those columns are all aspiring writers, just like me. But not a single one seems to know what a column is supposed to be like.
Over the last week this is what I saw in the paper, with the label 'column' slapped onto it:
I know that these people have achieved a little more than I have. After all, there article has been published, even though it was a boring story on a tree or an explanation on burnouts. So I'll try to forgive these people for not knowing what they were doing. I mean, being published in this paper is more of an award with €100 in prize money than anything else. What really grinds my gears is that some people who know even less about decent column writing get paid on a weekly basis to write a story about... about what?
You see, the Dutch are obsessed with famous people, so papers and magazines employ these people as columnists. The result: stories about cats, kids and how the first barbeque of the year went. Not a column, just a story no one cared about if it were me who'd written it. Half of the time they aren't even well written. It's like a word vomit was put in a blender, then smeared on a piece of paper and the outlines became a new story for their precious 'column'.
Okay, okay, I might be exaggerating a little. But the thing is that I read a lot of blogs and I see a lot of talent. I see bloggers write funny and thought-provoking posts every single day and they don't get appreciation they deserve. Sometimes I like to think I'm one of those bloggers (not today though, because this is just a mediocre rant) and I feel the need to prove that we, aspiring writers of the internet, can do so much better than the woman who explained what a burnout is! That's why I'm picking up a pen and entering the newspaper's column competition. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.
Stay Awesome!
My frustration started back in 10th grade, when I had to write an essay on whatever had my interest. I couldn't care less about writing this essay, but I did want to know more about another type of text: the column, which is slightly different in the Netherlands than in other places in the world. I did a lot of research and wrote an explanatory text with the great title 'What the f*** is a column?!'. I bet that was the first and last time my teacher saw a sophomore frop an F-bomb in the title of an essay. As much as I hated writing this essay, I learned a lot about the Dutch type of column because of all the research I did. So since the age of 15 I've known that a Dutch columnist writes short pieces of text (about 400 words long), mostly about current affairs. They're sometimes written as a kind of satire and most important: their main goal is to make people both think and laugh. Pretty clear, right?
Two weeks later I got an A on my essay, which was a small miracle considering that I had used the big scary F-word in the title. It wasn't the end of my interest in columns though: after writing about it, I wanted to write one myself. I just didn't know what to write about (quite frankly I still don't know), so I started reading lots and lots of columns. That's where it went wrong.
Every morning I read the paper. Every day this paper publishes a column written by a reader. And those people who write those columns are all aspiring writers, just like me. But not a single one seems to know what a column is supposed to be like.
Over the last week this is what I saw in the paper, with the label 'column' slapped onto it:
- A girl telling how proud she is of her sister who's failed her high school finals twice
- A girl telling that she'll regret not doing certain things when she's old
- A guy telling what life was like when he just arrived in the Netherlands
- A woman giving a lecture on the symptoms of a burnout
I know that these people have achieved a little more than I have. After all, there article has been published, even though it was a boring story on a tree or an explanation on burnouts. So I'll try to forgive these people for not knowing what they were doing. I mean, being published in this paper is more of an award with €100 in prize money than anything else. What really grinds my gears is that some people who know even less about decent column writing get paid on a weekly basis to write a story about... about what?
You see, the Dutch are obsessed with famous people, so papers and magazines employ these people as columnists. The result: stories about cats, kids and how the first barbeque of the year went. Not a column, just a story no one cared about if it were me who'd written it. Half of the time they aren't even well written. It's like a word vomit was put in a blender, then smeared on a piece of paper and the outlines became a new story for their precious 'column'.
Okay, okay, I might be exaggerating a little. But the thing is that I read a lot of blogs and I see a lot of talent. I see bloggers write funny and thought-provoking posts every single day and they don't get appreciation they deserve. Sometimes I like to think I'm one of those bloggers (not today though, because this is just a mediocre rant) and I feel the need to prove that we, aspiring writers of the internet, can do so much better than the woman who explained what a burnout is! That's why I'm picking up a pen and entering the newspaper's column competition. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.
Stay Awesome!
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