نشريه خبرنگاران جوان ايراني

But when you have mastered your tools, what then? How have I to get a footing in the Press? How do I know whether or not I can write? My young friend, it is no use asking me that question, or any other man. The question whether or not you have a chance of success depends, not upon any particular essay which you may throw out, but whether you have an eye to see, a heart to feel, a will that carries you over obstacles, and a patience that knows how to wait. These are qualities which are not discernible by the eye of the most sympathetic friend, or of the most lynx-eyed critic, to whom you may submit your early contributions. The only test which is worth anything is the test which you can apply yourself any day you please. All around you there are multitudes of editors, all of them, to such measure of perspicacity as they are gifted with, eager to find some one capable of writing on subjects that interest their readers, and especially anxious to discover such a phenomenon free gratis and for nothing. Every new beginner always writes for nothing. I wrote for years before I received a pennypiece. It is the apprenticeship of journalism. "But how can I get an editor to take my copy even for nothing?" How? Well, by the simple expedient of sending it on to him, and letting him taste it for himself, and see how he likes it. Don't go and ask him what to write about. It is the last thing he will tell you. for the simple reason that he does not know what is inside of your head, and therefore cannot declare what shall come out. Choose your own subject; the very choice will help to show whether you have got a journalistic eye in your head, and then don't write about it if you have got nothing to say. Wait another day, choose another subject on which you have got something to say, and then say it in as few words as is possible to give full and clear expression to your meaning.