Caught Red-Handed

I had shamelessly pilfered from my past.

That level of irony? Chef's kiss

The rejection from the community was polite, even cordial, but I already felt like a marked person, branded by that plagiarism-free = X.

Like a disgraced writer penning my own public apology.

Does that mean if I were to run all my previous writings through a plagiarism checker, they would be flagged as plagiarism?

Someone hearing me out for the first time might initially think:
Wow, someone out there thinks your work is worth plagiarizing! You must be that good, right?

Then I had to kick myself:
What on earth is this moron in me doing? If I wanted to 'borrow' from someone, there are literally so many great writers out there. Why would I choose… ME?

Honestly, I still don't know whether to cry or laugh.

And to think this happened to me, after all the usual things most of us do, like syndicating our work for more exposure everywhere.

Everything has its first time, I suppose.

So, for anyone reading that post, here's the full disclosure: that was me, from the current day, plagiarizing myself from another time - the past me.

It hurts a little and it's comical all at once; I don't even know how to explain it to myself.

Photo by nay W on Unsplash

I never planned to deceive anyone. Even though I clearly mentioned it was previously published but rewritten, what I didn't grasp was the implication of the particular hashtag.

My bad, truly. My ignorance of the rules, my bad for being such a slow learner and not quite grasping the instructions before I published the story.

I'm not blaming anyone else for my mistake.

Photo by Rafael Otaki on Unsplash

I'm constantly figuring out how to work around my condition. Days I'm not at the hospital or sidelined by sickness become my precious work days - when I can actually function properly.

Then there are the lows, days so bad I can barely speak or write. Those with similar condition would understand how bad it could be.

It means I cram a lot into short bursts, but this minor situation nicely sorted out some of my workflow.

Here's my new workflow: I'm going to post this here on platform first, just so I can officially plagiarize it and post it somewhere else.

We used to just call that reposting. It's simply a matter of rearranged workflow, different terms, and embracing a certain brazenness, maybe?

In the end, I guess you could say I got caught pilfering from myself.

It's officially part of my legacy now.

Who says writers live boring lives? Turns out, we can stir up our own little scandals too - I'm practically feeling like a celebrity now.

Life can be pretty colorful for us, just like mine!

©Britt H.

Thank you for reading this.

Would it be incorrect to tag this as exclusive if I post it here first?