Have I Learned Anything from Medium?
There must be something?
Back in October when I started writing on Medium, I was full of myself. I thought from my lifetime of writing in journals and blogs, and all the freelancing, that I was a good writer.
I thought it would be easy for me to make thousands on Medium because, why wouldn’t everyone love me?
I had a very rude awakening.
As I read more and more, I saw very good writers publishing their work. It was so much better that mine. I know it’s not a good idea to compare ourselves to others, but for me, it was a learning experience. I got to see the divide between what a good writer was — and me.
It was eye-opening.
If I look back now at work I published in October — I have to admit that it was bad. I know we all have to start somewhere, but I feel like everything I did was subpar.
I know I’m improving.
Because I publish several times a day, my work has gotten better. I have focus and I put more effort into each piece I write. I’m still a pantser when it comes to planning what to post, but I concentrate more on the editing and revision. I have more quality-control steps to ensure that my spelling and grammar are excellent.
I’ve implemented and trashed many different processes to get to this point. I experimented until I found a system that allows me to be creative but still allows my work to be more polished.
What do I do?
I spend about 2–3 hours on each piece. I’ve been avoiding publishing anything that takes too much research. I like to write about what I know.
The idea
I think of ideas throughout the day, so I always have a tab open with a new story ready so that I can save ideas as drafts. If I am scrolling on the phone, I switch over to the app and type in my ideas before saving the draft.
As many ideas as I come up with, I tend to use up the best ones daily. I have about 100 bad ideas floating around in my drafts. I haven’t figured out why I save them. I guess I’m hoping they will magically turn into good ideas one day.
