Insights From 20 Days of Writing

For the past 20 days I've churned out articles of varying degrees of length and quality. Here’s my takeaways…

I started the month of May with a difficult, yet achievable, goal. I’m going to write every single day for the next 60 days! No caveats, no excuses, no bullshit.

I want to do this — not for the fame, popularity or money — but as proof of my own ability and commitment.

Before undertaking said challenge, my activity on Medium was sporadic, chaotic and emblematic of pissing in the wind. Without conviction i’d write 3 articles in a month, none the next, then 5 the month after. Somewhere deep down i had a naive hope that they’d get published and lead to overnight success.

To combat my frenzied attempt at blogging success, I decided to set myself the challenge of 60 days of continuous writing. Not only would i gain an understanding of the graft it takes to become a successful writer, i’d also improve my grammar, style and flow in the process.

Till now my focus has been on satisfying the minimum objective of an article a day; without consideration for networking, growth or success. Eliminating profitability from the equation constitutes an understanding of my underlying motives:

Is writing just a vehicle for financial success or a true expression of myself?

My main takeaway is that writing is a therapeutic/cathartic experience; I genuinely enjoy the process of expressing my innermost thoughts and feelings to connect with others.

Additionally, in my writing infantility, i’ve learned a few more lessons…

Lessons

Nobody Owes You Views (#1)

My optimistic aspirations got the best of me when i first started. In some hopeful, dream-state, Hollywood inspired manner i thought that through pure chance and luck i’d start garnering thousands upon thousands of views. I assumed that success was owed to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong and my views from the past month reflect this:

Regardless of how much I publish, the views stay consistently underwhelming. I know why this is — i rarely publish in publications, i don’t network, my writing isn’t good enough, i don’t pay enough attention to formatting and grammar and I don’t push my work through any channels. My underwhelming success is deservedly so; I only have my lacklustre approach to blame. I accept full responsibility for this, if i want to see success then i have to grind day after day at my craft, and eventually through a mix of hard work and luck i’ll succeed.

Your Brain Doesn’t Work Sometimes (#2)

On some days i’ll sit down to write an article and everything seamlessly flows; the birds are chirping, the morning sun is gleaming through my window, my coffee is hitting just right and the creative juices are flowing. All is well and before i know it, it’s 10am and i’ve already published an article i’m super proud of // On other days, i’ll slump into my desk chair and stare at the empty page for 1 hour + perplexed by my own prosaicness . Sometimes my brain just doesn’t work. On days like this i like to go on long runs— there’s something about the monotony of running that makes the creativity of writing so appealing.

You Take Pride in Having a Priority (#3)

Knowing that i’ve got priorities that i must stick to is exciting. Before any of the bullshit seeps in, writing takes precedent. I’m no stranger to having priorities; i’ll regularly set myself challenges such as cold showers, meditation, running. Having and sticking to these priorities is a source of pride for myself. Sun, hail, rain or shine, it doesn’t matter, i’m here to write. Regardless of how shitty your day gets, you know you’ve accomplished something for the day — you’ve wrote your article. It’s a constant in the whirlwind of changing rules and regulations. I take pride in my consistency, it provides reassurance when all else fails.

Repurposing Content is Essential (#4)

I’ve been trying to exude originality with each new article. As you can imagine, having published for 20 days straight, you start to question your own creativity. Can i come up with 60 entirely original ideas? This problem is only exacerbated by Medium’s algorithm that pushes content similar to your reading history. Although i’m only scratching the surface of my own creative reserves, my spidey-senses are telling me that repurposing old content may become essential for success. I’ll update this in due time.

Closing Thoughts

For context, i’m not focussing on Medium full-time as i simply don’t have the time to spare. I work full-time with a startup incubator, part-time at a local pub, and run my own clothing brand. Perhaps someone with more time on their hands would experience greater success. Perhaps i’m just not that good at writing. Perhaps Medium isn’t the best ‘medium’ for me.

What i’ve learned so far is that: nobody owes you views, creativity is hard, writing as a priority induces pride and repurposing content may become essential. These lessons will undoubtedly change, manifest and morph over time, therefore i’ll provide updates every 20 days.

For the next 20 days I’ll be focussing on improving my style, grammar and flow. Once i’m confident in my abilities i’ll begin focussing on success through the accumulation of followers and views. I’ll also start writing about personal experiences that i’ve been hesitant to write about thus far so keep your eyes peeled.

With everything I do, i’m looking to improve, so let me know your thoughts, what am i doing well? How can i do better? What came off as inauthentic? What did you connect with most?

As Always,

Yours Honestly,

Liam Lawson.