How Medium Helped Me Grow As a Writer
My small fan following on Medium has left me feeling overwhelmed and humbled.
I have been writing for the past twenty years and creative writing has been my forte. It’s only in the last five to six years that I have become a freelance writer, writing website content, profiles, news, interviews and many more. After posting on Medium both personal and AI-generated content I can proudly say I have come a small way as a writer.
I hail from a country that does not support Stripe payments. It was a hard-hitting, discouraging and a demotivating reality, nevertheless, I continued writing. I joined Medium in November 2019 and at that time I only read what other writers wrote. The thought of becoming a writer on Medium was something I never considered.
This epiphany happened after the pandemic as I had plenty of time as my freelance projects were not taking off, but still, I continued vacillating and kept putting off writing on this wonderful platform. Well, anyway I started writing in June last year. Inconsistency continued to be my best friend. ‘’One article per month! What a shame!’’ I thought to myself. After reading experiences of well-known writers on Medium I became a tad serious. I have posted 50+ articles so far and don’t claim to be an expert or an overnight publishing success. I don’t believe in posting an article every day as I know I will suffer creative burnout very soon.
I brainstorm ideas, read, research, write and edit from Mon-Thurs and hit the publish button on Fri-Sat-Sun. That way expecting a daily deadline from myself does not scare the wits out of me.
My daily stats, algos, claps and responses are so low that they knock the daylights out of me, but it does not deter me anymore as I am determined to chug along and enjoy my writing journey. I am not a writer who likes to recycle other writer’s articles and present them in a new way, nor do I do it with my work. This is something that does not qualify me as a writer (this is my personal opinion). I like to post content that is original, engaging and informative. A dedicated fan following is what I am looking for in the long run whose valuable comments will help me grow and evolve as a writer. Writers who resonate with my style of writing and also my ideas. These are some of the nuances that give me complete satisfaction as a writer.
The journey is not over and the destination is far away. At this point, a beautiful poem by a well-known poet Robert Frost titled, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening echoes in my ears. I would like to share this with my readers and the last stanza goes like this:
‘’ The woods are lovely dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep’’,
I certainly have miles to go before I sleep and writing is a journey and a life-long love affair with words, books, authors, genres, you name it and the list is endless. It certainly is a love affair! Don’t you agree?
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