Photo by Benjamin Suter
Before I started writing on here. I used to write on a platform called Medium. Think of it as a place to share stories and ideas. It was under a different alias at the time though. I was active with it for two years until I decided to stop posting on there. So what caused me to stop posting on there? To understand, we have to look back to the past here.
Back in 2018, I joined Medium in hopes of sharing my ideas and viewpoints on this platform. To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know what direction I wanted to take my writing, so I ended up writing poetry and random things at the time. It got the attention of a few people and then from there, it started to snowball.
Slowly, I started getting an audience. As a writer, you’re always wanting to improve. You’re always wondering, how can I make this better than the last article?
I started to look up advice on how to become a better writer and see where that would take me. I started to look up the top writers here and joined a bunch of groups to help out with it.
What I didn’t realize at that time was, It would be the start of a new nightmare for me. As I looked up advice on what to do, this was the common thing that I was seeing.
You needed to post two to three times a day to get noticed on medium
You needed to select one niche and stick with that.
You needed to write so many words in an article for SEO purposes so you can get noticed on Google
You need to get into a publication on Medium to get your content noticed better.
Now, I mentioned that there are groups out there where you can get a lot of engagement when it comes to your articles. I do not remember the names of these groups since it’s been a long time now. The whole point of these groups is so people can get their content promoted. Sounds simple enough.
There is an issue though, once you use these groups, you start becoming dependent on these groups. to promote your content. The reality is that if you didn’t post your article within those groups, your views and claps would be nonexistent. While it's not an issue for writers who have a high follower count, for people who have a small following, it gets discouraging.
This would go on and on. So instead of doing one article per week, I ended up pushing myself to the point where I would do three. Now this doesn’t look much, but when you have other responsibilities, you’re not going to have the energy to write.
I started hating my craft because it was no longer what I wanted to write about. it became more where the money is at, and having to research a niche I cared very little about. It got to the point where I was doing so much writing and research, that I couldn’t sit down to write anymore. It also killed my love for reading, which is essential when it comes to writing down ideas.
Don’t take this as me trying to give Medium crap. Medium is a great place to start if you are wanting to get your feet wet when it comes to publishing articles. The only thing I do warn you about it though is that it will take time. Do not expect to get results immediately. That is one thing you need to remember.
I hope by posting this, that it will show people that are starting to not be afraid to take a chance at writing.