3 Common Temptations Every New Writer Must Resist
That is, if you want to make it past the first stage of writing
I remember being confused when I first started. The sitting-down-to-type part was okay. The writing itself had potential. But where to focus my mental energy, particularly when I wasn’t writing, was where I most struggled.
Looking back on those times, now over 4 months ago, I’m certain there were a number of aspects I could have done without. I wish I’d shown more resistance towards the temptations that were causing me more harm than good.
Hopefully, in reading this, you’ll avoid making the same mistakes I once made as you too look to start the next chapter of your writing journey.
#1. How to Write Without Journaling
Think back to your first blog post. I bet it makes you cringe with embarrassment.(If it doesn’t yet, give it a few more months, and you’ll get there.)
Most likely, at the time, you thought your first ever article was worthy of a Noble Prize, that is, until you later realised how you wrote it for yourself, and not for an audience.
You made the classic mistake of journaling, pencilling down your thoughts to ease the confusion in your mind. And unless you planned on reading your work again and again, you probably failed to write for an audience that doesn’t include you.
Always ask yourself, who is your content aimed at? You, or the rest of the world? If the former, don’t click publish. If the latter, then be my guest.
But hey, don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely useful to add personal stories and unique experiences to your writing, but it’s more important to fit these into your story, as opposed to fitting your story around them.
Here are a few other things to bear in mind:
- Focus on topics that are popular for a reason. Self-improvement, writing, leadership, productivity, relationships are good places to start. So yeah, quit writing about how your cat nearly fell into the gutter.
- Wherever possible, always replace “I” with “you”. “We” is good, but “you” is definitely better.
- Stop trying to write like your favourite blogger. Eventually, the world will realise you’re a “2.0”. You’ll be much better off building your own audience that wants to read stories written in your own unique voice.
#2. How NOT to Be Fancy With Your Headlines
You hear it all the time, the headline is what makes or breaks a piece. It’s the first thing an editor reads when they eventually get round to clicking on your story, which by the way, is probably sitting in a pile of 20 other submissions that are scheduled for their review today.
So yeah, you need to “wow” them. But you’ve known this all along.
Except, instead of keeping it simple, you felt the urge to make your headlines stand out. You used fancy words, clever sentences, and you thought being witty would help you differentiate from the crowd.
But unless you’ve got years of writing experience under your belt, and an audience whose tastes you’ve dissected, analysed and understood, you’re better off sticking to the basics.
Don’t title a piece with,“Stop Giving Your Kids Pocket Money”, as I once did, thinking I was saying something controversial to grab people’s attention. (For those of you who are interested, this was an article about the youth unemployment crisis. I figured a reference to pocket money would intrigue a few readers. Guess what, it didn’t.)
Keep your titles simple.
“How to” articles are a great starting point, e.g. “How to Do Things That Scare You (Even If You Have No Confidence)”. So too are listicles, e.g. “4 Delicate Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start Anything New”. While such formats might be overused, they’re popular for a reason — they work.
Once you’ve familiarised yourself with the basics of such titles, then take this to the next level by adding in a few emotional words to capture the attention of your audience.
For example, you might start a piece about confidence as, “5 Ways to Improve Your Confidence”. Later, you might upgrade this to, “5 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Confidence Forever”. Simple, but effective.
Stick to the basic foundations when it comes to headlines. Don’t overcomplicate what should remain simple.
#3. You’re Either Busy Writing or You’re Busy Wasting Time
Your first follower, your first cent, your first comment, heck, all of your writing “firsts” warranted a feeling of excitement. And rightly so!
But like most things that feel exciting at the time, what follows is often a phase of craving, desperation, and addiction. You want more followers, more money, more engagement.
But you’re clever enough to know that it takes time for a blog post to flap its wings and fly towards its final destination. And you also know you should be using that time (and energy) to plan your next piece, read another article, or better, actually do some writing.
But you struggle to resist the temptation to check the progress of a story you’ve just published 3 minutes ago.
My advice, especially when you join a platform like Medium that rewards you with earnings on a daily basis, would be to challenge yourself to the task of not checking your stats for a whole 30 days — no monitoring your follower count, no analysing your earnings progression, and no scrutinising your viewership chart. Cut it all out.
The only thing you should do is allow the notifications bell at the top right-hand corner of your homepage to gradually build over time, without ever clicking on it. This will give you the reassurance that “something” is happening in the background. You just don’t need to know what.
However, make sure you set up your account so that you’re notified via email of any actionable events, such as an editor leaving you a private note, or a reader posting a comment to your story. The last thing you want is to completely switch off and miss the important stuff, but equally, you really don’t need to know how many claps a story’s received, or who’s started following you.
Try this out for the next 30 days. You’ll eventually realise what it means to write again with freedom, like when you first started out.
Once you’ve completed this challenge, you’ll be ready to monitor your writing progress in a healthier fashion. You’ll be ready to take a quick glance at your Medium dashboard every morning, just to see what’s doing well and what isn’t. You’ll naturally know it’s time to get on with the rest of the day, which hopefully includes some more writing.
Remember, training yourself to let go of the numbers behind your words will save yourself precious time and mental energy.
A Final Thought
There’s a lot of mental baggage to shoulder when you first start writing. But try not to make things harder for yourself when they don’t need to be. Here’s a quick recap of where not to trip up.
- Write for an audience, not for yourself. You’ll get more engagement as a result.
- Write simpler headlines. Don’t try and be too witty in an attempt to try and stand out. You’ll get more engagement as a result.
- Give more time to writing by giving less time to your ‘stats’. You’ll feel more engaged as a result.