5 Toxic Lies New Writers Believe That Cripples Their Progress

Clever techniques are not enough if you believe these half-truths

As a new writer, you want to improve & get loads of views.

But if your head is full of lies and half-truths. Bad news. Getting writing tips to upgrade your writing isn’t enough. False beliefs limit your progress. Root them out if you want to grow.

I’ve written 50 articles on Medium this year and worked hard to improve my writing (please don’t read my first few articles; they are awful). But I’ve realised there are toxic lies to discard if I want to thrive as a writer.

These are the 5 that are most likely to shackle your progress.

1. It’s all about consistency

New writers don’t start off believing this.

I didn’t.

But when you hear it for the 134,432nd time, you start to believe it. It’s the number 1 piece of advice I’ve heard for new writers:

• Consistency is everything
• People over-complicate success. Be ruthlessly CONSISTENT.
• Consistency beats talent

The seduction of this lie is that it contains truth. I mean, the answer isn’t inconsistency!

But if you believe it is all about consistency and you just need to show up. Then you will fail.

I did.

I started a public speaking blog in 2019. Adopting advice from the guru, I wrote consistently—every week for a year. But got no traction. Resulting in total failure.

I fell for the half-truth that it’s all about consistency.

One subscriber gave some devastating but eye-opening news when I closed my blog. He had no idea who I was. He must have subscribed at some point and saw value in what I was offering. But he had no recollection of it. ‘You should have contacted me more and offered more’, he said.

And there it was, the nugget of gold in the rubble of failure.

Don’t blindly be consistent. You might be consistently bad.

Here’s what I should have done: learn, tweak, adjust, get feedback, experiment.

You might not be there yet but keep assessing. Are you moving in the right direction? Slow progress doesn’t matter, but no progress does. Do something about it.

Don’t wait 12 months for the sake of consistency.

2. The hardest part is getting started

What????

Getting started is the best bit!

I remember nervously producing my first substack newsletter. It was so easy. I was super excited to send it out. In awe that I had created something. When a few people subscribed, I couldn’t believe it. I’ve had the same sense of wonder on Medium and Twitter.

When you start, everything is novel. It is exhilarating.

It’s true most people don’t start.

So that proves starting is hard. But telling people who have started that they’ve done the hard bit is a harmful lie and is setting them up for a nasty shock.

When you lose motivation and face setbacks, you will struggle if you don’t expect those things. Your experience is entirely depending on your expectations.

It’s why so many marriages fail. If at their wedding, newlyweds thought:

One day I will hate the things this person does. I will find other people more attractive. The decision I make in those moments will determine whether we last the course.

Such preparation for tough times would leave them less surprised and more equipped.

New writers need to be less surprised when they make no progress. Expect setbacks and failure despite all their hard work.

There are many contenders for the hardest part.

But getting started isn’t one of them.

3. The only limit is you

This is the toxic lie I’ve never fallen for.

It makes me a little angry whenever I see it. I know people with all sorts of limits:

• those that face discrimination
• those that face overwhelming family situations and have a max 20 minutes spare a week
• those with mental health struggles

To suggest that the only limit is you is dangerous to your well-being. It says it’s all your fault if it doesn’t work. That’s too much pressure for anyone.

I understand the motivational edge to this. The ‘take responsibility’, ‘only you can make it happen’ mantra. But it needs a better tagline to be helpful and empowering.

Open to suggestions :)

4. You will succeed

You know you will succeed because there is evidence to prove it.

You’ve looked at Mr Established-Writing-Titan-We-Dream-Of-Emulating. He has a billion followers, millions of articles and made $$$$$. He started where you are. He did ABC. So if you do ABC too, you will have $$$$$ and a zillion followers.

Evidence presented. Case closed.

But is it?

In the TV show The System, Derren Brown reveals a surprising truth. Writers who try to follow others’ success need to be aware of it.

It’s called selection bias.

A woman received a text with the name of a horse & race and asked to bet £1. The horse won. She was given a 2nd race and asked to bet a bit more. She won again. This happened 6 times. And she won every time. It was astonishing to watch. These were actual horse races. So you can’t manipulate the result.

Can Derren Brown predict the winners?

Then the shocking secret is revealed.

7776 people got the first text. They were told to bet on different horses. The 1296 winners got the 2nd text. Again all horses were covered by the bets. Until there was one woman left. The only one who had won every race.

No trickery. Just selective information. The audiences were given a misleading view of how to win.

Can you see the connection to Mr. Writing-Titan and his ABC method?

It worked for him. But what about all the others who tried this approach, and it didn’t work? Just looking at the winners isn’t proof at all.

The truth is you might succeed. You might not.

And this is incredibly exciting and liberating.

No pressure. No stress. But you might succeed

Keep it light and full of possibilities.

5. Writing is a solitary activity

I made the early mistake of assuming writing was an individual activity.

I read books & blogs to improve, but I thought I was on my own. Then I read an article about how to grow on Twitter. I was struggling, so I thought I’d give it a go. It worked. I DM’d the writer and thanked them. The next thing I know, we share tips and ideas about Medium.

Sharing ideas was powerful, but the human connection was worth more.

Life isn’t meant to be lived alone (and neither is writing).

JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis are two of the greatest fantasy writers ever. They were part of the Inklings, a literary group where they shared their ideas and writing. Would we have LOTR or Narnia without it? Doubt it.

This is why commenting on articles is so valuable. It connects you with others. But you need other platforms to build a community. For me, that is Twitter. Come and join me.

We need great tips to grow as writers, but we also need the truth to be free.

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