A Letter to Myself

And any other aspiring writers who can relate to the struggle

Dear Self,

I know you’re frustrated. That article you spent days editing and were so proud to submit to a big publication got accepted, but didn’t get the views you were expecting. Meanwhile, the short one you quickly wrote and self-published did better. Your writing is not going the way you planned it! You want measurable results, preferably in the form of earnings, and haven’t learned how to generate much income from your writing yet.

Making a living as a writer is a worthy goal, but constantly pushing yourself to write faster and more often and obsessing about your stats isn’t helping you get there. Besides, is your worth as a writer determined solely by the money you make or the views you get?

Maybe the one person who most needed to hear what you had to say discovered your article. Maybe you’re helping people by honestly sharing your struggles, or giving them a laugh, or teaching them something. You may never know how much of an impact your writing had on someone’s life, because not every reader claps or comments.

You need to relax and rediscover the joy of writing. Remember when it was fun instead of another chore on your to-do list? Remember when you wrote what you felt inspired to share without worrying about what readers wanted or how they might react? Go back to writing from your heart, and your tribe will find you.

Love,

Your Inner Wisdom

P.S. You also need to follow the excellent advice in that article that went unnoticed: