Advice From 3 Top Writers on Overcoming Doubts and Excuses

When you don’t have all the answers, reach out to those that do.

My first week as a writer on Medium was a struggle. I battled excuses and doubts within my head. Each article posed a new challenge, followed by the inevitable wait to see if it would be curated.

Along the way, I found myself grappling with one question.

How can I overcome my own excuses and doubt, to write my way to success?

Knowing that I did not have all the answers, I decided to reach out to three top writers and get their input. After all, how could I write an article to help my readers if I, too, was so new to the process?

I sent an email to three people, Matt Lillywhite, Richie Crowley, and Zulie Rane. Each of them has their strengths and unique writing style. However, all of them have one thing in common — they write articles that help their readers.

The three of these writers were gracious enough to provide timely and thoughtful responses to my questions. Here they are.

Matt Lillywhite

Matt is a Top Writer in Love, Relationships, Productivity, and much more. With over 8,000 followers, he is known for helping his readers live a happier life in the modern world.

Question: What are the top 3 excuses you made early on when you were not getting as many views as you may have liked? Or excuses you made for your stories not getting curated?

Answer: The common excuses I had were that my writing was not good enough. In addition to that, I felt though that I was not putting in enough hours, or not going into enough detail with each point.

Question: How did you overcome these excuses or doubts to write your way to success?

Answer: I created a daily routine that made me write for several hours a day. I just started writing and publishing the result. When you let go of perfection and focus on the craft, it’s much easier to make actual progress.

Richie Crowley

Richie is a Top Writer in Creativity and has over 6,000 followers. His articles have been curated and published in The Startup and Better Marketing. When reading his stories, you will notice that he gets to the point and is very easy to follow.

Question: What are the top 3 excuses you made early on when you were not getting as many views as you may have liked? Or excuses you made for your stories not getting curated?

Answer: I will break my answer down into three parts.

1. I needed to learn that how I viewed my work or measured my work was not based on its reaction. At the point of publishing, if I was proud of it and fulfilled, then that was a success. Once you publish your work, it’s no longer exclusively yours. At times, our intimacies can leave us sensitive to other’s reactions, or lack thereof.
2. I used to tell myself I’d get more views when I was a little bigger. I always needed more followers, more subscribers on my newsletters, more friends to share my work. To a degree, this all helped, but if a story is great, then it will grow legs, whether you have followers or not. That’s the beauty of quality art. Anyone can go “viral”.
3. I told myself my work was good enough. There is a difference between being content and being complacent. I was never complacent, but since I was so new to publishing, my bar for being content was low. See, when you’re new, you get so excited and proud when you publish, and 10 people read it. Now, I look back on my old work and see how far I’ve come. So, my naivety or my newness allowed me to have a lower barrier to success. This isn’t as much of an indictment on myself or new writers; it’s just something learned in time.

Question: How did you overcome these excuses to write your way to success?

1. Answer: I will break this answer down into two parts I found ways to grow my audience. I hustled. I put in the f*cking work to grow and audience. I found my champions. I wrote more and more. I practiced. I sought out editor relationships and won them over so that I could learn from them. I put in the reps.
2. I learned to trust myself and write for myself. Sure, I went viral with a listicle about subscriptions, but it’s my writing’s on sobriety and the self that I’m most proud of. Yes, my marketing pieces earn more money than my food pieces, but I write for myself. Personal fulfillment is more important than income, and I am aware that it is a privileged thing to say. I’ve also learned to adjust my expectations.

Zulie Rane

Zulie is a Top Writer in Psychology, Writing, and Self Improvement. In addition to this, she offers several helpful resources, including her own YouTube channel, focused on helping viewers succeed within Medium’s platform. Her 10,000 followers enjoy her casual style and great tips.

Question: What are the top 3 excuses you made early on when you were not getting as many views as you may have liked? Or excuses you made for your stories not getting curated?

1. Answer: I will break this answer down into three parts I thought I hadn’t cracked the “algorithm” code — e.g. I used to believe Medium “preferred” tech stuff, which I don’t like to write about, so I thought I was disadvantaged.
2. I believed all the successful authors knew Medium staff personally and had a leg up that way.
3. That I just didn’t have enough time to spend writing deeper, more interesting posts

Question: How did you overcome these excuses to write your way to success?

Answer: Honestly, the biggest thing for me was accepting that I didn’t have to see success right away for it to be a worthwhile endeavor. It sounds counter-intuitive, but as soon as I let go of the belief that I had to get 100,000 of views my first month on Medium in order to write, I opened up, started writing less content I thought would be successful and more stories I enjoyed writing about. I wrote stories I was passionate about and believed in, and that got me to where I am today.

Final Thoughts

If you’re having doubts or find yourself making excuses within your first week of writing, take a step back. Your work should be fulfilling to you first. Only after that, can you focus on views, followers, and claps.

Set up a routine and stick to it. You may not feel up to it some days but that habit will help you down the road as you gain more of a following and find more of your work is being curated.

Finally, I can’t thank these three writers enough for taking the time to respond. The community that Medium has built is so strong and helpful. You are not in this alone. There may not be a hard and fast system to success, but as with many things in life, it helps to study those who have walked the path before you.