avatarAldric Chen

Summary

A new writer shares insights on improving writing skills through daily practice, diverse topic exploration, varying content length, crafting compelling headlines, and maintaining consistency.

Abstract

The author, an experienced novice writer, reflects on the lessons learned over three months of writing on Medium. Emphasizing the importance of writing more to enhance skills, the author advocates for branching out to different topics to broaden perspective and vocabulary. The writer also stresses the significance of producing content of varying lengths to cater to diverse reader attention spans and to adapt to publication requirements. Crafting attention-grabbing headlines is acknowledged as a crucial and challenging aspect of the writing process. The author's commitment to daily writing is presented as a key strategy for improvement, requiring routine adjustments and a disciplined approach to time management. The article concludes with the author's personal growth observations and aspirations for future success in writing.

Opinions

  • Writing more frequently is seen as essential to improving writing quality.
  • Diversifying topics of writing is believed to expand a writer's capabilities and creative horizons.
  • Adapting content length according to reader engagement and publication standards is considered important for reaching different audiences.
  • Creating compelling headlines is viewed as a frustrating yet vital part of attracting readers.
  • Daily writing is posited as the cornerstone of a writer's development and consistency is key to building momentum and skill.
  • The author values the process of learning through writing and sees it as an exponential growth phase.
  • There is an acknowledgment of the challenges and rewards of the writing journey, with a hopeful outlook on potential future success.

Are You A New Writer? So Am I.

Just what have I learnt from the past 3 months writing here?

Photo by Adolfo Félix on Unsplash

I am not a writer. Not by a long shot. That said, I write.

I write because there are ideas I want to share; thought bubbles I believe are worthy of extracting and translating into words.

I do entertain the idea of writing for a living, although I must admit that I am not quite good enough to do so. I would like to get there one day.

Before that, I know the craft of writing matters, and it is about getting better through consistency.

So, I write.

My commitment is to write one article a day.

In Medium’s terms, that is one story a day.

I have been asked by some people if that is possible, just writing and publishing one story a day.

While I am not in a position to comment about publications within Medium, I recognise that proofreading, editing, reaching out to contributors and having to clear the endless pipeline of stories meant that my submission might not see the World that very day.

That means, I can write one story a day.

I can submit one story a day.

I don’t expect my stories to be published on the same day.

In that regard, I don’t harass the publication editors or owners to push my stories out when there are delays.

Sometimes we just have to know that everyone is doing their best.

While I have faith that they do, I need to focus on doing my best as well.

What do I mean when I say “I do my best”, specifically as an experienced novice writer?

# 1 — I Do My Best … To Write More.

I know that there are many Medium stories written by the darlings of Medium (READ: Their stories get curated frequently) stating that writing better is a derivative of writing more.

This is an advice I hold dearly within me because it withstands the test of time.

So long as we commit to practice, we get better at the things we do via practice.

To this point, I thank them for being so honest and candid.

# 2 — I Do My Best … To Write Different Topics.

To expand our vocabulary, writing prowess, and capacity — I believe in writing extensively.

This is a departure from the usual dished-out advice and let me explain why.

Specialisation brings expertise, exposure brings new horizons.

As we keep writing the same topic daily, our ability to express ourselves within the selected topic gets better with each passing day.

When we challenge ourselves to write about a topic that departs from our standard mental toolbox, we grow our perspective bank.

Different disciplines can be cross-pollinated for a unique viewpoint delivered only by us.

# 3 — I Do My Best … To Write Different Lengths.

Do not thumb your nose at this.

Writing the same topic designed for 8-minute readership is vastly different from 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes.

Scalability of writing matters because the attention spans of readers differ.

What I do is sign-up for publications with stringent requirements on readership time, so it forces me to prune my writing consistently.

Think, draft, write, prune, edit, delete, write, re-write, prune, summarise, synthesize, wash and repeat.

I believe that my writing has improved by leaps and bounds, and it gave me a glimpse of the publication business.

That is an eye-opener.

# 4 — I Do My Best … To Write Eyeball Grabbing Headlines.

If I have to choose the most frustrating activity within the writing value-chain, THIS IS IT.

I routinely spend 40% of my time thinking about the headline.

A great story is like a well-furnished and decorated room.

An eyeball grabbing headline is like the door.

People must want to open the door in order to get into the room.

Given millions of stories that are waiting to be read on Medium, I have to be able to stop readers with my headlines in order for my stories to have a chance of being consumed.

I wonder if that makes sense.

# 5 — I Do My Best … To Write Daily.

Write consistently is the way to improve and writing daily gets to the point of consistency.

In order to write daily, I have to make changes in my daily routine.

First, I have to find timeslots during the day where my thoughts can flow freely.

That falls into the 7am — 8am hour.

Next, I would block out all distractions by 650am and start writing.

I would start by getting the topic and ideas out of my mind first.

I will leave the headlines, topic headers, sub-headers, edits towards the end.

This ensures I get the vast majority of the words out into a word document.

And that I will be close to completion by 8am.

How Has It Worked For Me So Far?

I remember when I first started out on Linkedin.

No one told me that we have to post content, comments and make conversations in order to gain traction.

It is the same process for me on Medium.

These 5 points are the summary of my learnings from every story I read on Medium, and how writers get better with writing.

I think it has helped me gotten a lot better compared to Day 1.

Now, I no longer spend more than 40 minutes writing the body of the story.

It used to be 60 minutes.

As I get better, I start wondering.

Maybe one day I will write a story of “How I made $1,000,000 from One Story on Medium”?

Let’s see.

My Takeaways.

Being a novice at writing, writing extensively, daily and consistently matters a hell lot.

This is the point where learning is exponential, where the gradient of our improvements increases at an increasing rate.

There is much to celebrate.

Write more.

Write, knowing that we are far from our ceilings.

One day we will touch our ceilings.

Then maybe we can look back and see just how far we have come.

Hopefully, our stories would have been curated a million times.

And hopefully by then we have a million bucks in the bank.

Related Stories from the Author.

About the Author:

As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.

Because simplicity adds value.

Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.

And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?

What do you think about the article? Comment Below!

This is more about me as a Content Contributor on Medium.

Do reach out and say hi on Linkedin!

Self Improvement
Writing
Reflections
Life Lessons
Short Story
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