Editor Picks — Top 10: How to Balance Quality and Quantity of Your Content

What is the magical formula that these top 10 writers know and you don’t

If you are trying to publish more stories, don’t sacrifice the substance and authenticity of your core message.

In the start, the writers want to share only their best work. Fear of failure pushes them to pursue the elusive perfection. They publish two or three articles every week and wait for the readers to discover them.

But when the readers pay no attention, the new writers panic. They search the internet and find that they have to publish stories and articles regularly to establish their online presence. The urge to succeed in their writing career forces them to write more.

Writing well is hard. If you are a writer, you’ll soon feel exhausted and burned out. The quality of your work will suffer, and you’ll feel demotivated. What can you do to balance the quantity and quality of your stories? Is there a way to write more and not sacrifice quality, substance, and authenticity?

The solution is a subjective one. You have to notice when your writing quality starts to go down. At that point, stop writing. Take a break. Then restart when you feel fresh again.

Most of the writers have an upper limit on how many words they can write without dulling down their writing. For example, Ernest Hemingway could not write more than 500 words in a day, but Stephen King can go for 2000 before pausing.

Once you discover your upper limit, don’t push yourself beyond that. If you can write only 500 words in a day, make them count. Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Oldman and the Sea, was a short one, but it is one of his masterpieces. Like Zat Rana, you can write high impact stories.

But touch your upper limit every day. Writing consistency is the only guarantee that you’ll write well and be as prolific as you can be in the future without quitting.

As a writer, you have to connect with the readers to experience a growth in story engagement times. By adding more value to your core message, you can convince them that you’ll never waste their time.

Here is a list of Top 10 writers who are trying hard to connect with you:

10. Celebrity Pregnancy — Why Do We Want To Know?

Jennifer Friebely is a writer, editor, and coach. She is asking some serious questions in this article. You must read her unusual take on a popular trend.

It seems like every celebrity of child-bearing age is pregnant or has had a baby recently. From the recent pregnancy announcement by Katherine McPhee, which ranked in the top ten of Google searches last week to Gigi Hadid to Danielle Brooks — the attached article, updated on October 6, has the count at 62 babies in 2020 so far!

Fancy pregnancy announcements and body con maternity wear is a developing trend that started around 2000. We have become obsessed with pregnancy.

9. My First Day of My 30 Day Yoga Self Challenge

Jennifer Geer likes to write about wellness and running. In this excellent story, she is sharing a personal experience.

Asa health and fitness writer, it’s rather embarrassing to admit that I have been falling into various bad habits since March. When the pandemic first began and almost everyone went into quarantine, stress was high, and I decided to let some things go.

But we are now five months into a global pandemic with no signs it’s letting up soon. We’re also in the midst of an extremely contentious election season. It’s a tough time to be an American, and if I want to eat an Oreo cookie now and then, I’m going to do so.

8. Fumée d’Ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris)

Mac Daniels is at number one with his masterpiece. I wish I could write like him. This story was featured on the front page by Medium staff.

What an enchanting image. What’s going on here? Some provenance: J. S. Sargent was 24 years old when he traveled to Africa. He finished this one in Paris from memories and sketches he’d made while in Morocco.

Sargent’s friend and fellow émigré, Henry James, said of it, “[She] stands on a rug, under a great white Moorish arch, and from out of the shadows of the large drapery, raised pentwise by her hands, which covers her head, looks down, with painted eyes and brows showing above a bandaged mouth, at the fumes of a beautiful censer or chafing-dish placed on the carpet. I know not who this stately Mohammedan may be, nor in what mysterious domestic or religious rite she may be engaged; but in her muffled contemplation and her pearl-colored robes, under her plastered arcade, which shines in the Eastern light, she is beautiful and memorable. The picture is exquisite, a radiant effect of white upon white, of similar but discriminated tones.”

7. Good Hard Work vs. Bad Hard Work

I wrote this piece. This 3-minute read will teach you the difference between good and bad hard work. I hope you like it.

These days everybody seems to be working hard or trying hard to work. If you don’t feel forced to work every day, or don’t feel overly glad to use work as a form of escapism, you might be one of the lucky few who are rightly balancing work and life.

Usually, we confuse bad hard work with good hard work. We push ourselves to reach our goals by working very hard until we start feeling an obsessive compulsion to work more. If we lose our enthusiasm due to long hours, we end up becoming workaholics. We see all the details, but we miss the big picture.

6. 5 Reasons to Let Go of Your Niche

Jennifer Geer is a superb writer. In this masterpiece, she is trying to convince you to write about anything you like — don’t restrict yourself to a niche at all times.

You have heard all of the reasons why freelance writers should have a niche. I am not here to disagree with any of those reasons. Those reasons are sensible and most likely correct. When you have a niche, you are the expert, the specialist, the go-to writer in that field. You can charge more for your writing as an expert. And you will spend less time writing because you are familiar with the topic. It’s a winning situation.

Yet, there are several reasons you may not want to stick to one niche.

5. 5 Most Entertaining Books I Read in 2020

Anita Durairaj is a scientist and loves to write about books, literature, and reading. In this excellent story, she is telling you about 5 most generating books. Don’t miss it.

Reading books is one pastime that has become very popular again in 2020. I should know because I spent most of 2020 indoors with my Kindle and iPad as did a lot of other people.

This year has also been one of the few years where I have spent more on purchasing e-books than any other year. We all know the reason why.

Despite the pandemic, books are continuously being published and now with 2021 approaching, most readers are looking forward to the next set of most anticipated books to be released for the new year.

4. This Is Why They Didn’t Want Blacks to Vote

Vanessa Robinson is an Electrical Engineer and a writer. She likes to write about justice and politics. If you read her story, you’ll fall in love with her writing voice.

The states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia are hot spots right now. Well — perhaps not as much as it was since Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan have certified their electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden as of today.

There were three other states in contention; Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. (Nevada recently certified its electoral vote.) But the protests for President Trump in those states were muted; the fervor was not as strong. There are a few reasons for this. It’s not that these three states aren’t diverse, but they are less diverse, at least in regards to Black people. Arizona’s black population is 4%. Nevada? 8.6%. New Mexico is 2.6% black.

3. The Most Underrated Writing Tip That Beats ‘Write Every Day’ and Improves Your Writing

Boateng Sekyere writes engaging pieces on self-development. His style is, well, engaging. If you have not read it already, go ahead and read it. It will help you as a writer.

I read if I wanted to become a better writer, I had to write every day. In response, I had written at least one 1000-word article each of the last 18 days. After conquering my fears, I submitted one of those pieces for review.

Three days later, an editor gave me some good feedback on it. He apologized for leaving thirteen comments on my article, while he pointed out what I did wrong. Valuable feedback. But even better, a real turning point.

2. Doomscrolling

Julie Nyhus MSN, FNP-BC is a nurse practitioner and writes about health. She is trying to warn us about a dangerous trend in this excellent story. Don’t miss this one.

The urge to consume negative story after negative story has its own word: doomscrolling.

For months now, the world has felt like it’s on the verge of collapse. Worldwide corona virus infections with mounting death tolls, increasing unemployment rates, drastic economic downturns, persistent protesters in the streets, and a never-ending US election.

1. Elon Musk’s Rule For Learning Anything Smarter And Faster

At number one, Thomas Oppong is telling us about learning anything in the smartest and fastest way using Elon Musk’s Rule.

I’m a huge fan of self-directed learning — there’s so much you can know and apply that can improve the quality of your life and career.

The information age makes it incredibly easy to access the best knowledge from anywhere in the world — if you know where to look.

Learning is one of the most underleveraged tools.

Final Thoughts

If your story was selected as one of the Top 10, please share another one of your stories in the comments with a brief introduction and a short review that can convince a reader to read your piece. (Please write the review in the third person and start it with your name.)

I must have missed something today. I cannot read every story on Illumination and Illumination-Curated. Dr Mehmet Yildiz, the Chief Editor and Founder of Illumination and Illumination-Curated, read, highlighted, and applauded every good story when he started his publications. He still reads almost all of the good ones. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the masterpieces.

Dr Mehmet Yildiz has kindly allowed our top 10 series a full shelf on the front page of Illumination-Curated and Illumination:

So, help me. Help me to find and rank the best work of the writers of Illumination and Illumination-Curated.

Happy reading.

To improve your odds of success as a writer, read these curation guidelines.

You can read my curated stories here.