Writing
How I Reignited My Creativity After 200 Articles
Writing on Medium has been rewarding. If you have been with me throughout the journey, you would have seen my last update. If not, I would strongly advise you to check it out.
I hope that through my consistency, I can inspire many new writers on a medium like myself. Yes, I still consider myself a new writer here. I may have 200 articles out, but I have only been here for ten months.
Also, I only write five articles a week at best. If you really want to start earning big fast, you have to push out a lot of articles every day. Unfortunately, I have a full-time job and a couple of books in the pipeline, so I do not have the time to do that.
However, even though I am still earning $50 a month at most, the journey to becoming a full-time writer is bringing me much reward. My audience is growing well, and I am on target to reach 1000 followers by the end of this month (fingers crossed).
I am also seeing more views, reads, and adding readers every month to my email list. So, I am taking all of that as a sign of good growth.
Nevertheless, after writing 200 articles, I felt somewhat burnt out and lost for ideas. With the passing of my grandmother and my ever-increasing workload, I became very stagnant. But after taking a piece of my own advice, I feel ready for another year of writing.
Here are the three simple steps I took to generate new ideas for writing after 200 articles.
Step 1: Fall in Love With Writing Again
I am all for writing a tonne of articles and getting them out there fast if you need to. I have never felt the pressure of needing to earn an income from my writing, but I understand some do. So, keep on going if you are in this situation.
However, I am a believer in the fact of diminishing returns. The reality is, we are creatures of habit. Although this can play to our advantage, it can cause us to lose appreciation for what we have.
Perfect examples of this are:
- Falling out of love with our long-term romantic partners
- Not liking the taste of something after eating it so many times
- Wanting the next new thing after working so hard for what we currently have
I believe the same can happen to us as writers. When we pump article after article out there, we can lose a sense of what it means to be a writer. We can lose our love for our craft and eventually end up writing things for the sake of writing them.
I can assure you that your best articles have come about when written with purpose, energy, and life. They have come when you have felt a connection with each word you have put down on the page. And this connection can only happen when we believe we have a message to share and a love for our writing.
So, I had to fall back in love with writing. I wrote a few articles that I wanted to write for myself instead of my audience. In doing so, I ended up writing my first-ever viral article.
I am not saying that this will happen to you, but I believe this first step will bring about the love you once had. After all, when we fall out of love with the things we once cared about, we often become lazy or find a replacement. So, take this step seriously if you want to see an improvement in your writing.
Step 2: Start Having Better Conversations
Although simple, this step can be hard to come by. As writers, we can pull ideas from anywhere, but we also need them to come from the right places.
Therefore, our everyday interactions play a vital role in the ideas we generate. After my grandmother passed away, I stopped having the conversations that once fuelled my writing. I became distant, and my writing suffered heavily.
Thankfully, I have good friends who reached out and even turned up at my front door to keep my conversations fresh. We spoke about the economy, philosophy, and other insightful topics. More often than not, these conversations led to one article idea, sometimes even two.
As a writer, it would be suicide to live in your own bubble. We must consume the thoughts of others and share our ideas to maintain our creative edge. I found speaking about the articles I recently wrote and hearing others' views gave me the energy to write more.
So, have a mental list of people you would like to turn to for deep conversations. You do not need to pick up the phone and call them 24/7. Simply sending one of your articles and hearing their response can spark new creative ideas.
Step 3: Look Back at Your Old Work
Once you have found your love again whilst having better conversations, it is time to unlock a writer’s treasure. As you continue to write, you will create a backlog of old articles that performed poorly or did not get your message across.
I used to believe that looking back at my old work may cause me to write similar articles or discourage me. However, after 200 articles, I now see it as a pit of gold.
In each article, you will be able to find things you wish you said differently. There will be things that you have also changed your opinion on. Finally, I have found follow-up articles from the ideas I have already put out there.
A writer’s work is never complete. The joy of writing is that you are on a journey. And that journey is one of constant improvement, refinement, and learning as we continue to grow in our craft.
Looking forward to the next goal in your writing career is always exciting, but there is also much value in looking back. So, use a day each week to review one or two of your old articles and see what new ideas you can get from there.
Closing Thoughts
As I start my journey to my 300th article on this platform, I hope to continue to share my knowledge with you. I wish you all the best for the new year and hope you find success in your endeavours.
If you are a supporter of mine, keep supporting. Your comments, claps, and reads keep me going.
Finally, with the new year approaching, keep your eyes open for the new things I hope to bring to my regular readers in 2022.