How to Tell If Medium Has Turned You into a Writer

I never knew writing 2K a day could be so easy

When I started writing on Medium two months ago, I thought writing 1K words a day was a huge achievement.

Don’t get me wrong, it is — putting any amount of words on paper is a success. It all depends on your individual approach. Personally, though, I had been slacking for way too long when it comes to writing.

I always kept going on about how I wanted to be a writer, how I was working on a novel that took me much longer than expected to finish, how I wasn’t sure if writing would ever earn me enough money, how I had little time because of my university and my part-time job… excuses, excuses, excuses.

They were true. All of them. That doesn’t mean they weren’t just excuses, though.

You always find the time for your priorities. If I prioritised my novel, it would have been finished a long time ago. If I wasn’t too lazy to sit down and write every single day, I would have long stopped whining about not being in the mood to write.

And if I pushed myself to write more than those 400 words when I felt like I could do it instead of shutting the laptop down, I might have started spitting out 2K words a day with ease months ago.

I was just pushing my writing responsibilities into the future, making them look much harder and less enjoyable than they actually are. After all, I want to be a writer for a reason. If I didn’t actually enjoy the process of writing, why would I want to do it to begin with?

In short, I was lazy, and I wasn’t in the habit of writing. I lost precious time whining and thinking about writing instead of doing it. These two things led me to not put any words down for basically two years.

Enter Medium.

Medium is a writing re-birth

When I earned my first cent, I was re-born.

If the same has happened to you, you already know what I’m talking about — yes, you paid that 5-dollar subscription so one cent isn’t actually again, but it counts.

It counts because someone gave you money for writing.

It doesn’t matter how much money it is. It’s money. It’s something tangible, it’s a reward for your work, and most of all: it allows a change of mindset.

The Cambridge Dictionary describes a writer thus:

“A person who writes books or articles to be published.”

I’ve been working on my novels for years now, hoping that they’ll get published one day. The problem with writing a book without any book deal or a promise upfront is that there’s not much to keep you motivated when it comes to external sources.

You try to tell your story and the only thing that keeps you going is the story itself and the slight hope that it might get published one day.

In his famous book Atomic Habits, James Clear says:

“A reward that is certain right now is typically worth more than one that is merely possible in the future.”

Humans are wired to appreciate an immediate reward more than a delayed one. It’s natural. When we receive positive feedback for our work, we’re motivated to keep going because we feel much more hopeful about the outcome of our actions.

This is why Medium plays a huge role in your change of mindset. Your articles get published within days or weeks — not years. People read them, clap, comment.

And you get paid for it. Every day, you see the money rolling in, no matter how little it is at first. Every month, you get your salary.

You’re a paid writer now. You’re a writer by definition because you write things that are getting published, right now, at this moment in time, not only in a possible future. This transforms you from a to-be-writer into an actual one.

It’s no longer a thing you dream of doing. It’s your identity. And this can do wonders for your brain.

Medium is practice

When you see that you can actually do it, your brain automatically thinks: “Wow, what else can I do? How far can I climb?”

This is when you start writing more and more articles in the hope that one of them will go viral and earn you lots of cash.

Even when they don’t get 10K views just yet, your articles still earn something. They become a part of your vast portfolio and they will stay on the platform forever if you wish, therefore there’s always a chance that they’ll keep making money for a long, long time.

The more articles, the more money.

The more articles, the more practice.

The more articles, the more you build your habit of writing regularly, which only re-affirms your identity as a writer.

James Clear writes:

“The process of building habits is actually the process of becoming yourself.”

The more you write, the more of a writer you become.

Thanks to Medium, I wrote more in the past 2 months than I had in the previous 2 years. I pledged to write something almost every day, and thanks to this, I developed my writing skills and got more confident in my English as it’s not my mother tongue.

One year ago, I felt like I had climbed a mountain when I wrote 2K a day. Today, 2K is a breeze. I pushed my limits higher and I improved as a writer, all thanks to the daily habit of writing. All thanks to Medium.

Medium is a community

One of my favourite parts about Medium is that the community is just amazing. Everyone’s really welcoming and friendly and we keep each other motivated.

In Facebook groups, we share our small victories, we ask for advice and we support each other. On Medium itself, I’ve worked with amazing editors, and I get to read heartfelt inspiring stories every single day.

Sometimes I spend hours reading articles on Medium because there are so many fabulous writers who have so much to say. This only motivates me to sit down, write and add my article to the platform as well.

What’s more, I’ve learned so much from Top Writers who make a living on Medium. Their words inspire me every day because when you see that they can do it, why couldn’t you? Apart from writing great content, they’re a daily reminder of how far you can climb if you keep writing and never give up.

The bottom line

Medium didn’t only inspire me to write on the platform — it brought the passion for writing back in all areas of life.

Since I started writing something every day, I’ve finally started to make progress in my novel again. I journal regularly. I translate from English to French and German to improve my language skills. I feel more productive and hopeful about becoming a freelancer and writing for a living.

For the first time in many years, writing has once again become the centre of my universe. And I cherish every second of it.

So, in short: You know that Medium has turned you into a writer if it encourages you to write regularly, if it makes you cherish and enjoy your writing, and if you keep publishing, no matter the obstacles.

Consistency is key on Medium. If you don’t give up, there are exciting times ahead of you.

If you’re interested in reading more of my work: