I Made the 3 Costly Mistakes Old Writers Talk About and Am Regretting

How I wish I could turn back the hands of time

There are three things I wouldn't have done as a writer on Medium if I had paid proper attention and looked closely.

There are things I wouldn’t have involved myself in as a writer if I had foreseen their consequences.

The old writers have talked about these costly mistakes in writings. I didn't read about them until I became a victim.

Among these three mistakes, the first is very difficult to abide by but pays those who abide by it.

Keeping Quiet for a while When you join newly and publish later

It is my father who always advises us not to utter a word whenever we find ourselves in a new setting. He tells us to do only the listening on our first day unless we are demanded to talk.

He has a great point. When you come to a new place and join immediately in what they are doing without first of all paying attention to the group rules, the person is bound to falter in one thing or the other.

This is exactly the major problem of new writers on Medium. I have made a lot of mistakes as a newbie here. These mistakes would have been avoided if I had kept quiet and only listen when I joined.

Keeping quiet means not publishing yet and listening means reading from the old writers and mastering the rules. Learning all the tricks and secrets to success in writing.

If I could turn back the hands of time, I would not publish an article on Medium until I have the best piece.

I have discovered that Medium curators pay attention to every first and second article published by new members. If they are well written, they pick it for curation.

This is the reason why we often hear of new writers whose articles got curated the same week they joined Medium.

The curators gave immediate attention to my first three articles but I kept defaulting in all the three. I remembered I had written the titles of my first three articles in capital letters.

I got to know about it in one of the curators’ notes. He pointed on the capitalization and advised me to read the Medium's publishing guidelines. Since then, they have looked away from my articles.

I have missed the early chance of recognition because I chose to speak immediately without paying attention to the old speakers.

Unpublishing my articles that have earned views and reads and sending the draft to publications

If I could turn back the hands of time, I wouldn't have deleted my published articles that were already gaining views and reads.

I used to think that getting my articles published in publications will influence how they are read. I was wrong.

I wanted my articles to be published in pubs and since the publications do not accept published links, I had to put them back in draft forms and sent them to publications. As at that time, the articles were already gaining reads and views and were making some earnings.

I regret my action each time I looked at the spaces in my Stats where I pulled out the articles. Some of the deleted articles had earned as big as $0.98 before I pulled them.

It even pains my heart the more when I remember that the publication where I sent the unpublished drafts rejected them. I had to republish them by myself for the second time. Some of those articles are yet to gain reads and claps.

Deleting my Old Published articles

If I could turn back the hands of time, some of my old articles would still be on my Stats. I wouldn't have deleted them.

These were the first articles I published without paying proper attention to some of the Medium’s publishing guidelines.

The curator commented on the mistakes and passed on them. I felt bad each time they passed on my articles and I deleted them.

Who told me to delete them?

Once an article is deleted, it is lost; lost forever. Unless the writer saved the draft somewhere else. I didn't save the draft anywhere.

I have learned from successful writers on Medium that we can always pick our old articles and dust them and republish them afresh.

I learned all these after making these 3 costly mistakes. The old writers have written about them. But we continue making the mistakes because we are in a haste to be heard on Medium.

Final Word

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