I wrote my first article on Medium, and so can you!

A collection of things that you DON’T have to do before you publish your writing

I had been speculating, thinking, planning and intending to publish at least one piece of writing on Medium for over 10 months. About a week ago I finally just sat down and did it. It was exactly that easy.

I have never considered myself to be a ‘writer’. Writing has always been something you do when necessary to communicate ideas to others. I change the oil in my car when I need to, and I brush my teeth twice every day. I certainly don’t consider myself an ‘oil changer’ or a ‘tooth brusher’.

Yet, here I am. A Writer. And I love it!

I wish I had started a year ago when I first had the notion, but a several preconceptions kept me from doing so. It turns out that those preconceptions were false, and I want to share them with you so you can benefit from my experience and skip right on past them without letting them slow you down.

Preconception #1 — You have to be a writer to write.

As already hinted at, that is completely false. Labels don’t dictate ability, or most importantly, desire. If you have an inkling to write something do it!

Preconception #2 — You need a brilliant and original topic or idea.

Again, false. If you read articles on this platform, or anywhere else for that matter, you see that most people are writing about common ideas and thoughts. But… they are doing it from their unique perspective and doing it in their own voice. Your experiences and the unique lens through which you see the world is what can make your writing brilliant and original.

Preconception #3 — You need at least a little bit of instruction or formal training.

Nope. If you can string ideas together in a coherent fashion, you can write. Sure, grammar and punctuation make a difference, you will likely alienate readers if you don’t use some common conventions. But likely whatever you learned in middle school will suffice to get you going; which leads to the next thought…

Preconception #4 — You need to be really good before you make your writing public.

Inherently we all know this is false. Our first bike ride, cartwheel, public presentation, time on water skis, etc. was not our best go at it, nor did we expect it to be. We only get good with practice. And, we get better faster when we get feedback. It helps to have constructive criticism along the way, and you only get that if someone is witness to your attempts.

Preconception #5 — You need an audience before you start.

Okay, if your story falls in a forest and no one is there… I get that. But you don’t need to begin with an audience. Your writing will build your reader base. Don’t get caught up in the cart versus horse paradox, just put your writing out there and see what happens. If you write it, they will come.

And finally, the worst preconception of all:

Preconception #6 — You can do it tomorrow (or Saturday, or next week).

Yeah, guess what? You won’t do it then. I didn’t. It wasn’t until I decided that I was going to do it right now that I actually wrote something and pushed publish. The idea that there is a ‘good’ time to write is a tantalizing fantasy that keeps us from actually doing it. Yes, there is probably a better time of day for you to do your best writing, and maybe some days of the week can be superior opportunities to write. But figuring out optimal writing times is something best reserved for your second, third, fourth and beyond articles. The best time to write your first piece is right now.

That is how I published my first article on the platform, I sat down at my computer in the moment and started writing.

It’s not easy to push the publish button the first time. The idea of writing something for an audience can be daunting. The mechanics and technical details of publishing can provide something of a barrier. Putting your voice out into an already existing sea of voices is intimidating.

The fact is, there are all sorts of motivations and rationales not to write. But when you begin to boil down all the reasons and barriers keeping you from putting your work out there, you begin to see that the external hurdles are really only manifestations of your internal insecurities.

All of my preconceptions about why I couldn’t put an article on a platform were a different exhibition of self-doubt. The only reason I didn’t publish an article was me.

The second I hit the publish button, however, all of those preconceptions and doubts instantly vanished (think Hollywood special effects type event).

Now with five articles under my belt, I have a new set of concerns and ‘what if’ scenarios challenging me; but those are going to be great topics for different article in a few months.

In the meantime, I plan to keep writing and you should too. I can’t wait to read your first piece.

Timothy Key spent nearly 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and in various fire chief management roles. Now moving forward to writing and consulting. For more articles like this, join his mail list.