Summary

A 14-year-old writer from London, who publishes on Medium, has decided to reveal their age after initial apprehension about its impact on their readership and credibility.

Abstract

The author of the article is a young writer from London who began writing on Medium a month after their 14th birthday. Initially, they chose not to disclose their age, fearing it would deter readers and overshadow their work, especially in a space dominated by more experienced writers. The author felt intimidated by the platform and their own insecurities about their writing skills. Despite these concerns, they have now decided to share their age as part of their personal story, acknowledging the fear and uncertainty that came with this decision. They have found Medium to be a welcoming platform, despite the challenges of navigating it as a minor, and they are committed to continuing their writing journey.

Opinions

The author initially believed that revealing their age would negatively affect their credibility and the likelihood of their work being read.
They felt inadequate compared to older, more qualified writers with real-world experience.
The author experienced insecurity about their writing ability and feared judgment from others.
By choosing not to disclose their age, they aimed to keep their fears invisible to the audience and prevent their age from becoming their defining characteristic.
The decision to finally share their age was driven by curiosity about the potential impact on their readership and as a step towards personal transparency.
The author acknowledges that this revelation might be more significant to them personally than to their readers.
They express gratitude to the Medium community and a desire to continue growing as a writer despite the challenges of balancing writing with academic obligations.

I’m 14 Years Old

The part I forgot to mention in my bio

I’m 14 years old. I started writing on Medium in mid-August, approximately a month after my birthday.

Until now, I’ve never been smitten with the idea of disclosing my age, as part of my writer identity. Rather, I’ve always taken an opposing stance; I felt that there were far too many reasons not to let anyone know that I’m a little different from how readers might initially envision me.

When first setting up my profile, prior to publishing even a single article, I briefly toyed with making such information known, from the beginning itself. But I had my reasons not to.

Why I never spoke about my age

Firstly, I was anxious that the knowledge would simply deter people from reading my work. I didn’t want to jeopardize my chances — especially not so soon. I couldn’t help but think ‘Who would listen to a 14-year-old?’

Comparing myself to the volume of writers with literature degrees, or monumental qualifications in other subjects that there’s an extensive audience for, or at least with experience in the real-world (relationships, jobs, and so on), I was nothing. I had very little to give.

This platform scared me, at first. It still does. My head is still crammed with insecure thoughts, feelings that my writing isn’t good enough. It’s a frequent habit of mine to look at the quality and content of what others create, and crave desperately to be even half as talented. Doubt of my own aptitude is easy, confidence in what I am now and my future growth is harder.

But if I didn’t divulge my age, then at least my fears would be invisible to everyone else. If I told others, then it wouldn’t just be me in uncertainty — others would hesitate to read my writing, and my age instead of my words would be my lasting impression.

Accordingly, I stayed silent. Where so many writers published ‘about me’ stories through which radiated their honesty and transparency, I just marveled at them, bound to secrecy by my own mind when it came to my own life story.

About me — at last

At any rate, I don’t have much to say. I’m merely a secondary school student from London. As cliché as it is, I had been looking for somewhere to channel my zest for writing, before fortuitously stumbling upon a hidden gemstone (this platform). Finally, I had found something that wasn’t a writing contest, didn’t demand specialist knowledge (indispensable for something like submitting to a magazine), and didn’t insist I had to be 18 or over.

I jumped at such an opportunity, though it did take me a while to go from discovering Medium to actually writing on it. It’s laborious to fill in tax forms — the only way forward to metering stories and earning money — when you’re younger than 16 and have never done anything like it. Everything made even less sense, in my eyes, considering that this site is geared towards American users.

Fortunately, I got there in the end. Fast forward a few months, and somehow I’m still here, having found a way to persevere and fit writing into my schedule. The obligation to study and revise has led me to be not as consistent as I had originally hoped, but I’m working on it.

Why did I decide to come out with it?

Bearing in mind the unease I discussed earlier, why would I tell anyone this? Why now, and why at all?

Truthfully, that’s a question I’m also asking myself. I’m unsure what gave me the sudden audacity to talk about such a topic that I’d been avoiding for so long. It’s curiosity, maybe, that’s driven me to this. Will my follower count go down? Will there be any effect on my stats, at all?

The views on this story may not even surpass 5 or 6, in which case it would be as if I had never written it. Perhaps this revelation is only pivotal to me, and anyone else couldn’t care less.

But regardless, I would like to finally put this out there. So, thank you for reading.

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