I’m Sort Of Sick Of Writing On Medium (It’s Not Medium’s Fault)

Let me start with what this story ISN’T saying.

It isn’t saying..

• That Medium isn’t worth it anymore.
• That I’m going to stop writing on Medium.
• That this is somehow Medium’s fault.

It’s not saying any of that.

It’s saying one really simple thing..

I’m burned out from writing the same things over and over again.

That’s all. It’s not Medium’s fault. It’s likely just my fault.

I’m also pretty burned out from the Medium community — which also writes about the same sh*t over and over again and copies each other whenever a new writer finds a profitable formula.

So yeah.

I’m going to publish on Medium until either I die or the platform decides to call it quits — whichever comes first. But I do wish to say a few things about complacency and how that can be a writer’s death sentence for now.

Writing Online Can Be A Hamster Wheel

I’ve been publishing the same kinds of articles for the last 4 years. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it, too. Almost every time I sit down to write a post, it feels like therapy.

However, how many times can I write about journaling before I just feel like I’m spinning my wheels?

Making money on Medium is something you have to earn. If you suddenly stop writing, your income will diminish eventually. You need to always keep going.

And that rat race can get very annoying.

Stay with me here.. I remember the most sublime experience I ever had as a reader. It was from a book called Do Cool Sh*t and it followed the (true) adventures of a young entrepreneur called Miki Agrawal. She was awesome. She made her own rules, she bended the existing rules, and she managed to make everything fun while starting her first gluten-free pizzeria in New York City.

I finished the 200+ page book in 4 hours. I actually never even left the Barnes and Noble.

What I remember about that book was the narrative. It was a story. It wasn’t detailing 10 ways you can achieve your dream life or something — it was deeply personal and wildly entertaining because of the story it told over 12+ chapters.

For someone who wanted to be an entrepreneur one day, I found the whole thing very educational and inspiring.

You Can’t Do That On Medium

I must say that there is simply no room for that here on Medium. Medium is a place for bite-sized articles and bite-sized stories. You better get it over with in 5 minutes, or else you’ll run the risk of most people clicking out.

And while there’s nothing wrong at all with that, it makes for a hollow experience.

Despite writing hundreds of articles over the last few years, not many know I had intensive bowel surgery not one month after graduating college. They took 5 feet of my small intestine that the doctor described as “charred.”

It was awful. I’d love to detail that experience for anybody who’s interested in me. I can’t, though, because it’s a story bigger than a 5-minute read. The surgery cost us $50,000 for gosh sakes.

I want to detail more of my story. In fact, I want a solid 200 pages to tell it. And I believe all I have to do is reach out for a book contract somewhere. I have over half a million followers across five different social media channels.

The magic of reading is strongest when you’re clutching a book. That’s just me. It’s not while scrolling an article you just clicked into. You don’t even know who the author is, right?

I loved Miki Agrawal’s story so much that I went to meet her in San Francisco. I actually went to a meetup. She was amazing. I am a fanboy through and through.

And that connection was built from a book. Not from an article.

Am I Just Going To Do This The Rest Of My Life?

As a writer, I believe it’s time for new frontiers. I enjoy writing on Medium, and I’ll continue writing here forever. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t drive to a new coffeeshop and try out what they got going on there, too.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

Before the end of the next 365 days, I will have either self-published a book, or gotten a book deal.

Get a few free writing tips from me here.