Readers Hope

Just Be Yourself When You Write — We’ve All Been There

Simple tips on how to get you started with Readers Hope

Hope is a waking dream. — Aristotle

Readers Hope is here to help you on your journey

Warm and fuzzy hellos!

Welcome to this unique project. As one of the editors, I thank you for allowing me to be part of your journey. I am honoured to be part of it.

Dr Mehmet Yildiz has come up with a fantastic idea to help you readers be on your way to becoming writers. This is a safe and special place for anyone who wants to develop their writing skills.

Everyone has a different journey

Your journey is yours. You are like no one else. It took me a while to understand this and feel comfortable writing on Medium.

I am writing this to prevent you from making the mistake I made when I joined Medium. I realised that my writing is just fine the way it is. This is my journey and people are enjoying the ride. Most importantly, I like it.

“….. Some people like cheap beer, and some prefer expensive liquor. Some like fast food, and some prefer fine dining. It is a personal choice in the end.” — Dr Mehmet Yildiz

Dead on! It is a choice, and you should understand that this is part of who you are. Don’t worry about what people think.

I started writing on Medium after spending most of my time only as a reader. I have learned a lot from being on Medium.

You know what is funny? I have always been writing but I didn’t know I could write!

Don’t worry, be yourself, be writing

Since joining Medium as a writer, I have reached out to at least three Medium writers and wondered if they could mentor me. Then I asked on the Slack mentoring channel of ILLUMINATION for assistance.

Every person I asked either said, “Your writing is fine” or “I am learning myself.” I was so angry — furious!

All I could think was that no one wanted to be honest with me!

Negativeness got the best of me. I continued winging, whining, and moaning but also writing at the same time. Hoping for some miracle mentor to appear on my Medium doorstep.

Can I just say that I totally didn’t need it? I just needed to be myself.

Of course, we all can improve and become better images of ourselves. But what I really needed was just to be myself. Be myself and accept the way I write. I don’t need to be a literary genius to reach people’s hearts and minds.

Being me is enough and a great start. Same goes to you.

“….Some people eat fast food sometimes, and they also do fine dining. This sort of lifestyle can be more exciting for some people….” — Dr Mehmet Yildiz

And some eat only organic food, how about that? What about hardcore keto lifestylers? Vegetarians? The list goes on and on. Point is, you will never appeal to everyone as a writer, and not everything you read will knock your socks off.

Write to convey what you’ve got and let Medium be your medium

Be a follower of your favourite writers but not a copier. We learn and get inspired by each other. No work of art is going to be 100% original.
Your voice is special. Everyone has a different way of telling their stories.
Your stories are 100% unique. No one will ever have the same experience as you. It will always be different. Trust me.
Become an observer. Our lives are full of stories. Take mental notes. Use your phone to record speech-to-text notes. Turn those into stories.
Your culture is already an interesting story. Whether you are from Brooklyn, NY, a small village in India or Siberia. Your culture is a beautiful story to be told. Start from there.
Last but not least, write something little every day. Don’t publish, this is only to build a habit and a skill.

Just be yourself.

Thank you for staying around. Until next time, be kind.

Jay

Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Dr. Preeti Singh, Dew Langrial, Geetika Sethi, Carol Price, Arthur G. Hernandez, Lawson Wallace, John Cunningham, Regi Brittain, ILLUMINATION, Editor of Technology Hits, ILLUMINATION-Curated