My Stories Got Worse Publishing Twice A Day… Or So I Thought

Escaping this vicious cycle

I recently went from publishing almost daily to publishing twice a day.

I already had 60 days of consecutive writing behind me and doubling my daily writing didn’t feel too unreasonable.

I’m 14 days into publishing two stories per day, and I have to be honest with you, I don’t feel like I’m producing my best work.

But apparently, most people reading don’t seem to agree.

Confirmation bias

My average read per story has increased quite significantly since I started publishing twice daily.

More people are reading my stories, but my most popular stories are not the ones I feel the most proud about.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I particularly dislike those stories, but I can certainly think of a few of the other ones that I think deserve more reads.

Emotionally attached

What I perceived to be better four weeks ago is not necessarily what resonates best with my audience.

Part of what makes me feel like I have left my best work behind has to do with the time and effort I spent on those stories, as well as how emotionally attached I felt to them.

And in all honesty, not having readers validate those feelings can be hard.

If a tree falls in the forest…

One big difference between now and then is the number of people my stories are being shown to.

Publishing twice daily did exactly what I hoped it would do, and so my work, mainly my new stories, is reaching more eyes.

But that means, many of my old stories seem to be forgotten, so what does that say about their quality?

Escaping the vicious cycle

Being a writer means validation comes from your audience.

And inevitably, this will lead to feelings of inadequacy and discontent, especially when you feel like your work is not getting the recognition it deserves.

But we must learn to balance this external validation with internal goals and satisfaction.

These are three things I’m trying to remind myself daily:

1. We can’t always produce our “best” work, it's simply impossible.
2. Practice makes perfect, and I’m undoubtedly a better writer today than I was when I got started.
3. My favorite stories are just that, my favorite. I can’t expect them to also be what resonates best with my audience.

But most importantly, I learning to be more kind to myself and feel proud of my efforts. I hope self-kindness is something you are also practicing daily.

I’m curious to hear how are you dealing with external validation, please share in the comments, and let’s have a discussion.