Writing

My Tribe: Takeaways from a Month of Writing

On writing, editing, friendships, and endless learning

One month ago, I began my first month as a Medium member. I was a scared little child in a world of established, eloquent, and charismatic writers. I was afraid of the judgment, afraid of the disappointment, afraid of putting my words out there. I was so frightened of Medium that I removed my card details just so my subscription would cut off when the month was up.

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded.

The blunders I made

Much of the past month was spent experimenting with different writing styles and topics. I wrote about foreign affairs, social media, and I even dabbled a little in content marketing.

In hindsight, some of the articles I wrote betrayed a serious lack of understanding. What business did I have writing about content marketing when my experience was limited to an online course I took on edX? I removed that article to save anyone else the agony of reading it.

I also wrote an article on OCD that I deleted three days later because I felt that I had overstepped a personal boundary.

My point is, I have written my fair share of foolish, ignorant, and ill-informed articles. Even so, I do not regret writing any of them. Putting words down on a page helps me to make sense of my haphazard thoughts. Neither do I regret sharing them because they shaped my understanding of what works and what does not work. I learned from my mistakes and I would love to say that I grew from it, but you are probably the better judge of that!

Finding my voice

I truly struggled with online writing in the beginning. Most of what I knew about writing came from school assignments and writing research essays. Academic writing is mostly devoid of personal experiences and it reads a little dry. You may have noticed these characteristics in almost all of my articles from my first two weeks here. At times, they gave the impression of someone writing from the top of an ivory tower, but that is how academia works. Academics seek to inform and build on existing knowledge, not to enthrall readers with personal anecdotes.

I read extensively on Medium and I took notice of writing styles in particular. Many writers have written about finding their voice, and all of them express it differently:

• be conversational
• be authentic
• write the way you talk
• write with a person or a friend in mind
• do not talk down to the reader

All of the above are slightly different but I believe they convey the same message. It all boils down to finding a unique style of writing that sounds natural when read aloud. Your style should be a voice that is uniquely you and nobody else.

It is about maintaining the right balance between building your arguments and interjecting with personal narratives that make your writing sound human. I am still refining my personal voice and even now, it is easy to lapse back into an academic style.

Experiment with different editing strategies

Rewriting is a crucial process of editing. I began formating my stories into sections separated by those three dots and subheadings. They help readers to skim the page for what they are interested in while making my life easier as a writer. By slicing my writing into bite-sized pieces, I can easily select entire chunks and shift them around to improve the structure of my essay.

For some of my essays, I have also tried letting them sit in my draft folder overnight before I publish them. I find myself making better edits whenever I have had sufficient time away from my words. However, I still get impatient at times, and I publish many of my essays after several revisions throughout the day.

Last week, I tried editing my stories on my phone in between episodes of Netflix. Editing on Medium’s phone app has also been effective for me in picking apart and rewriting sections of my essay. I notice problematic sentences on my phone that never came across as awkward when I am editing on my computer.

I am always open to testing out new strategies for content generation, and I am pleasantly surprised at how some of these have worked out for me. If you have an editing strategy that works wonders for you, please share them with me as well!

Celebrate the little victories

Being surrounded by successful writers with a few ‘loud’ ones brandishing their ‘success’ on Medium takes its toll on any new writer. Therefore, I always make it a point to celebrate my victories. I avoid comparing myself with others, and instead, I strive to be better than my past self.

Having others read my work has been such a humbling experience. I am still in disbelief that dozens of people would be interested in what I have to say.

Within my first month on Medium, I have been curated thrice:

I wrote about Twitter’s move to fact-check President Trump and how that gave me the confidence I needed to return to Twitter.

I am not musically-inclined and I butchered music lessons in school. However, I took a chance, and I wrote about Lady Gaga’s Chromatica after listening to it on replay for over a week.

As I mentioned earlier, I write to process my thoughts. This essay is a prime example of me making sense of my emotions regarding a comment I received. It sparked a conversation among several writers, and I learned so much from all of them.

Every clap, comment, mention, link, or tweet is a win to me. I would dare say that these little interactions we initiate in the comments, in private threads, and on twitter matter more to me than curation. Some days, I still think that my curated articles were flukes because I just happened to hit on the trending keywords that the algorithm was clawing through Medium for. Nevertheless, a win is a win and I am grateful for that.

Stats, stats, stats

After reading this far, some of you may be wondering about my stats, the metric of ‘success’ that everyone is obsessed with. Readers, myself included, never seem to tire of peeking at the stats of other writers.

I am checking it less often these days, but I am still staring at those bar charts a little too often to proclaim that I am over it. However, I am not going to feed into that unhealthy obsession by posting a screenshot of my stats over here. Sorry to disappoint you. It is not much, but just know that I am content with how far I have come, and that is what matters to me.

These days, I am also receiving more comments on my articles. Reading these comments gives me such a great sense of satisfaction that those green bars and pesky little percentage points never could. Perhaps, these comments explain why I am less obsessed with stats than I was when I wrote this article three weeks ago:

My tribe

Looking back, I would not have been able to persevere through a month of writing without ILLUMINATION. Dr Mehmet Yildiz has been nothing but supportive. Dr Yildiz has taken all of us under his wing and he works tirelessly to help all writers at the publication gain visibility.

I have written exclusively for the publication thus far, and I am still meeting brilliant writers who are joining ILLUMINATION by the dozens every day. My online presence debuted under ILLUMINATION and it continues to grow every day! I guess you can say that my online presence as a writer was ‘born and raised’ over here.

ILLUMINATION has also provided me with a community of writers who support and lift one another. I have made friends from all around the world who have offered valuable advice from their experiences. It never ceases to amaze me how hard everyone works for the benefit of others. How many of the people you encounter in real life would go to such lengths within days of meeting you?

Eclecticism

I have written about how my friends at ILLUMINATION have taught me so much about online writing and life in general. Now, it gives me great pleasure to share some of my favorite essays.

Noah Levy is the first friend I made on Medium and ILLUMINATION. Noah has generously offered his advice by writing private notes on my essays, and sending me general areas for improvement over Slack. Noah has shown me nothing but kindness. Now, I try to pay-it-forward by doing the same for others. The article below is the first essay of Noah’s that I read, and I have been a fan ever since.

I am a literature student, but I have never consumed this much poetry until I became a writer for ILLUMINATION. Charlotte Zobeir Ali has been churning out poems daily, and I have read almost every one of them. The way Charlotte personifies a cloud in the poem below is beautiful and uplifting.

Daniel G. Clark is one of the most underrated writers on Medium. He writes both fiction and non-fiction, and he is fantastic at both of them. In all of our conversations, I am always impressed by Daniel’s intelligence. His well-researched pieces educate me and broaden my worldview. In this article, Daniel offers his insights on what we can do to make the world a better place for all.

Holly Jahangiri wrote an article as a response to my story detailing how I took offense at a comment. Holly objectively explains both sides of the story, while offering some of her personal experiences that have informed her opinions on the matter. It was enlightening, and it helped me to better process my emotions. On a side note, Holly has a secret — but not so secret — publication. If you follow it, you’ll find little gems sliding into your inbox weekly!

This one is a little biased on my part because I love Melbourne and I love coffee. Coffee from a cafe in Melbourne? Sign me up for that! Britni Pepper’s writing first caught my attention with this article on homemade coffee.

Jessica Cote is a writer I have known since the day I published my first essay on Medium. A few days ago, Jessica wrote a piece on incorporating Asian culture in her classroom, and it got me reminiscing about my American penpal when I was in primary school. There is much value from cross-cultural learning, and I applaud Jessica’s lesson plans in this article below.

Keno Ogbo wrote a heartbreaking essay on racial injustice in America. Keno’s metaphor of an apartment with leaky pipes illustrates the dire plight of Black Americans.

Lucy Milanova shares her experiences in lockdown and I found an affinity with her self-care routine. Lucy’s essay underscores the importance of finding time to take care of ourselves even as the world crumbles around us.

Of course, numerous articles have left an impression on me, and these are just eight of them. As an editor, I read so many articles written by our writers every day that it would take forever to cover them all!

Final Thoughts: Excited and hopeful for the future

This essay is the longest I have ever written and it warms my heart that you have made it this far.

If you are a new writer, welcome to Medium (and ILLUMINATION)! I promise you will love this nurturing environment made possible by our tribe of writers.

If you are a ‘seasoned’ writer, thanks for hearing me out and for being a mentor to all budding writers here. Medium would not be as welcoming if not for you.

I am here for the long haul, and I cannot wait to keep sharing my ideas and to continue engaging with all of you. You will not be able to shake me off anytime soon!

Ming Qian is a freelance writer and an undergrad blogger who is currently pursuing a degree in Economics. Subscribe to his monthly newsletter to never miss any story that he publishes here and on his blog!