Reflections of a Twice-Boosted, One-Week Newbie

Medium is leading me on a path to self-discovery, and success is along for the ride.

I have been a writer for one week, and have already had two stories boosted. Finding this platform has been a revelation to me. What is it that makes writing on Medium such a gratifying, fulfilling experience?

Let me count the ways.

It offers a venue and reason for self-reflection. Writing stories — good stories — requires serious introspection, something I would rarely find time or impetus to do otherwise. Writing on Medium makes me pause and take stock of the beautiful life I have and the mesmerizing world around us.

Further, it offers clarity of thought. My mind often wanders, dipping in and out of ideas like a hummingbird flits to different feeders. Thinking of story ideas and sitting down to write them forces me to focus and fully form my thoughts, making them more actionable in bettering my life and the world around me.

Writing on Medium helps me connect emotionally with my family. Of the seven stories I’ve published so far, three are about my children — celebrating seminal moments in our lives together and tackling challenges I face in raising them.

As an introvert who struggles with insecurity, I especially have difficulty connecting with my teenage daughter. The stories I’ve written have given me a way to express my appreciation, admiration, and boundless love for her in a way in which I feel safe.

Speaking of insecurity, Medium gives me a forum for writing about my deepest emotions and most complex, convoluted thoughts from behind the shield that is my keyboard.

To say that I don’t write for the money isn’t entirely accurate. I do write for the money, but not because of its fungible qualities. My earnings. My followers. My highlights. My claps. My boosts. They’re quantifiable measures of the resonance of my stories, validation that what I have to say is meaningful and important.

As one who has suffered from depression, I am just happier now that I am writing, whether it’s the endorphin release I get when I publish a story, or a newfound inner peace.

Artistically, the creative freedom afforded to a writer on Medium is unparalleled.

No niche, no problem!

One of the most daunting impediments to my taking up writing has been having enough to say about a single topic for it to be sustainable. In one week on Medium, I have written about youth baseball, difficulties and triumphs in raising children, and Johnny Cash. All on one platform. Nowhere else in the writing world can one do that, and be published.

In my first week of writing, I published seven stories in four different publications—two of which were boosted. While I’m not ready to quit my day job just yet, I’ve been more successful than I could’ve imagined.

What’s driven my success? How have I been able to write stories worthy of being boosted right from the start? The answer may be counterintuitive. I simply didn’t care about boosts, claps, or followers.

I pried open a window to my soul, stared directly at the things that move me, and I wrote about them. With vulnerability. With passion. Write about something you care about, and readers will care about what you write.

If you’re writing on Medium for the income source, learning the best tricks of the trade to get followers, claps, reads, and boosts makes sense. But if you’re purely writing for yourself, for your love of the craft, and to gift the world with your unique thoughts and ideas, forget about the money.

Tap into your soul, put your heart and mind under a magnifying glass, and report what you see. Success, however you define it, will almost certainly follow.

Writing for publications is an essential way to reach readers, especially if you don’t yet have a following. Find that one publication with a loyal, interactive readership and skilled, kind editors who care about their writers and what they have to say, and make that your home.

Branch out and write about other topics for other publications, but always return home. The relationship you build with your editors will be an invaluable asset to you in honing your skills.

Be responsive. Read and reply to those who respond to your articles. Not only is it polite to reciprocate the time they took to comment, but it helps you build a following based on readers’ relationship with you and your writing.

After all, writing, for me, is about reaching people and getting them to feel something. If they’ve felt it to the extent that they want you to know it, why wouldn’t you be eager to acknowledge and thank them?

Read stories which do well, gain an understanding of what sticks and what doesn’t on Medium, and adapt your style accordingly. If your sense of artistic integrity demands you stick rigidly to your style, that’s a valid choice. But that may not be congruous with traditional, tangible measures of success on the platform.

Above all, keep going, no matter what.

Your first article, or two, or ten might be complete duds that appear to excite no one. Don’t let that dissuade you from pressing on. Stay the course, and that million dollar idea will strike you like a lightning bolt when you least expect it. You’ll write the perfect story, even if it’s perfect only to you.

Always remember that you are the only person in the universe with your perspective, thoughts, ideas, and feelings.

There is infinite value in what you have to say.

Thanks for reading my story.

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