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Abstract

out anything published. Another issue I have is being very black and white and while I’m pretty flexible about most stuff, when I become convinced that something should be a certain way, that’s it. So once I realized I could write and publish at least one piece every day, that became what I felt I should be doing.When I took even one day off, I got into a funk, had thoughts that I was lazy, didn’t have the work ethic to make it as a writer etc. etc. etc. I suspect this may sound strangely familiar to some of you.Then there’s the timing issue. I’ve become convinced that it is best to publish as early in the day as possible. When I schedule my stories ahead of time, I set them to be published at 5:00 am during the week, and 6:00 am on the weekend, but definitely by 9:00 am each day when at all possible. I do have some indication that this is when my stories do the best so it is when I want them out. This means writing ahead of time in order have them out at o’dark thirty.It’s great when this works out and I’d say I can manage it consistently 3–4 times a week. It’s those other days that get me since it takes me a while to wake up and I really don’t hit my stride until later afternoon.So if something isn’t scheduled, I’m faced with missing the day or publishing later than I prefer. Either way, I find myself a bit desperate to come up with something to write about that might get a big enough draw later in the day which generally results in something that is not my best work.This means that I get in this endless cycle of what I call “force writing” which often gets in the way of creativity and feels more like a rote activity rather than something I enjoy at least on some level. This leads to a sense of dread, my writing becomes more mundane and less frequent, my despondency increases and I sink lower and lower.All told, this translated into feeling like I was on a hamster wheel and couldn’t take a lot of time to really sit down and plan out stories for different publications, especially the Medium ones. I’ll admit, I didn’t see a huge difference in the performance of my stories in publications vs, out of them.Using that as an excuse I failed to admit something else. I don’t like taking the time to write a story on a platform where I can have it out immediately, then turn it over to a publication when I have to wait a week or more for it to be reviewed.Something that goes along with my black and white thinking is the need to finish something completely before doing something else. I can multitask quite well so long as I’m making progress on each task. I can’t stop and put one aside for a while to come back to it later. Usually when I put something aside, I am saying that I am done with it whether it’s finished or not and will not be returning to it.My thinking with regards to Medium is that an article isn’t finished until it’s published. If it’s hanging around under my story tab waiting, in my mind I haven’t completed it yet, even if it’s no longer in my hands.There’s something about getting as much of my work out as quickly as possible. I attributed this to difficulty with delayed gratification and that might be a part of it. Part of it, though might be related to the amount of content available and the quick turnover of content on sites like Medium where there is a front page and when you’re knocked off your work isn’t as likely to be discovered.Because of this, I often feel that I have to get as much out there as often as possible or I’ll be quickly forgotten. Given that I’m certainly not

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a household name, I have the belief that if my work isn’t out there every day, I will fade from people’s memories and it will be hard if not impossible to regain some of those fans.So, bottom line, I just forgot about publications other than the ones I started altogether for a while. But with the changes to the Medium earnings algorithm I re-evaluated my strategy and revised it based on what I have discovered about myself. Here’s where I’m at.I’ve realized that not submitting to the major publications because of the excuse they don’t really add much to my reads and engagement was a cop out. I have tried to get into Human Parts once and it didn’t fit for them and I didn’t try again with any of them, as Human Parts is no longer taking direct submissions and the Medium publications didn’t seem like a good fit for me. This was another cop out.I’ve decided that while these big publications are important, it doesn’t do me any good to submit exclusively to them if I wind up too down in the dumps to write. Still, I do recognize that they can help me and I’ve begun a schedule where I submit at least one article to a big publication like The Startup or The Ascent every week.I am researching the Medium publications to see which might be a good fit for the type of pieces I write and by the beginning of next week will begin listing ideas that I can write up for some of these as well, with the goal being one a week submitted.The rest of my work will go to either a community publication like The Partnered Pen, my own publication Mental Gecko, or a publication that I can publish the story then submit it and have it added to the publication quickly like Invisible Illness or Literally Literary. This will still get enough of my work published on a regular basis while having some of it featured in the major publications.Ideally, if I can write more than 7 posts a week, then I’ll be able to submit to journals and have the articles not appear for several days or even a week but still publish something in my own journal, a community journal or a publication that takes work you’ve just published.This also means being more diligent about my writing so that I don’t let myself off the hook when I finish something in the morning. I need to treat this like a job or a business and keep writing throughout the day in order to have quality pieces that I can submit to top journals along with what I publish.While I may not have work in the major publications as frequently as others, I think that this plan, will work best with my personality and my writing and publishing needs.<h1 id="11e2">Take Away</h1>I think that it’s important for us each to come up with the strategies that makes sense for us as individuals. Some of us are fine waiting weeks for articles to come out even if it means something you’ve just finished won’t be seen for a while. Some of us might need to have our work out more regularly as it reinforces the effort we put into writing. For me, if I write and complete a story each day, I want to be able to publish each day.But we also need to push the envelope a bit, especially if there are other parts of our personality that might be hindering us. For me, I need to push myself to write at least seven articles a week so some can go to big journals and some can be published right away.How do you think your personality plays into your writing life and how can you alter your writing habits to fit better with it? I’d love to learn about others’ thoughts on this topic in the comments below.</article></body>

The Hidden Cost of Waiting for Publications to Review and Publish Your Work

Certain personality types that have trouble with delayed gratification may profit more from publishing their work in their own publication or in community publications rather than waiting for bigger publications to publish their work.

I’m sure you’ve read at least a few stories that provide advice for making it on Medium by now. Most writers on the platform are hoping to generate a sizable income and/or extend the reach of their brand to new readers. There is a roughly agreed upon Gold Standard for doing this.

It consists of writing quality work on a regular basis, getting curated which gets your work sent to the people interested in the curation category, publishing in the big publications such as The Startup and The Ascent as well as publishing in the Medium publications such as Human Parts and Modus.

I have attempted to follow at least most of this advice but have been finding that I am increasingly losing steam. It’s not that I have trouble coming up with topics to write about. It’s making myself sit down and do it that is more the issue. And while this also, is not an unusual complaint you hear from writers, for me it seems to be linked to something specific.

At first I thought I was just burned out. So I let myself slack off for a few days which turned into a week then a month. At that point, it was time to pull on the reins to get the downward spiral to stop gaining speed. The more I slacked off the lower my earnings, engagement and reach became. The lower these numbers went, the less I felt like writing and so on.

I was able to get myself writing again but I wasn’t taking the time to submit stories to the big publications. I made myself do so only to have seven articles waiting at one time to be reviewed by seven different publications. That was an entire weeks worth of writing. I tried to write some smaller pieces and a few poems but wasn’t very happy with any of that group.

Then a few days ago, I realized that maybe submitting to the top rate publications and having my stories sit there waiting to be reviewed, was contributing to my downward spiral. The reason suddenly came to me. As far as writing is concerned, I don’t do well with delayed gratification. I think in regards to writing on Medium in particular, this can be a problem for me.

At Medium one of the big pulls is that we can write something, hit publish the second we are satisfied with it and see it online. The template and formatting options that Medium gives us makes it look like a professional article. Then we get spoiled, some of us more than others.

Outside of the platform, I would never think twice about something that takes 3–6 months to be reviewed. I submit to literary journals and don’t even think about checking back, and never get upset or impatient. This is just SOP when it comes to literary journals.

Here on Medium, that’s not the case. Because I know this, I’m okay for four days maybe five tops. If it goes to seven I start asking questions. By default, I am not a patient person. This is part of the problem.

Also part of the problem is that I’ve fallen into a mode of wanting something published daily and if I can’t, at least to make sure I never go more than one day without anything published. Another issue I have is being very black and white and while I’m pretty flexible about most stuff, when I become convinced that something should be a certain way, that’s it. So once I realized I could write and publish at least one piece every day, that became what I felt I should be doing.

When I took even one day off, I got into a funk, had thoughts that I was lazy, didn’t have the work ethic to make it as a writer etc. etc. etc. I suspect this may sound strangely familiar to some of you.

Then there’s the timing issue. I’ve become convinced that it is best to publish as early in the day as possible. When I schedule my stories ahead of time, I set them to be published at 5:00 am during the week, and 6:00 am on the weekend, but definitely by 9:00 am each day when at all possible. I do have some indication that this is when my stories do the best so it is when I want them out. This means writing ahead of time in order have them out at o’dark thirty.

It’s great when this works out and I’d say I can manage it consistently 3–4 times a week. It’s those other days that get me since it takes me a while to wake up and I really don’t hit my stride until later afternoon.

So if something isn’t scheduled, I’m faced with missing the day or publishing later than I prefer. Either way, I find myself a bit desperate to come up with something to write about that might get a big enough draw later in the day which generally results in something that is not my best work.

This means that I get in this endless cycle of what I call “force writing” which often gets in the way of creativity and feels more like a rote activity rather than something I enjoy at least on some level. This leads to a sense of dread, my writing becomes more mundane and less frequent, my despondency increases and I sink lower and lower.

All told, this translated into feeling like I was on a hamster wheel and couldn’t take a lot of time to really sit down and plan out stories for different publications, especially the Medium ones. I’ll admit, I didn’t see a huge difference in the performance of my stories in publications vs, out of them.

Using that as an excuse I failed to admit something else. I don’t like taking the time to write a story on a platform where I can have it out immediately, then turn it over to a publication when I have to wait a week or more for it to be reviewed.

Something that goes along with my black and white thinking is the need to finish something completely before doing something else. I can multitask quite well so long as I’m making progress on each task. I can’t stop and put one aside for a while to come back to it later. Usually when I put something aside, I am saying that I am done with it whether it’s finished or not and will not be returning to it.

My thinking with regards to Medium is that an article isn’t finished until it’s published. If it’s hanging around under my story tab waiting, in my mind I haven’t completed it yet, even if it’s no longer in my hands.

There’s something about getting as much of my work out as quickly as possible. I attributed this to difficulty with delayed gratification and that might be a part of it. Part of it, though might be related to the amount of content available and the quick turnover of content on sites like Medium where there is a front page and when you’re knocked off your work isn’t as likely to be discovered.

Because of this, I often feel that I have to get as much out there as often as possible or I’ll be quickly forgotten. Given that I’m certainly not a household name, I have the belief that if my work isn’t out there every day, I will fade from people’s memories and it will be hard if not impossible to regain some of those fans.

So, bottom line, I just forgot about publications other than the ones I started altogether for a while. But with the changes to the Medium earnings algorithm I re-evaluated my strategy and revised it based on what I have discovered about myself. Here’s where I’m at.

I’ve realized that not submitting to the major publications because of the excuse they don’t really add much to my reads and engagement was a cop out. I have tried to get into Human Parts once and it didn’t fit for them and I didn’t try again with any of them, as Human Parts is no longer taking direct submissions and the Medium publications didn’t seem like a good fit for me. This was another cop out.

I’ve decided that while these big publications are important, it doesn’t do me any good to submit exclusively to them if I wind up too down in the dumps to write. Still, I do recognize that they can help me and I’ve begun a schedule where I submit at least one article to a big publication like The Startup or The Ascent every week.

I am researching the Medium publications to see which might be a good fit for the type of pieces I write and by the beginning of next week will begin listing ideas that I can write up for some of these as well, with the goal being one a week submitted.

The rest of my work will go to either a community publication like The Partnered Pen, my own publication Mental Gecko, or a publication that I can publish the story then submit it and have it added to the publication quickly like Invisible Illness or Literally Literary. This will still get enough of my work published on a regular basis while having some of it featured in the major publications.

Ideally, if I can write more than 7 posts a week, then I’ll be able to submit to journals and have the articles not appear for several days or even a week but still publish something in my own journal, a community journal or a publication that takes work you’ve just published.

This also means being more diligent about my writing so that I don’t let myself off the hook when I finish something in the morning. I need to treat this like a job or a business and keep writing throughout the day in order to have quality pieces that I can submit to top journals along with what I publish.

While I may not have work in the major publications as frequently as others, I think that this plan, will work best with my personality and my writing and publishing needs.

Take Away

I think that it’s important for us each to come up with the strategies that makes sense for us as individuals. Some of us are fine waiting weeks for articles to come out even if it means something you’ve just finished won’t be seen for a while. Some of us might need to have our work out more regularly as it reinforces the effort we put into writing. For me, if I write and complete a story each day, I want to be able to publish each day.

But we also need to push the envelope a bit, especially if there are other parts of our personality that might be hindering us. For me, I need to push myself to write at least seven articles a week so some can go to big journals and some can be published right away.

How do you think your personality plays into your writing life and how can you alter your writing habits to fit better with it? I’d love to learn about others’ thoughts on this topic in the comments below.