WRITING

The Power of Writing Every Day to Be a Top Writer

It’s time to reach your full potential as a writer

If you think the idea of writing everyday is daunting, then you should stop reading this right now because that’s the first and foremost thing that will defeat you. The thing that will pretty much guarantee failure is thinking of something as a chore, a burden, a hassle, or any other negative perception.

Why?

Because perception often affects outcomes, doesn’t necessarily reflect reality, and can influence your decisions. So, a negative perception of writing everyday will likely cause you to make decisions that are not indicative of being a successful writer.

Writing Everyday Doesn’t Have to Be Overwhelming

It’s so important for you to understand that writing everyday doesn’t mean you have to produce like a mint. It doesn’t even mean you absolutely have to write “X” amount of words (although this helps). And it doesn’t mean that you have to write something over-the-top profound.

It simply means to write something everyday. It could be a haiku, a poem, a song, a paragraph, two sentences, a whole story or article, a letter, a journal entry, or anything as long as you keep up with a daily writing habit.

The good thing is that any of these can be a story that you can post. Just add an appropriate title, subtitle, and pic. And your post doesn’t always have to be something that needs research and cited facts. Some of the best stories on Medium are from the heart, off the cuff, or just someone sharing a piece of their day or life experiences.

Don’t make it so hard!

If You Fail It’s Your Own Fault

Blaming everything and everyone but yourself for your lack of success as a writer will get you nowhere really, really fast. You could be using the time, energy, and thought processing you put into complaining and blaming to write.

The thing is this — you don’t have to be the best writer to be successful and increase your views. You already have what it takes by virtue of being a living, breathing soul. There’s story ideas all around you.

Just thought I’d let you know that, in case your excuse is you can’t think of anything to write about.

And, you can either be determined and tell yourself that traits like motivation, drive, and consistency are choices or not. It’s really up to you. The key is to remember not to get discouraged and overwhelmed because you’re looking at the size of the thing, and just take it one step at a time like the old Chinese proverb: The journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.

Take the first step.

How Did I Do It?

• How I did it is I set a goal that I thought was doable for me, which was writing at least 500 words a day.
• This is a good target for working towards being a successful writer, I thought. It was within my reach.
• Then, I did the math. If I write just 500 words a day for the next four months, I will have written 60,000 words.
• And if I write 500-word stories, that will be 120 stories written. If I write 250-word stories, that will be 240 stories in my story bank.

Doing this suddenly took the fear away and the idea of it being so difficult to write every day or to get a lot of stories written. It broke it down into small pieces that I could chew. It was my beginning steps to a 1,000-mile journey.

If I can do it, you can do it too.

This story that you’re reading right now is just over 1,000 words. And is it really all that long of a read?

Determine what word count is good for you to start out writing every day and do that. Don’t be concerned if it’s more or less than anyone else. You just do you. You’ll be happy with your accomplishments, if you stick to what’s comfortable for you.

There’s No Perfect Time to Start

Listen, if you are waiting until you have more time, more money, more motivation, more guidance, more privacy, more ideas, a baby sitter, a vacation, to get in shape, an accountability partner, finished courses, cleaned the garage, paid off bills, gotten the kids to college, and whatever else you are waiting on to get started — then I’ve got news for you.

There is no perfect time to get started writing! The time is now. Right now. And it’s always right now — every day.

There is a Magic Formula

Yes. I said it. There’s a formula to follow that works every time. And that’s going to be — DO IT — RINSE — AND REPEAT with CONSISTENCY. Don’t stop. Don’t give up and don’t give in.

Your magic formula for success is to just do it and keep going — THIS IS YOUR POWER.

Do’s and Don’ts

Don’t make excuses why you can’t write. Don’t over-think it. Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t listen to nay-sayers. Don’t fall prey to negative perception.

Do look for reasons to write. Do relax and let it flow. Do praise and reward yourself. Do listen to positive self-programming and to those who encourage you. Do consciously change your perception to that which is positive.

Take this Away

Top writers on this platform all started with the first story and built from there. They all started with that first follower, that first person highlighting and clapping and commenting.

And they just kept going.

One thing is for sure. If you want to be a successful writer, particularly here on Medium, giving up can’t be an option. You don’t have to be all prolific and perfect. Just be you. Why? Because you are enough.

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