Trust Me. Writing is a Painful Process.

Yes, I go nuts at times. Most of the time. Maybe, every time.

Writing is no joke. I mean it. Many people look at me and say this line of work is easy. I would often look back into their eyes, point blank, and respond in an obviously annoyed manner.

“Oh really? How easy is that?”

Oh, come on people. It is time we put the word respect back into different professions. I am not a professional writer by a long shot and the basis of saying what I am saying now is my daily contribution to Medium as well as my daily posts on Linkedin in order to build and upkeep my Personal Branding.

It is difficult to appreciate the difficulty of writing for those who do not write or post.

I get that.

Thus, I am going to try to articulate to the best of my ability why writing is a tough activity.

First, We Got To Decide What To Write …

Does it sound seemingly obvious? Okay, point noted.

Let’s perform a Thought Experiment.

Suppose we choose to write a topic that we are acquainted with daily. It can be about building a social media following, or project management or living a meaningful life. Where and how do we start?

Let’s say we decide to pick the topic of “Building a social media following”.

Great.

We have accomplished 15% of the overall task.

Let me say this.

We will still need to decide and expand on the following sub-topics for coverage.

• What social media platform(s) are we referring?
• Are we successful enough in building a following such that we are able to share our experience?
• Are we able to articulate our experience in written form?

See my point?

There are many considerations and effort that goes into the storytelling and writing process.

And that brings me to …

Then, We Have to Have an Attention-Grabbing Headline …

Attention is the currency of readership.

I believe in that.

Not just that, it is key for readers to want to start reading the story.

There are simply too many contents produced in the Digital World today. Texts, articles, stories, videos, podcasts, simply too many. There are 200,000 to 400,000 paying subscribers on Medium in 2019, and if we assume that 20% of the lower end statistics actually produce stories and each of these story produces churn out 2 stories a day, this is the number we will see.

200,000 Subscribers x 20% x 2 stories a day = 80,000 stories a day.

This is the competition landscape based on 2019 numbers. Blue ocean? I doubt it.

To springboard ourselves ahead, we have to utilise every single edge we can find. We can write the best stories but if the headline doesn’t get anyone to want to read it, our painstaking effort will be published into the Ocean.

I am still learning how to write great headlines even after writing consistently for 2 months.

It is not that easy and it routinely takes 30% of my writing time per story.

Yes, you got that right.

That one liner takes up much more effort that an entire segment of a 3-part story.

… And Then We Have HashTags.

Even that final leg of the publication process has to be deliberated.

I have friends asking why Hashtags are important and I typically respond in this fashion.

Every hashtag is a like a brand that people follow. Just as an allusion, Apple, Coke, MacDonald’s and etc. Selecting the right hashtag for our story is a marketing strategy. We have to find where the people are and what they are focusing on in order to sell our stories.

Yes sure, some topics are evergreen. Love, equality of opportunities.

The point I am making is this.

We are fickle as consumers, aren’t we?

We love to browse and look at multiple different brands at the same time.

Louis Vuitton might attract us today and it might be Longchamp’s turn tomorrow.

Henceforth, the genres that are attracting massive readership today will not be the same one tomorrow. Understanding hashtags is about understanding the reader’s market.

We need the time to analyse it.

We have to choose for success!

Simple Takeaway.

Writing is a painful production process even for those who love to write and share their thoughts with the World.

I encourage everyone to give it a try before actually saying that writing is easy.

In fact, writing in itself is a full-time activity that requires: -

• Elaboration of ideas through Stories of different forms;
• Deliberation of eye-catching headlines;
• Selection of relevant hashtags.

Are these easy to do?

Maybe it is for some.

One thing is for sure.

It is not that easy for me.

I am still learning.

Related Stories from the Author.

About the Author:

As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.

Because simplicity adds value.

Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.

And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?

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