What Happens When You Publish on Medium Every Day for aYear

Summary

An individual reflects on the transformative experience of publishing daily on Medium for a year, acknowledging personal growth and the challenges of writing, while emphasizing the importance of consistency and authenticity over immediate success.

Abstract

The author shares insights from a year-long journey of writing and publishing on Medium every day, describing the initial struggle and the gradual realization of the benefits of daily writing. Despite not yet considering themselves a good writer, the discipline has provided invaluable lessons, such as understanding the vast scope of improvement needed and the reality of the writing profession. The author notes the disparity between quality content and its reception, the gamification of the platform, and the personal freedom that comes with writing without fear of disapproval. The article encourages new writers to persist through rejection and inconsistent feedback, suggesting that the key to success is showing up and writing consistently, which eventually leads to a compulsion to write.

Opinions

The author believes that writing every day, while challenging, has been incredibly beneficial, setting their life on a new and exciting path.
They acknowledge that writing daily for a year is just the beginning, akin to earning a seat at the "kiddie's table," and that true mastery requires continued effort and growth.
The author observes that even exceptional writing may not receive the recognition it deserves, while less substantive content might gain unwarranted popularity.
They express a love for Medium as a platform that allows for freedom of expression without undue concern for negative feedback or rejection.
The author advises new writers to focus on hard work and consistency, develop their own style, and not to be discouraged by the lack of immediate success or validation.
They suggest that a "filthy writing habit" is a positive outcome, implying that writing becomes an integral part of one's life.
The author endorses an AI service, ZAI.chat, as a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4), indicating a belief in its value and performance.

365 straight-up articles later

I’m still not a good writer yet. Let’s get that out of the way. But writing every day has given me gifts beyond measure and has set my life on a course that is scary and exciting.

A year ago I sat down at my desk and decided to write another Medium article. For the past few months, I had been flirting with the platform. An article here and there. A few comments and claps.

The idea of being a real writer was a distant possibility that I never believed until the day I had a flash of inspiration to write 30 articles in 30 days, come rain or shine.

The idea took hold of me and I went with it.

So I began, not knowing if I would do it. I say this because I am the captain of the SS Failed Endeavour.

The first weeks were excruciating. I had nothing to say except regurgitated self-help thrown together with bad grammar. I don’t know how I got through it.

But almost 380 days later I am still doing it and haven’t missed a day yet.

What did I learn?

So much, but most importantly I learned that writing 365 posts only gets you a seat at the kiddie's table. But that is it.

I accept this because at least I am in the room.

Secondly, It shows you how far you have to go. The beginner's luck and novelty have worn off. I have swum so far out that I am now completely exposed. I can either keep swimming to the other side or drown.

Writing is a strange beast. If you write prolifically you are a writer. Which is enough for me. But there are writers and there are writers. I know my limits. I know that I will never be as good as some of the people on here. The masters.

But often those masters aren’t given the respect or audience they deserve. I have seen genius prose and life-changing wisdom disrespected with a meagre amount of applause. I’ve seen garbage get north of 8k claps.

If you are new here

Write and publish as much as you can. There are no formulas aside from what organically develops through hard work and consistency. You will find your own methods and your own voice. In your own time. You have no control over how you are received and you’ll hate that. Your ideas about killing it will be smashed to pieces but later you’ll appreciate it. The kindest thing you can do for yourself is to continue writing when there is no end or prize in sight.

I believe that the world belongs to those who show up and make things happen. Don’t be put off by shoddy responses or crickets. If you stick around long enough something will stick. Then when you’ve got a filthy writing habit you won’t be able to not write anyway.

I can’t.

What Happens When You Publish on Medium Every Day for aYear

365 straight-up articles later

What did I learn?

This is not reality

But I love it

If you are new here