What I Learned From Writing 30 Articles in 30 Days

I gained clarity and learned goal setting through blogging about JavaScript, even though I only wrote 17 articles and didn’t get a software job.

In the middle of August 2019, I set off on a 30 day challenge to write 30 technical articles on JavaScript.

My goal was to find a remote job as a web developer, at which time I would cut way back on blogging and developing my language learning app.

Here’s how I did on my 30 Articles in 30 Days challenge:

• I only managed to write 14 technical articles, and 17 articles total.
• I was published in 7 publications and received over 9,000 views.
• I earned almost $100 from Medium.
• I got a few software job interviews, but no job.

Here’s what I learned from my experience, and why I would do it again.

Blogging is not technical experience.

Over-and-over again, I was told that blogging “is nice but…” it does not show an employer the ability to develop JavaScript code on a team.

I heard this despite writing technical articles detailing JavaScript and React functionality and including code examples with live demos.

For the goal of working as a software developer, a better goal would have been coding daily with the goal of contributing significantly to open-source.

Another better avenue for gaining full-time employment also involves a programming portfolio — creating and publishing a project uniquely my own using a specific group of tools or “stack,” like MERN Stack or JAMstack.

Writing brings clarity.

I found that my idea to try writing about JavaScript to launch my career led me to a clear goal — try to publish daily, every single day.

That little change led to a lot of other goal setting habits:

• To support daily writing, I started using a Daily 5 and Weekly 3 to-do list in order to prioritize what I want to accomplish each week.
• To decrease overall stress, I started keeping my inbox at Inbox Zero.
• To support my mental health and create a success snowball, I started writing down a daily list of accomplishments.

These skills allow me to live a more authentic life than ever before.

After a month of trying to blog daily, I feel incredibly clear-headed.

My goal-setting, ability to prioritize, and outlook have never been better.

Writing daily can be hard.

Despite my best intentions, there were simply days I chose not to write, usually because of other work or personal commitments.

Since I really had only been trying to write and publish 1 article (what felt like a monumental task) each day, that meant I got behind and stayed behind in my challenge if I had work obligations or a planned vacation.

Additionally, I found myself getting discouraged because publications would sometimes take several days to publish my article.

Then I didn’t feel like I was hitting my goal of publishing every day because publications would not actually publish my content daily.

So, in the end, I published only 17 articles in my first 30 days of writing on Medium. And of those, only 14 articles were technical articles on JavaScript programming. So I missed my goal by almost 50%. I failed.

Batching articles leads to success.

A better goal for myself is to batch multiple articles each “work shift,” a 2.5 hour block where I sprint through as much writing as possible.

Now my goal is to try to knock out 5 articles in 2.5 hours. This is the goal recommended by the wonderful Tom Kuegler in his free webinar recording “How To Make An Extra $900 Per Month On Medium.”

So, I still try to write daily— I can usually fit in at least one 2.5 hour work shift every single day. But I’m trying to batch shorter articles during that time.

Obviously, some articles are going to need more time than 30 minutes.

But a lot of the topics I cover really don’t require a deep dive, and, if I focus on finishing, I can actually finish a lot of articles in a short period of time.

Medium has a huge audience.

I received over 9k views in my first month of writing on Medium, starting completely from scratch with an audience of 0 followers:

My last 4 articles in my 30 day challenge were curated by Medium, starting around September 1.

The huge spike in views after that point is amazing!

This just goes to show how big of an audience Medium has, especially for the topic of JavaScript programming.

I learned something about curation.

These are my 4 articles that got curated by Medium, meaning they got featured by Medium throughout their app and website:

• Compiling vs. Polyfilling in JavaScript (Curated by Medium in the topics “JavaScript” & “Programming”) by Dr. Derek Austin 🥳 in Better Programming
• How to Trim Strings in JavaScript (ES2019) (Curated by Medium in the topic “JavaScript”) by Dr. Derek Austin 🥳 in Coding in Simple English
• Making Sense of == vs. === in JavaScript (Curated by Medium in the topics “JavaScript” & “Programming”) by Dr. Derek Austin 🥳 in Better Programming
• What Is Lifting State Up in JavaScript? (Curated by Medium in the topics “JavaScript” & “Programming”) by Dr. Derek Austin 🥳 in Better Programming

What do these have in common? They each have a clear headline; include references to source material; use free images from Unsplash; and don’t ask for any shares, claps, likes, email sign-ups, or other calls-to-action.

It is possible to make money on Medium.

I earned $99.80 from my first 30 days of blogging on Medium through the Medium Partner Program, which pays writers based on engagement:

Given that I had the sincere expectation to make $0, and only wrote 14 technical articles, this feels like an absolutely stupendous bonus.

Onward and upward:

Now it’s time for my big announcement…

Feeling the wind under my sails, I have decided to pursue full-time work as a Medium blogger (and soon-to-be vlogger!).

I want the flexibility (and fun!) of writing while still having time to work on my language learning mobile game.

Plus, I always like the flexibility to work other gigs as-needed.

The path to full-time blogger

Here are the new goals I have set:

• Have over 1K followers on Medium (currently: 217 followers)
• Receive over 1K claps on an article (current best: 243 claps)
• Publish 100 articles within 90 days (83 more in the next 60 days)
• Record 1 minute videos with each technical article after #100
• Receive over 100K views total on Medium

Why?

• It’s fun and I like it
• It allows me to keep develop my language learning app
• I can work from home (or anywhere!)
• It can create passive income
• It allows other PRN (as-needed) work

How?

• With batching, I hope to submit at least 2 technical articles daily for publication in Medium publications.
• Since I want to publish many more technical articles than non-technical articles like this one, I am keeping myself from working on non-technical articles during the day’s first writing batch (2.5 hour work shift).
• I will continue soliciting other gigs to add variety to my life and prevent burnout, including massage, acting, and DJ work.

Is it realistic? (Ask the Page of Wands)

Sure, I feel scared shitless trying to work full-time at a job that has only ever paid me $100 and has no guarantees of any additional income.

But it’s time to start expanding my horizons: time to do something new that ignites my curiosity and invites my creativity.

And, Medium curators are soliciting my work by curating my articles.

Being curated on Medium is equivalent to a Medium recruiter asking me to write for them — except in the most 2019 way possible: anonymously, with no pressure, and on my own schedule whenever I feel like it.

Wish me luck, and never forget there are endless possibilities for each of us in this crazy world!

The wrap-up: 30 Articles in 30 Days

Despite failing to meet my goal, I have doubled-down and recommitted to hitting an even more ambitious goal: 100 articles in 90 days.

My reward when I get there? An even more ambitious goal: vlogging.

Why? Why would I want to challenge myself more after failing?

Blogging is nice but vlogging is better.

— Jon McCaw on Vimeo

Why not? If I had a programming problem and could find a beautifully-formatted article with a 1min video explaining the subject clearly, I would be super grateful to the author. So I want to create that content.

It would be easy to look in the mirror and call myself crazy for dreaming, given that over 90% of Medium authors make less than $100/month.

Instead I will use blogging as a platform to continue living a more authentic life, while striving to earn income through exceptional content.

Further reading

• TheMuse recommends using Medium to become a thought leader:

• Sandra Ebejer discusses Medium in the Post-Grad Survival Guide:

• Christopher P Jones discusses his career on The Writing Cooperative:

• Dave Schools profiled a six-figure Medium writer in The Write Life:

Dr. Derek Austin is the author of Career Programming: How You Can Become a Successful 6-Figure Programmer in 6 Months, now available on Amazon.