Why It’s Smart To Keep Your Worst Articles On Medium

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Abstract

p id="18f6">I knew when I hit that big beautiful publish button, that I could have tried harder, but the excitement of being a blogger won that battle. Honestly, I don't think I even edited the first few articles I made. I didn't care about the structure of my work; I was sure that I would make millions off of my traumatic tales — I was so wrong.</p><p id="40d9">I’d say every few words, one of them was misspelt, I threw around commas like confetti, and my sentences were so long people must have felt they were in a Walmart checkout line. They were just waiting for it to end.</p><p id="bcb2">Aside from my lack of caring, I also spammed half the internet. I went as far as joining trauma groups just to spam them as well. I had no desire to engage with others or even read articles. After all, I was convinced that I would be the next Dickens.</p><h1 id="5c18">How I fixed my mistakes</h1><p id="2667">After a few poorly written pieces, and a few blows to my psyche, I decided to correct myself. If I was going to make others care about me, I had to care about me too. And then, it didn’t show through my work. Here is what I did.</p><ul><li>I joined writing groups on other platforms. Engaging with a writing community helped me realize the importance of participating with other writers.</li><li>I downloaded Grammarly. It’s an app that corrects grammatical errors and sentence str

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ucture.</li><li>I mapped out my articles before writing them – making a chart of all the components helps you stay organized.</li><li>I wrote everything down first, then edited 2–3 times over a couple of days.</li><li>I researched topics before I assumed I knew what I was saying.</li><li>I double-checked before I hit publish.</li></ul><h1 id="101d">Why I still keep my failed articles up</h1><p id="e254">I keep my old articles up for a few reasons. One, they still make me money, even if it’s a few cents, money is money.</p><p id="eed9">Two, because they still carry a message of my traumatic past, and have helped me overcome depression from telling the world. Even if just a few people read it.</p><p id="508b">Three, last but not least, they are a learning tool.</p><p id="b207">Not only do I like to go back and use those articles as a reference to how far I’ve come, but they can also be a study guide. When going back to look at the mess I created, I can point out all the flaws in my work. And we as writers are always acquiring new skills. So, why not keep the old ones up to sharpen your mind? Test your new abilities, and show yourself, and the Medium community, how far you have come.</p><p id="988d">I have grown so much already. And the process of developing as a writer is just that, a process. Embrace the negatives, so you appreciate the positives.</p></article></body>

A visual display of personal growth

Someone told me to cancel my Medium membership because I wasn’t good enough. Well, that wasn't nice. However, it made me want to write more.

Most of us start writing on medium with a similar idea. Writing is our first love, and you want to tell your tale to as many people as possible. As writers, we have goals — traffic, income, to spread our message, and the mental and emotional orgasm of creating.

When I started writing on Medium, I had one thing in mind — to tell the story of my childhood in hopes of helping someone else deal with trauma and abuse. I learned the hard way after my first article got zero traffic. Not even a single clap. So I kept at it, I knew I had some trouble with grammar and sentence structure. However, I also knew I had a message, and I was going to put it into the world via the medium.

My biggest mistakes

I knew when I hit that big beautiful publish button, that I could have tried harder, but the excitement of being a blogger won that battle. Honestly, I don't think I even edited the first few articles I made. I didn't care about the structure of my work; I was sure that I would make millions off of my traumatic tales — I was so wrong.

I’d say every few words, one of them was misspelt, I threw around commas like confetti, and my sentences were so long people must have felt they were in a Walmart checkout line. They were just waiting for it to end.

Aside from my lack of caring, I also spammed half the internet. I went as far as joining trauma groups just to spam them as well. I had no desire to engage with others or even read articles. After all, I was convinced that I would be the next Dickens.

How I fixed my mistakes

After a few poorly written pieces, and a few blows to my psyche, I decided to correct myself. If I was going to make others care about me, I had to care about me too. And then, it didn’t show through my work. Here is what I did.

I joined writing groups on other platforms. Engaging with a writing community helped me realize the importance of participating with other writers.

I downloaded Grammarly. It’s an app that corrects grammatical errors and sentence structure.

I mapped out my articles before writing them – making a chart of all the components helps you stay organized.

I wrote everything down first, then edited 2–3 times over a couple of days.

I researched topics before I assumed I knew what I was saying.

I double-checked before I hit publish.

Why I still keep my failed articles up

I keep my old articles up for a few reasons. One, they still make me money, even if it’s a few cents, money is money.

Two, because they still carry a message of my traumatic past, and have helped me overcome depression from telling the world. Even if just a few people read it.

Three, last but not least, they are a learning tool.

Not only do I like to go back and use those articles as a reference to how far I’ve come, but they can also be a study guide. When going back to look at the mess I created, I can point out all the flaws in my work. And we as writers are always acquiring new skills. So, why not keep the old ones up to sharpen your mind? Test your new abilities, and show yourself, and the Medium community, how far you have come.

I have grown so much already. And the process of developing as a writer is just that, a process. Embrace the negatives, so you appreciate the positives.