Worry About Writing, Not Publishing

Remove obstacles to your productivity

A writer must create copy, and when the seed of an idea enters into your mind, it’s important to dedicate yourself to getting the work done.

I’ve carved out a career as a freelance writer, novelist, and content writer and I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to increase my earnings and productivity. I’ve concluded that it’s to the advantage of every writer to not allow the thought of publication to slow down production.

Until this month, my objective has always been to publish three articles a day. These articles might appear on web pages, magazines, or my personal blogs. However, this month I decided to make a subtle shift. Instead of publishing three articles, I now only try to write three articles. Although this represents a small adjustment in focus, it has brought about very positive results.

Waiting on editors

The waiting is the hardest part — Tom Petty

No matter what platform you use, one thing is constant: you have to wait for editors. That’s just a way of life and the sooner you get used to it the better. Keep in mind that editors are people too. They also have babies crying in the other room, they have a day job, their car just broke down, etc. It’s nice to imagine them constantly on call, eager and ready to approve your post, but the trials and tribulations of life are a torment to us all.

Be patient. Endeavor to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

Your articles are going to sit in a queue and there’s nothing you can do about it. This is just something you have to accept. When constructing a procedure for how you will conduct your workday, it’s important to account for the things you can’t control.

The detrimental effect of daily publishing

If you have it in your mind that you must publish three articles a day, it’s likely to have a negative effect on your writing. If you fail to practice mindfulness, the negatives can pile up without your even noticing.

If you become overly focused on daily publishing, you might find yourself eschewing larger publications and more lucrative opportunities. Large publications have a huge following, more submissions, and much higher demands on the editors. When you submit to a bigger publication, you can often expect your work to sit unread for days or weeks.

You’re almost always more likely to launch a more successful article if you publish with a large publication. However, excessive focus on daily publication discourages you from submitting where it’s ultimately most beneficial. Daily publishing goals can also instill you with unfair expectations when you’re working with smaller publications.

Focus on what you can control

It’s very important in life to set achievable goals. It’s not good for your self-esteem to measure yourself against an impossible standard. If you’re frustrated with the progress you’re making towards your life objectives, take a moment to step back and observe if your expectations are reasonable. We are often our own worst enemy working to prevent us from achieving the success we desire.

Focusing on writing three articles a day instead of publishing three articles a day immediately cuts your work in half. The process of publishing can be as taxing as the process of writing, especially if you have an unreasonable expectation.

In order to publish three articles a day, I would often have to write four or five articles. The first articles would be the topics I was truly passionate about, and the rest would be filler projects designed to meet my publishing goals. I’ve learned from experience that my work begins to suffer after the first three articles. Slowly, I came to realize I was not engaging in an effective or sustainable process.

It was too exhausting

I also found that I became inclined to take a rest day when one of my articles got accepted to a bigger publication. Looking back, I think this was a response to a subconscious sense of frustration. It didn’t matter how I felt that day, if a big publication took one of my stories, I would publish my remaining two and quit early.

The effort of trying to publish three articles daily led to bad practices and unnecessary fatigue. I feel much happier writing three articles a day, and find I can achieve that goal consistently without any ill effects. If you can achieve the same or better productivity with less work, it’s foolish not to implement the change.

Lessons from teaching

The first time I became mindful of how unnecessary labors can inhibit your productivity came when I was working as a teacher in Peru. One of the remainders of my grade school conditioning was that I thought it was lazy to add up numbers with a calculator. As a result, when I corrected the exams of my students, I didn’t use a calculator when adding up the section totals.

I remember sitting in the teacher’s lounge, grading 100 or so exams, when a colleague approached me.

“What are you doing?”

“Grading tests.”

“Why aren’t you using a calculator?”

“That’s lazy.”

He scoffed and handed me a calculator. “Just try it.”

In my pride, I was reluctant, but after I finished grading the tests with the calculator I was astounded as to how much energy I had left over.

Until it’s drawn to your attention, it’s hard to recognize how taxing mental activities can be. I was incorrect to think it was “lazy” to add up the test segments in my head. In fact, it was selfish. By expending my finite energy in that unproductive way, I was robbing my students of the energy I needed to be a more effective teacher.

Since then I have resolved to always be on the lookout for more efficient ways to complete my work.

Write free

When an idea pops into your head you should write it down as quickly as possible. Sometimes you start writing with the intention that it should go to a specific publication, only to find it’s a better fit elsewhere when you read the completed article.

Give yourself a break after you’re done composing and wait for your head to clear before evaluating where the article fits. Sometimes, with the benefit of an hour’s rest, you can come up with a few changes that make your article worthy of one of the big publications.

Have a process for both writing and publishing

Publishing is part of the writing process, but you can take steps to ensure that the effort you spend on publication does not have a negative effect on your creative energy. You must adopt a work process which allows you to lose yourself in the joy of composition. We all feel the burden of pressure and stress from our everyday lives. It makes no sense to wallow in misery you can easily avoid.

Trying to publish three articles a day creates needless pressure. You can easily eliminate this pressure by adopting a more flexible publishing process. Focus on writing and submitting. Let the publishing happen naturally. It is the responsibility of the editors to determine when the articles are released, so you should focus on directing your energy to the areas where you have the greatest control.

In the long run, the more energy you direct into writing, the greater your chances of achieving sustainable success.

I’d love some more responses to this one, it’s entered in a contest: