Are You Writing for Recognition or for the Sake of Writing?

Forget the views, write with passion.

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” — Franz Kafka

Are you writing for the recognition? Or are you writing for the sake of writing? Because you don’t know better?

It doesn’t matter how much you look at your stats, how many views you get in a day, or how many fans clapped for your story. Those things don’t make you a good writer. Take the advice of Tom Kuegler, Niklas Göke or Ali Mese.

How many times have you seen crappy stories get viral on Medium or any other platform? Viral doesn’t mean good. Fake news get viral, and look how they are destroying journalism — and lives.

Now, I’m not saying you don’t need readers. What would a writer be without readers?

Stories are meant to be read. They are meant to be shared and enjoyed.

But writing is much, much more than having readers and followers clapping to your stories. Writing is therapy.

The ultimate reason most of us (writers) sit every day in front of a blank page is to fight with our pen — or keyboard — and try to win the battle. Writing is an extension of our minds to speak the words our voices can’t.

But the only chance to win the battle is writing with the heart. Write with passion.

The art of blogging

When I started my blogging journey on Medium I did it mainly to keep me sane. It was way before Medium started paying authors for their stories. Curation didn't exist back then. I was an early adopter. I had just started my Ph.D. and needed a space to clear my thoughts.

As a researcher, I’m not afraid of writing. Not even when English is not my native language. Academic writing is sophisticated, complex, and rich. The more you confuse the reader, the better (sort of). With practice you get good at sophisticated writing. You need to if you want to survive Academia. Passion for academic writing is out of the question.

But blogging is completely the opposite. Blogging is all about making it simple and clear. It is about sharing inspiring stories.

Stories, and especially blog entries, are like colors. There is one for every taste. Yellow is not better than green or red. Short and personal is not better than long and documented posts. There is an audience for each.

You don’t need to be an excellent writer to tell good stories. But you need great stories to tell to be a talented writer. Writing is a skill, you can develop it through training. But memorable stories are not that easy to create. For that you need passion. And passion is not something you can train. Passion is or isn’t. That simple.

Before you can worry about growing your audience, having engaged readers, and gaining recognition as a writer, think about why you want to write. Who are you writing for? is the wrong question. Instead, ask yourself: why are you writing?

Once you answer that question, everything else comes naturally: the readers, the engagement, the recognition, the self-actualization. Or maybe not. But then remember you are writing because you need to. Because otherwise, you wouldn’t be you.

The need for recognition

Don’t worry. I’ve been there too. Who doesn’t like to see a few claps here and there? Those green bars growing. I’ll be lying to myself if I said I don’t care about recognition. As Niklas Göke said, statistics and growing numbers are addictive and are like dopamine shots.

It’s hard not to think about the likes, claps, and follows you’ll have once you hit the publish button. After so much work, it is normal to want some appreciation.

The need for recognition is only human. We all need affection and respect. Validation from others is a psychological need, crucial to build self-esteem, and achieve self-actualization.

But now, with social media, our need for recognition is growing out of proportion. Today, nothing matters more than being a public figure on Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. We wake up to our phones to see how popular our last post was. And Medium loves to give you recognition: “Your post has 10 fans”, “You are now a Top writer”, “Your story was selected”.

Who doesn’t want to be pampered?

It’s easy to get obsessed by engagement and recognition. Likes, claps, views are like soothers. They keep you calm and happy. But when you don’t get it, you feel lost, like a fraud, you lose your identity.

You fall in a vicious cycle: Why didn’t they like it? Why did they stop reading? Why didn’t it get curated?

I went down that road. Checking my stats every minute. Having ups and downs. Feeling happy and then depressed. Looking for the reasons for my poor success. Wanting to quit. Quitting. And then coming back for more. Spending more time in growing my numbers than in polishing my writing. I was obsessed by readers’ engagement — or the lack of it.

You look for answers and solutions to your lack of recognition: analyzing statistics, trying other posting schedules, joining Medium writing Facebook groups, applying growth marketing hacks, and other nonsense.

These will only get you to one path: quitting before you have the chance to begin.

I’m not saying these hacks don’t work. I’m saying they don’t work if you don’t ask the right question.

Why are you writing?

If your answer is for gaining recognition, then you might stop right there. There is no prize at the end of the race. There is no race. Period.

You can follow every single piece of advice on how to be successful in Medium or as a writer.

Follow as many people as possible. Applaud until you are out of claps. Write about hot topics. Do SEO. Submit to publications. Join medium Facebook groups. Comment, highlight and tweet.

Nothing will work. Nothing, if you have the wrong mindset.

Go back to the essential: writing

Why did you start writing? Why did you feel the urge to put your thoughts on paper? Why?

I remembered I started writing on Medium because I wanted to write. Writing has always been my escape valve. I didn’t start writing because I wanted to be famous, or to be followed, or to make a living out of it. Yes, I wanted to share my thoughts with like-minded humans. Maybe inspire and impact someone else. But the major reason was I wanted to express myself.

I reviewed then my approach to writing and wrote about what I cherished. I stop wondering about whether it would get curated, published, recommended, or liked by the community. Which Community? I was only kidding myself.

Now, I write when I am in the mood for writing. I write when I find the time between my day job as a university professor and my full-time job as a mom. I write spontaneously about topics I want to write about. I don’t waste my time browsing every single article published on Medium on that topic. I don’t obsess over headlines, schedules, or keywords. I disabled notifications on my devices for every new follow or clap. I stopped reading, clapping, and following articles and people I really didn’t care about just for the quest for engagement.

And suddenly, I feel better. I enjoy writing again. I learn something new every day. I’ve discovered things about myself. I’ve improved my writing. I’ve found my voice again. I’ve found my element. I am free and consistent with my beliefs. I feel thrilled about every word I write.

That’s enough. That’s everything. That’s all.

So before you check your numbers again, ask yourself: Why are you writing? What brought you here? Are you willing to stay just for the sake of writing?

Forget the likes, the claps, the shares, the followers. Those mean nothing if you don’t feel fulfilled just by the act of writing. Writing is for you. If other humans happen to enjoy it, then welcome them. But if they don’t, are you stopping? Would you quit?

The answers to these questions will probably save you from an unfulfilled journey as a writer — if you ARE a writer.

A writer writes for its own sake. So, why are you writing?

Wondering were to publish your next story? Maybe you should think about small publications.