5 Tips on How to Grow on Medium When You Don’t Feel Like Writing
You’d better be ready when it will happen
When I first started to write on Medium it was during the quarantine. I thought it was cool to brush up an old interest. Moreover, as I am not a native English speaker, it would have been a great opportunity to train my writing skills in another language.
That period full of spare time was great, but with time something else popped up and suddenly I didn’t have so much time to enjoy my stay on this platform.
I was selected to attend an intensive course and I was excited about that. At first, I was sure I could keep on writing, that I would plan everything to have at least two articles to post every week.
Sure, Jan.
Saying it is one thing; doing it is another.
My classes started, projects piled up, deadlines became tighter and tighter. The hours sitting in front of my laptop got the better of my time.
Ideas were not great, free time disappeared and I stopped writing consistently for a bit.
Putting aside my wobbly planning skills under pressure, I think it’s normal to prioritize tasks when something suddenly comes into your routine. And let’s be honest, you just don’t have time to think and write engaging content when you’re busy doing something else.
Nevertheless, even though I had a full-time class to attend and plenty of projects to deliver, I gained something like 60 followers in a month and my stories raised in views every day more. Plus, at the end of the story, I wrote a bunch of articles I’ m going to publish regularly. If you think that is impossible you couldn’t be more wrong.
What I did is stop thinking for a moment about what I was doing (or I wasn’t) and I started to actually appreciate the others’ work. Because it’s what Medium was created for in the first place, right?
Be inspired by others’ content and become smarter about what matters to you.
1. Stop writing
First of all, let me state this. If you’re having a busy period in your life and you think you may not have the spark to write something actually good, you’re right.
You won’t write anything great.
You’ll write something boring, tired and absent-minded because your mind is focused on something more important. Don’t brag about how great you are at multi-tasking, content rarely would be great during stressful and busy periods.
Writing needs a lot of mental work. Even if you feel like you have something good in your mind that you can use for a great piece, write down a note and save it for later. Fill that note with insights and quotes but don’t start writing a full article.
Relax. It’s better not to write out of tiredness. Your writing quality will thank you.
2. Save stories for later and -actually- read them
Instead of writing something that is not up to your standards, you may find productive searching for some juicy content to save and read later.
The Daily Digest is a great way to find the best pieces going around and searching for specific topics that tickle your fancy. When English is your second language, reading can go a long way when it comes to improving your writing skills.
For me, it wasn’t so much about the content itself, but more like details and composition.
I learned words, idioms and sentence structures that I would never learn in a grammar class. I started a lexicon and I find easier to dredge out idioms I need during writing. Writers have different ways of writing. In fact, you might have a certain writing style that makes you stand out from the others.
You cannot encounter one writer that communicates exactly like you. If you want to be a versatile writer, you must be exposed to different styles, and you can only do that through reading. Do it on your coffee break. When you’re in bed and you would rather start dwelling on everything you did in your day. Open Medium and give the stories a read, saving them doesn’t mean they can read themselves!
3. Browse for interesting authors
As a consequence of searching for fresh content to read, I started to discover a lot of talented writers. I remembered their names, their personality in what they write and with some of them, I tried to stay connected trough private notes and comments.
You may find useful follow their topics and their vision about what they’re interested in. It gives you a different perspective and so much knowledge you may have missed out, that your writing will surely benefit from it.
Another, more simplistic reason to follow interesting authors: is not what you want to happen to your content and profile?
I suppose you do.
It feels good when someone likes your work so much that wants to keep up with what you have to say. So why don’t you do the same and support each other?
4. Join a group
If reading and improving my dictionary was fundamental, building connections was essential.
One of the easiest ways to meet new people is, guess what?
Yes, good old social media.
As I decided to delete my account on Instagram, I don’t use it as a way to build relationships with my audience. Anyway, I find it quite useful in joining Facebook groups created for writers.
Here you can easily make friends and talk about your struggles while giving advice to whom is asking for help. It’s easier to ask for help instead of struggling to understand how something doesn’t sound right in your story. I know you won’t ask your family and friends for their opinion because we all know they’re biased and don’t want to hurt your feelings (even when you know it doesn’t, right?).
Joining a writing group would allow you to get honest, actionable feedback on your work while connecting with smart guys.
5. Comment others’ works
Writers understand other writers.
Writers support writers.
We are solitary people but we appreciate when someone contacts us to leave a comment on our work. That was one of the most effective ways to grow my profile while I wasn’t feeling lively enough to propose something straight from my pen.
Talk to people, engage with them.
Show how much you enjoyed that story, ask them where they got that quote you love so much. Offer your perspective, I’m sure that most of the time you will come up for a new topic to write about.
If not, the author may like your opinions and your personality and start following you. Those people can also help pull you from uncertainty when the going gets tough, and they’ll motivate you to write those last thousand words. Because it will happen.
Authenticity is key. Be kind, be funny, offer you perspective, your help. It’s free and easy to do, and a win-win for both parts.
Writing can be stressful sometimes, even if you have so much to say. Sometimes it can be hard to keep the quality of your work and that’s ok. What you need to do is to turn off the laptop, put aside notes and pens and do something else.
Read stories, browse for new authors and engage with them, offer your point of view and make friends.
You will grow anyway and quality content will come out from you as well.
