Beginner Writers Need To Avoid These 3 Trivial Things To Thrive
We tend to care about trivialities and not the big picture
A new writer on Medium is constantly reminded that writing is an activity to impress someone or a bunch of people.
Before that, I’ll assume whoever opens and reads this article thinks that they are newbies (including myself) or new in the writing scene (or at least have a thought on oneself like that).
By having a large viewer statistics, hundreds or thousands of claps, and a warmth welcoming comments on the comment section, you concluded that you have succeeded in becoming a great writer.
You proudly said to your inner-self or probably talked in a mirror “Look at you man! You are a prodigy, a hidden-gem among all other writers out there”.
But what if you don’t fulfill all the requirements to become a great writer?
Maybe you will speak low on yourself. Comparing yourself to that writer who has been in this field for more than 5 years.
Of course a result speaks for your effort, but something new? Well most of them don’t represent that much of a result so quickly.
An article, a blog, or an idea that doesn’t get praise would be misinterpreted as bad by newcomers. If they arrive at that conclusion, they will stop writing. Without thinking twice.
Their medium account may only have around 2–3 articles at max, or even 1 at best.
If you want to thrive as a beginner writer on Medium or other writing platforms out there, you should avoid these 3 trivial things that can affect how you perceive your writings.
Let’s get into it.
The Numbers
The first thing you should avoid when you first join Medium as a writer is to ignore the numbers.
You must stay away from seeing the numbers repeatedly. Don’t get too attached to numbers. It can decrease your motivation and willpower to write again.
Why should we avoid it so badly?
Numbers are highly associated with achievements. So every time you have no or little achievements, you tend to view it as a failure.
Imagine you write 10 or 20 articles but still have no views? Your readership statistics are overall flat.
You produce nothing. Zero comment and zero engagement. Maybe 1 or 2 claps to cheer up your writing effort, but it means nothing, really.
Numbers are just numbers. Just love the process anyway. That’s okay if you want to stop either.
Reserve your attention power to something worth giving the attention of. Learning to be better is a much wiser alternative and worth the attention.
Negative Comments or Hate Speech or Internet Trolls
If you are the kind of guy who gives your attention to negativities, just delete or ban it. It’s just not worth looking at.
You don’t have that much time to respond to each negative or hate comment available on your articles comment section.
A troll will always be a troll. Haters going to hate whatever work you created.
Instead, find comments that give constructive feedback or meaningful support. Someone who says a little thank you on your article is much more worthy to reply then trolls who say nothing but hatred.
Focus on building a deep relationship with those who truly support you. Keep the hustle straight and prove them wrong to those who display hate on you.
If you don’t know how to deal with them, here is some advice to help you on your journey: keep writing and everytime a hate speech comes in your comment section, and when you see it then thinking about it, you must write an extra 2 articles.
Imagine if you see 3 negative comments and you think of them so badly, now you must write another for another 6 articles.
The Money
The last trivial thing to avoid when you just start out in everything is directly going for the money.
Many people want to get rich faster, but don’t want to get involved in the bitter process.
Let’s say you start publishing articles on Medium or any platform for the sake of money and you don’t achieve it, what will you do then?
My guess, you blame the writer who writes an article about how easy it is to get money from writing. Or maybe you blame yourself for not trying harder. Or you assume everyone is selfish and only mind their own business.
You need to do something to get money. And that is something called a value.
Money equals value. That’s what you trade for. Exchange your value over the money and the money comes by itself.
Value can only be built by work. A series of hard work and effort or specific knowledge you gain for years.
Not some shallow work. Not just writing 10 or 20 articles, but 100 or 1000 articles.
Final Thoughts
What I felt writing on Medium was a really mind-blowing experience. From nothing to something (not hero yet).
With no knowledge or value to offer, I now know what my mission is when writing on this platform. It’s like a calling. A true work.
I learned so many lessons and skills when writing on Medium because I didn’t care about trivial things. It’s because I only care about helping other people who have the same situation and mindset like me long ago.
Find the mission and the reason behind your writings. Avoid trivialities and keep hustling until what you want truly comes true.
