Posting Every Day Isn’t the Best Advice for New Writers
There are better ways to challenge yourself and hone your craft
AKA: “Why I’m Not Doing a 30 Day Challenge–And Why You Should Skip It Too.”
As a new member of Medium, I’ve been reading over and over about the 30 Day Challenge to “write every day.” I’ve noticed that this advice turns into “post every day.”
To be a writer, it’s obvious to me that I need to work on my craft every single day. I have time set aside every day for just writing. That’s all I do in that chunk of time. I take a notebook and a pen–and write. Simple as that.
I don’t post what I write every day. I like to take my time to think about what I’ve written. I make plenty of edits. I’d rather post work with quality over quantity.
The problem I see with articles written by some folks who post every day is quantity over quality. I’m pretty annoyed because they paywalled their articles, and I’m not thrilled with what I just read. Their thoughts don’t seem to flow and metaphors are lost in the rush to hit publish.
I understand the theory behind this advice. Big names on Medium and folks I follow off the platform all call for a 30 Day Challenge early on a writer’s journey.
One of the main reasons for the challenge is for people to see your posting frequency. It puts your name out there even if they don’t read your content. “Impressions” is the trendy word that sums it up. With enough impressions, folks will see you as an authority.
The other two reasons I read about most are to build up your habit of writing every day, and to help you figure out your niche.
Here’s the thing: no one wants half-baked content. No one needs crumbs of ideas clogging up the platforms.
As much as a 30 day posting challenge would help, it will mostly hurt less-than-part-time creators. Ideas won’t be fleshed out enough to post every day. The habit being created is making shallow content.
Posting higher quality content on a consistent basis is a more sound approach. The results come slower, as expected. As one writer with a huge following likes to say, “We’re playing the long game here.”
There is a difference between vomiting out words and thinking through what you want to say.
Posting high-quality content every day when you have a small amount of time to dedicate to this project is going to set you up for failure. Lowering the expectations on frequency gives you more time to bump up the quality you put out.
If you want to challenge yourself for a month, try a smaller habit. Then cut that habit even smaller. Work on this tiny habit for a month.
Craft better headlines. Choose one picture that makes a point. Try out different calls to action. Write about the easiest topic for you today. Use these ideas to help you make up your own tiny challenges.
Take your time, and post an article when you feel it’s finished.
How will you challenge yourself? I’d love to know in the comments.