A 3-Minute Manual on How To Face Digital Writing & Medium for Beginners
To tell you the truth, it’s not as fun as it sounds.
How the fuck has it been close to two years since I’m writing on Medium and still like to call myself a novice?
Y’all, I know it ought to be so easy you should be able to wrap your heads around it within a month or two.
Maybe I am so stupid. Which obviously I’d not want to call myself lol. So let’s go with there’s so much we can learn that it’s inexhaustible. That’s true to an extent, in all seriousness.
Jokes aside, I have been trying to be consistent with Medium lately. There’s this one list I made in my initial days which included a dozen or so stories on how to grow on Medium.
I was going through them again.
The exciting part? I found it as valuable today as I did a couple of years ago. Brilliant!
That’s why I thought I’d write one article to help you get started with writing online and how Medium can be an interesting piece of the puzzle. All within 3 minutes.
Hey Medium, introduce yourself
If you are reading this post, you probably know all the basics about Medium.
Let’s get to the fun part. Medium is the best place to improve your writing skills with the help of a super-supportive community.
In all the years I have written here, I have experienced hate only so many times that I can count it on my fingers.
Most of the criticism is constructive. I’d not want to be so unfortunate that I don’t receive the latter one.
All in all, Medium is one brilliant place to be if you want to evolve yourself as a writer. Not to become a writer, per se. The reason can be as small as reflecting on your life or whatever. Having a ‘why’ helps big time.
Over time Medium has evolved as a platform. For most of the parts, it’s for the better. So don’t waste yourself reading about how there’s doom coming for Medium.
It’s exciting to read how it’s going to all fade away. But it’s not. Not so soon at least.
See the big picture. Write to improve. Build products if you want to monetise. Hunger for views is okay, but fetishizing over it is not.
The definition of success when it comes to digital writing has more varieties than apples. For some, it means building a business, while for others it means building a community.
Whatever it is for you, be clear. Okay, you don’t have to be so clear you become devoid of your creative explorer. You clear?
Medium and digital writing
In one way, Medium used to be a chick magnet. Now there are other fierce competitors. *Ahem, Substack.* Writers would drool over the suite of wonderful features and distribution it provided.
No more, apparently. But yet, it’s the best in its own way.
The concept of Publications is a killer. I don’t think I have got a bigger teacher than rejections from big pubs.
In one sentence, they freaking make you the best writer you can be. You can’t find anything like that anywhere on the Internet.
And, and, and… at the same time, they also help reach your work to a bigger audience even if you have none.
So, in one way, you are leveraging their audience for your distribution.
Conclusion and closing thoughts
I’d like to ask you just one question: “Did you read this article just for the sake of it? Or are you planning to be actionable and accountable for your writing journey?”
If your answer is a no and a yes respectively to those questions, I am with you. I am all pumped to take hold of my Medium journey. To give the required attention to my publication, theMUSINGS.
Only a few things give me as much joy as editing heartfelt articles of brilliant writers for publication. Plus, it has also crossed the 450 followers milestone :)
Here’s your guide to getting started. Let’s be proactive instead of reactive. Let’s write our hearts out.
Okay, bye!
Here’s a list I think you might find useful (if you’re new to Medium):
