BECOMING A WRITER
Discovering My Audience as a New Writer
What led me to write on Medium and how my journey helped me discover my audience
I started my journey to becoming a writer as a child. My sister and I loved to read and she would often talk about writing a book. But she was the English major, not me.
After years of thinking I couldn’t write because my sister was the writer of the family, I decided that I wasn’t being fair to myself. I chose a career in Marketing. I love to travel. I’m currently renovating a 1960s house.
None of these things make me an expert in one topic, but they give me an experience unlike others.
Unique experiences are credential enough to qualify us all to be writers. Whether we share our stories publicly or keep them hidden between pages only we will see, we all have a unique perspective on life that’s worth sharing.
On Medium
Today I realized that I spend more time writing than reading on Medium. Once that set in, I realized that this platform's community of writers and readers is worth tapping into. This led me to last month’s Open Thread on Medium Creators: “Who do you write for?”
This simple question sparked a quick answer in my brain.
I write for my past self. All the things I wish I knew sooner. All the things I wish were written when I was starting something new.
But it’s more than that.
As I began reading what other writers responded, I came across a great article by Heather Cooper — a freelance writer who writes often here on Medium. Similar to Heather, the Open Thread article inspired me to write about my own experience identifying my audience.
Heather’s response: “I write for new writers and developers, to share information that I have learned and my journey to transition into a freelance content writing career.”
This statement drew me in. As a new writer myself, I often find myself intoxicated by the stories of those who came before me. This is a common experience I’ve had with most of my life’s ventures.
I wanted to travel so I followed travel bloggers, read travel books, and watched travel TV shows (shoutout to Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown).
I wanted to be in marketing so I went to business school, took internships, conducted information interviews, read more articles, and attended conferences.
I want to be a writer so I’m reading the work of others, challenging myself to write every day, and digging deeper into my own surface-level topics.
But Leanna, who do YOU write for?
My response to Medium’s prompt:
I write for the younger version of myself. And the future me. What do I want to learn about my field (marketing)? What have I learned about my potential future career (UX design)? And what have I learned just by living that I can share with the world?
Right now, I’m starting with what I know (marketing) and what I’m learning (UX design). These are career-focused topics but I know I have so much more to share. Life is more than just work, it’s about growth. And that’s what I’m doing here on Medium.
So. Who are you?
Chances are if you’re reading my articles you probably fall in one of these categories:
- You are starting a career in marketing and want to hear someone’s career journey.
- You have been in marketing for a while, but want to learn about a niche topic (like growth or product marketing).
- You (like me) are new to the field of UX Design and want to join in the shared experience of learning something new.
- You’re interested in how culture and history influence life experience.
- Or you just want to share in the journey of another person on this little planet we call home.
Even if you don’t fall into one of these categories, welcome. As I continue to learn and grow in writing, my goal is to expand the number of topics I write about.
And I’m so grateful for anyone who wants to follow me on this journey.
Thanks for reading! Are there specific topics you’d like to hear more about? Drop a comment below!
