The 8 Steps I Took to Finally Publish this Article on Medium
Is the cure to writer’s block more writing?
I have been hit with a deadly case of writer’s block for the last four years. I went from writing every single day from the minute I could hold a pen and doodle — to nothing, nada, zip. Writing was my most treasured escape growing up in an abusive and toxic household. Like many of us on this platform, I found solace in words. And I always admired the insatiable task that writers took on in attempting to explain the human experience.
I remember writing for hours at a time as an adolescent, trying to articulate my teen angst, my parents’ traumatizing relationship, and my unrequited crushes. No matter how much I felt like I wasn’t succeeding, I still tried to write. I wrote pages of, what I considered to be, absolute crap, and it just didn’t matter because no one would see it anyway. Words poured out of me like a waterfall — consistent, confident, and powerful.
But I took my ability to write with ease for granted.
When I entered college, I stopped writing regularly because I was busy with typical 18-year old shenanigans. After a while, I tried to write again, but I couldn’t. I told myself it was just a regular writer’s block — I would be back to normal in no time.
Four years later and I still freeze the minute my hands land on a keyboard. As my index fingers tap away at the ‘F’ and ‘J’ key, that stupid blinking cursor taunts me with each word I type and inevitably delete. My beautiful, breath-taking, life-altering waterfall had finally run dry.
Don’t get me wrong, I could still complete essays, book reports, and any other assignment. I could complete a job, I could do the homework…but I couldn’t write for myself anymore. I lost my treasured escape and found myself stuck in a somber, sober reality.
A quote from one of my favorite books kept ringing in my head:
“When I got older I decided I wanted to be a real writer. I tried to write about real things. I wanted to describe the world, because to live in an undescribed world was too lonely.” –Nicole Krauss, The History of Love
I have been wanting to start my writing career, on Medium particularly, for over six months now. Though I published a few articles here and there under my real name, these attempts were quite half-hearted because they were pieces I had written years ago. I wasn’t really trying to write for this platform because, to put it frankly, I was scared sh*tless.
I was terrified that I wouldn’t write about anything that others might find interesting. I felt like I had nothing to offer to the world. And, unsurprisingly, when the articles I published didn’t perform well, I became more discouraged.
I then read piece after piece on how to write better stories suited for Medium, but to no avail. This was no fault of any of the talented writers on this platform, who offered truly valuable advice. It was a personal issue, I just couldn’t determine what it was exactly.
So, in order to figure it out, I decided to fight fire with fire–
I started writing this very article you are reading right now in an effort to defeat my writer’s block. In order to get to the point where I felt like I could publish this piece of work, I followed the steps I outlined below.
Through self-reflection, I not only confronted my anxiety but dug deep to figure out why it was there in the first place. In doing so I wrote down what I could do to counteract those obstacles so that when they arise again, I have the following eight steps to look back on for guidance.
Though the ‘cure’ to writer’s block is certainly not a one-size-fits-all remedy, I have a feeling that these tips may serve as valuable advice to others as well. Feel free to pick, adjust, and add to these tips as you see fit the next time you are blocked.
Here it goes:
1. I started by taking things slow.
I chose one experience that I wanted to talk about, which was the first paragraph you read. I planted a seed and gently tended to it. In recent years, I would attempt to find the waterfall of words that entranced me as a child, and instead found myself lost in the woods where I would panic.
I put pressure on myself to produce the perfect sentence, paragraph, and page with that same rush of power I had in my adolescence. When I couldn’t write with the same intensity anymore, I felt disheartened. I felt like I wasn’t a writer anymore. I felt like a failure.
In writing this article, I went easy on myself. I realize now that just because things are different, does not mean that they are worse. So I took things step by step. “Just write out a few sentences about your writer’s block,” I thought. Once that was done, “Okay, not bad. Write a few more.” And after that, “Here’s another idea — it’s okay if it doesn’t work, just try.”
2. I wrote for myself and myself only.
Though it is effective to write an article with a target audience or even a specific publication in mind, I found that a large part of my writer’s block came from having virtual stage fright. The minute I started writing with the knowledge that other people would read my work, I felt paralyzed. Writing is personal to me, to say the least, so putting my work out there on the internet for everyone to judge really intimidated me. It still does.
But once I convinced myself that no one had to read this article ever if I didn’t feel comfortable publishing it, the words started flowing a little better again.
3. I chose a pseudonym.
It’s crazy how easy it is to share our most intimate thoughts with complete strangers compared to some of our closest confidants. But that’s what I wanted. I wanted to be able to share my past; I wanted to share lessons that I have learned to potentially help others in similar situations.
Yet, I found that hard to do using my real name. I felt shy thinking that people in my life may learn more about me than I am willing to share with them right now.
The minute I decided I was somebody else online, I had actually never felt more true to myself. (I guess that should be something I analyze deeper in therapy.) I was hesitant to write under a fake name before because I thought it made me a coward or weak. I still struggle with this thought, to be honest. But I know that writing this in the first place makes me stronger than I give myself credit for.
Plus, I get to feel like Lady Whistledown from Bridgerton — so why not!
4. I did not judge myself.
I have known for a while that I have been avoiding myself in any way I can. My deepest thoughts and feelings have become like uncharted territory to me since I stopped writing. I had to allow myself permission to explore within and not be scared to share the raw parts of me, nor be too hard on myself when I feel the pain that comes with it.
As much as choosing a pseudonym freed me, I still had to accept that it is okay to be vulnerable before I could dive deeper into this piece of writing. And in order to be truly honest, I had to quiet my own worst critic — myself.
5. I let go of my fear of curation jail.
In line with my insecurities of not having anything valuable to contribute to the world, I thought my work was predestined for curation jail.
For those of you who don’t know, to have an article curated on Medium means that a Medium editor has read your piece and gave it the A-ok to be distributed across several different topics, or have your article appear more frequently on the Medium homepage. Curation jail is a term used when a Medium writer has had several articles consistently fail to be curated, ultimately causing all new articles to not be eligible for curation at all.
Needles to say, I was terrified of failing. But I had to confront this fear and accept that it is okay if this article goes nowhere.
It is okay.
6. I started writing on a private document instead of directly onto Medium.
I attached too much anxiety and pressure to a blank Medium page. So I went old school and wrote the first draft of this article on TextEdit. I used to write journal entries on TextEdit so the software felt much more relaxed and familiar to me. Once I had my first draft completed I headed on over to Medium to finish writing.
7. I wrote as if this article would earn $1,000.
Beginning with the thought that “This won’t do well anyway so there’s no point trying” is a self-fulfilling prophecy and helped me in absolutely no way. Yet, that’s how I started writing a lot of my pieces of work.
I had to cut out this negative self-talk and begin with the mindset that every single article I write will earn at least $1,000. Believing in this, I made sure that every word I wrote was worth that money.
I watched a video the other day, published by Zulie Rane on her YouTube channel, that shared an idea that holds true to step #7. She shared a clip from a video she recorded with three other experienced Medium writers where they discussed a frequently asked question by her viewers: What matters more on Medium–quality or quantity?
I learned a lot from just this short clip, because each writer had such valuable advice to give. However, one idea that especially stuck out to me was voiced by Sinem Günel.
“I think it’s super important to believe that you deserve great results and that you can have great results.” — Sinem Günel
Faith in yourself makes all the difference.
8. I did my research.
When I first published on Medium, I didn’t really understand the platform. I didn’t understand what publications were, nor the ones I should work with in the beginning. I didn’t know the logistics of publishing — like making sure every photo I used was appropriately credited, and that my ideas were split up into easy-to-absorb sections.
Two articles that helped me out in this regard, and that I will definitely keep referring to, are:
- “A Directory of 15 Medium Publications for New Writers”
- The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Publishing on Medium”.
Doing my research gave me the extra nudge of confidence I needed to finally get my voice out there, even if it isn’t heard yet.
Final Words
I don’t know what I expected when I first starting writing these thoughts down. However, I certainly didn’t expect that I would actually create my pseudonym and publish this article as my first official piece under this name.
That being said, I know my writer’s block isn’t magically cured forever. But I believe that this is a step in the right direction. And, most important of all, I rediscovered my love for putting pen to paper, digitally of course.
My treasured waterfall of words may never come back, but in its place I found another reservoir hidden deep within the woods. One that lay waiting for me to find once I stopped getting in my own way.
