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Learning to Write Commercially
Earlier this year I tricked myself into writing a book. I did that by selling it before it was written, through Kickstarter. Writing it was a slog, but, because it was something I was passionate about, the words came out.
After it was finished there was a hole inside of me. For a couple of months, everyday involved writing a few thousand words, or editing and proof-reading. I really missed writing when I no longer had to force myself to write.
So I started blogging. I loosely committed myself to writing one blog post a week. I didn’t always stick with this, but this plan meant I always had a few drafts on the go. And blogposts were low-risk anyway; no one was paying me and I didn’t have to please anyone.
Then in August, I quit my full time job to start a company. My co-founder and I committed to writing a blog for our new company publication every week. Primarily this was to build up SEO authority, but it has also kept us grounded. Each week we reflect on the work we’re doing in building our startup from scratch.
In writing for the company blog, which we hosted here on Medium, I also started reading more posts on this platform, and therefore seeing other publications I could submit to. I started submitting to Medium publications alongside writing on my own personal blog.
