Lesson Learned from Writing 50 Stories on Medium
Half Century! A milestone for me. Yes, this is my 50th story on medium, a tiny step towards my dream.
Within three months of writing, I got the opportunity to be involved in a book project as one of the authors. Some of my stories are on the top chart of a dynamic newsletter named coffee times newsletter, and some are on Editors’ feature or roundups. It means the world to me.
I have 735 genuine followers as of today.
So far, I am happy with my journey, yet I realize I made some mistakes. My growth curve would have been steeper if I were a little more consistent or regular in writing.
Before pointing out my mistakes, I would like to mention the things I did right are
Things I did right:
· I came to medium.com to develop and enrich my portfolio as a writer, and it was the best decision.
· I preferred organic growth. I am confident most of my followers are genuine readers.
· I did not give up. There were so many situations that I felt like giving up, but I managed to continue whatever slow the progression was.
· I was and am authentic in my thoughts, intentions, and crafting of my stories.
· I read a lot of works of my fellow writers.
Lesson Learned from my mistakes:
1. Consistency is the key. I have published only 50 stories in ten months, one per week. When I started writing initially, it was my target to write a story per week. But, I could have easily increased it to two per week over time as I was growing as a writer.
Writing is also an everyday job. But I did not write every day, and that’s the biggest mistake I made in my writing journey. Writing every day does not mean publishing it every day.
2. I started writing randomly without any master plan or any strategy.
I must have sat down and identified the areas I want to write mainly, which kinds of stories of mine are receiving readers’ interest and love, and which sort of stories are creating connections with my readers.
Any writer should explore and discover his niche or break down the topics to find the theme for his stories. He should have a mapping.
For example, if your niche is health and wellbeing, you have to break that into small parts like mental health or emotional health, and you can come up with topics like how to take care of your mental health, how you can nurture the mental health of your kids, etc. This chalking down will help you to discover the range of topics for your crafting stories.
3. I have not yet tried publishing my stories in big publications. I must have submitted it even though I could face rejections.
Ellie Jacobson said in her story, My goal is to get more rejections-
“My focus in the upcoming year is to submit my writing to literary magazines and journals. One outcome of submitting your work is rejection. If I make a goal of 50 rejections, for example, that means I’m living outside my comfort zone, which could mean my work is rejected or accepted.
Submitting my work = possible rejection or possible acceptance.
Not submitting my work = dead end. No possibilities.”
We should think big, dream big and act accordingly and win the fear of rejection.
I would like to know your thoughts on my lesson learned. I always learn from you, my reader cum fellow writer. So, if you have any feedback (constructive criticism, positive feedback, ideas, etc.) about my writing, you are most welcome to write it in the comment box.
Thank you for reading my stories and keeping my dream alive. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to grow as a writer, my dear readers.
Your fellow writer,
Umme Salma
❤️❤️🤗
