How Going Viral On a Dead Writing Platform Changed My Life

You never know who you’re writing for.

Photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash

In 2021, I read a book called The Art and Business of Online Writing by Nicolas Cole.

This book is, in my opinion, one of the best books out there for writers who are looking to make a living with their words in today’s digital world.

The book changed my life, but maybe not in the way that the author intended. It led me down a spiral where I nearly quit writing, had the best writing success of my career, and ultimately found out what I really wanted out of creative work.

This is the story of how I went from a struggling freelancer to a ghostwriter.

It all started with Quora.

After reading Cole’s book, I decided to challenge myself and publish one Quora answer every day for a year.

I didn’t even need to do it for 6 months before my writing career was changed forever.

See, at the time, I was a miserable freelance writer. I affectionately refer to those days of my career as the “dog days”, when I was fueled by nothing but caffeine, a shitty break-up, and a literal need to pay rent.

I wrote for clients about trucking, software integration, and even social media copy…