What It’s Like To Write Online as a Teenager
And why I quit writing on Medium so many times
The weather is good today. It’s a little less sunny, but the forecast still shows the maximum temperature will be around 43 degrees.
That reminds me of something. This summer reminds me of something.
The summer of 2021. *Corona, please don’t come to my mind.*
In retrospect, that was the start of so many splendid things. I wrote my first article in July. The first published one that still exists to date, at least.
Long journey, eh? I like to see it through phases.
Starting. Growth. Plateau. Explore.
I distinctly remember feeling like an imposter after publishing a couple of my initial stories.
The first one was easy. “Wow, let’s do this!”
The second one didn’t feel anything different.
But after the count grew a little, the library of stories became something that made me worry.
What if the articles were not good enough? What if I had published something that is factually incorrect? What if…?
That started to plague my mind.
Maybe that’s the reason I have quit writing on Medium so many times. But that’s not to say that I look at it in a negative light.
What I am thankful for — and have been to all this time — is the Medium community. What a true inspiration y’all have been all along.
From the earliest of my days here, I remember reading many brilliant writers and learning a couple of things or two from their write-ups.
The combination of support and inspiration is unparalleled. This place is truly the best for polishing your writing skills and learning about fun and interesting things.
Coming back to the writing part, I have always been passionate about this art. Words appeal to me more than audio, video or visual.
I like consuming blogs, articles, magazines and novels more than videos. It feels good for no reason. But I’ll take it.
With me, it’s the same for writing. I am not good at drawing and I absolutely suck at recording/creating videos. I am experimenting with audio though.
That leaves only a little scope to present my ideas. And I am totally okay with it.
This intersection of my interests and a knack for exploring more facets of life and myself makes writing my peaceful escape.
I have written over a million words, according to Grammarly. That’s a lot. But this metric is of little importance to me.
We don’t keep counting the seconds we live, right? We count the impact.
What truly makes me awe is the stories I have written, the interests I have explored, the connections I have made, the knowledge I have shared and the lessons I have learnt.
That’s where the gem was and is!
So how it’s like to write as a teenager?
In one word, it’s a surreal experience.
The sheer clarity you develop through the conflicts that go on in your mind while you try to type one more word is something so unexplainable if you haven’t experienced it.
But in the end, you have a creative vent to look forward to. And I am so grateful for having this anchor from the very beginning.
To read more casual musings of a teenager, follow SERENDIPITY. Okay, bye!
