How to Stay Motivated About Your Writing When Nobody Cares About It
Do you want to make $$$ writing on Medium and live the dream?
Well, tough shit, you can’t. And you won’t.
In fact, most people won’t even read your articles. Sure, you’ll get a few claps here and there, maybe even a nice comment or two, but that’s it. Besides, how many people clap your articles without even reading them? I’ll bet quite a lot.
You see, here’s the truth about your writing — not many people care about it. Sorry to break it to you. People are too busy clicking on articles about how they can make money online, buying courses on how to become the next Tim Denning, and reading the same rehashed articles on side hustles.
They simply don’t care about your writing because it does nothing for them.
Before you call me a jerk, realize that I’m in the same boat. People don’t seem to care about my writing, either, and I’m totally fine with that.
Stop Outsourcing Your Self-Worth
Ok, I’m done being an asshole now. Let’s get into the crux of this article. If you can’t be bothered to read further, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve summarised it below. It’s even in bold to make it easier. I’m nice like that.
Your form of self-expression doesn’t have to be a commodity to sell. As long as you’re happy with the content you produce, you’ve already won. Plus, the more you enjoy your writing, the more others will do. This whole ‘content creator’ thing takes time, decades even. We need to normalize the simple pleasure of taking pride in our work.
Read that back. Then read it again. Feel better now?
There are talented writers out there thinking they’ve failed because they’re not sipping cocktails on a beach and pulling in five figures a month. It’s ridiculous and it’s sure to strip away your passion.
I blame toxic influencers for this paradigm, along with the barrage of sales-y and unimaginative ‘how to get rich’ articles taking over this great platform. I’ve written about this before, and suffice to say my feelings haven’t changed.
We all know how disheartening it is to spend hours on a piece, do the necessary research, find relevant pictures, and write funny captions only for our article to get 50 claps, 3 views, and 1 read. I get it, it sucks. It happens to all of us.
On the other hand, there are less talented writers crafting bland, cookie-cutter articles on the aforementioned humblebragging topics pulling in way more views, claps, and reads. But hey, the world is not a fair place.
Also, a lot of those ‘gurus’ are simply lying about their earnings and popularity anyway. A sleazy salesman can take many forms and will pop up on every platform — we just have to be aware.
Anyway, let’s back to the point — not many people are reading your work, what are you going to go about it?
Nothing. That’s what I think. Keep creating content you’re proud of and, over time, this shit will take care of itself. You’ll drive yourself mad worrying about external metrics too much and it will slowly kill your love for writing.
Not every hobby has to make you money. If your article about your summer vacation or your favorite books gets no reads — who gives a shit? If someone does read and loves it, great. Maybe check out their work, too. Isn’t that the point of this platform, anyway?
I’ll leave you with this quote by Robert Genn:
In life and art, it’s better to be an enthusiastic amateur than a jaded professional.
