Your Medium To-Do List for Days you have Nothing to Write or Say
We all have days on Medium when we don’t want to write. So here is a bunch of things you can do here instead:
Finish all of your drafts.
Only once they’re finished will you know if they are worth deleting or publishing. These ideas came to you in bursts of inspiration so you owe it to yourself to see them through. Going back to them with a clear head and fresh eyes might even benefit you. There’s nothing nicer than on a day of writers block, having a list of finished drafts to choose from and inspire you.
Read your bookmarked stories
I always bookmark stories. Sometimes its because it sounds really good but I don’t have time to read it. More often than not I bookmark stories because something in them really speaks to me or I find some really valuable advice in them that I know I’ll benefit by coming back to. I’m sure you’re the same.
Respond to any unanswered comments
You probably read and clap for all the comments people leave on your stories. You probably really appreciate their comments too, but sometimes we don’t have time in the moment to reply or we forget. I’m definitely guilty of that. So if you have some free time on your hands go answer your comments, if someone can take a minute out of their day to comment you can reply.
Re-word your bio
Your bio is how you introduce yourself to the Medium world. So make it good, say what you want to say but more importantly tell others what you want them to know about you.
Don’t judge me on mine but for now I really like it. I might make it more nuanced at a later date or think of bigger, fancier words to describe myself but for now I’m happy with it. I noticed when writing this that I am proud that all of these words represent who I am and that is what your bio should be, a collection of words you are proud to attribute to yourself.
🍀- I’m Irish, currently living in Ireland and it’s a big part of who I am.
Journalist- This month I will graduate with a second honours degree in journalism and I couldn’t be prouder and happier.
Writer, Reader- Self explanatory. These words describe the two forever loves of my life, it’s who I am and who I will always be.
Traveller- I am incredibly lucky to be so young and so well travelled. I hold travelling over material items and dinners out. So far in my 22 years I have been as far across the world as India and as close as a weeklong road trip around Ireland with my family. I will have flown to Spain and back 3 times this summer by the end of August. Last year I lived in Barcelona for 6 months. I also visited Andorra, Rome, Amsterdam, Malta, Edinburgh, Monte Carlo, Nice, Montpellier and travelled all over the South of Spain. I am very lucky and proud of my travels so it is important to me to describe myself as so.
Dreamer- isn’t everyone at 22?
Dog Lover- Go follow DogSpotting on Facebook, you will not regret it. It’s a giant group page where people from all around the world post pictures of their random dog sightings. It’s wonderful. I also subscribe Buzzfeed Animals and they send me one email with a picture of a dog day each day. It makes sorting through work emails so much more exciting! It’s also probably the cutest daily newsletter I get. You can sign up here if that sounds like something that would add joy to your day.
Online portfolio- I added this because it’s my online writing portfolio as a journalist and I am incredibly proud of it. If people like my work here they can check it out and subscribe to get an email a week of what I have published in the past week. The page features all my work from Medium as well as all of the other sites I write for. I love adding to it and seeing it gives me such a sense of achievement and pride.
Read
Read to your heart’s content. There is a whole world out there on this site filled with stories and essays and collections of words that will make your heart sing. Go find them.
Set up a writing portfolio and add all your Medium stories to it
Nothing will boost your self confidence more and inspire you to write like seeing all your hard work laid out in front of you. Also it’s great to have one to show editors if you’re looking for freelance work. Feel free to check out mine below, I’m really happy with it. I love mine! I think it was about 70 euro a year to host it on Journo Portfolio and you can design it any way you want, although it does have built in layouts to host writer’s portfolios so its very easy to use. You can also see where people viewed your page from so you know what promotion is working for you. I couldn’t recommend it more highly. I promise it will motivate you so much to see all your stories laid out so nicely in front of you. (And yes I am very bad at taking selfies of myself so my profile picture from Medium and for my site were taken 2 minutes apart, but on a mountainside in Spain if that makes up for my laziness in any way?)
Hope these tips help you out on a day you’re feeling stuck and not quite sure what to do!
Did you enjoy this story? I hope so. Would you like to read more stories like this? Visit my online portfolio and hit the red Subscribe button to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and get the best stories I have to offer delivered to your inbox each week! Sarah xo
