I Published 92 Posts On Medium In The Last 90 Days, Here Is What I’ve Learned and Earned

On April 21st I felt stuck. Stuck creatively, professionally and socially. I had started a medium page the year before but essentially only used it as an additional avenue to share my posts from WordPress. A WordPress page I couldn’t seem to get moving, regardless of how strongly I believed in my writing.
On that fateful morning three months ago, I reinstalled Medium and decided to dive back in, full throttle. I began reading articles on the app voraciously. I followed any topic I so much as remotely cared about, then I began writing.
I didn’t overthink, I just wrote. I let it flow without care. With no concern of who may feel what about it, how many times it would be viewed nor recommended. I did it for me.
In fact my first post since recommiting was titled “Daily Reminders: April 22nd, 2017”.
The few people who actually read it probably failed to realize, I was literally speaking to myself. I was reminding myself of who I was, where I was headed and what needed to be done, in true Marcus Aurelius fashion.
I had 30 followers when I published that post 90 days ago. None of whom I could have named.
There was zero engagement with the few followers I did have, they knew as little about me as I did them. I was a ghost who had earned such a role by not writing. Not doing what I set out to do when I initially created my Medium account.
I ended up reading a post about someone who had set out to publish a post on their page everyday for 30 days. Me being the eccentric extremist I am who moderation never worked for, I multiplied by three and committed to publishing at least once a day for ninety days, on average.
By April 26th, I began actually reaching people with the posts I was publishing. Only a few at a time but it was progress. I went from pulling in 25 views on May 8th, to 75 views by May 13th.
Again, not exactly ‘gone viral’ status but I began to be able to feel my own traction. Followers started commenting and leaving more than encouraging feedback. My ‘following’ steadily increased every day along with my confidence and my dedication.
In Early May, I began reading voraciously on Medium to get a better understanding of the community at large. I started following publications and topics I cared about at a rapid pace. I saw what others who were having major success were doing on here and although I know my voice and perspective are uniquely my own, I was able to gain a better understanding of what worked here and why.
I found a publication whose overall message and mission I truly believed in and decided to begin submitting my work into the wonderful editors at “The Ascent”. Not only was my work accepted but fairly early on in my new endeavor, I had pieces I did not submit to any publications requested by editors. My level of excitement became hard to contain. However, rather than let it feed my ego, I let it feed my work ethic and drive.
I developed a solid morning routine I began to not only commit to but also enjoy. I would wake up, somehow without an alarm, at no later than 5am. First thing is always first, coffee and five minutes of complete silence and stillness for clarity.
From there, I would watch random motivational YouTube videos to get me out the door for my morning run by 5;30am. I found a clip of Charles Bukowski reading his “Go All The Way” poem on YouTube and began listening to it before heading out to run each morning. Thank you Charles.
I set a rule for myself, nothing less than two miles, at least five days a week.
I don’t believe I would have ran even a small percentage of the miles I did in the last ninety days had it not been for that poem, music and YouTube in general. We truly have the world at our finger tips, do yourself a favor and utilize it.
I can not stress enough how vital my morning routine has been to my creative process and just better days as a whole. Those five minutes of silence, a brief silent prayer to whatever I believe is out there and those morning runs have become apart of me. Slowly but surely they transformed from simply things I did into who I was becoming. I woke, I clarified, self motivated and then from there it was all about running, reading and writing.
The amount of ideas that have hit me as I’ve been on long, hard runs in the sun with my Beats By Dre headphones blasting has come as a shock to even me. It can not be explained but I would highly suggest taking up some form of physical exercise to anyone looking to break out creatively.
I read a tip somewhere on Medium about classical music being conducive to the creative process and began listening to such as I would sit down to write. Just me, my beats, some Mozart and my trusty Chromebook.
The very next day I had two requests for pieces I had written from two different editors, for two different publications.
As a way of solidifying my intentions, setting goals for myself everyday and keeping myself accountable, I began writing down the same list of things to do every morning. Those things were pray, read, run and write. In that order although I’d sometimes inadvertently switch it up.
When I got done each one, I would go back and fill in specific details about each activity on that list. How long I ran for, how I felt, any ideas that came to me in which I feared were fleeting. I’d write down what I wrote and who I sent it to or which publication ran it. It all began to feel a little bit real.
In addition, I also kept an open commonplace book on my desk where I write and would jot down anything interesting I heard, read or had thought about. Any possible ideas I had for potential posts were to be written down and later reviewed.
Emails and messages of praise from readers and editors became a daily occurrence, one in which I’m extremely grateful for. I appreciate each and every reader and anyone who has left so much as a kind or uplifting word.
I truly appreciate being appreciated and the thought that even one of my posts may have helped or motivated someone is why I get up and do this every morning. Without the thought of a dollar or a future, to my detriment maybe.

In the ninety days that have passed since I started this journey, I have learned self discipline through doing this. I feel dedicated to something of value, for the first time in my entire life maybe. I have started to earn the respect of my peers as well as those who have come much further than I have in their own creative projects and respective outlets.
I have learned showing up every day is more than half the battle. Most days, just forcing myself to sit down, not bother with my phone or let any other distractions in was the hardest part of publishing a post daily. I have also learned to write and let it go, without attachment or anxiety.
Without worry as to how it may perform or who it may reach, to the best of my ability anyhow. When I feel myself becoming too focused on such, I stop and read for a few moments, or try to pray. Doing such completely tricks my overactive brain back on track and off of needlessly worrying about things I essentially don’t control.
The work is what matters. The process leading up to it is where it all starts. Once I’ve edited, without over thinking or reaching, all I can do is release and see how it goes. From there, I can analyze how it went and learn from it. Regardless of whether the post I published that day “did well” or not, I learned something from each one written and posted. Not every swing is a home run and sometimes a base hit is all that is needed to bring a man around anyway. Numbers don’t always speak to quality, this I’ve seen for myself.
To date, my work has been regularly published in four amazing publications on Medium. I would truly like to thank all of the editors and readers at The Ascent, Be Yourself, The Creative Cafe and Creatomic.
I have been accepted as a writer for a total of seven publications, have sent my work into a total of ten and am growing as well as improving every day. I believe this is the beginning of something groundbreaking. Something I’ve always wanted but could not identify or find.
I have been named a top writer in the creativity category and 68 of my last 90 posts have been accepted into one of the publications I mentioned above. Perhaps it’s a small feat. However, I’m all about small victories. Small victories lead to brass rings and brass rings lead to dynasties.
In addition to the success I’ve found fairly quickly here on Medium, I am working on three other separate creative projects and am in talks with various other editors and creatives about possible upcoming collaborations and potential ideas. The possibilities feel endless.
Although I don’t allow myself to be overly concerned with the numbers of it all this early on, metrics do matter. I’d like to share some of mine with you all, not as a means to boast but to instead show what is possible as well as in hopes I can maybe feel proud of what I’ve accomplished in the last ninety days.
I have gone from 30 followers to a total of 823 to date. Many of whom seem to stop by my page every other day or so if not daily. That is truly amazing, it also helps keeps me beyond motivated and excited about what I’m doing. It’s a visible and tangible reason to keep going on days I find it harder to motivate myself.
My most viewed post this month was “My Favorite Possession Is My $100 Google Chromebook and Here Is Why” with a total of 1.6k views so far since it was published on July 14th.
I give all of the credit as well as much gratitude to Steve Campbell and Melissa Berdine at The Ascent for such, it can’t be me.

When I have started to slip due to life showing up, in which it has many times over in the last ninety days, readers have actually emailed me asking why I haven’t posted. I found that to be beyond my wildest dreams. I don’t know if I believed anyone truly cared, even after the little bit of success I began to find. I’d like to thank all of those who reached out when I fell behind.
The best things I’ve learned and earned over my last ninety days of writing and actually sharing it with others is what I’m truly capable of and the respect of actual readers. I don’t like the terms following or audience, even though I hope i’m in the process of building both. Slowly but surely, one post at a time.
Just so there is no confusion, just because my ninety days of posting have come and gone does not mean I’m finished. I still plan on posting here on a daily basis, to the very best of my ability.
In conclusion, I’d like to thank each and every one of my readers, editors and publications. My newfound ability to reach a potential total of 200,000 people when I write is more than I ever could have dreamed up ninety days ago. None of this would be possible without all of you and I look forward to moving forward through this process and journey with each of you and hopefully then some.
In case any one missed any of my favorite pieces I have written in the last ninety days, here are links to a few. Thanks again.

