The Frustrations of Writing on Medium
It can honestly be tough to stay motivated.
I’ve been on this platform for just under a year at this point. Like I’m sure all of you have experienced, I have had a fair share of surprises and disappointments.
We all know the feeling. You pour hours, days even, of hard work into that one article. You tediously edit and prepare for publishing. You finally reach the point where you can’t stand to read the words over even one more time and feel comfortable enough to send it away to be vetted and distributed to the online masses. You press submit, and you wait… and wait..
A notification appears indicating that your piece has been published, either through self-publishing or on some other page. You monitor the stats tab, anxiously anticipating the numerical ascent.
If you are like me, at this point, you probably put your phone down or close your laptop and step away for a moment. It’s the feeling you get when you send a text that you are nervous to receive a response on. I guess we rationalize this peculiar behavior through the adage “out of sight out of mind.”
Returning to Medium after a few hours or so, you hope to see changes, but for some reason you don’t. After a couple hours of internet exposure, your precious work hasn’t garnered the support you were expecting. Unfortunately, this can be a reality of writing on this platform.
My Personal Experiences
Since beginning my Medium journey, I’ve had a roller coaster of highs and lows. When I first started writing, none of my work was getting distributed. At the time, I wasn’t even aware that further distribution existed. A friend of mine had just recommended I join Medium and write, and so I did.
As I kept writing, I became increasingly aware of the anomaly that is curation. After continuing to catch sight of articles centered around it, I decided to go back and check on some of my older articles, and to my surprise, my second ever article had been distributed.
At this point in time, I went on a bit of a streak, having about three out of every four articles achieve the title. However, I could not pinpoint what I was doing differently to be selected for further sharing. To me, I was writing in the same format and about the same topics I had always been.
But, like most things in life, the time at the top didn’t last forever. I took some time off from writing for school, and when I came back, despite putting out some of what I thought was my most passionate and best work, I didn’t see the same distribution patterns, and it’s been discouraging.
Wrap-up
If you relate to anything in this article, just know you are not alone. We all go through times like these on Medium and on other platforms as well.
I decided to write this article for a couple of reasons: the first was just to get some ideas off my mind. I think one of the most significant components of writing that I’ve latched onto is the ability to share what goes on in our minds on a platform where others are doing the same. The next was to serve as a reference for anyone else who has or is still struggling with getting started on Medium. I know that I was looking for common experiences when I first took the leap.
Sometimes it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s life. I’ve tried to shift my focus away from the external motivation of seeing the stats creep up or noticing the coveted “chosen for further distribution” tag since returning to the platform. This is obviously easier said than done, but it’s important to at least give it the college try. I even recently noticed that one of my newly published articles was chosen for further distribution, without me obsessing over it. I guess trusting the process pays off after all.
In life, we can only control what we can control. The Medium algorithm is not always predictable and therefore is largely uncontrollable. Letting the perplexing nature of the distribution system live rent free in our heads will not help advance our writing or help us sleep at night.
Giving it your best and celebrating the little victories is the best way I’ve found to stay motivated and continue working at something I thoroughly love to do. Pick topics that you are passionate about, and write away. The effort you put in will be noted, even if you aren’t seeing further distribution right at this moment.
Hopefully, success follows our hard work, and we all get to a level we are satisfied with.
Grant Fuerstenau is a Medical Student at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the editor of The Biographical Historian.
