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As a Writer, Expect Your Own Growth to Disrupt Your Output
In the long run, a consistent writing routine is a myth
Writing online has been a blessing and a curse for my creativity. Or, more specifically: writing for an audience and having their response influence what next I write about and how.
Blogging on Medium has given me a platform — which meant both access to readers and a way of connecting with them. Medium incentivized me to keep writing through monthly payouts and daily reports of how many people engaged with my pieces.
Medium has also turned me from a wannabe writer into an actual one.
At the same time, it’s also trained me to focus on things that were taking away from my intrinsic motivation to write. I found myself pushing out articles that didn’t feel good — but fed the algorithm. I squashed or fluffed up my articles just to meet what seemed to be the optimal word count here. I wrote about topics I didn’t really care about just because the headline sounded good.
More than blaming Medium, I’m owning that these were the choices I made. But today, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am awkwardly making my way back to writing regularly. With that, I’m acknowledging that one chapter of my life as a writer — say, the 2017–2021 one — is over.
