A Few Thoughts And Questions On Finding Your Way As A Writer

I'm planning my editorial calendar and I'd love your thoughts and questions. :)

Colson Whitehead always knew he wanted to be a writer. As a little boy, he loved reading. One day he looked up and asked his mama where books come from. Who writes them? he asked. People, she said. Any people? he asked. Yes, she said.

So that was that. He said he wanted to be a writer because he would not have to wear going out clothes and could just stay home writing stories. lol. Hello, introvert.

Some writers tell stories of their childhood successes. The story that won some school writing contest or the glowing praise from teachers. That was decidedly not him.

He said he was so bad at writing when he tried to take writing classes as a young man, they wouldn’t take his money. He was rejected repeatedly. They said they can’t help him. They said the samples he submitted as part of the application were boring and unreadable. Finally he stopped applying and decided he’d just have to to teach himself. I guess he did okay, because he’s won two Pulitzer prizes so far.

Writing is such a loaded topic.

I once read that 90% of adults would like to write a book “some day” but only 10% of adults ever actually do. I suspect that number is bigger now that anyone can upload a word document to the Kindle store. But is that a book?

See what I mean by loaded? When writer A has gone through five rounds of edits with an editor and writer B uploaded their NANOWRIMO draft to Amazon’s Kindle store with a cover from Canva, you can see how fast the topic of writing gets heated.

Of course, there are more kinds of writing than books or essays on Medium and that same argument plays out everywhere there are writers. There are journalists, and people who write on Newsbreak and think they’re journalists. And some of them should be or could be, because they’re that good. At the same time, there are people who source facts, people who make up facts and people who distort facts.

Plus there are so many other types of writing besides news and novels. Years ago I wrote seo copy for Fortune 500 companies for a buck a word, and it was a great gig while it lasted. I’ve also worked in the publishing industry, in acquisitions.

Here are more loaded topics. What’s the difference between writing and content? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not the topic. What’s the difference between a personal essay and a journal entry? What’s the difference between an essay and an anecdote?

Did you know there are formulas that will speed up writing essays but won’t result in essays that read like they were written formulaically? That’s because the formula isn’t for how you write, it’s for how you look at the topic. Writing is seeing.

Here’s a big one. Who should you take writing advice from? That one is so loaded I’m writing about it on Medium. It will probably make some people a bit prickly.

I do have a point, in case you wondered.

When I started this Substack, it was a way to reach friends and fellow writers on Medium. A place to say, hey, did you know that how this feature works changed? Because I kind of detest meta posts and writing about Medium on Medium.

No one goes to Forbes to read articles about how to succeed on Forbes.

But then it grew a little wider. I started writing about other platforms, too. I’ve written about Substack, Amazon, self publishing and more.

Lately, it’s been a lot of Medium (again) because of all the changes there, but Medium isn’t the only gin joint on the internet. I want to branch out again, but even as I say that, there are still so many things I’d like to write about Medium, too.

For example. As a boost nominator, I see a mistake writers make with their topics/tags that hamper their reach even if they get boosted and I’d like to talk about that.

But also? I see people moving over to Substack and struggling and I’d like to talk about some of the stuff I had to learn the hard way here.

So I’m working on an editorial calendar for the New Year. I’m leaning towards writing twice a week so I can cover more topics. I’d love to do some interactive guides where I share stuff I’ve learned and you tell me what’s unclear or fuzzy.

Hence, the title about finding your way.

If you’re a writer or finding your way as a writer, I’d love to know where you’re at. Do you want a deeper dive into the stuff I see as a boost nominator at Medium? Want to know how things like topics, tags and titles are hurting you. And I don’t mean the trite and crappy advice you see all over the internet. You know me by now, yes?

Maybe you need some help marketing your book, or your author website sucks but you don’t have a big budget or you paid someone and it’s just not working.

Are you interested in other paid writing markets besides medium? Do you want to know how to get the gigs where you get paid several hundred for a story? Because yes, I’ve done those, too. I started writing in print magazines, forever ago.

For the last 20 years, everything I’ve done has been related to writing in some way. It dawns on me that somehow, words have become the center of my universe. I’d like to do more with that. And I’d love if I could do that in a way that helps you on your journey as a writer because we’re all in this damn thing together. You know?

So tell me where you’re are, okay? If that’s mostly Medium or Substack, tell me that and what frustrates the heck out of you. If it’s more than Medium, tell me that, too. I’d love to put your concerns and curiosities on my calendar to write about. :)

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On Medium…

• Dickens “A Christmas Carol” Was A Beautiful Christmas Wish

• You And Me And The Miracle Of The Butterfly Effect

• Millie Bobby Brown’s Novel Has Me Torn Between Fan And Foe

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If you enjoy my writing, please click the heart or share this post. Thanks. :)

xo,
Linda