I had a challenge going during the month of May that I didn’t tell anyone about. Earlier this year, I was determined to find out if it was true that, by increasing the amount of stories I published on Medium, I could increase my followers at a faster rate.
In February, I challenged myself to write 12 stories after writing an average of 4–5 stories per month previous to that. You can read in the following link how I did with that.
In March, I challenged myself to 15 stories for the month. It turned out to be a tumultuous month on a personal level but I was able to do it. The point is that I was hoping to get into the habit of a “writing schedule” and I didn’t. Here’s how I did with that:
During the month of May, I challenged myself to both a writing schedule and 20 stories. The most difficult part was finding the time to do it. Since I am unable to make a living from the proceeds of my bestselling book because it has not been published yet — as a matter of fact, I’m not even done with the editing yet — this means I still work a couple of part-time jobs to make ends meet.
This meant I had to set an hour each day of the week exclusively to write. It ended up being from 6–7am Monday-Friday. While it is an early start to the day, I approached it with a fresh mind. I quickly learned that, at least for me, a fresh mind meant fresh ideas. One hour, the first awake hour of the day, exclusively dedicated to writing.
The hour goes very fast as I would start off checking my stats, then sharing my most recent story on social media. Next, I would continue with the story I was currently working on. On any given day, I would have 2–3 drafts in progress and would fill in details and make changes until I felt it was suitable to submit to a publication. I never submitted a story on the day I finished writing it. I would give myself until the following morning to edit with a fresh mind. This allowed me find errors and/or new ways to phrase things almost every time.
New ideas for stories came to me throughout the day and I would jot them down in my Notes app, a piece of paper, a napkin or whatever I had on hand at the time. I never spent time trying to figure out what to write about during my writing schedule. Some evenings, if I had time, I would do research for the story. This would give me more actual writing time in the morning.
I just want to put out there that this is what I would LOVE to do on a full time basis. My ideal day would still consist of getting up at the crack of dawn to write, then go on a brisk walk, have a good breakfast then go back to write until the early afternoon. After some yoga and stretching, I would have a snack and get back to writing. Perhaps I would do the writing in the morning and use the afternoon to find pictures for the articles. I would use the rest of the evening to read, watch interesting video content, converse with friends — all material for potential articles. Did you hear that Universe?
The writing schedule, even if it’s just one hour in the early morning for me right now, is the way to go. I’m so grateful that I finally decided to heed the advise of all those Medium writers who continually push this method. I believe it is the method that works if you are planning on a writing career for the long haul as opposed to a hobby.
There are aspects that still challenge me. Sometimes it takes longer to find the right picture than to write the story. I find myself endlessly scrolling through literally thousands of images until I see the one that really speaks to the essence of my article. Also, I have to remind myself continuously to focus on the quality of the writing while there is a quantity that I’m aiming at.
At the beginning of this challenge, I had 822 followers. At the end I am at 891 followers and a total of 132 stories since I started on Medium just over a year ago.
These days I’m feeling more confident that someday soon I will reach my goal of 1K+ followers on Medium and I’ll feel like I’ve done something significant — at least in my eyes.
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