30 days of writing every day

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash.

Finally, I’m through. Phew.

Thirty days ago, I started posting one article on the internet daily. That was mainly to keep me occupied during my mundane existence at home. It wasn’t smooth, though; writing on a whim is one thing, but writing with discipline is something else.

Only in my third year of college did I realize my writing knack. It began with WhatsApp statuses, Instagram captions, and mass texts; and then progressed to letters, emails, and other tedious forms.

So, while I waited for my corporate slavery timeline, I thought, “Why not write just for the heck of it? After all, how hard could it be?” Lol.

I’m a workaholic. I need something hanging over my head to prevent me from being bored to death. Hence, the self-imposed 30-day challenge. It was a ‘challenge,’ indeed. It just turned out to be a little more challenging than I expected.

Some aspects can be evolved: voice, structure, delivery, style, and other similar nuances. However, the most crucial ingredient remains well beyond the writer’s control.
Ideas.

You could be the best at language, presentation, coherence, and delivery; and still be powerless without ideas. They are elusive: sometimes, you find yourself banging your head over a mediocre subject to get through the day, while other times, you stumble upon the best ideas effortlessly. It is the idea that I have struggled with.

Nevertheless, it was an experience worth having. May it be the thinking, drafting, editing, proofreading, publishing — all of it.

Here’s how the stats look at the time of writing this article:

My medium stats for the last 30 days.

Cool? Now get over them.

Stats can be encouraging, but they’re unreliable as a metric. The best articles may end up doing worse than mediocre ones in readership. Tags, time of posting, the day of the week: anything could go right or wrong.

My favorites aren’t the ones that have done the best at numbers. Often, an okay-ish piece gains widespread readership due to the relevance of its subject; the downside is that it loses shine with time. The best writings are timeless.

If I had to suggest just one article, it’d be this: Why read?

The subject is timeless, the writing is original, and the thoughts are fluid. I stumbled upon the idea and completed it in twenty minutes. It remains a personal and audience favorite.

There are some of my other favorites (unordered):

1. Why write?
2. The Curse of Minimalism
3. Working ‘smart’ isn’t enough.
4. Why I love autobiographies
5. Why motivation is unreliable
6. Why language matters
7. The Audacity of Hope

Some of my articles with average literary value have done exceeding well for their informative and relevant nature. A couple of them are:

1. Stuff about campus internships
2. Five things I’m glad I did in college

You could also browse through my blog to find writings that interest you.

Beyond all that, here are some realizations that hit me in the process:

1. Write well if you expect readership — no one owes any time to mediocre content. Edit until everything seems fine enough to share. Stick with the deadlines, though.
2. Don’t fuss over audience expectations — the truth is that the readers have little real idea of what they want. As far as expectations are concerned, people can only expect what they’ve experienced before. Have faith in your thoughts and demonstrate courage in professing them.
3. Perfection is an abstract concept — being perfect is subjective to reader perception; being original is not. You could spend days polishing something to make it ‘perfect’ for the audience, only to discover that it has few takers. None can accurately decipher another person’s mind; it makes greater sense to share what transpires in one’s own.

Chalo, that’s enough gyan for thirty days of experience.

What’s next? I don’t know. I’ll surely take a break for some time. Dekhte hain fir aaram se.

If you’ve liked my work until now, do consider sharing.

Thanks for reading. Tata Bye-bye.