3 Things I Actually Learned This Week about Becoming a Better Medium Writer
By: Carla D. Wilson Laskey
Tags: Writing, Stories, Publishing, Learning, Writing Tips

A Newbie’s Journey

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

First let me explain what I mean when I say “newbie”.

I published my first story on Medium in August, 2016. I ended the year having published a total of 8 stories.

In 2017 I published a whole entire 5 stories.

In 2018. Zero And in 2019 one.

So far in the year COVID-19, 2020. Between April and this present day. I have managed to publish a monumental amount of stories (considering my past publishing record).

I have published a total of (drumroll please) 14 stories not counting this one. Sweet right? Even you would have to agree with me. This year I’m on a roll. Woot! Woot!

And this is where I should probably disclose. In November I joined the Medium Partner Program. I guess it’s something about paying that five dollars a month that makes this Sistah’ get a little more serious about this writing thing. But let me continue.

Post Joining the Medium Partner Program

The truth is. Like many people on this platform. I really do want to become a Medium Top Writer.

Sure. I’ve been writing since I was a child. This is when I discovered I loved to write. But I am of the cloth who did not pursue a degree in writing in college and have had no formalized training. Sheesh. Everybody knows that writers don’t make any money. Note. This is not true it is an example of “limited think” which happens to be the content of my first Medium post.

Anyway. Joining the Medium Partner Program motivated me to get more serious about writing. Oh yeah. And the fact that I resigned from my previous full-time job back in May and I never, ever, ever want to have to work for someone else again in the whole entire rest of my life I have left to enjoy the bounty of this earth space.

Action Speaks Louder than Words

So what’d I do?

I paid cold hard cash to participate in one of the many available Mastery course offerings that promise you how to become a better Medium writer. Since I still consider myself a newbie. Even gathering “general” information that everybody else probably already knows is valuable.

And yes. I’ve read several reviews from others saying the information you get in a lot of the courses could be googled for free. Ahem. But (in my viral gif voice), “…ain’t nobody got time for that.” I figure. Just give me the basics all together in one place and I’ll grow from there.

And no. I won’t yet be sharing in this post whose Mastery course I joined. I’ve only participated now for 3 whole days. I’ll be sure to write a formal evaluation of the course after I have completed it. So do remember to come back later and read my honest review. (How to get the reader to return strategy). I’m kidding. This was not a part of the course.

Now for The 3 Things I Learned This Week

I learned how to find my unique story. I learned the anatomy of a great Medium post. I learned (through an easy exercise) how to generate tons of content ideas.

So there you have it. The 3 basic but important things this newbie learned this week. I believe all of them will be helpful for me in the years to come. So for now, I’m sticking with the course.

Since my plan is to stay on Medium for a while. One content idea I had before starting this post today is to make it an every Friday sorta thing. I’ve decided on Fridays I’ll write posts simply sharing 3 things I learned during the week.

I tout myself as being a life-long learner. And even though I’m no spring chicken. The multitude of things to learn is endless. Might as well use this awesome Medium space I’ve created to share with all of you who grace my page and care to read about it.

Until the next time…

Much Love & Peace,

CarlaDee