6 Things You Should Stop Feeling Guilty About Doing As A Writer on Medium
By: Gal Mux
Tags: Writers Life, Writers On Medium, Writers On Writing, Writing Life, Writing On Medium

Photo by Keith Camilleri on Unsplash

We writers on Medium are brought together by several factors. Our love for writing, sharing, reading and also our affinity for responding to other writers’ stories among other things. We also write on here motivated by various reasons.

We have developed some habits that come about with writing on the platform. Some of these habits we love, some of them we might be embarrassed or feel some sense of guilt for doing them.

Here are some habits that I feel we shouldn’t feel guilty about for doing them on the platform.

Constantly checking your stats

Let’s be honest we all are constantly looking at our statistics because we want to see how many people have viewed, read, responded, or clapped to our stories. When I publish a story I’ll be honest that I’m constantly checking it every now and then to see how it’s doing.

There’s nothing wrong with this because we wrote a story so that it can be reacted to anyway and knowing how it’s doing will let us know whether our readers like the story or not or whether our story is gaining traction. So don’t feel guilty or embarrassed about this.

Editing your already published stories

When we write our stories, we immortalize them on the internet leaving them to be read by people we will never even know. And because they’re going to remain there, we would want them to be read in their best versions. When we write and publish a story and then get to read it one or two weeks later we noticed a thing or two that needs to be polished, edited, corrected or tweaked.

There is nothing wrong with making our stories the best they can be for any reader who might read it in any future to come.

I have been reading stories on Medium that were written as far as 2015 and 2016. I have also read many stories on other online platforms written as far as the 1960’s and I admire that they are error free and are pleasant reads.

So edit your published stories with zero guilt. Make them the best they could be.

Being curious and reading about what other writers make

We might all love to write here. We might have a passion or talent for it and that is why among other reasons we are writing on Medium.

The financial incentive is also there because let’s face it, we do spend a lot of our time and energy writing stories trying to make them the best they can be. And that is hard work. And being rewarded for it including financially is nice. That is why we are constantly checking our stats and earnings and also checking what other writers are making on Medium.

Don’t loathe this curiosity. Don't hate hearing or reading what others are making. Its a part of writing on here.

Sharing what you make or don’t make

Here on Medium we love to know what other writers are making. Especially around the end of month where all the earnings are tabulated and so writers can easily share this information.

I personally love to know what others are making you know, because it helps me clear up some questions that I have about writing on Medium particularly on earnings.

So don’t feel guilty about sharing what you make or what you don’t make because in all honesty some of us are still making pennies.

We love to hear it whether you’re making six figures or not. I will not consider it bragging if you share this information with me because I can be motivated to go read what you write about, which can end up helping me improve on what I write about so that I can also make six figures like you do.

When it comes to your earnings on Medium, Share away!

Submitting your story to a publication after it has already been rejected by another publication

I have on several occasions submitted some of my stories to publications that end up being rejected for one reason or another. Maybe the story wasn’t a good fit for that particular publication or I had submitted too many stories to them in one day, maybe they didn’t agree with what I had written etc.

But because I love to have most of my stories published in publications I usually resend some of my rejected articles to other publication for publishing.

Of course sometimes I feel some guilt wondering whether the editors will wonder why didn’t I hadn’t submitted the story to their publication first because I guess they can see the rejection private note in there.

This thought usually prevented me from submitting such stories to other publications. I have learnt not to feel guilty about this because some publications especially ILLUMINATION accepts such stories if there are of good quality and if they are also a good fit for them.

So submit such stories and don’t be scared or feel guilty or even feel judged for doing this.

Comparing yourself to top earners

Comparing yourself to others is usually unhealthy. It might lead to bitterness and self-loathing especially when you are unable to improve to be like the ones you are comparing yourself with.

But on Medium I guess it can be cultivated to be a positive thing. Comparing yourself to top earners will help you because if you studied their habits and their stories you can be able to pick a tip or two that could help you be a top earner yourself.

If you want to earn six figures go read stories about top earners and what they write about and you could pick something there.

To conclude, don’t allow yourself to feel guilt or embarrassment for doing these things.