what i've learned from writing online

reflection on forty weeks of growth, self-promotion and consistency [41]:

painting generated by Dall E 2

Earlier this week I wrote about achieving a readership milestone. This week also happens to mark my 40th continuous week of writing on Substack.

To mark the occasion and also selfishly document my learnings, here are the ten lessons from writing online for forty weeks.

I want to thank Sarah Wood, author of

liminal space

for inspiring me to start writing consistently. I also want to give a shoutout to the

Substack

team and

Hamish McKenzie

for creating a product that put writers first.

It’s a joy every day for me to be part of this community. I have written on every possible platform out there (Medium, Wordpress, Quora, etc.) and have not found a place where writing feels as easy as it does here on Substack.

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5 Learnings on Growth

1. Ship and iterate

When I started my publication in February of this year, I make a commitment to myself that I will write and share an essay every week for fifty two weeks, no excuses. I specifically chose to pursue quantity over quality or following for I know that a non-negotiable cadence will hold me accountable to keep writing. I didn’t know what that decision could do for me at the time but in retrospect, my arbitrary rule has given me permission to be bad for a long time before I can get good. I am still no where close to becoming the best writer I could be but one thing is certain, I am better now than I was ten months prior.

2. Never stop learning

In the beginning, my writing is mostly for my mom and a handful of close friends to read. Even though it’s my dream, I never expect people I don’t know will sign up to read what I have to say.

As more people read my work, I found a natural responsibility to learn not only for myself but also for others. I am motivated to absorb knowledge actively so as I can pack insights in a digestible and useful way. This motivation has kept me going and made no writing day boring.

3. Self-promotion

One of the surprising aspects of writing online that I hadn’t thought about before starting was the need to self promote. More often than not, I have been a shy and socially-anxious person who prefer to dodge all forms of attention. In growing this newsletter, I for the first time begin to practice and become comfortable with personal promotion.

Because I care about writing so much, I have no choice but to show up and act as the ambassador of my work, which has translated well into improvements in other avenues of my life.

4. Community building

As this newsletter grew, I have seen how discussion can be grown and forged from open sharing. Collectively, the thing that binds us the most is human experience on the most personal level. It is surprising to me that we don’t relate necessarily on our jobs, education, or titles but more so the experiences and emotions behind those credentials.

Lately the best relationships I have built stem from the most intimate space, usually by being open to vulnerability - connecting on the emotional, multifaceted and complex aspects of being human. This means we connect over our love for art, purposeful work, or building cool things together.

Currently, I am looking up to these creators with strong integrity and intellectual prowess to model for community building: Adriene Louise, Lana Blakely, Ava from the bookbear express, and Shane Parrish.

5. Know the Why

Throughout my journey, there is one thing that is unchanged - my motivation to write. My top reason behind starting this publication is my love for writing. It is not the following, potential financial upside or the branding aspect that brought me here even though all of that can be wonderful.

I believe that if we have a strong why, we can stay our course and move mountains while we are at it.

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5 Learnings on Writing

1. Read, read, read

You can’t become a great writer if you don’t read good literature. Reading extensively teaches me what is good, mediocre, and bad writing. Reading also fuels my inventory of ideas by “stealing” them from brilliant creatives. From the teaching of Austin Kleon in Steal Like an Artist, good theft is stealing from many while bad theft is stealing from one. So go on, read as much as you can.

You don’t have to read only books, even though I believe it is the best medium to learn writing. Articles, blogs, the news, movies, songs, etc. have all been parts of my journey to build a rich vocabulary and strengthen the storytelling muscle.

2. Learn from the best

The most efficient way to get better at any skill is to learn from the best people in their field. Even though it’s beneficial to learn from peers, I have found my work progress the most when I learn from or solicit feedback from experienced writers. The act of learning from the experienced saves time and effort because you are instantly exposed to best practices and outcomes, held at high expectations and can receive appropriate feedback to get there.

The best books I have read on the act of writing are Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg.

3. Be honest and vulnerable

Two key aspects of writing are honesty and vulnerability. The two don’t always overlap but are necessary in the writing journey.

Good writing is about telling the truth - Anne Lamott

On embarking on this journey, I have made a promise to be the most honest as I can be. If you know me in real life, I can be brutally honest and occasionally am a concerningly unfiltered person. My family and grade school teachers used to laugh at me for what I said all the time. Fortunately, as I brought that spirit into writing, it has helped rather than hurt the sharing of my own story.

4. Stand your ground

You may be tempted to solicit feedback, which is great and natural as a human being and a writer. But remember to stand your ground and draw a line on how much you are willing to alter your work to meet others’ expectations.

It’s essential to keep your art what you want it to be. If you were to follow everyone’s suggestions, your work won’t be yours anymore and that is no fun way to write.

5. Keep going

No matter how silly the voice inside your head can become, keep showing up. What we think is mediocre or terribly irrelevant might resonate with many people. Even if your current work sucks, and may not just be in the self-deprecating, humble way “sucks” but objectively, genuinely sucks, it’s helpful to document your progress and look back on how far you have gone later down the road.

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