The Controversial Article I Chose Not to Write and Why
Last night, I hunched over my laptop and contemplated intently what to write for the weekend.
Eager to maintain my daily publishing streak, I aimed to gain a creative head start for Saturday. I searched for trending articles, as some people on Medium have recommended.
Writer’s Block
I picked a topic, but I honestly can’t remember what it was. Off I went, sitting at my laptop for about an hour, trying to write a short opening.
I finally finished and now needed some more meat for the story. The funny thing is that when I started to research the topic, I was almost lost.
I’m sitting there thinking, “How in the world will I write about something I know almost nothing about?”. Turns out I couldn’t.
I had wasted almost 2 hours of my time trying to write something I had no business creating.
To be fair, I did learn from this experience, so I don’t look at it as a waste of time entirely.
What I Learned
Ever since I was a child, I always had interesting people in my life.
One guy, while I was 16 and golfing with him, could see I was getting down on myself. He said to me something that stuck with me forever:
“It’s ok to lose, just never lose the lesson.”
I might have lost a few hours of my time writing about a topic I couldn’t care less about, yet I came away with a priceless lesson. Many lessons, to be exact.
You have to pick a topic you care about.
Stop worrying about views and reads. They will come, and not all articles hit gold.
Don’t chase trends unless they already fit what you’re passionate about. That’s a bonus.
If you pick a topic that interests you, then you won’t need to do much research if any at all. It’s best to just write.
Final Thoughts
So keep writing and make sure it’s a topic you care about. When you first start, nobody knows who you are and what you’re like.
It’s best to show them your true self because it’s impossible to fake it for long.
To give you some perspective if you’re a new writer, I’ll recount a fascinating story I read last year.
They had spoken with Stephen King, whom I’ll assume you all know. He mentioned that he had written a new book as a test and used a different name as a brand-new author.
Can you guess what happened? Nobody bought it.
So be authentic, put in the work, and please don’t make the mistake I made by picking a topic for your views.
Thank you for reading :)