An Engaging Exploration of the Writing Journey
Written on
Chapter 1: Understanding the Writing Process
As a former writing instructor, I believe that the writing journey is crucial. For anyone who finds writing challenging—and let’s be honest, it often is—my advice lies in embracing the process.
It's important to note that I'm not claiming to reveal any revolutionary insights here. This piece won't guide you to earning $500 monthly on Medium, nor will it teach you how to attract a surge of readers or boost your follower count in just two weeks.
However, it can demonstrate to those who need it that writing is fundamentally a product of effort.
It stems from contemplation, hard work, and relentless dedication to improvement while setting aside one's ego.
Below, you’ll find an 8-minute timelapse video of me composing a story I shared last week, along with an annotated document showcasing my revisions and edits.
Chapter 1.1: The Journey of Drafting a Medium Story
In a surprising twist, the narrative I chose to document my writing process turned out to be... a complete disaster.
If I anticipated producing a flawless flow of brilliant words, the writing muse chuckled and delivered a rather lackluster first draft instead.
For quite some time, I’ve wanted to explore the concept of constructed emotions and how that understanding can aid in categorizing feelings more effectively. The challenge was that this idea was rooted in a dense scientific explanation from a book I read last year.
I naively thought I could simply sit down and articulate it. I was mistaken, and the first draft reflected that struggle.
My writing came across as rigid and uncomfortable. It resembled the output of a well-functioning AI model. (I assure you, no AI contributed to this work).
You can watch as I navigate the creation of that initial draft.
Subsection 1.1.1: The Key to Improvement? Personalization
After completing the draft and feeling a sense of embarrassment with each reread, I realized that its stiffness stemmed from being little more than a poor summary of a complicated subject.
Furthermore, I recognized that most readers aren’t particularly interested in intricate neuroscience details; if they were, they could simply read the book themselves.
Consequently, my revisions aimed to infuse more personal elements into the narrative.
I focused on enhancing the flow, improving readability, and restoring the tone to my authentic voice, free from heavy scientific jargon.
You can view the annotated edits and changes in the linked document below (it's a PDF stored in a public Google Drive folder):
If you’re curious, here’s the story that inspired this piece: I Love Talking About Writing.
Chapter 2: A Love for the Craft of Writing
Discussing the intricacies of writing—what defines quality, how to enhance it, and techniques for crafting compelling sentences—truly excites me.
I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this aspect during the years I ceased teaching composition.
In the upcoming weeks, I plan to share more stories focusing on the technical facets of writing. While these posts center on writing for Medium as a publishing platform, they also address writing in general, rather than providing a guide to success on Medium. I believe there is already ample information available on that topic.