I’ve always had a lot in my mind, I guess we all do.
Since I was a teenager, I felt the need to share my thoughts in writing. It’s probably due to my introvert nature or the need to feel that I am in control. I started with poetry as a way to express my feelings (which probably explains why I reached the age of majority before losing my virginity) and ended up blogging in order to better structure my opinions and learnings.
When I started on Medium, in august 2013, I felt frustrated by the experience of writing. It was long, painful, and unrewarding. My first post only reached 107 views and the following ones between 200 and 400. On top of that, they were of poor quality and didn’t even deserve attention.
Yet, I continued, just to put my ideas in order, to clear my mind and leave a trace that I could relate to in order to confirm, amend or contradict myself in the future. Those moments of reflections and introspections help me grow up, I believe.
Over the years, my productivity has fortunately increased and hopefully my style and maturity have improved as well. Yet, I haven’t (and probably won’t) reached the impressive ability of certain people to write on a very regular basis, very thoroughly, whether in short or long forms, incredibly thoughtful pieces. Come to my mind Fred Wilson, Jason M. Lemkin or Nicolas Colin, with three different approaches, remarkably mastered by each one of them.
Writing has the same attributes as any other form of arts:
Some people are more gifted than others;
Singularities win over matching the expectations of an audience;
It must be a self-fulfilling experience before all.
If you think one day about starting to write, stop wondering how good you are, it’s not a competition, you will always find a way to improve your abilities. Don’t do it to please people, to attract fans or to fill a need, do it for yourself, because it feels right, because you want it.
Happy Writing