9 key lessons I have learnt from being a writer

People will expect writing advice to be very deep and very complex, but in reality, it is actually very simple: get off social media addiction and write. Even if your draft is the worst, just write. The end!

The backstory of how I realized that I was passionate about writing.

In college, reading was once part of my life. I’d spend my entire day in our school library reading novels or just reading scientific books. I was always curious about biology and biological facts and fiction. Not only that, but I read about genetics a lot and I could tell my friends about every genetic process I knew.

Novels were a great way to make me think that writing is so cool. That moment when you put yourself in the shoe of a character, and you want to change the story, just because you loved that character and want more for them! I could always submerge myself as the antagonist. I loved the antagonistic characters; I still do to this day, just because they do too much!

One time, I decided to buy myself a nice phone, so I could install apps to keep myself busy when I wasn’t studying, and oh boy! Who would have thought Twitter was about to suck me in?! I was in for a ride that could change my normal routine for I don’t know how long.

Before I began my journey of writing, I loved hanging out on Twitter with people I had no clue who they were. Back then, memes were a thing, well I guess it still is!  I had all the time to tweet funny memes, (at least to me, they were funny.)

I’d spend a whopping 3 hours just staring at my screen and tweeting funny stuff and re-tweeting from my ‘friends’. Furthermore, I made a community for just being silly and wasting my time. Whether I was in college or just at home, I was addicted.

One time, I saw a tweet that changed my life completely.

“Shout out to all those who romanticize writing but are still on Twitter wasting time. People are doing stuff out here!”

I looked at my tweets and, oh Lord, I was 1500+ in, on things that could never make my life any better.

I decided that I wanted to do something professional on my account timeline and at least inspire people rather than just waste away in memes.

In the wake of self-realization, started doing my research on what topics I was interested in. In the process, I came up with a list of things that I wanted to become part of my writing routine.

I have written 500+ articles in the last year; for my clients (ghostwriting) and on my own blog website.

Here is a list of a few of the lessons I have learnt so far while writing online.

Always start with a plan

Having a plan is a great deal in writing. You can never just wake up one day and decide you are going to become a writer without drafting a plan on how and where to begin, as well as the end results.

Have a long-term plan of where you are and where you are heading to. This will help you become more into writing because you have set a goal for it.

Do your research

When I started, I did a lot of research on what I wanted to write, the tools I will use, and the presence of enough resources to keep me going forward.

Your research will derive the content ideas for you, and the best way to do this is by using Google and Twitter. There are many writers out there that will inspire you with their content and ideas.

Know your audience

Your audience is the bigger picture here. You have to learn what they want to read and always write to them, not to yourself. Your audience is a source of inspiration to continue writing and learning even more because the feedback they give enables you to research more and evolve your skills with time.

Keep it simple

Many writers keep their work as simple as possible. Write like you are explaining something to an 8^th grader. Use simple English, but give an in-depth understanding. Avoid the use of complex words unless you are being specific scientifically.

Be clear and concise

Clarity is important in writing. How clear your work is will retain the attention of your readers. Go straight to the point, do not waste their time because no one wants that at all.

Edit and proofread your work

After drafting a copy of your work, give yourself some hours off. Take a walk or do something else. When you come back, read and re-read your work. Does it still make sense? (It’s funny how I write this article and took 24 hours off. When I came back and read the first few paragraphs, I felt like an idiot!)

Anyway, this will make your thinking more reasonable and creative. You will want to make some changes to your first draft, hence you are editing and proofreading until you come up with your final, clean copy.

Be open to feedback

Feedback is very essential because it allows room for improvement. Your readers will critique your work and point out where you need to improve. Some will tell you how amazing of a writer you are, which is a good thing, to continue writing even more content that will keep them on the hook for more.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

Even as you niche down your content, it is important to experiment on other topics relatable to your niche. For instance, how certain trends or trending topics will impact your field of expertise.

Soon, people will be writing about the world cup, or better yet about how Elon Musk is the new owner of Twitter. How will these trends impact your field i.e. marketing, automotive, health, sports and exercise, yoga, politics etc.? Be on the watch for what others are writing about, hence research, again, comes in.

Do not be afraid to try new ways and techniques.

Be consistent

Everyone who creates content online for other people to consume should be consistent in doing it to increase the audience. Consistency doesn’t mean you write every day of your life unless you are giving yourself a challenge. It simply means creating a consistent time to post your content to your audience. You could be doing it once a week, then try hard not to miss producing content once a week.

Overall, enjoy the process. In the end, it is worth it.

If you keep these lessons as part of your journey to writing, you will improve your skills in a short amount of time.

To learn more about writing, check out my other related articles.