My Challenge To My Fellow Medium Writers
Last night was mad real. Woke up at 9am with a headache. No Advil.
My mouth, a desert. Eyes, concentrated points of pain. Location, unknown for a second.
Medium snapped me out of my stupor. My phone chimed, letting me know another story had been published.
Let me read it. May be a good start to my day.
Another life hacking article. I don’t know if Olympus was laughing at me or with me.
“7 ways to instantly become more productive.”
Right now, I need “7 ways to instantly cure a hangover.”
Oh well. This one will have to do.
More regurgitation.
More facts I could’ve gleaned with a perfunctory Google search.
Where’s the passion for the craft? Where’s the zeal?
Writers used to be…. Writers
There was a time when writing was a sacred art. It wasn’t practiced lightly.
Before you allowed your words to be scrutinized by the world, it had to be scrutinized by you and your circle.
You had to believe in your words. The first draft was an idea prototype.
Something that allowed you to give your thoughts life. Give birth to your idea.
Now, first drafts are being published.
We’re talking more and saying less.
We’re not allowing ideas to marinate and take root in the soil of our imagination.
We’re just regurgitating and rehashing what’s been said and what will continue to be said.
What happened to the theory of omission?
The theory coined by Ernest Hemingway.
“If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of a movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”
Not everything needs to be stated.
If it was on Inc. or Entrepreneur, chances are I’ve read it and don’t want to see it again on Medium.
Call me crazy.
I want to live vicariously through your words.
Got a life hack?
Tell me a story.
Had a win in your business?
Let me live through the fears and frustrations you had along the way.
Failed like a champ?
I want to hear about that shit too. Let me offer you words of encouragement.
Remember the reason for writing
At its heart, writing is a way to deliver messages.
Not always between two people.
They can be messages from your heart to your head.
Messages that help you better understand yourself.
Writing is a way to explore the inner recesses of your mind.
It’s a way to work through tough problems.
It’s a way to settle disputes.
It’s a way to become more disciplined.
It’s a way to spread ideas.
A way to carry on a debate.
Writing is a way to unlock and use your creative muscles.
Writing helps make your speech more fluent.
Writing, I hate to say, is a dying skill.
A skill people think can be gleaned from a few life hacking articles. It can’t
My Challenge To My Fellow Writers
I challenge each and every one of us to write the way it was meant to be done.
Write with emotion.
Write with feeling.
Write with Empathy.
Write to think.
Write to understand.
Write to question.
Let’s make Medium a true writers paradise.
Let’s move away from the life hacking and Listicle (I know, it’s hard, but it’s possible)
Let’s move away from publishing the first thought that comes to our mind.
Let it marinate, let it simmer, let it take root, let it develop.
Let’s practice writing as an art-form.
I have a long way to go on my writing journey and so does everyone else. It’s already difficult enough without “Three instant hacks make your writing better.”
We owe it to ourselves, the generation with the most technology, to treat the written word as it was meant to be treated.
With respect.
There is no shortcut.
You’ve got to put in the work. Period.
I’m willing, are you?
I’ve thrown down the gauntlet, who will rise to the challenge with me?
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
- Ernest Hemingway
I started this article just thinking out loud. Letting my thoughts wander and it ended up being a sermon on writing.
Oh well.
