3 Reasons Why I'm Writing Online

I have been writing online for more than 8 months now.

It's one of the most difficult challenges I have ever pursued. There were many reasons behind why I started. From the start, it was all about me wanting to become a better writer by practising in public.

But, after 8 months a lot has changed, and here is my updated list of reasons why I'm writing online:

1. Build a daily writing habit

One of the most important reasons why I started to write online was to build a daily writing habit.

Not just post daily, but write new stuff every day. There's a difference to the two, and I quickly fell into the trap of relying on content schedulers, writing days or weeks of content in advance.

The problem with this is that I never actually created a writing habit. I simply stressed myself out, looking at the timeline of scheduled content growing shorter by the day. When instead I should have written a little bit every day and gotten in the habit. That way I wouldn't have been stressed out a time or two during the week trying to come up with some great writing.

Building a writing habit also builds your confidence in your words and your ability to produce quality writing consistently. That way you will know that every time you sit down to write the words will come. And you won't be starting at the blank page for too long.

So, that's why I wanted to create a writing habit, to remove the stress and worry by consistent practice.

2. Establish a writing routine

I have never had a writing routine before.

I have sat down to write when I needed to or when I felt like it. But for the first time, I have made writing a true priority.

I looked at my calendar for the week ahead. My schedule is by no means regular. I have different eating times at my work and university. But, I decided to block off one hour a day. 10 AM when it's possible otherwise, I have to schedule it either in the morning or evening. And then I have to stick to it.

By blocking off an hour a day I know I'm consistent. And I know that I have made writing a priority in my life. One hour a day is 7 hours a week.

That is 365 hours of writing a year.

3. Learn how to double down on my best writing

A thing I have learned with more than 8 months of writing online is to double down on your winners.

The only problem was, I had no idea how to qualify a winner. For the longest time, I looked at the view count on X to determine the winners.

But, that might be a faulty metric. Instead, I'm currently trying to focus on engagements with my posts. And the posts with the most likes and comments are the ones I'm currently doubling down on. As with this newsletter. It's me doubling down on a post on X that performed well.

Only time will tell if this is the correct approach. If you have experience doubling down and have seen success from it, I would love to hear from you. I would love to see how it works in action.

Writing online is very much about listening to the signals and reacting to them.

This issue was sent on a Tuesday, which defeats the whole purpose of the title behind the newsletter.

It just goes to show you that 30 issues was where my consistent streak was broken.

I’ll talk to you next time. Hopefully on a Monday.

Peter