Member-only story
Why Does Trying To Write A Half Decent Article Feel Like Trying To Have Another Chart Topping Hit?
No one wants to go down in history as the Rick Astley, Jon Secada or Robbie Nevil of writing.
You know the feeling, you write a half decent article that’s done okay and afterwards, you spend inordinate amounts of time trying to replicate your very modest success.
That’s how it feels writing, these days.
Even though I have had some moderate attention on this platform, there’s still the healthy scepticism that comes with writing a new article, every time.
Given my strong money making instincts, one wonders, will it be curated? will people engage? will it stand out enough from the crowd? will it resonate with my target audience and will it make decent money?
These worries and fears are crippling enough to hinder any meaningful content creation from taking place at all.
After all, I don’t want to go down in history as the Robbie Neville, Evan Rogers, Jon Secada, Rick Astley or the Kenny Thomas of writing!
For those who have never heard of the names above, these guys were known for the one monster hit that they had in the 1980s and early 90s. And they pretty spent so much time trying to replicate their original success, all to no avail.
For Jon Secada, it was “ just another day without you”, for Robbie Nevil, it was “ C’est la vie and for Rick Astley, it was “ never going to give you up”.
I get to read loads of articles here on this platform and more than anything else, you read writers offering advice to other writers on the value of constant writing, publishing and the guarantee that you will get better with constantly putting material out there.
But since I began transcribing my thoughts, can I honestly say that I have got better at this line of work, with every article published?
I am not too sure.
On the age old battle of quality versus quantity, I often ponder if I have sacrificed one to the detriment of the other, in the bid to make more money.
And this, my dear friends is at the heart of my existential angst.
Maybe a long deserved break is what’s needed.
Who knows??
