7 Mistakes Beginner Writers Make In Their First Year Of Writing

I spent hundreds of hours reading tips from my favorite writers.

Why? So I can save time.

I want to learn the lessons without the scars.

But along the way, I still had to make mistakes to learn valuable lessons. I hope that I can also save you time.

Here the mistakes I made:

Thinking I always need to come up with new ideas

After 30-90 days of writing, you should have enough data to see what people want to read.

And the next time you write, you can iterate and improve those ideas. Attack them from different angles, repurpose them on different platforms, etc.

Learn how to make use of your library of content.

Thinking of writing a genius article rather than using templates that work.

You think you know what people want until you spend 3 hours writing an article only to have 0 views.

You think they want to read something amazing so you try to sound smart.

You think they want something they haven’t heard before so you want to create something unique.

The truth is, you have no idea what people want to read. So you have to copy what’s already working.

Every time you go on Twitter and you stop scrolling, use that as a template.

Every time you like a post from someone you admire, use that as a template.

Every time you repost or bookmark a thread, use it as a template.

Stop thinking you know what people want.

If you want to use proven templates, there are tons on Typeshare.

Writing when my energy is low.

"I’ll write tomorrow when I come home from work."

That's what I always used to tell myself.

But then I:

• Go to work

• Get home after 8 hours

• Rest in the couch for a few minutes

• Scroll mindlessly on social media.

And then the next thing I know, it’s time to go to bed.

Writing requires energy and creativity. Don’t expect your brain and body to work well after a tiring day at work.

Write in the morning instead.

It will not only help you knock off your hardest task, but it will make your mornings lovely.

Now I wake up, make myself an iced coffee, and listen to Lofi beats while I type on my keyboard almost effortlessly

Trust me. Waking up early is hard, but it makes writing a lot easier.

Writing, researching, and editing all at the same time.

You’re taking too long to write because you’re distracted.

You’re distracted because you’re multitasking.

You’re multitasking because you’re not even aware of it.

I know because I was once there.

I would:

• Open and stare at a blank document

• Decide on what I want to write about

• Write the intro

• Open a book or go to Google to research

• Start writing again

• Rewrite the first sentence so it sounds better,

• Rearrange the sentences for better flow

• Research again when my mind goes blank

• Repeat 10x.

2 hours have passed, and I’ve only written 3 short paragraphs.

I learned how to write faster and more effectively by batching my tasks and working on my timer.

Here’s an example:

• Research for 30minutes

• Write for 40 minutes (It’s important to resist editing and researching while writing. Just. Write.)

• Edit for 10 minutes

That’s it.

By doing this, I become more focused on the task and get into flow mode.

You can’t do deep work if you keep going from one task (or tab) to another.

Writing long-form articles without validating ideas first.

This one is a game-changer.

It is the secret of most writers that we’re not aware of.

Eve Arnold takes out her best-performing tweets before writing articles on Medium.

Dickie Bush expands his best-performing tweets as long-form articles on Twitter and LinkedIn

Mark Manson’s book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck was a validated idea from his blog.

Don’t waste your time writing an article no one cares about. Test the water first.

Thinking people will magically see my work.

I used to think I’d keep getting better as I kept practicing my craft.

I’ll write better content and my audience will find me. I’ll have viral articles and will get plenty of opportunities.

I was delusional.

Writing online is not a one-player game.

Learn how to reach out to others. Make friends and build a network. Know how to play with others.

If you want people to read your posts, you need to take the time to read theirs. You need to give genuine comments to them. You need to make friends instead of waiting for others to make the first move.

You can’t get what you want if you’re not willing to give it.

Tip: Join a community if you are serious about this. It will help with accountability and getting feedback. (I joined Ship30for30 and it's one of my best investments).

Relying on willpower and discipline rather than building systems.

The reason why it’s hard is because you don’t have a system.

Find the days that are easy and replicate that process.

For me, that’s writing 20+ tweets for 2 hours every Monday and scheduling them on Hypefury. At the end of the week, I review the best-performing ones, and use them for my newsletter.

When writing, I have an outline, I pick a hook from a list I made and then edit the next day (read out loud and format).

Nothing fancy.

But it makes me work fast and have fun -- that's what's important in your first year of writing.

That's it for today folks!

Have a lovely and blessed Sunday.

-M