Finding feedback

One of my goals at the moment, is to publish one blog post a week for a year. Currently, I am about halfway. I have published 32 articles since the beginning of May 2019. I have published over 42,000 words. Two articles have over 300 views. A further two have over 400 views.  

Yet, I have won no awards, I have received no monies. I haven’t gained any new newsletter subscribers. I still have the sixteen friends and family I have had since the beginning.  

I thought, all you did was write, and that they would come.

Apparently not.

Then I found medium.com. A community of writers, for writers, helping writers. The successful ones get paid thousands of dollars (or pounds) for their articles. I thought, if I could post articles on here, then I could find the audience I am looking for.  

After 3 months and after posting 28 of my 32 articles, I have.……..  

21 followers  

And 2 claps  

(Claps replace ‘likes’ on Facebook. But the more claps you get, the more money you get paid.)  

I started to think I needed to get better at writing. I needed to get some feedback on my blog posts. So far I have had very little feedback from the people who have read my articles.

Where else do I go?  

The learning in failure  

Medium has publications. These are spaces owned by one or a few users. They centre around a particular theme or topic and tend to have large followings. Any user can write a story and submit it to the publication. Once the publication has reviewed it then they will either reject it or accept it. If accepted,  the story will go to all those following the publication. The story can access a very large audience.  

Recently I submitted three stories to a publication. Unfortunately, they were all rejected. But what was interesting was the fact I received a little bit of feedback. Not masses, but enough to get me moving forward.  

It was about the formatting of the article. It does sound very sexy, but it was important.  

I checked out their page which discusses how to go about writing for them. In these pages, the publications will state rules and guidelines for the articles. This publication has very few rules, which is very liberating as a writer. But it is annoying if you are looking guidance.  

Where else do you look?  

Raising your standards  

I started looking at other publications to see what guidelines they had. I actually came across an article written by a well-known author that I enjoyed and found useful. 

This publication was very clear about what it wanted and what it didn’t want. What an article should contain and what it shouldn’t contain.  

Sharing random stories and philosophical musings would not work here.  

Articles have to be backed by scientific research or personal experience. The article has to state how it was going to help the reader improve their life. It has to provide a step by step guide how to do it.  

It has a rigorous process of editing. The publication would work one-to-one with the author to make the article the best it could be. There would be three rounds of editing before checking they would be happy to publish.  

The publication pays a good chunk of money as a flat fee for a good article.  

I wanted to get a little better. Now I have had my aspirations raised. Looks like I need to get a lot better.  

Still, the question begs, where else to a look for help?  

Community  

Then I read an article recently which told of the friendship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings. They both went to a literacy group in Oxford that met at least once a week. They would share their writing ideas and help each other in crafting them. The Lord of the Rings may not exist were it not for this group and the help of Lewis.  

I have seen this sense of community myself. A group, willing to support and help each other to improve  and achieve a goal. I have seen it in Martial Arts and in Public Speaking. A group providing a safe and supportive environment where you can strive and fail. Where people will help pick up you up. Where people will provide valuable suggestions and feedback.  

This is where I need to go. I need to find a community of like-minded individuals who are willing to help each other. Help each other with their writing. Be willing to provide praise, to provide criteria, to provide suggestions to improve.  

I need to find one.  

Looks like I am now on the hunt.  

Takeaways  

To improve you need feedback. You need someone to point out what you are doing wrong and how you might correct it.  

If you are struggling to find places for that feedback, try something new. Push yourself. And if you fail there will be some form of feedback to try.  

Raise your inspirations. Look at those who set high standards and achieve great things. Break those standards down and build up to them.  

Finally, if you want to improve, you need to find others willing to help you. A community. Don’t forget, you will need to help them too.  

Footnotes

 “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb