In May 2016, I stumbled across a Facebook post that said something along the lines of “Writers Wanted” and promptly joined the Odyssey team in an attempt to hone my skills and expand my portfolio. There was even the off chance that I’d make some extra cash, which was appealing. After a few prize-winning articles, I started writing on salable topics rather than meaningful ones. I even wrote on subjects I knew nothing about in an attempt to earn extra cash. Eventually, I noticed my content had become crap—I wasn’t proud of my articles. No part of me could imagine presenting them to any graduate school or job prospect. I decided to take a break and re-center my focus.
I’m back now, and I must say, I learned a few valuable lessons while reflecting on my experience. With grad school in my very near future, I’m looking to write articles that represent who I am as well as what I stand for; I want to write articles that inspire me and my readers. In order to do this, I plan to stick to the five most important things I learned from quitting my job:
1. You do you.
Obviously, writers have to have an audience to prosper, but you shouldn’t diminish your skills just to gain readers. Instead, write about topics that are important to you and be honest about your feelings for those subjects. If you're a huge movie buff, write about movies and actors. Or, if you're more into super rare animal species that no one has heard about, write about that! Odds are you're audience is going to be significantly smaller than the movie buff's, but the few readers you do have in the beginning will appreciate your honest knowledge of a subject and will be more likely to share your article. The point is to make sure that your work accurately reflects your personal morals and standards rather than just the latest trends.
2. Be patient.
If you're like me, you get super excited and anxious while waiting for people to notice your work, but calm down. You can’t rush readers into forming a dedicated audience; it might take a while for your work to stand out. Instead of pushing, pushing, pushing your articles and risking your professionalism (or looking a bit over-obsessed with your own work), do your best to write meaningful articles and share them to websites where readers might find and appreciate them. Do it a couple of times a week, but don’t expect a thousand shares when you first start out. The few readers who notice you will stay with you in the long run.
3. Forget about the money.
This was probably my biggest mistake. As soon as I got a couple of checks, I found myself altering my work to make the money and losing a major part of who I am as a writer. I started changing my voice and writing style for the sake of the money, and an artist should never sacrifice their talent for money. Joining Odyssey was meant to help me perfect my writer persona, but instead I lost all sense of what it meant to be a good writer. This led me to hate my material and there were many instances where I was actually embarrassed to claim an article as my own. Stay true to what you do and the money will follow.
4. Ask for an opinion.
Yes, our articles go through a few different pairs of hands and eyes before being published online for the world to see, but editors are mainly looking out for grand mistakes and punctuation problems. Instead of writing and publishing immediately, ask a friend or colleague to give it a look. Odds are they are much more likely to edit for content and give you a lot of useful advice before it's too late. Even if you choose not to take any of their editorial advice, getting a second or third opinion on your work helps you better understand how readers might view your writing.
5. Remember the end goal.
When I started with Odyssey, my goal was to practice writing and expand my material. I quickly got distracted and lost total sight of that goal, which resulted in my downfall. Now I’m back with very similar goals—to be able to present each of my articles as part of a portfolio for graduate school applications and future career moves. It’s important to me that my work accurately depicts the type of person and writer I am. If I start to lose focus this time around, I'll remember the point of my writing and will (hopefully) snap out of whatever distraction I'm caught up in.
My take on these tips clearly leans towards my own experience and desire to become an excellent writer, and I'm certain not everyone reading this article wants to go into similar fields as me. But as you read through, I hope you were able to see how applying these tips to your own life could be beneficial. Quitting Odyssey was one of the best things I've ever done for myself because it taught me the value of remaining true to myself no matter what. I'm positive these tips will benefit me as I venture into the unknown world of Adulthood and try to make a name for myself. But for now, I intend to remind myself daily of lessons learned and use them to make the most of my fresh Odyssey experience. I may never gain a loyal readership, but at least I'll be able to honestly say I did my best work at the end of every day.
