What I Wish I Knew: “Your writing is not about you”
Why Trump can’t serve a third term and the completeness of “no” (Issue #301)
Here on day three of “What I Wish I Knew” week, we’re focusing on writing. Writing about writing is a classic genre on Medium (there are nearly 1 million stories published with the writing tag). As Jim Woods wrote years ago on Medium in I Wish I Knew These 8 Things When I Started Writing, most advice on writing really just boils down to expressing different preferences. But then he goes and mentions one specific thing he wishes he’d known that is actually more about mindset: Your writing is not about you. He frames writing as about “helping your audience,” which means sitting down with both a specific audience and an idea of how you can help them, before even putting words down.
Looking through dozens of “what I wish I knew when I started writing” stories on Medium, there’s useful advice for those going to journalism school (probably don’t?), self-publishing novels (writing the book is just the beginning), and becoming poets (it’s addictive). But the most useful lessons tend to come down to mindset shifts like Jim’s, or super specific lessons, two of which I really wish I’d known when I started out as a writer: First, this gem from an open thread from a few years back on what wisdom writers would share with their younger selves, “Everyone’s writing gets better with editing.” And writer Susan Orlean’s list of great writer habits that I wish I’d known way back then, which includes one of the best pieces of advice on writing I’ve heard: Find a trusted reader.
What else we’re reading
- Law professor and activist Lawrence Lessig walks through why arguments that President Trump could serve a third term (or Elon Musk ascend to the role of VP) don’t hold water, constitutionally speaking — it’s the last sentence of the 12th Amendment: “No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
- Worried about measles? As a professor of infectious diseases and epidemiologist explains, there are limited cases where you might need a booster, but almost everyone who’s been vaccinated should be fine without a second shot. (The Conversation U.S.)
- Behind the Towering Walls of Bollywood is a fascinating first-person account from a journalist who spent a decade covering the Indian film industry, looking at Bollywood’s nepotism — “I have always maintained that in Bollywood, talent comes second,” she writes — and cozy relationship with the press. (Pallabi Dey Purkayastha)
⛔️ Your daily dose of practical wisdom on setting boundaries
Remember: No is a complete sentence. (Ryan Holiday)
Deepen your understanding every day with the Medium Newsletter. Sign up here.
Edited and produced by Harris Sockel & Carly Rose Gillis
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com
Like what you see in this newsletter but not already a Medium member? Read without limits or ads, fund great writers, and join a community that believes in human storytelling.
