Don’t Stress It About Introducing Yourself To Others As A Creative Writer
You don’t have to go to great lengths to explain what you do if people don’t get it at the first instance.
Being a traveller and trekker, I get to meet new people on an almost monthly basis. And you know how it goes when you’re meeting someone for the first time. Introducing yourselves to each other, and exchanging a dozen questions awkwardly toeing the lines between TMI and withholding too much. However, being a creative writer here on Medium, it can be a very frustrating experience trying to explain what I do to corporate folks who are accustomed to receiving run-of-the-mill single sentence replies:
I am a doctor. I’m a software engineer. I’m a UI/UX developer. I’m a web developer. I’m a consultant. I’m a graphic designer. I’m a social media manager. I’m an architect.
See how easy those were? Someone tells you they’re an architect, and bam! Your brain instantly serves you a fresh dollop of memory, articulating exactly what an architect does from deep inside your knowledge repository. Same thing for doctors, scientists, engineers, and even authors. Everyone knows that authors write books. The only next question you would probably have is “fiction or non-fiction?” However, tell anyone you’re a content writer online, and an entire pandoras box of questions is instantly triggered open:
“Oh you write all those news articles that we read online, right?”
“Oh you write those fancy ads and catchy captions on instagram, don’t you?”
“Okay, so you write product descriptions for an e-commerce website?”
“So you blog about your travels is it?”
Everyone has their own idea what a content writer does based on something they’ve seen or heard from someone in their life. When people find it hard to pinpoint what exactly it is that you do, they lose interest. Some of them just give up with the interrogation mid-way, and do the next best thing they can: Ask for your profile.
I’m sure many of you writers here will agree with me when I say that the majority of people don’t get what you do here. On the surface at least. Only after giving them an in-depth explanation of how Medium works, and what exactly you do here, do people working traditional corporate jobs gain at least a rudimentary understanding of what many of us do on this platform.
Some of them leave the discussion still scratching their heads.
I’m talking mainly about creative writers on here who write about their life experiences. Sure, I would be more than happy to share my profile with every squirrel I meet on the road if I had a certain niche say, veganism, sustainability, or even overpopulation.
But like so many other creative writers here on Medium, I don’t have a niche!
And this is undeniably the most extraordinary aspect that’s attracted me to Medium. You don’t have to pick a niche. You can write about your life experiences and let those specific subjects, if any, come out through your writing. That’s what makes creative writing so special and fascinating.
You aren’t reading an article. You’re talking to a person!
Even newbie writers on here come to that realization sooner or later, like Jordan Katherine who elaborately explains in one of her articles, “I Followed This Advice And My Medium Earnings Tripled”:
“Over time I realised that people were getting personal on here, and that maybe it was time to share some real stuff.
I began to document my journey to going sober and have been open and honest about my progress and changes in my mental state. This is when things started to kick off.
My honest articles that were real resonated with people. I got more interactions and people wanted to talk about their experiences with me too.
Not only has writing about personal things given me more results on the platform, but it’s helped me in my life too. People have been supportive and encouraging, giving me words of advice that I’ve often listened to and followed.”
“Not only has writing about personal things given me more results on the platform, but it’s helped me in my life too.”
Read that again.
Writers like Boateng Sekyere, Ossiana Tepfenhart, Michelle Teheux, Charlie Brown, Peter Shanosky, Melissa Frost, Araci Almeida, Mona Lazar, Emma Gorowski, Yael Wolfe, Matthew Maniaci, Sean Kernan, Jacquette Augh, Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi, Anastasia Frugaard, Tim Denning, Jessica Wildfire, and so many other incredible humans who either write about their lived experiences directly or interweave the content of their particular niches with real life experiences make me feel like I’m having an everyday conversation with each one of them when I sit down to read.
I came across the above article by Mindy Stern and was instantly reminded of why I love being on this platform so much. The depth of detail that she goes into in her story makes it so deeply profound and insightful, that everyone who’s been through the same traumatic experience can place a hand on their hearts and instantly relate to it. This is exactly what Medium is for. For people to tell their stories to the world in their own voice, unfiltered and unedited, so that others in the same basket can relate to it and know that they’re not alone in all their suffering, pain, or joy.
I’ve got a “this is so me” from more articles here that I can think of. Articles like these radiating the warmth of humanity is exactly what helps people feel safe and reassured that whatever bad situation they’re in too will pass.
I came here because I loved learning through people’s lived experiences and how certain actions can lead to better outcomes and how others might lead to worse. The fact that you can relate to someone else’s story is what makes reading the work of so many writers on here truly compelling and engaging. For most writers I follow, I don’t feel like I am reading their articles. I feel like I am having an everyday conversation with them. And that’s the tone of voice I attempt to achieve in my articles as well.
Such thoughts can never be shared with the outside world without opening yourself to ridicule, scorn, or judgement. And it’s the biggest reason why you should not share your profile with your near and dear.
Here are 5 reasons why a content writer on Medium might not be able to share their profile with you:
