He started writing on the popular publishing platform in 2019.
Like most writers, he stopped writing because he didn't get the attention he was looking for. A story that was important to him flopped and so he gave up.
is in good company. Many up-and-coming writers stop writing far too early.As a writing coach, I often see how self doubt and reluctance to surpass themselves can rob people of their potential. Sometimes too high expectations of themselves or perfectionism also get in the way.
Even published book authors put aside the passion they once felt. Their worries and fears overshadow their ambition and keep them treading water.
I'm glad Ben was able to overcome the resistance he faced to become the impressive writer he is now.
My friend
from the Medium publication New Writers Welcome told me about Ben. Since one of my WOW-worthy bootcampers from 2022 couldn’t join the grand finale of this year’s Medium Kickstarter Bootcamp I hosted with the incredible 13x author, Boost nominator, and Medium top writer from I’d Rather Be Writing, she suggested asking Ben.In our live session, as a non-native speaker, I was impressed by his vocabulary, and his way of speaking and expressing himself, not only on the page but also in our conversation.
Four things stood out the most:
#1 Ben wrote 500 stories, 84 of them got Boosted
People often only share their successes, their trophies, and medals with you, but much like the famous swimmer Michael Phelps, who stayed in the pool a little longer than most swimmers to train day and night for the next performance, Ben has written 500 long stories, more than most of the well-known top writers,
That means he's put pen to paper 500 times. Of those 500 long form stories, (only) 84 were boosted.
That's 17%.
Bootcamper
was impressed by that number.Often new writers want to get on the platform and BOOM they get boosted and earn $500 for a story. It happens (as with bootcamper
), but it's also smart to build a nice library of stories so that Boost nominators and Medium curators know that this is someone who consistently writes about specific meta-topics that interest them and an expert on their own experiences.#2 Ben doesn’t write for Uncle Algo or the Boost Gods
Like me, Ben once worked as a journalist. At some point, he realized that he wanted to write about the things that mattered to him and not the things that his boss told him to write about or that were part of the agenda.
Because of this experience, Ben is not someone who would write for the Boost or Uncle Alsgo. He writes what he has a passion for. Being a musician himself (he plays the saxophone), he writes about "The Real Slim Shady" Eminem, Super Mario Galaxy, his favorite movies, or what he thinks about politics.
Often, new writers start by writing what the algorithm wants in order to get clicks, views and readers. They "learn" what Boost nommers are looking for and publish stories they may not be happy or proud of a few years later.
Ben, who is a Boost nommer himself, writes what he finds fun and relevant, and loves finding gems in the Medium universe that he can nominate for a fat Boost.
Oh and here’s my toddler as a Super Mario superfan:
#3 Ben reflects on his life and spends hours writing
To hear him talk and read his writing, you wouldn't think he was in his twenties, but rather that he could be 50.
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