How to Write — From a Professional Writer

Advice for Beginners

What do you need to know? That’s why you clicked on this article. You want to write or become a professional writer, but you are struggling with the screen and putting words down into sentences that make sense.

We have all been there, so first, take yourself off the hook.

There’s an old writer saying, “A writer writes!”

And what that really means is that you communicate and express ideas through the written word. If you are struggling to find things to talk about, stop trying to find things to talk about.

Tip #1

One thing I do is use Medium as a notepad. I have approximately 20 articles in draft mode on Medium right now. As soon as I get an idea, I click on “write a new story” and I start typing.

Sometimes I go back and edit the story and then hit publish, but like I said, there are 20 draft articles sitting there and I have published over 120 articles now in one year.

Tip #2

It’s really important to develop an editing structure for yourself. Writing on Medium is more like blog writing or newspaper writing. The articles that do the best take into account journalistic rules.

What that means is start with the inverted pyramid. Your lede is the first sentence and then follow it up with the most important fact and then as you get further and further down your article, the least important information is at the end.

Tip #3

Keep articles shorter rather than longer. I have published over 100 articles, some of my articles are short like 2–5 minute reads and some of them are quite long, around 10–20 minute reads.

The shorter articles have more reads, more fans and more follows. That’s just how it goes. I don’t write for followers, I write because I have something to say, so I will still publish long articles, but if you want to grow an audience, try to write 5 minute reads.

Tip #4

Think of yourself as a writer.

This might be the hardest piece of advice to follow. Everyone has “imposter” syndrome. I know I’m a writer, but sometimes I don’t think of myself as a writer. It’s weird. For 20 years of my career I was an expert educator.

But I am a professional writer. I’ve written TV and movie scripts, I’ve written two plays. I wrote speeches on the General Assembly floor of the NJ Legislature. I wrote speeches and press releases on the campaign trail. And I wrote articles and stories as a journalist for both radio and newspapers.

I am a writer. A professional writer.

If you want to become a professional writer as well, start writing. It doesn’t matter if no one reads your work. (I know it’s frustrating) But if you’re a writer, write!

Medium gives you the opportunity to write and publish for FREE! Take advantage of it. Write as much as you can. Edit and edit some more.

And I can’t stress this enough, read other writers. Find the writers on Medium that speak to you. That write the way you want to write and follow them and watch how they do it.

Above all, keep writing!

About the Author:

D.Scott Schwartz, M.Ed. is the CEO and Founder of Leaf Academy as well as an education think tank. He writes articles for Medium, and makes posts on social media providing data, facts and evidence to the general public. He hosts a weekly LIVE podcast on Instagram called “Tuesdays with Schwartz.” For more information go to the Leaf Academy website (link in bio.)