By Karen
As a text professional, it's been six years now, and I've been doing personal writing for the past five years.
Many people think that my journey into personal writing is 'getting ahead of the curve'—planning early for my future. Yet, to be honest, I started writing simply because "reality was too tragic to discuss anywhere else, so I had to talk about it online." Unexpectedly, this tragic documentation resonated with many netizens and gave me "confidence."
Though reflecting back, that confidence is merely "self-belief." Whether I can actually gain societal and market recognition remains a long road ahead.
Perhaps it's the accumulated hands-on experience of 'non-fictional writing.' When working in news media, there were time pressures, article quotas, and page view KPIs. I'm the type of person who becomes obsessively committed once given a KPI—so committed that I'll stick to my convictions regardless of others' dislike or hatred. You could say I'm one of those workers who are both loved and hated.
In the media industry, the daily quota for breaking news was at least 7 articles, each around 500 to 700 words. For feature reports, the daily output was roughly 2 pieces of 2,000-word articles each. Of course, journalism has its own standards. The day before, you must 'pitch'—list out what you plan to write the next day, explain who you'll interview as news sources, or have already completed interviews and will start writing the next day.
Mature text professionals don't need reminders; they naturally possess unique perspectives. Companies also track daily topics and themes, so the content being written is constantly adjusted.
With all this high-pressure production, when I returned to real life and started writing, I refused to chase KPIs or worry about having a particular perspective or organizing 'value.' Things like how many articles per day, how many per week, how much traffic per month, or how many knowledge points in each piece—none of that.
I wonder if this real-life laziness has paradoxically created 'knowledge anxiety' for me?
Since early last year, I've observed many people starting to write. As for my reasons for writing, they're quite different from theirs. Not that strategic writing is right or wrong, but when writing becomes a 'means to an end,' does it taint the benefits that 'content influence' itself brings?
Those benefits are: once you have influence, you can convey the 'correct' perspectives, 'correct' research, 'correct' market trends, and 'correct' tested findings to others, allowing them to gain something that could impact their entire lives. Therefore, protecting the value of your own expertise and stories is incredibly important.
However, recently, writing has become a rush where everyone seems stuck on 'style building'—using words to tell people "this is the kind of person I am," "this is how I live." Empty rhetoric and stacked achievements—will they bear good fruit or bad?
I deeply admire the 'cross-disciplinary creators'—a group of people who genuinely want to write and have passion for writing. They don't chase speed or instant visibility. Instead, they're willing to slow down, carefully hone their content production perspectives from the details, develop their personal expression abilities, master communication skills, and maintain their own pace. When stuck, they seek help together, without needing to struggle alone waiting to be noticed.
Cross-disciplinary creators encouraging one another
These creators are characterized by setting high standards for themselves, expecting improvement with each piece, maintaining conscious self-directed learning, and accompanying one another.
Perhaps modern fast-paced life has made most people forget that delicate, refined pursuit of doing one small thing well. In fact, when there's refinement, there's style; when there's style, there's reputation; when there's reputation, there's reach; and then comes influence. The outcome is the same, but the difference in process will also influence how content receivers think.
Can your production truly guarantee it's correct AND has a perspective?
If you're not passionate about writing itself, but rather passionate about 'building a monument for yourself,' then conversely, haven't readers seeking knowledge been sacrificed?
Regarding cross-disciplinary collaboration: https://lin.ee/K6qmDmw
