I love this. Even better, the more eyes we get on those pieces we want to earn us money, the better. No matter how well I write- and I have won prizes-I still make stupid mistakes. I often can’t see them. Others can. What I do is publish, walk away for a few minutes, and then read with different eyes. Publishing forces me to come back swiftly and read with intent. I see subjects and verbs that don’t match. Run on sentences. Utter blather and bullshit that is nothing more than an angry rant on my part. The few moments/seconds/ minutes I give myself to rest from a piece gives me perspective.

One article takes me about an hour. Those which involve solid research take several. And even then, the boon of Medium is that I have people who do me the honor of firing corrections that my prejudiced eyes don’t see.

I’ve written my entire life. Frankly nobody cares, except for those who benefit directly from my words. Writing is my profession and my art. I might add to your advice here, that if we’re going to be writers, me MUST read. That means not just other Medium writers. But other, very good writers.

I read classics, novels, barn burners and bullshit. I read good ad copy. One of my favorites is Lee Child, for his spare, swift, fast-moving prose. I read Shakespeare for the sheer beauty of it. Thoreau. Writers READ.

Because all too often I read articles on here, and to your point- with shit grammar, obvious and childish mistakes, poor sentence structure that make reading them a chore. So I don’t. There are too many truly good writers to bother with shit writing.

You want to be good? This takes as much intellectual exercise as my physical body requires aerobics, weight work and a good diet. You don’t feed your skills, then what you will produce will be, kindly, verbal diarrhea.

I still produce stuff that falls in that category because I write an article a day. that discipline forces me to work. Some of what I write embarrasses the crap out of me later. But it’s work, and it stands as a signpost of the work I still need to . You never, ever, ever arrive as a writer. There is no “there”, there. It is a perpetual exercise in defeat, failure, and on occasion, a genuinely glorious piece that moves people.