How to Write And Publish One Article Per Day For a Year

No one cares about your unicorn.

Jun 21, 2024

Yes…this is possible.

I say this first because everyone I speak to gives me the, “Wow, you’re crazy!” face every time I tell them I once wrote articles every day for two years.

I used to have that same reaction every time someone got a 100% on a chemistry exam. “Like, what the hell are these people on?” But once I applied myself to writing, I realized it’s not as hard as people make it out to be.

The idea is ingrained in your mind that it’s impossible to write every single day for a year. Get rid of that mindset now. Want the small answer of how to do this? Hard work.

Here’s the long answer.

**Conjure Sh*tty Ideas**

I come up with ten ideas and write them down in my notes app every single day.

I got this technique from James Altucher. The point of this technique is to get your mind warmed up. Start thinking. Come up with anything. Don’t stop writing until you’ve hit ten ideas.

On average, five of my ideas are mediocre, three are shitty, and two are amazing.

You can’t get those amazing ideas unless you toss the crappy ones out of your head. Most writers aren’t willing to come up with crappy ideas, and that’s where they get bit in the butt.

There’s no microscope on you. Ernest Hemmingway isn’t spying on you.

Come up with your shitty ideas proudly and watch the great ones congregate on your phone screen.

Write Whatever Comes to Your Mind

I know this sounds weird, but hear me out.

This depends on what type of writer you are. Do you like to research your ideas thoroughly and outline your article? Do you like to write on the fly and let each paragraph come one by one?

I’m the latter.

I can’t stand researching certain topics unless I’m super interested in them. To me, the whole research part is a waste of time. But if you’re a hardcore research writer, I’d do that while editing, not during the writing process. It’s too much to worry about.

Freewriting is a godsend.

That’s the big secret to my consistency. Every article I write is a free-write. I don’t really think when I’m writing. I type whatever comes to my mind.

As long as your article has these three components, it’s fine to free-write:

A clear purpose — Who is this article for? What is it about?
It helps the reader — What value can you give your potential audience?
Tons of white space — No one wants to read the Declaration of Independence. Split up your paragraphs and use bullet lists as much as possible.

Everything I write comes from the heart. Writing is my therapy, so I take this approach when I write daily.

Treat writing as your therapy and with enough reps, you’ll be able to write 700 words in 30 minutes (you write fast when you’re emotional).

No One Cares About Your Unicorn

Most writers want their articles to read like a unicorn from the magical land of writing heaven.

Like I said before, no one cares. “Good writing” is subjective in the online writing world. I can’t tell you how many articles I’ve written where I said, “This is terrible.” and they end up doing the best.

That just shows that we writers have no idea what people will gravitate to. We can have an idea of what people will like, but virality is a whole other beast.

That’s why I don’t worry about editing.

It takes me 10–15 minutes per day to edit my articles. I only check for two main components:

Grammatical errors
Flow

As long as the article is readable and flows well, it’s ready to go online. There’s no point in having prolific prose or jaw-dropping figurative language.

50 Shades of Grey proves that prose doesn’t matter to have writing success.