If Your Article is Less Than 5 mins, is it Worth a Post

The quantity vs quality debate.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

As a newbie on Medium, it has been sometimes hard to write an article to reach the 5 mins read mark and due to 2 reasons

1. I am someone who likes to keep things brief and the 5 mins reading time felt like I was over-explaining
2. Sometimes the content was complete at 3 mins, and I felt it was ok to stop there.

But I was proud to be able to complete an article with more than 5 mins read time and felt like provided enough credible source to give a share

But here 5 reasons why I think 5 mins read count is debatable

1. You know you have enough content for a quality article

This harsh but important if you’re struggling to make it through writing a medium-range article, why would you think readers will be interested?

I emphasized the word struggle because depending on the topic, a 5 mins read is a good enough length whereby you are not going too far into a tangent, and you are also remaining interesting.

2. Improve your writing skills

For every piece, you write your skills and learning about your own writing capabilities improve. Whether you are experienced or not in public writing, it is important to set yourself a challenge for every new piece. It would be so easy to stop for a limited story, and press publish but push yourself

3. Be proud of your piece

I have so much imposter syndrome on my abilities for any project I am doing. I am extremely critical of myself, so I find writing at a minimum of 5mins help in teaching myself to push the boundaries

4. Create tangible arguments

this is useful for me so I can understand if the article is worth a publish. Like everyone, I have so many ideas, but not all of them need to be shared with the public. It worth keeping this read time; I think an article needs to demonstrate thorough research and substance.

5. If you have more to write…

then take note, create a headline, and voila it’s the birth of inspiration for another article. I find that if I feel like extending my writing, it opens my mind to a pool of a wide array of other topics and thoughts. As writers, we know that inspiration can come from anywhere; in the most unexpected ways commonly while you’re in the middle of writing, however, I feel like I am at the peak of my productivity or content I will stop. Creating a quality piece is far more important.

6. Remove the idea that time and effort is not needed to be a natural writer

I don’t believe it is healthy to think that if you cannot swim through your word count and are struggling, you are an elementary writer, and if you are, it also ok we all start somewhere. There will be a time when you will write an article whereby you will complete it faster due to multiple reasons from experienced knowledge in the subject field to as simple as just motivation and energy to get it done.

7. Pause

I know that so many writers who can write in an hour be done, and that could be for reasons from experience to having enough information or using the moment of inspiration they have received to get it done. Rather than feeling the pressure to conform to this habit. Learn to accept that it is ok if you need time to reflect. Your better of this way as your content needs to make sense for the reader first and foremost.

I have learned to find a healthy middle ground of challenging myself to write more for longer. This will help me master my writing voice and push my boundaries; however, to stop when necessary, avoid repeating the unnecessary extra sentence. It’s quality over quantity.