Before becoming serious about my writing, my life revolved around my work in the casino industry. I worked weekends instead of weekdays, ten to twelve hours from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The opposite of a normal human being, I guess. I never really felt any negative effects of working night shifts, or graveyards as they call it, but I knew deep within that it was not healthy for me. After my solid run in the industry, I moved on to work for the government. Of course, I was again thrust into the graveyard shifts. As the newcomer, I had to take those ungodly shifts no one wanted.
At this point, I had written quite a few ideas, but the stakes were too low since I was the only one reading them.
Boredom was probably my number one enemy. If not that, then distraction. No one could stop me from sleeping on the job. My internet was unlimited. I could watch Netflix, YouTube, any movie I wanted, but none of those could scratch the itch that kept bothering me.
In January 2025, I started The Nightshift Journal on Substack. This was my response. And for reasons I still find unusual, in the wee hours of the morning my mind starts getting creative. Stories, thoughts, ideas come to visit me, and what better way to honor them than to write them down.
My inclination toward writing had once again sparked. A source of energy that began as early as when I was nine or ten years old. Words became fascinating to me. Fictional characters became something I crafted. Worlds were built inside my head, and so I wrote them down as a kid. It went on. In high school I wrote for my school paper and competed through my theatre scriptwriting. That carried on until I was a freshman. I continued writing, this time with research papers and the occasional play script, but as I matured, the impracticality, lack of support, and lack of nourishment became more apparent. I wrote less and less until I finally migrated to Canada, where I completely abandoned the child in me.
After sporadically writing for about three years, in an attempt to capture and get back to my inner voice, last year I began to write consistently. Daily even. Weekly. And I researched constantly on subjects that truly excite me.
Even though I know I have much to learn, here are a few things I have learned as I take back my inner voice.
What I have learned after a year of writing and publishing
You run out of ideas, but sitting down to write will make you come up with ideas that were just under your nose. Having nothing to write, for example, is something to write about.
Burning out is highly possible. Some people romanticize being a writer or author, but the reality is I now understand far better what it takes to write sensibly, consistently, and responsibly. When I first started writing, it was only a form of self-expression. As more and more people noticed what I do, my work became more open to scrutiny and examination. I admit that part of becoming a responsible writer is delivering to my subscribers and followers, but part of being a good and sensible writer is not just delivering. It is delivering quality work. This is why I decide to take breaks from time to time.
Do not get me wrong. Writing, editing, and polishing my work daily helped me get into an unimaginable groove that I never thought I could reach. The experience I gained through that is probably the most invaluable lesson I have learned, because it made me stick to my routine and my promise to myself to always deliver. But it came at the cost of fatigue, brain fog, and mediocrity. The articles I wrote that I deemed unpassable never got published. Now that I am more refreshed, and dare I say sober from all the stress, I realize I would have put them out regardless, just to deliver.
I have read more books than I ever have. This past year I read about twenty books, which is more than what I read in the past five years combined.
In turn, I have written about fifteen book reviews, which helped me polish my skills and gain more knowledge and more topics to write about.
Different styles capture different audiences. Just because it is not your jam does not mean it is bad content.
Writing and publishing gave me plenty of opportunities to read and consume other people’s work. Some have been helpful. Some made me sad. Some made me cry. Some motivated me. All of them taught me a lot and made me want to become better at what I do. The more I looked at other people’s work, the more I learned how far I still needed to go. But I also know, from reading my old works, how far I have already come.
I have also encountered works and topics that I know I will never get into. Not because they are bad, but because they are sincerely beyond my interests. That does not mean they are bad. It simply means they are something I refuse to read or write about.
Something is better than nothing. As long as you do not throw zeroes, you have done something.
Part of becoming a writer is the sheer act of doing it. Staring at a blank Word document is definitely hard, but not writing is harder to accept.
There were times when I really did not feel like writing, but I would still open a document and start with any word I could. It did not matter if it was three words or three hundred. The idea was to show up and write. And that goes for every worthy endeavor we pursue. Sometimes simply showing up is what creates the momentum we need.
Quality over quantity, but quantity is what will eventually create quality.
You have to go through it to learn to get better at it. You need those bad reps, those bad articles, so you can get them out of your system. You need to keep writing and keep sharpening your blade. The job is to create, not to critique your work. Leave that to the readers and to the haters. Learn from it if you will, but understand this. We will be bad first, and that is the most important curve. The beginning.
Much like the saying that you cannot make the shots you do not take.
I once had an associate who sent out one hundred resumes in one week. About thirty companies replied. Ten people gave him an interview. Two offered him a job. And one offered him a salary that truly satisfied him. Statistically, only thirty percent entertained his shot, ten percent talked to him, two percent offered him the opportunity, and the final one percent was the answer he was looking for.
Not all words are created equal. Some words mean the same thing but provide different impact when said or read. I noticed that as I got better at writing, I also got better at reading and identifying good from bad writers. When I read my old work, it was nothing impressive. As I read more and more from different writers, I started to learn different styles and ways to express ideas, emotions, and thoughts through writing.
I once wrote that all of us will perceive words differently unless explained thoroughly. The word beauty, for example, might evoke different emotions or images inside our heads. For some, beauty might conjure an image of a woman. For others, nature. For others, art.
You are what you consume. I noticed that the more I consumed literature about productivity, the more I thought about it. The more fantastical literature I read, the more inclined I felt to write about it. The more philosophy books I read, the more involved I became with it.
You will eventually find your own style. But also try a lot of things. What comes easy might be your affinity. What comes hard might get easier if you keep working on it.
When I was a kid, my first written works, as far as I remember, were fantasy and adventure. In high school, I wrote more slice of life stories. Then it became theatre scripts and plays. Eventually, I was writing research papers and nonfiction. I realized that each had its own moment of eruption within me. It was only last year that I really committed to writing fully, where I started to write personally and dove deep into nonfiction and philosophy. It came somewhat naturally because of experiences and dormant ideas within me, but like all things worthy of doing, things also get hard. This year, I am trying things slightly differently. I want to take back some of my childhood by exploring fictional writing.
You build an identity by the things you do most often. There is a concept by James Clear that centers on the person you become by achieving your goals through small wins or daily habits. To put it simply, you do not become a poet after writing one poem. You do not become a basketball player by shooting a single free throw. You are not a chef just because you cooked for a friend once. The act of becoming is simply doing it over and over again, regardless of results or rewards.
A writer is someone who writes even when no one is watching or reading his work. A basketball athlete practices daily and plays the game regardless of wins or defeats. When I started writing, I made sure to hone my skills and lock in even when no one was really reading my work. To this day, only a few know about me. Only a few know about the things I write or have written. But that is the whole idea. You become by simply doing the act, even without the applause or cheers.
XERGIUS 