My Top 2021 Stories And A Closing Thought
Just because they went viral, doesn’t make me a good writer.
From a writing perspective, 2020 and 2021 have been by far my best years so far. In 2020, I finished drafting my novel, and that in itself felt immense. It felt like both a success story and a therapeutic exercise. 2021, especially the last quarter of it, saw my blogging going places like never before. Having said that, if I must be honest with myself, it’s also directly proportional to the effort I have invested. Writing a novel of over 400 pages, and roughly 50 articles in 2021 is exponentially more writing than I have ever done before. Who knew hard work pays off, right?
I must admit, I am still only half-comfortable calling myself a writer, but as I state on my website:
If you write, you’re a writer. Good, mediocre, utter shite… Who cares? Keep writing.
So, there you have it. I now have not one but two careers. One is a software developer, the other one is a writer. Am I a good one? Hard to tell. I, for one, feel like I certainly am doing something right. I got not one, but two Top Writer titles within a month, reads and engagement are higher than ever, over 95% of my stories got curated, and even my controversial articles are attracting serious feedback and debate. On that note, let’s see what those were…
The controversial ones
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t write to stir controversy. I have controversial ideas that I like to share. Every so often I’m wrong, other times I’m right, but it never really matters. Writing is a form of expression. Jotting it all down and sharing it with the world is merely a means to release those thoughts into the wild and make space for new ones in my brain. Some of my thoughts just happen to be controversial, and I am fully aware. At times, I even exercise the devil’s advocate role. Partially because it’s fun and interesting, and frankly, with a bit of imagination, it does make good writing, and I do like reading my own stories.
The popular ones
One could argue that the controversial stories also make popular stories, but I would prefer to keep the distinction clear here. My popular stories tend to be about either tech or software development, but this year there’s an unexpected one on the list as well. Who knew a little weekend “invention” could get so much attention!
The humble bundle
In high school, I wasn’t a popular kid. I had the hottest girlfriend, but that actually made things worse. The rest of the girls couldn’t get why she dated me, and the guys couldn’t figure out how I managed to get her to date me. Well, for the record, I didn’t do anything special, I was just myself. And that’s true when it comes to writing as well, which is why I want to mention some very low-scoring stories I wrote this year because I feel those actually have more value than the popular ones.
But enough about me…
All this me-me-me makes me want to read someone else’s stuff for a change, and on that note, while I have probably spent more time writing than reading this year, there are a few new memorable writers I’ve “connected” with through their stories or comments over the last few months, who I think are worth not just following, but subscribing to! Check them — Daniel Berryhill, Robin Nemesszeghy, Grace Bianco, Sorin Dolha — out!
Where’s my 2022 going?
Well… places. That’s for sure. I am going to keep my steady blogging going. Around 12 stories a month. I find that’s a good number for me. I get to stay creative while not turning it into a second job. I’m also joining a great company as a staff software engineer, which should come with interesting new challenges to solve.
Will also be launching a charity organization for accessibility — which will have its own publication — with my best buddy Andrew Gribben (stay tuned for that). Finally, my aforementioned novel is going live — on Substack. I think it will be a good testing ground for my episodic release approach. This last one is very personal for me, so if you’re religious, pray for me, if not, send some good thoughts into the universe or subscribe here to my blog, so you’ll find out as soon I go live!
Other than that? Well, I am not sure if I’ll have much time left for anything else. I feel extremely productive. I have been feeling more and more productive over the last two years, and I am planning to bring all that energy into the new year and pile some more on top of it.
And on that note, have a happy and safe New Year, and keep reading, writing, and doing all the things that make you feel alive, cause if you haven’t already heard, life’s too damn short!
Thank you for reading, and thank you to all my 2021 readers, subscribers, and referral members! 🙏
Did you know that whenever you subscribe to become a Medium Member, us writers, get a cut? You get a ton of great articles, we get a coffee. Sounds like a fair deal to me…
Attila Vago — Software engineer, editor, writer, and occasional music critic. Pragmatic doer, Lego fan, Mac user, cool nerd. JS and Flutter enthusiast. Accessibility advocate.
