Do you hate writing? Do your teachers always make you write long, dreadful papers? When you have to do these things, I wouldn't blame you for hating writing, but what if you were writing about something you love or something that inspires you? What if you only had to write short, 300-word essays? Writing online comes in all shapes and sizes, and it may just change your view on writing as a whole.
Online Platforms
There are many online platforms that you can write and publish on for free, such as Twitter and Medium. A site called Typeshare helps you format your writing to publish onto either one of these sites, providing a preview of what it will look like before publishing. Twitter is a great space to publish writing, and you can do it in many forms such as threads, or include links to your writing from type share. You can view your analytics on Twitter to see which topics of writing are doing well, and which ones aren't. This, on top of joining groups and lists, you can really get your name out there if you wanted to.
Another platform you can write on is Medium. There are many publications you can become a writer of, and have your stories read by people. It is usually better to have longer writing while publishing on Medium, and grammar and structure are extremely important. There are a few guidelines to follow when publishing on Medium, including having an image, proper headings, and more.
Personal Experience
Prior to college, I had to write many long and boring essays about topics that I simply did not like. After taking a college reading and writing class with a great professor, Lance Cummings, I was introduced to Atomic Essays and online writing. Atomic Essays are short, 200-300(ish) word essays directed towards a specific audience, about any topic you choose. The fact that I was able to write about anything I wanted excited me greatly, and made it a lot easier to write in general. I would get carried away occasionally and continue to keep writing past the limit. Writing about things that I do, or things that interest me, to a specific audience help with many things in the real world. While helping people online learn about a specific topic, it can help you teach people the topic anywhere, like in a professional setting.
Medium Blogs, while usually longer in length, are just as enjoyable as Atomic Essays. In these blogs, you write about a specific topic and do research on the topic. I personally enjoy learning more about the topics, mostly because I got to choose them. It was very interesting to learn more about these things I was interested in.
For example, I wrote a blog about retired UNC head coach Roy Williams, which was submitted to a publication named Sports Raid. Using the skills learned in the class, made this accomplishment fairly easy. It was great being able to learn a lot more about Roy Williams, since I only ever had seen him on TV, and met him in person once. Being able to actually accomplish something like getting your blog published feels amazing, and can really boost your attitude toward writing.
Writing in high school felt pointless, all you do is write about assigned topics that are usually quite boring, and they do nothing but get a grade. Most of the time, the only people that even read the essays are you, the teacher, and whoever proofread them. There is absolutely no accomplishment in this, and it seems to give writing a bad wrap. Writing can actually be a great way to help other people or even yourself, dumping all your mental thoughts into writing can make you feel much better.
Give it a Chance
To conclude, don't knock writing until you try different forms of it, coming from someone who used to hate writing. Writing online is much easier, simple, enjoyable, and beneficial for not only you but others. I now enjoy writing since I have the skills to be able to do it correctly, and if you simply give online writing a try, it may change your views altogether, and make the rest of your scholarly and writing career easier.