Milestones: Becoming a Semi-Pro Writer
My 2 cents.
First off, I would like to use this time to acknowledge that I’ve reached a total of 0.000002 million followers. I wasn’t sure how far I’d take this whole writing thing especially since the Engineering types aren’t too famous for their communication skills. I do greatly appreciate it since I know the writing is mediocre but maybe my thoughts convey meaning.
Social “Me”-dia
I hate social media. I dislike the shallow representation of the human experience and the engineered manipulation of human emotion. Originally, it is easy to see how it stems from connecting individuals. When money entered the chat room, the tech companies only cared about raw traffic. This meant that the actual interaction between people did not need to have any sort of meaning or value. You just need to be on the app and giving away likes to feed the dopamine addicted. I’m just bitter because it has become detrimental in fostering meaningful relationships and robbed me of the quality time for which I long.
Texting sucks since verbal delivery has greater dimensions of expression. Photos are lifeless after editing, filters, and after who knows how many takes. Writing hits different. Instead of having my character judged based on 150 characters or less, or by physical appearance, or by the attention I can get. In my writing, I get to leave you thoughts, ideas, and emotions that are fleshed out to the best of my ability. It’s true that I could have re-written this sentence a couple of times and maybe polished it before publishing. In the end, I know I sat my butt down and put in the work which is what gives each follow that much more weight.
Pay me like one of your French girls
I ruined the quote for you and I’m not sorry. I started writing in June and didn’t have any traction. My lack of confidence also led me to avoid promoting my writing to people I know personally. By July I was just expecting this to not go anywhere fast but here we are.
This last month I got paid, $0.02 USD.
I have to specify USD because it’s a big deal for Canadians. It’s a big deal to me personally since it represents that first push-up after months of not exercising. Writing isn’t nearly as straightforward as pushing the ground down but if I can make two cents, I can make two more. I’m sure I still have a long way to go to sharpen my skill set but I’m glad you are along for the ride.
Final Thoughts
Growing in followers is exciting and being paid is also a big motivator. Not because of the endless pursuit of financial wealth driven by universal greed but because Medium’s algorithm calculated that you are actively reading this. To me, that is nearly as good as a friend who is willing to listen. I know you aren’t capable of interrupting me as I write this, but you are a great listener. That’s my 2 cents.