Except to read a few articles by writers I've followed and learned from over the last couple of years (like you, Tom), I have mostly abandoned Medium. For about 6 months I was writing (though not publishing) every day, sipping the Medium Koolaid that tasted like the promise of sweet success and fantasizing about the $1000 a month I might bring in from my stories. Then, my readership plummeted overnight. My meager earnings didn't even cover the electricity it took to power my laptop. I had to become Indiana Jones to find new and talented writers with something interesting to…
Politics | History
Caesar crossed the Rubicon. Washington crossed the Delaware. What line will the heir to the Cult of Trump cross?
Joe Duncan, in his article The Clash Between Trump and the United States Looms in the Coming Days, makes the case that January 6th, 2021 is analogous to January 10th, 49 B.C., when Julius Caesar and his army defied Roman law by crossing the river Rubicon, thereby plunging the Roman Republic into civil war. Ultimately, Caesar won and imperial Rome was born.
Please read Joe’s article here first. It is excellent.
On January 6th, Congress will meet to certify the electrical college vote.
Despite no evidence of election fraud, and with no hope of success, Trump loyalists in Congress intend to mount a challenge to the election results and the electoral process…
as I prepared my first cup of coffee…
Rage, Don’t Age
And I’m trying hard not to go gentle into that good night.
This morning, I read an excellent article by Joe Duncan titled It Took Me a Year to Make Nearly $10,000 a Month on Medium. I recommend the article to you, my friend, not because Duncan reveals technical secrets or templates to write viral articles on Medium.
Rather, Duncan teaches us to take chances, be authentic, dig deep into “…the depths of myself, unearthing the dark stuff we don’t usually talk about and put it into a story.”
Joe Duncan is a successful writer on Medium with almost 11,000 followers as of this writing. …
If there is one thing I love more than my cup of coffee in the morning, it’s chronicling my daily progress on my Medium spreadsheets!
This morning I was excited to read a great story by Mary DeVries titled Using a Simple Spreadsheet to Organize Your Writing. I was thrilled to see that I’m not the only one that loves using spreadsheets to stay organized and motivated.
I have two spreadsheets (although I am in the process of merging them into one). The first for keeping track of my Medium stories in progress from draft through publication, and the second that tracks data like the number of followers gained each day, daily earning goals vs. reality, and publications I am accepted into and interested in writing for.
I’ve been giving the first spreadsheet away as a “Thank You!” gift to my readers here: Writerby Stories Management Tool.
Please try it!
Medium vs. NewsBreak
Yes, at least for now.
Tom Kuegler, in his publication Finding Tom, published a story on November 26 titled Should You Quit Medium For Newsbreak?. What follows is my response, which began originally as a comment, but grew into this story. Your reactions are welcome.
If I make $1000 in month one as a “creator” on NewsBreak, that will be an increase of 10,549.6% compared to what I’ll make this month on Medium.
10,549.6%.
For far less effort.
Medium’s recent changes have destroyed my stats — views, reads, earnings — But most importantly, the changes have destroyed my confidence in Medium to reward new and emerging…
Living A Compassionate Life
Lessons learned about compassion and love from a jolly old monk.
How is your supply of compassion these days? I’ll admit, mine has been flagging recently.
Why?
I’m alarmed at the polarizing politics of our day. I’m scared of contracting COVID-19. I’m worried about my current economic situation. I’m pissed that the neighbor’s GD dog keeps surreptitiously pooping on our lawn.
I admit it. I’m wound up.
It’s hard to be compassionate when the anxiety knob is at 11 (All due respect, Nigel).
But being alarmed, scared, worried, and angry does absolutely nothing to help me feel better about my circumstances, nor do these negative emotions help me help anyone else in my universe feel better about their circumstances.
This morning, I decided it was time to regroup.
Time for a “checkup from the neck-up,” as…
Politics at the End of the Trump Era
I want justice, and I want the rule of law to have the bite of a tiger. But if that feels like revenge to Trump and Trumpism, so be it.
It’s time for the bite of the tiger, people.
It’s time for the principled adults in our country to stand up and take actions that demonstrate that we’ve had enough of Trump and Trumpism.
It’s time to let Trump, his family, the Trump state media, Trump’s sycophantic enablers, the white supremacists, Proud Boys (et al.), and Trump’s fellow political authoritarians around the world know we’re not going to let this assault on our democracy go unpunished.
When Michelle Obama said, “When they go low, we go high,” she didn’t mean that we should turn a blind eye and ignore the bad behavior of those who would mistreat us.
She…
Life Lessons & Philosophy
Become the sculptor of your experience and turn your life into a work of art.
“Our intention creates our reality.” — Wayne Dyer
For the first 20 or so years of my life, I believed that life was a series of events that happened to me.
I accepted that whatever good or bad came my way — whatever life had in store for me — the significant events of my life were molded and shaped more by happenstance and luck than anything else.
Then one night during my senior year of college, I retreated from the blaring stereos, the stench of stale beer and spilled bong water, to dive deep into the library’s stacks for some quiet and introspection.
Quite by chance, I read something that challenged my view of how life could unfold for each of us…
Politics
Here is my quick list of things President Biden can do to help begin the healing from the Trump Presidency immediately
In the last 15 minutes, the election was called in favor of Biden/Harris.
I can breathe again.
I quickly assembled a list of actions that I encourage the Biden administration to enact on day one. Trump and Trumpism have done enormous damage to our country and our standing in the world. I hope the Biden/Harris administration will immediately begin to heal the wounds.
These are my personal opinions, and they may go farther than you believe is good for our country, or they may not go far enough. I don’t expect that we will all agree. …
