Here’s what none of them taught me.
Last year I took three classes to learn how to make big bucks writing on Medium. I wanted to know what I was doing before starting to write on Medium. I figured if I were super-prepared and super-knowledgeable, I would be guaranteed to make at least $1,000 my first month on Medium.
From there on, the sky would be the limit.
I had read about plenty of people who support themselves solely by writing on Medium in the Partner Program, some earning more than $10,000 a month. With that type of money, my husband could quit his job on the…
It was as anticlimactic as losing my virginity.
The other day I realized that I had published 100 stories.
It was funny because I didn’t feel any different. I looked the same. My house was still dirty. Nothing miraculous had happened as a result of hitting that milestone.
All I had ever heard was how I needed to “race” to publish 100 stories.
Everyone said that writing would be different and easier after that. There was something so magical about 100 stories.
Allow me to be your ambassador of telling it like it is; this whole “race to 100 stories” transformation is a crock.
Yet another fib that…
And what I’m doing about it.
You never know where life will take you. I’ve found from experience that life usually takes you places where you didn’t expect to go — if you let it.
I spent 20 years of my life in a career I hated. I didn’t expect that to happen. Shortly after that, I spent three years in bed with a deep depression. I didn’t expect that to happen either.
While in bed, I figured I would make my way out of there sooner or later, so I spent my time under the covers reading and researching about careers that I could do…
Take control of your future.
It’s not unusual to see stories on Medium about how someone is having a bad month (or year) on Medium, especially since only about six percent of writers earn $100 or more in a month.
At one time, these writers may have been happy with their Medium stats, or at least optimistic, but now their stats have tanked, and there is no sign of recovery in sight.
I don’t envy anyone in that position. It sucks.
Fortunately, there are things that you can do to control your experience on Medium. …
Someday you need to actually get married.
Dear Lisa,
Calling you my friend is generous on my part. However, it’s difficult to think of you as a real friend because I find your beliefs and life goals offensive.
While I was a little girl swinging on the swing set, playing with trucks, and making mud pies, you were pushing around a baby doll in a carriage and thinking about the beautiful white dress you would wear on your wedding day.
As we got older, I was reading Glamour while you read Bride’s.
While I read Entrepreneur, you still read Bride’s.
Now, as I receive catalogs for vaginal…
There’s more risqué writing available for you to read!
My second humorous, sexy story about dating in my thirties has been published.
A reader suggested that I give this writing style a try, and I’m glad I did. I’m having a great time!
I write under the pen name L. K. Smithe.
Please check it out and let me know what you think.
Thanks, and happy reading!
Linda Kowalchek is a work in progress and a member of the typewriter generation. She spends her time with her husband and her rescue cats waiting for golf balls to crash through their…
Don’t settle.
Lately, it seems like there is an abundance of stories on Medium about how to write as many stories as possible, as quickly as possible. Stories like “How To Write 37 Stories in 37 Minutes” and “I Don’t Eat or Sleep Because All I Do Is Write Really Fast.”
Further, quantity seems to be preferable over quality on Medium. Writers crank out a story and then move on to the next, making it easy to make mistakes that they don’t catch while editing — if they edit. …
It’s only temporary.
I like to read all of the how-to-make-money-on-Medium stories. But that’s only because I like to have something to complain about. It brings out the curmudgeon in me. And sometimes, I enjoy being cranky — like today.
I love to read stories like “How To Make $1,000 a Month by Writing Three Haikus a Week About Used Dental Floss.” But, please, don’t shut your pie hole. I love those stories.
However, most readers don’t consider these stories to be quality reading. Most people would enjoy a bullshit warning on those articles in a black box like the warning on drugs…
I just published my first sexy story!
The coolest thing about life is how quickly it can change for the better. The second coolest thing about life is how you can write about those changes.
Recently, a reader commented on one of my stories that I should consider writing about sex. I initially laughed it off, but the possibility of writing about the escapades from the third decade of my life intrigued me.
I’m a firm believer that experiences are opportunities. Everything that happens to you allows you to learn from it and share that lesson.
My thirties were some pretty exciting times, and keeping those experiences…
