My Medium Numbers have shrunk dramatically and I really don’t care…
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Writing should be for the right reasons
When I started writing short stories for Medium, it was a complete and total escape from the events and things going on around me. it was my escape.
An amazing thing happened to me. The more I wrote the higher my readership numbers went. I was amazed. I loved writing and the idea of getting a nice additional passive income for doing something I loved was a bonus and it was addictive. The higher the check the more I wanted to write. I didn’t care who was reading and in some cases what I was writing, I just wanted eyes on my stories and I thought about ways to capture an audience.
When I received insulting critiques from someone who called himself/herself the ‘’Professor’’ I loved it. The notes were sharp and insulting and fun. The Professor wanted to know why I felt qualified to write and provided a constant barrage of insults. I received two nasty notes and they put a huge smile on my face. I thought the idea of someone caring enough about my writing to take the time to voice their opinion, was amazing. I really felt the Professor’s notes were tongue in cheek, and I enjoyed getting them, and then they stopped.
In fact after writing three hundred and sixty five short stories I slowed my writing roll. I’m now up to almost four hundred and forty stories and I am adding new stories on a much slower pace. Alas my readership numbers have slipped to all-time lows. The Professor seems to be on a hiatus or he/she is busy writing and insulting someone else’s writing and has lost interest in what I’m doing.
I wonder if maybe the stuff I’m writing isn’t salacious enough, or I have become boring and then I realize, I am back to why I started writing in the first place, for the pure pleasure of it.
Writing is still my escape, and if others enjoy what I do that’s a huge bonus, but the reality is, I self indulgently write for myself. I enjoy what I do and I will continue to do it. My goal is to create two years of short stories or seven hundred and thirty stories that will allow for the reading of one original story per day as people sit on the toilet.
My pace may seem slower, the dollar returns much less, but the satisfaction level is still there. The result is I still have my escape from reality outlet and intend to continue using it.
I wonder if I’ve reached my peak in terms of readership numbers, but at the end of the day the truth is, it really doesn’t matter. I just wonder if I’ll ever hear from the Professor again. Feedback, good or bad is always very cool to receive.
