An Alternative Motivation

Writing should be about more than just money.

I have been a ghostwriter and freelance writer for more than ten years now. Some of the work I do is fun, some is boring and some is so downright painful that the idea of just wandering out into the garden and sticking a dinner fork in my throat can be almost overwhelming. It’s how I make much of my living so that is life and I must suck up the bad stuff and appreciate the good.

Then there is the writing on this platform. Statistics show that most of us will never make more than one hundred dollars per month here.

I would be surprised if three percent of the people reading this piece earn more than thirty-five dollars in any given month, this despite the myriads of articles telling you how the earn a gazillion dollars in one post, or how to gain a following the size of the population of Indian, simply by writing every day of the week.

There are many ways to look at the work you put up on Medium. You can keep pumping out articles day after day in the hope that you will cross that elusive tipping point and start making real money. Another way is to treat this, is an arena in which you can do things a little differently to the way you handle your conventional writing work. If the odds are so incredibly stacked against you making big bucks here, why not use it as a method to write the things that you regard as important.

Whether they be social, environmental or personal issues, or simply pieces designed to entertain and bring a smile, this platform gives you a voice, and that is rare in the freelance writing field.

I don’t decry people writing for money, I do decry people churning out rubbish day after day in the hope that one day those pieces will suddenly turn into diamonds.

We inhabit a planet where we are constantly being told to seek more, earn more and buy more. In fact, it goes beyond that, we are bombarded with messages telling us that we deserve more. If writers on this platform focused on giving back more to the society that we find ourselves living in, I believe that it would elevate the quality of the articles we are currently seeing, and at the same time help us become better at our trade. For thirty-five dollars a month wouldn’t you rather take a shot at writing a piece that you are passionate about than a dozen clickbaity listicles.

Some of the greatest writers in this world changed the course of history or penned pieces so moving that they have themselves, become part of history. Many of them were never recognized in their lifetimes, and yet they continued to write because they believed in what they had to say and because the creative process they found themselves caught up in was too absorbing to let go of.

On this platform, it is unlikely you will become rich, not even moderately so. The stats back me up on this one. And yet, if you take the financial motivation out of the equation, here you have an unfettered opportunity to say the things you really want to say; the things that made you put pen to paper in the first place.

I am going to leave you with a slightly wild and unconventional suggestion. Instead of desperately pumping out that next fluff piece for a dollar or two, take a day off and try to remember what it was that brought you here in the first place. If it was all about the money, good luck to you and honk when you drive past in your Ferrari. If it was about something more than that, then don’t let go of that dream. Money is just a passing thing, dreams are forever, providing you don’t sell them somewhere along the way.

“If you chase anything in life chase the thing that gets you excited about living. Chase the things that give you hope, happiness and a glimpse of a better life. Chase the things that make you want to be a better person. Chase the things that inspire you to think, create and live joyfully. Chase the things that reinforce in your soul that you can make a difference. Chase the things that make you want to transform your heart from selfish to selfless. When you chase that kind of storm you are chasing rainbows.”

-Shannon L. Alder