TONI TALKS | SOCIAL EXPERIMENT | IT’S A WRAP

The End Of the Booster Club

Reference ✺ Final Round-Up

Indulging a flair for the dramatic, I channeled the spirit of Marc Anthony. It follows the template delivered in his burial speech at Caesar’s funeral.

𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒍𝒖𝒃 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 I come to bury my role as a coach, as well as to praise it. The hope is that the good done will live on via evergreen content. So let it live forever on my pub Help Is Here. “Was I ambitious?” If it were so, it was a grievous fault. And grievously have I answered. Here, underneath these words, I leave a listicle of links. They lead you to a diverse range of writers. Hence, the reason to speak at my coaching funeral. Many of you have diversely connected. Yet, I have lost my desire to lead, all who have no desire to be led. Bear with me; for my heart is in the coffin with the role. And I must pause, to express that my heart for coaching will likely never come back to me.

𝑳𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 I can no longer keep the pace of reading everyone, answering emails, creating posts, and writing. I’ve stopped reading all my regulars and that in itself is crushing. If it were possible to clone myself, I could keep going. But week 6 is it. The good news is that all the aggregated posts will live on the site as Medium remains a viable entity. I wish everyone the best. I will be reading you all. Just not at the same rate or pace.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆!

My pub, “Help Is Here” exists now in beta. It will go live on January 1st, 2024. Over the next three months, I will alternately work on building out an information-rich resource. In the meantime, there is sufficient content to reference.

Virtual connection CAN continue without a coach. You can draw on (pun intended) the information whenever it works with your schedule

This was a social experiment. Now it will morph into a more organic mode. Everyone is free to move at their own pace.

We are all independent thinkers. That’s what attracted us to Medium. We are all writers. We are all here to do our own thing in our own way. None of us came to Medium to be coordinated or organized.

I threw myself in the mix. Though my natural state is disorganization… harnessing focus to organize my brain worked well for me in many areas of my life. I thought it might also work for fellow writers.

All I wanted to do was pay forward connection in the same way that helped me gain traction. This was the only way I knew how to do it. But Medium is not the right place for that.

Experience (over the past 5 weeks) taught a practical lesson. Medium a throughway for transients. Writers pop in and out of pubs. There’s constant movement in and out. Trying to organize writers with that mindset is akin to herding cats.

For example, players coming and going is confusing. The jersey numbering system only works for a static, seasonal situation. The issue that’s giving me the most problem is when I don’t pickup the correct link. Fixing a broken link isn’t difficult. It’s time consuming. It requires scrolling through a writer’s catalog to again locate the source of the story.

Now, I fully understand what happened to Indigo. She was the writer who helped me gain traction. Indigo was brilliant when it came to connecting writers. She was a candle. She shined brightly. Then she burned out.

She ghosted all 600 of us. Nothing like personal perspective to put a problem in the proper context. I thought about the enormity of linking 600 writers. We hover around 65 (weekly) and I’m feeling thoroughly overwhelmed.

I too wanted to shine a light. Not like a candle, but more like a lighthouse. That’s what I’m shifting my focus to. My efforts will be on building out my pub, “Help Is Here.” When it is introduced on January 1st, 2024, is will stand and send out a beacon to every writer who is struggling on Medium.

As a businesswoman, I know when to pull the plug on an idea that isn’t moving forward. I’ve done as much as I can do. In total, I’ve connected in excess of 120 diverse writers over the past 5 weeks. I’m proud of that. I just can’t keep up with it anymore.

Please know the intention and effort were always pure.

I don’t want to disappoint anyone. Especially the newest members. I will not leave anyone hanging. I’ll still be reading all of you. The point was to be a creative conduit. To help every member have 5 to 10 eyes on every post published.

But I cannot in good conscience ask anyone to do what I cannot. I’m spending nearly all day, seven days a week on Medium. That’s both unhealthy and unsustainable.

Parting Thoughts

September 22nd is American Businesswoman’s Day which means I’m going back to the work world. For the past 5 weeks, my unofficial job was coach of the self-started Booster Club. It was fun. Then stressful.

I missed the meaning that comes with business ownership. For a while, the Booster Club filled in that void. However, it’s not sustainable for another six weeks. The shingles outbreak was my body’s way of telling me, 6 weeks was my max.

Real Talk: Completing the task of extracting, reading, and embedding links no longer felt like a productive use of time. We did successfully connect. But this is as far as I can go on this journey.

Though I’d denied it, even to myself, reading, commenting, and linking stories had consumed me. Though I crave connection, I value my health more.

It would be rude to ghost you all. I’m NOT gonna do that. I will NOT leave any of you hanging. I’ll still be here. Just in a different capacity. My goal is, as it always was, to create a cohesive publication that dispenses information about how to surf the waves of change on Medium.

I wish you all well and hope you will continue to read me as well as each other. I leave you with a listicle of links to reference.

Toni The Talker 【1】➡ Katherine Myrestad 【2】➡ Rodrigo S-C 【3】 Diren — the storyteller【4】➡Natalie【5】➡CosmicDancer 【6】➡ Frances A. Chiu【7】

Aleena G 【8】➡ Britt H. 【9】➡ Henery X 【10】 Prasanna Srinath Subhasinghe 【11】➡ Toya Qualls-Barnette 【12】Gerald Washington 【13】➡ Writer 【14】

B.R. Shenoy 【15】➡ Paul Gardner 【16】➡ Elvira Yuzbay 【17】 C. Elyse 【18】➡ Bee Wild 【19】➡ Deb Palmer 【20】➡ Annelise Lords 【21】

Scarlet Ibis James 🦩 【22】➡ Indirah Ambrose 【23】 Neera Handa Dr 【24】➡ Kendra Sparkles 【25】➡ Grace Bianco 【26】 Dr. Preeti Singh 【27】➡ Patricia Hamlett 【28】

Shanti C K 【29】➡ Trisha Faye 【30】➡ Theodore McDowell 【31】 Katy Lin 【32】➡ Maribelle Az 【33】➡ Mike Butler 【34】➡ A Shayens Abran 【35】

Pamela Oglesby 【36】➡ Desiree Driesenaar【37】 Malky McEwan 【38】➡ Sophia Tell- Stories 🤓📢🤓【39】 Benighted【40】➡ George J. Ziogas【41】➡ Sherry Atkinson 【42】

OCTAVIA EVER AFTER 【43】➡ Anna V【44】➡ Tesie Mills 【45】 Ashllyn T. 【46】➡ Tovah Rainsong 【47】➡ John Whye 【48】 Alize Henry【49】

FranMorelandJohns 【52】➡ Sue S.A 【53】➡ Douglas Lim 【54】

Ted Czukor 【57】➡ Eiman Fatima 【58】Jan Sebastian 🖐👩‍🦰 【59】 Maria Rattray 【60】➡ Julia A. Keirns 【61】➡ Bruce Coulter 【62】 Yana Bostongirl【63】

Srini【64】➡ Jimwebster【66】Shanté Nixon【67】➡ Devette Lindsay【69】

Asking For Your Help

To reach out to each other. To break out into smaller supportive pods. For my part, thanks to Medium, the linked lists will live forever (as evergreen content) on my pub Help Is Here.

I will still be here reading and writing. I read, to become a stronger writer. There are so many hidden gems on this platform that it blows my mind. Most of all I will continue to guide all, who want my help, in understanding how to navigate Medium’s constantly changing landscape.

However, the team coordination concept, with me in the role of coach is DOA. The unvarnished truth is, that I am first an artist. Then a writer. Not a coach. That role is unbelievably stressful. No wonder they get paid the big bucks!

Toni The Talker 【1】➡ Click on the number to read the post.

About Me/Essay 1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ 4️⃣

Conclusion

My request, to each of you, is to get to know who I am. I’ve selected 30 posts that amplify my mindset. They are embedded below. I’d appreciate the boost readership offers. Please spread the reads out, through the end of the year. If you’ve already read one scroll to the bottom of the post and it will show you something you haven’t already seen. If you’ve read them all (thanks mom & Brit) I will do my utmost to return that courtesy.

Note: I’ll always return the read. I’m behind and playing catch-up through the end of the month.

More Links

Artsy/Fun

1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ 4️⃣️⃣ Silly stuff sustains my sanity.

Boosted

1️⃣ 2️⃣ Two-fer, nothing then I hit the jackpot twice, in the same week!

Fantasy Fiction

1️⃣ Start of a young adult series.

Medium Related

1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ 4️⃣5️⃣ 6️⃣ 7️⃣ Second time around.

Poetry

1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ 4️⃣ 5️⃣️ I’m a poet who didn’t know it.

Woo Woo

1️⃣ 2️⃣ Encapsulates my belief that the universe is magical!

Though he’s gone, I’ll always be a daddy’s girl. My Father Knew Best; Father’s Day: Finding the Strength to Let Go