I Wrote What I Loved for A Single Month, Plus Got Paid.
I never thought it was possible. I’m here to tell you that it is…
My brain tends to hang out in a state of perpetual thought. That usually means; something worthy of a quick jot comes along once in a while.
Unless of course, I’m down with a severe case of writer’s block.
I know we’ve all been there.
Nothing a good ol’ thesaurus and a cup of coffee can’t fix. Am I right?
Zero goals, one month
When I began spitting out articles, I had no aim. I was just a dude prepared to take on the world — the digital one.
The only topic I wrote about was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I found it amusing.
The action of turning my thoughts into words not only clarified my mind but also sharpened my game on the mats.
A true double-edged sword, there’s nothing better than that.
Except for my juicy results
Because I’m sure you’re itching to see that Medium stats graph, here it is.
For a single month and my first one no less, I’m thrilled. I never expected to see this much response so quickly.
With over 700 views, 250 reads, and more than 20 fans, I can confidently say I am more than satisfied.
I can also say I’ve made more than $15 as a newbie writer on Medium.
It feels damn good.
As you can see, it was a slow start. Some days I wouldn’t even get any views. As discouraging as it was, I decided to keep with it.
I knew I needed to break out into a new plateau so I formed a strategy.
What I did to get here
It sounds cliche, but I sincerely wrote from my heart about something I sincerely enjoyed.
When I returned to my Medium account after writing one random article about six months ago, I created a publication called “The Gentle Art.”
It was super clutch that I came back because I had previously been part of the Medium Partner Program before you needed 100 followers.
I literally posted what happened at Jiu-Jitsu class, along with a few revelations that came to mind.
That’s it.
Next, I heard about the potential for submitting articles to publications and gave it a shot.
On my first try, I got accepted, published, and curated.
The carrot on a stick: Curation
As I’m sure all of you know, curation on Medium is like gold to a leprechaun.
To put it simply, I think I got lucky. I told myself that for about a week.
Until it happened twice.
The second article I submitted to the same publication got accepted, published, and curated again!
I wasn’t sure if lightning had truly struck twice, or if I was maybe on to something.
Here is the email I received from the Medium Writer Program.
It turns out, it was true! I had gotten curated twice and my article started seeing more views, reads, and earnings!
At the time of this writing, I have a third article scheduled in the very same publication so we will see if it happens again.
Editor Joey: It did!
Now, if you’ve read other write-to-earn stories on Medium, you’ll know that only a fraction of the articles makes up for most of the earnings. It holds to the 80/20 principle and I’m fine with that.
To me, it makes writing more exciting and motivating.
Curation seems to be a big factor in my earnings so far, so we’ll see how that plays out in the future.
I plan on scripting a monthly recap of how I’m doing so you can decide whether you‘d like to take up this hobby or not.
Takeaway
The reason this came as such a surprise is because I hadn’t even considered the possibility I could earn for my words.
Now that it’s within the realm of possibility, I need to keep myself in check.
And not the kind of check that has money in it.
I’m talking accountability baby. As they say, if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.
You might even get paid for it. After all, that’s what happened to me.
Why can’t it happen to you?
Now get out there and write!