Medium Funked-Up

How can we help each other through this?

I’m feeling funky, and not in a good way. Not in a “I just had great sex and my legs feel like rubber” way. You know: “Spent.”

I’m “spent,” alright. Spent and drained and in need of a good kick in the ass from my fellow Medium writers. So put on your heaviest shoes.

Maybe you feel the same.

This morning, as I always do, I checked my Medium profile page and saw that I’ve reached 1.4k followers. I’m very grateful for this. So thank you.

And then, I received an email from our friends at Medium, telling me that I made $26.51 for the month of October. To this I say, WTF?

Unless I’m unusually dim, something is wrong here. The folks who actually read me seem to genuinely enjoy my ramblings. That means the world to me. But, I can’t understand why, in a year’s time my highest earnings are a pitiful $55 and change.

Yes, it’s about writing for the love of it. But HELL YEAH, it’s also about the money. I expected to at least reach the $100, by now. Maybe I just don’t get the algorithm. Or maybe, Medium is selling us short. We certainly don’t get much support in the way of promotion. As Jessica Archuleta suggested in a group FB post, Medium needs to advertise membership with a lot more vigor than they currently do. There’s no denying that we writers do everything ourselves. To say this is getting tedious is an understatement.

We write. We share. We create publications. We interact in Facebook groups. And we toot our horns from morning until night — and beyond. What does Brian Rowe say on his profile? Write. Rinse. Repeat?

Like many writers here, I’ve neglected other projects to keep afloat on Medium. My personal blogs are in the shitter. My dream of becoming a working screenwriter is fading into the sunset as we speak. Can you relate?

Man, you drop out of site for a few days and you are screwed. Out of sight. Out of mind. Out of luck.

Here is where it gets weird: For me, Medium is somewhat addictive. I can’t seem to pull myself away. I have screenwriting projects that need finishing and yet, here I am again. Is this even healthy?

Maybe there’s some sort of witchery going on. The Medium powers that be have cast a spell on us all. They want us starry-eyed and full of optimism, like in those old Micky Rooney/Judy Garland movies: “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!”

Actually, I feel more like Al Pacino in The Godfather. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”

Although, there’s nobody pulling me. I’m here on my own accord.

So what do we do, now that we need to spend more time reading, so that we get “sufficiently” read in return? Where is all this extra time coming from? I suppose I could set my alarm for 5 a.m. instead of 7:30. I don’t have a job to go to, so I can’t use that as an excuse. And, getting up earlier would force me to cut back on the wine the night before. Hmmm……

As I’ve been reading all the comments in the FB groups, I will say this: The consensus from the more positive among us seems to be that, if we want greater engagement with our stories, more highlights and comments, we’ll have to work harder. Or, even harder, I should say. Ergo, (love this word) we become better writers in the process. Okay, then. I’m in! For now. Or forever, I don’t know. As I said, I’m funked-up here.

What it comes down to is “support.” Just like always, we writers need to bolster one another up. Alone, we’re famously fragile. Together, who knows? We might just blow this whole thing up.

In a good way.

Sherry McGuinn is a longtime Chicago-area writer and award-winning screenwriter. Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and numerous other publications. Sherry’s manager is currently pitching her newest screenplay, a drama with dark, comedic overtones and inspired by a true story.

Thank you. I hope you read and enjoyed. If so, here’s more: