The Diary of a Small-Time Writer
Reams of posts on here talk about clawing your way to the top echelon of writers, earning thousands of dollars, and making a living off your work. I‘m not one of those people. My first Medium post was in May, and I have 77 followers. My monthly earnings were $1.24, $3.51, and $2.08. It’s just enough to buy a used paperback novel and escape.
I’m much more popular on Quora, where I have 1,947 followers and maintain forums with millions of views. Some of my very good friends, I met on that site. And here’s something else. I often feel weird and like a misfit. I spend a lot of time by myself, thinking about things I don’t really have an outlet for. And I get really obsessed with these things. So I feel the need to write about them. Some are a bit…controversial.
The truth is, I wish I did better on Medium. I’m almost spoiled by having my community on Quora, and it is difficult to start all over again. But I sometimes reminisce about the times when I was less well-known online. I was less tied to topics and could afford to explore and experiment. Exactly three years ago, watching my popularity grow on Quora, I wrote this.
On Medium, it is frustrating to be writing into a relative vacuum. Sometimes I feel my life is draining away as I type, disappearing into that vacuum. But quiet, as Emily Dickinson wrote in her famous poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”, also means freedom. If I can write what I love, it is a place of color, wonder, and delight. And I might as well enjoy the quiet while I still have it. My following is steadily growing here as well.
