Summary

A writer finds inspiration and a renewed sense of purpose in their craft by drawing parallels with a fisherman's patience and passion for fishing.

Abstract

The author of the article describes a day where, after hours of writing and promoting their work on social media, they find themselves at the beach, observing a lone fisherman. This encounter prompts a reflection on the similarities between fishing and writing for an online platform like Medium. Both activities involve a significant amount of waiting and hoping for a rewarding outcome—be it a catch for the fisherman or reader engagement for the writer. The writer realizes that the true satisfaction in their work comes not from the monetary rewards or the number of claps they receive but from the joy of creation and the personal fulfillment that comes from sharing their work with others. This epiphany lifts the writer's spirits and inspires them to continue their writing journey with a fresh perspective, valuing the intrinsic rewards over external validation.

Opinions

The writer initially equates their experience of waiting for reader engagement to the fisherman's wait for a catch, highlighting the patience required in both pursuits.
The writer suggests that the act of checking for reader engagement (claps, reads) is akin to the fisherman feeling for nibbles on the line, indicating a shared anticipation and hope for results.
There is an opinion that the fisherman's primary motivation for fishing is not financial gain but the enjoyment of the activity itself, with any catch being a bonus.
The writer equates the fisherman's satisfaction from the pleasure of others with their own desire for claps and reads, indicating that both find value in the appreciation of their efforts.
The writer concludes that true success is found in the passion for the craft and the personal fulfillment it brings, rather than in external measures of success such as money or applause.

Writing for Claps; Fishing for Compliments

How an unexpected experience helped to reignite my passions

I had a typical Medium writer’s day — an hour of writing a new story and then three hours posting on Facebook to get some readers. Then I went down to the beachfront for a sunset beer. Was I planning to drown my sorrows?

On the beach was a lone fisherman, his long pole anchored in the sand and its tip scratching the sky. And I realized he was just like me — a little time spent setting up and then endlessly waiting for a result.

From time-to-time he’d mysteriously appear out of his hidden corner to check the line — but nothing ever changed. Just like me, I’d stop whatever I was doing and check the stats — usually to find that nothing had changed. I’m sure if the fisherman stayed on-the-job and kept his finger on the line, he’d feel the occasional nibble of interest. I knew that would apply to me, too. You could call it “keeping an eye on the stats”.

I tried to imagine what happened to the fisherman when he got home, empty handed:

How was your day, dear?

Oh, I got a few nibbles.

Anything for us to eat?

Not today, but maybe next week.

The same with me, after checking the stats:

How many reads today, dear?

Only a few reads, but I got about 50 claps.

They used to pay for claps, didn’t they?

Yes, but not now.

Just as time was passing for the fisherman, so it was for me. Was that my second beer, or was it the third? And I got to thinking about this coincidence of us both being in the same place and at the same time. It was evident that the fisherman wasn’t here on the beach to make money, and he didn’t look like he was at starvation’s door. So the reward for catching something was not so obvious.

Eventually, it dawned on me that he probably just liked to go fishing, and taking something home was an extra. That last bit also made a good excuse for the time he was putting in. For him, the measure of his success was the pleasure he gave to others, and their praise and compliments were a reflection of their enjoyment from his catch-of-the-day.

So how did this apply to me? I wasn’t into writing for the money — thank heavens for that! The real reward was the thrill and satisfaction of creativity and putting a little bit of myself out there in the world. Making some money was one way of measuring my success, but that wasn’t my goal. Then it hit me — I was in it for the claps! The more people who read my work and the more they liked it, the more claps I got. More claps meant more appreciation.

I could go on and on with the ways I imagined the lives of the fisherman and myself were linked. I’ve got a good imagination! My thoughts on starting out were that we were both revealing our failures and proving how life was cruel and unfair. But I could now see that we were both doing pretty good. We were both doing what we loved and enjoyed, and eventually, we could be rewarded for our efforts.

I left the beachside in a much happier state of mind than when I arrived. Not only that, but I had this great idea for a new story.