Dumb Fucks Aren’t Usually Writers

Sometimes, I get an idea for a title in my head and know that I have to write a blog, just because of that title. Today is one of those times.

I was chatting with my good friend Brian last night. Brian is freaking awesome. I have over 4600 Facebook friends who I’ve added over the years that I’ve been using the platform. It’s been 13 years now in total. Many of these people are wonderful, funny, and still virtual friends. I’m somewhat of a private person and protective of my Bride and our kids.

So meeting just anyone from social media in real-life is generally unlikely. I definitely could count on one hand how many people I’ve invited into my home without knowing them in real-life, first. Brian is among those very few who I have become friends with in real life and have gladly welcomed into my home.

I owe a lot to Brian. I think it’s been close to a year now since he first started writing. I’d see his posts on Facebook, back before we had actually met face to face in real life. He was recovering from a nasty fall off of a roof and had decided to do something new for work. Falling off roofs for a living has a short shelf-life, evidently.

He kept mentioning content writing and how well he was doing with it. I started following him a bit more closely. I’d always enjoyed his posts about life and politics. We were very similar in our belief systems and our disdain for the ignorance we saw so often in our home state. But his writing posts sparked an additional interest.

Brian ended up being a mentor to me. I started asking him questions about content writing, feeling him out about what it was, what one could expect if they were to suddenly break into the industry, and what typical or potential earnings could be like. He patiently answered all of my questions and was such a kind gentleman about it. I grew to enjoy our discussions and was sure to thank him for his time and his information.

He advised me on how to put together a new portfolio of my work since I had nothing to present potential employers. He was the one who told me to sign up for Medium and maybe a few other sites that I liked the looks of. I owe a lot of where I am in my journey as a writer and blogger here on Medium to Brian’s initial guidence.

Last night Brian sent me a Facebook message and it was nice to hear from him. We hadn’t chatted in a little bit, likely because I was languishing in my Covid-related stupor for close to a week and a half. We started bantering back and forth like we usually do and this part of this discussion inspired me to write this blog today:

For context, I had been telling him about how Medium was now my favorite social media platform if you can consider it as such. Which I do. I didn’t anticipate making a whole set of newer, intelligent friends when I started writing. I was very much used to the world I was in with Facebook. I have thirteen years worth of connections and many awesome friends on there.

This blog isn’t about shitting on Facebook people. The people I DO value and appreciate there, that’s my tribe and my family. I met my Bride there, many years back in 2011. We’ve had a wonderful 10 1/2-year relationship and 8-year marriage. We’ve raised our three children together since they were in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. They’re not just siblings, but best friends as well.

I’ve met over 2000 clients in 13 years by my estimation that have come from Facebook. I’ve earned over a quarter million dollars from Facebook clients and referrals from real estate and carpet cleaning clients. So I don’t mean to step on any toes when I say the following:

Medium is somewhat like social media for smarter people. Writers aren’t usually dumb-fucks. There is typically some level of intellect behind being a professional paid writer. Even amateur writers have to have some level of intelligence, wit and drive to be a success.

I signed up for Medium to accomplish a goal: To create a portfolio of work that would allow me to be hired for content writing jobs. That was easy. I had that done within two weeks of completing my first dozen blogs. There were a couple of things, however, that I didn’t anticipate about the next steps in my writing journey.

I didn’t realize how much I’d love blogging. After being hired for the content writing job and doing that for a solid month, I realized that blogging here on Medium was far more fun and fulfilling. I neglected it for almost a full month and really missed it. I was determined to balance the content writing along with the blogging in the coming month.

The content writing fulfilled my immediate need for income. They paid far more money and more frequently than my earnings from Medium. Medium had paid me very little the first two months I had been involved with it. Granted, I put little to almost no time into blogging regularly, and the income results showed. Still, I saw the potential and made a point to start blogging regularly, around the middle of March. See for yourself how that changed things:

Blogging more and producing better quality writing pieces? Who knew? April was the first month I was determined to write at least one quality blog daily. I had one big article hit, my biggest to date still, and I was thrilled with my income results. $420 in April. HA! &:^)

I started to implement more strategies after April to keep the momentum going. I’ve detailed some of these strategies in blogs about growing your Medium following, growing your Twitter following, and starting your own publication. All three things are very much contributing factors to the month I’m having here in July.

By the mid-point of July tonight, I should be pacing around a $600 month, assuming my daily average on Medium’s Preferred Program earnings stay about what they’re averaging halfway through July. That’s a 70% increase in income over my previous best month ever. That’s exciting to me.

My newer strategies of starting my own publication, Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs, and following 110–120 Medium writers EVERY SINGLE DAY have both been paying off. Growing your audience is so important here. The more people you’re connected to, the more chances of reads you have. Especially if you put out a quality product and are a good friend to other writers.

This brings up my second point that I didn’t see coming when I first joined Medium. That is the social aspect of this wonderful platform. I quickly realized just how many wonderful people use this site to further their writing goals and dreams. Some use it simply to have a lot of diverse, well-written reading material to consume.

I started noticing fairly early on that people were pretty kind about commenting nice things on my blogs. I enjoyed the encouragement and started to get to know them through our back and forth commenting. I’d follow anyone who left me a comment and tried to always respond and thank them. Then I started reading some of their writing and clapping for them.

It’s amazing how quickly friendships can develop when you have a passion for the same thing. The writers I have met on here have been awesome to befriend and it’s so much fun to joke around them and encourage each other. I like it far better than being on Facebook, and spend way more time on here now daily than over there.

That’s the message I was trying to convey to Brian last night. That the people over here make this far better than on Facebook. The level of humor, wit, and intelligence far exceed the social media platform over on Facebook. To a lesser extent, the same holds true for my friends over on Twitter. It’s again, a slightly more intelligent, entertaining, and witty set of people over there.

I especially notice this when I check in on my second, backup Facebook. I lost my original one for years somehow and quickly created a secondary one that soon overtook and replaced my original one. It grew to be even larger than the 3000 or so people I had on my original account.

When the rise of Donald Trump and all of his ignorant followers started to happen, I was very careful to curate my Facebook page. Anyone who posted the same racist, bigoted, homophobic, sexist, xenophobic bullshit that Trump spewed constantly was removed from my Facebook. With a mixed-race Bride and children and a gay daughter, I did not welcome any sympathizers of Trump’s disgusting agenda.

Facebook had become a more peaceful, less stressful place for me after a couple of years of doing this. I didn’t see so many racist and bigoted, blood-boiling posts and wasn’t wasting nearly as much time debating these willfully ignorant people. Then my older Facebook account mysteriously reappeared.

It was amazing to do a side-by-side comparison of the two. And by amazing, I mean totally FUCKED. I’d post the same types of things on both pages, either anti-GOP type memes or posts, or pro-LGBTQ posts because of my daughter and that community I hold so near and dear to my heart. The comments between both pages were so different.

My main, curated Facebook page was business as usual. People were almost always supportive if they agreed, and quiet if they didn’t. People have learned over 13 years of being my Facebook friend that I’m the nicest guy in the world. Unless you step to me. And it really takes a lot to set me off.

One thing that does though is racism. Bigotry. Homophobia. Sexism. Xenophobia. So basically any form of willful ignorance. I started seeing comments on the other backup Facebook page and it was just like 2015–2017 all over again. Block, block, block, block, block. Wow, this is a lot of work, again!

I still love the good people on Facebook, the ones I actually find value in and that I know appreciate my posts and my family. I feel the same. I will always hang in there on Facebook and continue to keep these 13-year connections as time passes like it does.

But when I tell you that Medium is certainly my new favorite social media platform, I mean it. I appreciate the kindness, friendliness, intelligence, and wit that so many of you deliver on the daily.

I hope that I give the same back to you with my comments and my writing. I love our common goals and how supportive we all are toward each other. And that there are very few dumb fucks in our writer's community, usually. &:^)