On Riding A Donkey With A Monkey On Your Back

In May 2020 I decided to start writing on Medium, more in hope than expectation.It was either going to be the ruin or the making of me as a writer. One year on and I have to admit that although it started out as the former, of late has perceptibly moved closer to the latter. Bookending the experience, my first paycheque for June last year was the princely sum of just 0.31 cents. One calendar year on, my paycheque for this May/June is 590 dollars (which includes a 500 dollar bonus). Added to this I have been paid another 65 dollar bonus by Vocal Media, which I heard all about from Terry Mansfield here on Illumination. Whichever way you slice it, 665 dollars is a darn sight better than 0.31 cents.

There was a point last year when my dedication to the cause of writing on the Medium platform was cause of a certain degree of domestic grief. My lovely wife called it my 'Hobby' and no matter how much I protested that it was a job, I realised she had a very good point. No 0.31 cents for a month's effort was ever going to convince anybody that what I was doing eight plus hours a day was anything but a hobby. However, it was worse than that. If I add the monthly subscription fee of 5 dollars then I wasn't earning a dime, on the contrary, I was in the hole to the tune of 4 dollars 69 cents. A hobby it was then. Not an expensive hobby, unless you add the money I could have been otherwise earning all those eight plus hours a day. Oh, and of course, whilst I'm at it, let me add in the use of electricity and other ancillary domestic costs. I think you get the picture. It was only a matter of time before I had to give up the ghost on the idea of making this writing malarkey economically viable.

Yes, there have been other none monetary gains such as a vast improvement in my writing, the growth of followers, the status of being a Top Writer and Editor on Illumination, the acquisition of a great many wonderful friends and, in some ways above all, a whole lot of fun. To this I might add that during a year in which I have suffered a plethora of illnesses, some chronic others quite serious, writing on this digital platform has stopped me from going insane. But that is not going to cut the mustard with she who must be obeyed. None of the above pays any bills, and that is the only measure I am allowed use to decide if what I do is a job or a hobby.

Thankfully, Ev Williams has come to my rescue by rewarding me with almost enough dollars to buy a new bed and cover one or two weekly shopping trips. There is still a ways to go before I can call what I do an economically rewarding job with a full time salary to match the full time hours. But half a slice of hot buttered toast is a lot better than no toast at all.

If anybody were to ask me to best describe what I have been doing on Medium this past year, the best I can come up with is that it is akin to trying to ride a sometimes recalcitrant donkey with a somewhat irritating monkey on my back whilst suffering from Covid 19. Having said that, it has become more akin to riding a thoroughbred horse with my simian friend grinning with delight at the prospect of getting a decent night's sleep on a proper bed. All talk of what I do being labelled a hobby has now faded into the long distant past. It has been one hell of a journey, and in many ways it feels like it has only just begun. I sincerely hope that at some point in the not too distant future this hobby/job becomes a lot more like sweet music and beautiful flowers.