It's been a great week.
Greetings from the road. That’s because I am always on the road. Haha
Boy, did I have a busy week! But I am grateful that I got a lot done despite having a hectic week.
My van broke down on Tuesday on I 45 en route to picking up my son. I thought I may be out of gas, though I knew I shouldn’t be. An angel came by and helped get off the road and into a parking lot,
The initial determination after troubleshooting was that it’s probably the fuel pump. I had the van towed to the mechanic’s shop. Thank God for roadside assistance on my insurance policy.
The van is running and I was able to get to work on Friday, but it’s still not 100%. I may have to get the catalytic converter replaced. We’ll see.
I am extremely grateful as we get into Thanksgiving Week.
Writing on Medium is going well, and is very rewarding. Both in terms of personal satisfaction and financial returns. I completed the first 30 days as a Medium writer and had 996 page views, with more than 50% read rate. I may not mean anything to you, but, I thought I’d share it anyway because I am very excited.
If you read a story and like it, give it a few claps. If you really like it, share it with a friend; but if you really, really like it, go crazy with clapping. (up to 50 claps per story) More claps mean Medium will share it with more people, and I may make more money. Thank you. If you like to write and want to make some extra money on the side, you should consider publishing your writing on Medium. Let me know if you’re interested in how it works. Or read this story.
Without further ado, here are the stories I published this week. (BTW, you can read these stories whether you’re a paid member on Medium or not, because you are my friend.)
What kind of writer are you?
I have been writing since I was a teenager.
I remember my first creative piece of writing. I was awakened in the middle of the night by bedbugs. They were biting more than usual, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.
I took out a notepad and a pen and just wrote. I was maybe 15 at the time and was very proud of that piece. But I never showed it to anyone. I did mention it to a few friends, and over the years, I have shared the context with others. That was just for fun and to get some sleep. I killed as many bedbugs as I saw while I wrote. After all, I titled it War against the Maneaters.
Everyone writes for a different reason, with a different intended outcome.
Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Already Taken
“Gandhi already did Gandhi, Mother Theresa did Mother Theresa so well, and Martin Luther King, he did Martin great! You be you! You be you! You be you! Who else could do you like you anyway?” ~ Michael Beckwith
I am sitting here at a What-A-Burger restaurant. It is 1:00 am, and Bruce Springsteen is blaring out of the PA system. This is not your typical thing to do.
But then, nothing about my life is typical. I call myself Mister Weirdo and take pride in the fact that I am different.
Why Am I Living in a Van
I’ve been living in a van since the summer of 2011. That makes it eight and a half years, as of this writing. I wasn’t expecting it to come about as it did, but it was more or less a foregone conclusion.
Earlier in our marriage, my wife and I used to talk about traveling around and making a living on the road. However, we never took the initiative to make it happen.
Then we had kids and life got busy. We took an occasional family trip to places like the Niagara Falls and the Yellowstone National Park, but the dream of a perpetual life on the road never manifested.
Love Is a 4 Letter Word
Yes, it is true. Love is a four-letter word, and sex is not. Then, sex is not the same thing as love, is it?
Can we talk about love without talking about sex? Are the two synonymous?
I mean, I’ve had sex without love, and I have experienced love without sex.
You may be wondering where am I going with this. Me too.
Why You Should Dig Deeper
I used to read on Medium before they introduced the paywall and limited the non-members to three pieces per month. I didn’t see any reason to pay for reading when there was so much free stuff available online. It all changed when I discovered a couple of Medium Writers who compelled me to pay to read their stuff.
Once I became a member, I started reading a little more. Still, I found no compelling writers. I am not saying that Medium writers don’t write quality articles or stories. What I am saying is that I hadn’t seen many who wrote above what was available for free.
10 Observations After 30 Days of Writing on Medium
I wrote my first story on Medium on Oct 25, to honor my dad on what used to be his birthday. He crossed over to the other side in 1991.
I didn’t even realize that I had to fill out the ‘paperwork’ to be a writer on Medium. I thought just being a member got you paid. So I may have missed a few pennies of income. {:-)You live and learn.
It’s been thirty days since I posted my first story, and that gives me a reason to look back and see what I have learned. I may not have gained much wisdom yet, but these observations will provide me with a chance to analyze it later. I often write for myself as much as I write to share with others.
Here are the ten observations I have made about myself, my writing, and my opportunity on Medium as a writer.
That’s all folks!