Another day older & deeper in debt
Yesterday marked my 10,000th response on Medium. Kathi Connor got the honors of being #10,000. Mona Lazar was #9,999. Jim Roye was #10,001.
Let’s do some math. I started Medium in April 2019. Fifty-five months ago. That means an average of five responses a day.
More math. Some responses are quite short, maybe a minute or two to craft. Some are lengthy. Maybe one hour. I’ll estimate an average of five minutes for each response. Ten thousand responses calculate 2083 hours responding to articles on Medium. In the world of 40-hour work weeks, I spent one year at Medium — just responding!
Before I respond, I must read. I probably read 10 to 20 articles per day. Yes, I look for little angles to promote my alternative democracy. But I also been enlightened and entertained. I chuckled. I shared. I opened up. I shifted my values a little. I have enhanced my perspectives about my alternative democracy. Maybe another year at Medium, just reading.
Of course, there is my writing. In October, I wrote 10 articles. I estimate about 30 hours of writing time. Multiply that by 55 months — and there is another ¾ of year spent on Medium.
Here is my reward for all my reading and responding. In October, I got an average of 120 claps per article. About a third of those claps came from two followers. I got $16 in Medium shekels! Despite great efforts, I am a bottom writer.
The Reality of Writing
Now I get the fact that there is a big oversupply of writers on Medium. Probably more writers than readers! Such it is with many creative professions. Only a few of us will ever find the “big time,” regardless of how good we are. Persistence is not a guarantee for success. Persistence might be silly!
I estimate I have engaged with 5000 Medium readers. I’m thankful for this focus group. I get the fact that they do not want my alternative democracy. Maybe they feel too powerless. Maybe they believe the TDG is too impossible. Maybe they prefer other political gurus. I’m not sure. But clearly the 5000 don’t want the TDG. So when they see one of my articles on their feed, it is an article to ignore. After all, I just might lecture them on their responsibility of building a new democracy. Who wants to be reminded of that?
The Medium algorithms have picked up on this disinterest. After five years, I am still a bottom writer.
At what point should I call it quits?
I came close to quitting almost two years ago. My last “new twist” (the TDG novels) was not resonating. The tangible results were telling me that it was time to put my “Tiered Democratic Governance” up on the shelf (for the fifth time since 1997).
However certain life events conspired that it meant holding on to a job would have been difficult. So in between dealing with the life things that need to be dealt with, my spare time and energy have been spent on Medium — and furthering my TDG. They have been a positive distraction!
I’m not sure how long this situation will last. But it’s not hard to see that Medium and the TDG should get a much lower priority.
If I disappear from Medium, my TDG website will still be up.
Just in case you get the urge to build a new democracy.
Published on Medium 2023
