Do Ya Like The Bullsh*t I Write?

I do love writing on here, although I'm sure I'm not even in the top 30 percent of writers on any metric. Here's my hope going forward.

Just to contextually set this up, I’ve been writing on Medium for years now. I used to have an old blog, called The Context of Things, and I turned that on for WordPress monetization way back in the “before times,” I.e. early 2016, “when Bernie still had a chance.” I made maybe $55/month from that, so it roughly covered two bar outings for me at that point. In early 2016, I was also trying to get it going with writing/editing as a freelancer, and in ’16 itself I’d classify myself as “successful,” earning into the six figures. I also then got divorced in March of 2017, so I guess 2016 wasn’t the best personal year in terms of laying groundwork for life. Anyway, that’s my own bullshit.

Around 2020, I got more into Medium and liked the platform a lot, and it seemed like a good alternative to just maintaining your own blog and hoping people find it via “just share it to social” or reaching out to others or whatever. I was writing a ton on Medium during early COVID, and I guess it paid off, because in their Partner Program, I started having a slew of four-figure months. In 2021, they added “bonuses” based on view counts and referrals, and a couple of times I made $3,000+ in a month on Medium. I’ve never had a five-digit month on here. I would love to, but the closest I’ve come is maybe $3,700, so not even halfway to said goal.

I’ve written over 2,200 things on here. Some are absolutely shlock and horrible, and I would be the first person to admit that — but theoretically, if I could get everything I’ve ever written to $5 in earnings across a month, I’d be doing $10,000/month here regularly, and that would make me feel good about my place in the world and this ecosystem.

As you can see in the screenshot above,