How making, instead “earning,” twenty cents on Medium has made my day!
Well, first off, let me be clear. I haven’t exactly been paid yet, but I have earned twenty cents, so that counts, right?!
I already had another story written that I planned to edit this morning.
You see, I had read another couple of Medium stories earlier this week that suggested always writing your story first without edits or review.
Then after having written your story, you let it, as one author said, marinade for 12–24 hours (sounds like a piece of meat). You then return to it to edit and expand the article if needed.
So far, that writing method has worked out well for me. I thank those authors for that great tip. (the writers here on Medium are always so helpful and sharing)
I sat down this morning, ready to edit the story I wrote yesterday afternoon. Close enough to 24 hours for it to have marinated, I hoped.
So, I was at my computer with my first coffee of the day finished. Then, finally, I was ready to edit.
Then as I launched Medium on my desktop, I saw an article titled something to the effect of the author’s first earnings on Medium.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I had to see what the article was about.
It was about the first payout that a Medium writer had been paid after her first month.
The story she had written was so inspiring, and I could hear the excitement in her written words. I was excited for her too!
Then curiosity got the best of me. Had anybody read my work? Had I made anything from my writing? Did anybody even care that I had written my first two stories?
Yet dread set on me too. Why did I care since making money was not the objective? Did I tell myself that even though deep down, perhaps I was fooling myself?
I would love to make money or, better yet, a living writing. But that doesn’t really happen. I couldn’t make money with MY writing?!
I set out to find out how you see your statistics for Medium. Also, to see if I, too, had any earnings.
Neither of the menu bar items was easy to find, or was it because I had not had enough coffee yet, which made it more complicated?
After stumbling around the menu bar, not knowing where to look, I found what I thought I was looking for.
First, I found my Stats, as Medium calls them. I have to admit I was disappointed. Yet I was trying to be honest with myself since it had only been a few days.
Only a few stories were posted, and since one was just about it being my first story written, I could not expect much.
Then I noticed the Medium Partner Program link. Was that where I was to go to answer my other question? Had I made anything from my writing as those other authors had?
Well, low and behold, I found Earnings.
I clicked the link cautiously, not even knowing what I was going to see. What I even expected to see or hoped to.
I made my first $.20 on Medium!
Well, as you can tell, this development has already made my day.
Although, of course, I’m not even a full cup of coffee into my day yet. Yet this news has made me very happy.
No, I’m not happy about the money earned because, let’s face it, there isn’t much that I can do with it.
I can’t even buy Reese’s cups or a bag of M&M’s for this amount. Are any fans of Reese’s cups here, by the way?
This story was originally posted on Medium on June 11, 2020, and was the third story that I shared there. As you can see, I was quite excited to have received my first payment from the platform.
So, have you written for Medium or any other platform that pays you for your writing? What has been your experience so far, and will you continue at it? Post your thoughts or comments in the comment area below; I would love to read them.