It’s Okay If You Aren’t Grateful for the 4 Cents You Made on that Story

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

There are times when writing comes naturally, and there are times when it involves a bit more labor. For many writers, writing is a passion. It is something we have longed to be able to do since a young age, or at least for many years, so we are expected to be eternally grateful any time we are able to make any money from our writing at all. No matter how meager. But you know what? Gratitude has limits. If I spend two hours writing a story and I post it and make 4 cents, I’m going to be a little upset.

I’m not going to say, “Look at these four shiny pennies! Yay me!”

Yeah, don’t spend 'em all in one place.

A Blind Positive Attitude Doesn’t Help Anyone

When stories flop and aren’t curated after you worked hard on them it sucks. It is okay to say the situation sucks. You don’t have to sugarcoat it and be thankful for the so-called “learning experience”. You don’t have to say you must be a bad writer or tell yourself you don’t deserve to be here. Sometimes, there is not a darn thing wrong with your story and you got screwed.

You don’t have to be grateful. You don’t have to wipe the spit off your face and smile.

Writing Deserves the Respect of Any Other Vocation

There may be people who can afford to work for 45 cents an hour, but I am not one of them. There is a certain level of privilege involved when you can write what you want and get paid something. But your life isn’t just your little stories. It is valuable. Your experiences are valuable and how you express them are valuable.

Sometimes it feels like Medium lies to you and tells you you are worthless. They hide your stories from distribution for seemingly no reason. They enjoy kicking you when you are down. Sometimes the stories you believe in the most flop and make nothing or something like four cents. When that happens, it is okay to be upset. It’s okay to be mad. You should be mad. You should ask what in the world happened. If you spend hours on something that flops, Que sera, sera (whatever will be, will be) doesn’t cut it. Find a way to learn from it.

When Success Finds You

Embrace the stories that come easy, and make money anyway. Moonlight. Engage. Rework headlines. Edit with auto editors like Grammarly or Hemingway app, or both… and do a once over on your own, because robots can be wrong.

Work hard to improve, whether you have been writing four months or forty years. The approach needs to change with the audience. Truly look at what you want to say, and who you want to listen. Is it possible that the best stories find their balance between self-expression and a clear target? Do they strike a balance between what you want to say and what others crave to hear? Do your headlines promise this? Do they deliver?

Say What You Want to Say

One of the great things about Medium is that you can say what you want, within reasonable limits. But if you just “let the words fall out,” you’ve got a crapshoot. For most people, dumb luck only goes so far.

Failure teaches you nothing if you don’t buck up, admit your shortcomings, and take another long hard look at your next empty canvas until you finally get it right.