11 Mo, 415 Stories & Going Backwards
Includes GOING BACKWARDS, KEEP MY COMPUTER FROM KILLING ME, DON'S NACHOS, & STRUGGLE BUS WK # 42.
11 Mo, 415 Stories & Going Backwards
With fewer reads, what am I doing about it? What’s ahead?
I’m told that being a professional writer is like wetting your pants while wearing a white suit.
It’s a warm feeling and it shows.
But right now I’m conflicted.
For almost a year I’ve been told to build my catalog, and examples of my work product and as I did, so the money would increase. But my reads are going down. To zero at times. That’s almost impossible!
I do also work a full-time job, so this balancing act is making less and less sense, and it looks as though it’s turning me into a whiner.
Last night I read an article stating that I should not try to entertain readers but educate them, so they could Google (their) questions and find my story.
But now that I am finding my voice, I am more of a storyteller than a lecturer. I don’t even read my own stories to be educated, but amused.
When I go to the theatre, or turn on the tv, or read a book, it is more likely to be entertained than to be educated. In fact, I originally thought Medium to be more of a social medium than a “Ted Talk.” I thought it was a place of communication.
In light of that, and the fact that I change myself only with great difficulty, what am I going to do?
I will probably cut my medium production to fewer, but more cerebral stories.
I have started my own Medium publication for most of my Medium stories. You are welcome to visit. You are welcome to join. Newsletter “Big-Time Writers Club” on Wednesdays.
I started my own Substack newsletter “A Quick Note from Don” on Tuesdays and Fridays. The website is updated constantly.
Why should you want to check these places out? Well, I’m an old goober with a sense of humor, who has had a lot of life experiences, and loves to tell the stories. I am not so bold as to think I’m qualified to lecture you. I hope we can have a chuckle together and communicate with each other.
I’m a business guy, a real estate guy, and a writer. I may have a touch of MS and I’m not an expert at anything but being me. None of my stories use foul language or talk about politics. If you read me or like me or follow me, please take that leap and subscribe. I would be so appreciative.
3 Ways To Keep My Computer From Killing Me
A beginner’s guide to sitting in front of a screen all day.
A quick intro note might be in order. I am rather new to my current level of the MS lifestyle. It’s a whole lot easier for me to sit here and explain to someone how to walk than it is for me to actually walk.
I am also rather new to being a writer and trying to succeed in Medium. My old (and still current) full-time job has evolved into more of an online occupation too, so I am on or at the computer a lot.
I am discovering that the less I get up and go frogging about, the harder it is to do when I do get the chance or the need.
So for myself, and probably for anyone who finds themselves in a similar couch-centric way, there are three things I must do constantly, no matter how wrapped up I may be in whatever I am writing.
Stand up every hour on the hour. Set some kind of dinger on your phone. Or keep a close eye on your watch or computer.
2. Walk some steps. I know it’s not 5000 every day, but if there are 23 steps around the sofa and 30 to the bathroom, it does add up some. Keep track. There are lots of numbers on this side of 5000, and you can start at one and build up.
3. Carry my phone when I walk away. In case I fall and can’t get up, or in case I need to order a pizza.
The other side of the coin are some ugly stories about muscle loss and circulation problems that I won’t even go into now. Like how every time I hear the popsicle man, by the time I get to the street, he’s on the next block.
Thanks for reading!
Don’s Nachos v2.0 (For Tennessee & Alabama!)
No one-trick pony-chef, I
A Saturday lunch to keep big-time writers going all day!
Today’s chef corner is a big “get ready for fall” and “Alabama vs U.T.” gameday treat! It’s a variation of our last one.
Don’s Nachos
Food Stuff
I start with a bag of store-brand nacho chips and sprinkle some finely shredded cheese on each one.
I top each of these little guys with a dollop of sour cream, followed by a drizzle of generic salsa.
Ultimately I top them all with more cheese, and they are ready to report for duty.
Of course, the secret to any successful recipe is presentation, having plated this popular treat on an attractive, yet practical dish that also boasts of being low maintenance.
The biggest v2.0 change is to insert a new second line of the directions.
It needs to read as follows:
Sprinkle them all with garlic salt to your liking. (Small bits of pepper, from a jar, pickled and not too hot, sliced into very small pieces, one piece per nacho, may be added now if you are the type to live on the edge.) Heat in microwave for 20 seconds or so until cheese is melty.
Thanks!
Writer’s Friday Struggle Bus, week 42
Victim of deferred maintenance!
Does this bus need an alignment? A road map to Camp Lejeune? Gasoline?
The Struggle for Answers
B.S. from Cleveland asks, “why do you not get bat scat for reads when you have so many followers?”
I know I harp about this endlessly, so I hope you find it refreshing when this morning I point out to you a story I just read from Kristina God.
Maybe according to that story, Medium doesn’t like me. Maybe nobody likes me, or I should say, likes my writing.
Many don’t like my features. Many don’t care for my humor. And I admit, my sense of humor is odd sometimes.
So I keep trying harder and harder to make people like me. Let me sit at the cool kids’ lunch table. All my life I’ve been trying to make people like me.
Jerry, from Dayton, wants to know if the MRI doctor really told me about my sense of humor last week.
No, Jerry, the MRI finally revealed the stupid way I walk and my clumsiness is due to MS, something which I may or may not start to include in my writing, and something I have been blessed with a very light case of. Some people are quite ill with it.
You readers know I often use my sense of humor as a defense mechanism. Especially concerning doctors. Needless to say, when I found out about my medical condition, I laughed my ass off.
Does that answer your question, Jerry?
The Struggle for Beauty
Beauty achieved, no further struggle needed.
The Struggle for Services
This struggle will probably begin to increase but hasn’t yet.
The Struggle to Write.
Since the words all but fly out of my fertile brain on a fairly constant basis, this struggle is never really much of a factor here.
It’s readers I worry about.
Change my topics? Change my style? Keep my humor to myself? So many possibilities and so little time. And after one of my professional visits last week, I think there may be even less time than that.
So I have decided not to worry too much about changing too much about my writing. I hope I can get my 1000 true friends quickly, but if not, my writing will still be out there, if anyone accidentally does like it.
I might even double down. Write more. Worse puns. Stupider non-sequiturs. Raging insensitivities.
Tough.
Don’s Big-Time Writer’s Corner
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Coming Attractions
If the old Struggle Bus readership doesn’t pick up, we’ll introduce a “Struggle for Readers” section!
Subscribe HERE, as soon as you can. For instance, if I happen to be talking to a big-shot editor about publishing something of mine, and they ask how many subscribers I have to my website or newsletter, help me be able not to reply “duh…”
Today’s topic- when a Medium reader clicks the Medium button for email delivery of the new works of an author, who sends it to them today? Does Medium send it automatically? Does the author need to send it? Can the author add that email address to his off-medium newsletter?
I’ve read dozens of stories trying to get answers, but the answers about emailing are all over the map, change from month to month, or are just plain insufficient.
Does anyone out there know the current answers? I would surely be beholden.
Thanks so much. Later!