In Memory of Those Who Influenced Us!
One of traits I have that I am less that proud of is the fact that I tend to "flit around" a lot. Yes, I have a short little span of attention... or you might call it ADHD, or I can just accept the fact that I tend to have a short little span of attention.
Which is why it has always been interesting for me to consider those who inspired me to participate in activities that I really stuck with.
Whereas I have been a writer for most of my adult life, it sometimes baffles and amazes me that I have stuck with blogging for as long as I have.
When I started blogging — probably 1998 — it was all very new and shiny. So I jumped in with both feet, and was an active part of the early "social blogging" movement. That was fun for a few years, but I needed to spend my time with something steadily income producing so I almost quit... until I came across a blogger whom I'll only refer to by her old username: "Farmgirl."
No, I didn't have a "thing" for Farmgirl, but she was one of the most successful early bloggers to monetize her blog. Or should I say blogS, since she kept about a dozen of them. And she made bank with them, to the tune of about $8,000-$10,000 a month. Keep in mind this was early 2000's... so that was a lot, back then.
Of course... I wasn't up for trying to match her insane 14-hours a day, 7 days a week work schedule running a farm AND a dozen blogs, nor was I willing to pay the steep price for a dedicated T1 line for personal Internet use. Internet was still pretty slow around 2003... and expensive.
That said, I learned a lot about how it was possible to turn a love of writing for my own enjoyment — at the time, I was mostly writing articles for magazines and editing corporate newsletters for income — into an income stream that at least helped pay the bills, through ad placements, affiliate sales and drop-ship sales.
Every now and then I'd get lucky and discover a new site come along, promising to "pay contributors for content," and while a few of them did pay for a while, the vast majority would go under after a relatively short time.
In many ways, we are very blessed to have a venue like Steemit, even if it is a little complicated, sometimes!
I don't know what happened to Farmgirl. Last I knew, her online boyfriend — known mostly as "The Banker" — uprooted his life in New York City and moved to Nebraska to be with her on the farm. After that, the trail more or less fades away...
I'd like to think that Farmgirl and The Banker combined talents and resources and ended up living happily as "genteel farmers."
Still, I'm grateful for the inspiration I got from her example of how it really was possible to turn writing online into your actual job. Without that... I would probably have continued being a "writer for hire" for magazines and corporate clients.
I would probably have been better off, financially, but I wouldn't have had the freedom to do my own thing!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Friday!
How about you? Who are the people who inspired you to stick with certain things in your life? Are they still influencing you? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2024.01.12 00:21 PST
x676/1911
Very interesting, I would never have thought that you would be somebody with a short attention span- unless the thing demanding your attention would be considered boring! Which would be the natural reaction!
With the expectation of earning rewards here, it’s too easy to forget that for most of the life of the internet, blogs were purely for enjoyment of the author and their readers. Which they still should be but this has gotten lost somewhere along the way.
Do you think that you get the same enjoyment now than you did 20+ years ago?
It does surprise some people... I'm actually one of the most scattered individuals on the planet; pretty much always had been. Even when I was a kid and youngster I never got particularly good at any sport because I insisted on being part of seven different things. Never made any first teams, but was a passable substitute to many.
Writing/blogging has always primarily been for the enjoyment of it, as far as I am concerned. Whereas I am inspired by those who monetize well, I never was in a position to do so; always had too many bills... and an ex-wife with a shopping addiction! But I'm grateful to be part of this community and being able to build a small "savings account" while doing something I really enjoy.
In a sense, I enjoy it more today because I care less about pleasing an audience... I just write about "random things" that pop into my head.
I think you've got it sussed! I recently saw an interview with an author of a successful book - he wrote for an audience of one.
If somebody's inherently interesting (which you appear to be 😉), then the "audience" will come. If that particular author started writing what the audience wanted (or at least what they think they wanted), he wouldn't want to write.
Thank you, friend!
I'm @steem.history, who is steem witness.
Thank you for witnessvoting for me.
please click it!
(Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses and type fbslo at the bottom of the page)
The weight is reduced because of the lack of Voting Power. If you vote for me as a witness, you can get my little vote.