My Red Pill Exposé is Earning Big on Medium, and New Writing of the Week
Also, poetry, video games, and real-talk about post-partum depression
Weekly Newsletter #4…
This week I published three new pieces on Medium—including one of my favorite I’ve written—but first I want to talk about what the Medium earning changes have meant for my livelihood so far.
I’m earning $21/day, on a single essay I published 8 months ago.
(Pictured: my daughter, the acrobat)
As I predicted in my piece Medium’s New Earnings Model is Great News for Feminist Writers, Medium’s earnings changes mean the anti-feminists who hate-read my writing are finally paying me for the pleasure.
Since the Medium earnings switchover a week ago, a full 60% of my income has come from just one old piece, the one I wrote about the misogynist phenomenon Married Red Pill, and the MRP subreddit where married men swap notes on how to manipulate their wives.
I wrote the piece in February, and I’ve watched it rack up views and reads (and I’ve cringed as notorious internet Red Pill apologists tore me apart on Twitter, as I wrote about here: You Can’t Be Brave Without Being Scared First).
My piece about Married Red Pill already had my 3rd most fans—596 people have clapped for it so far—but that’s out of 66K views and climbing. I was already getting paid for that piece, but suddenly, with the new Medium calculations, I’m getting paid whenever Medium members read, rather than just when they clap.
I have no idea how long this will last, but right now, I’m ecstatic.
The Kindness of Strangers
Also, today, someone read that MRP piece then anonymously gave me $15 on my Ko-Fi page. That 100% made my day. I’m hoping to use my Ko-fi money to buy myself a laptop that doesn’t freeze 10 times a day!
My kid is amazing!
(Pictured: my daughter’s Kindergarten schoolwork)
Tzivia’s been asking to play video games, after experiencing Mario Kart at a friend’s house. She’s 5 years old, and we’ve always avoided too much screen time, so I was hesitant.
Then I remembered this piece by Matthew McDonald: What You Learn By Breaking the Rules, about the game Baba is You.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Read the piece to understand how cool this game is, and then believe me that our whole family is obsessed with it. We’re setting the kitchen timer for a half hour at a time, because all three of us would play this game forever if we didn’t limit ourselves.
Tzivia’s always excelled at logic games, and now her reading ability is exploding, mostly as a result of this game. When I play, I can feel my brain growing, and I love imagining that happening in her mind too.
Even though my kid’s amazing, life is still hard.
New motherhood was one of the hardest times in my life. I’ve written about my PPD/PPA a few times. Here, in I Had a Baby, But It Didn’t Make Me Happy, I write about something a friend said back then that’s still haunting me, and about rethinking happiness as an end goal.
Grieving for my dear sweet dog
I wrote two very different things this week, both to process Lupin’s passing:
a poem
and
a present-tense essay about the surreality of death.
Both pieces were cathartic to write, and the essay is one of my favorite things I’ve written. When people asked me this week, “How are you doing?” it was difficult to answer, but this essay is my answer. This is what it really feels like.
I tried out quick mini-emails this week, for each of my three new pieces. That’s my current plan: One long weekly email (this one), plus quickies when I publish.
Friends links for my Medium pieces referenced in this newsletter:
Medium’s New Earnings Model is Great News for Feminist Writers (Medium writer tips)
What’s Left Behind When a Dog Dies (poem)
Curated in Poetry and Pets
When My Dog Died, I Felt the Surreal Dichotomy of Life and Death (creative nonfiction)
Curated in Family and Pets
I Had a Baby, But It Didn’t Make Me Happy (personal essay)
Curated in Women and Parenting
Married Red Pill: The Soulless Subreddit For Men Who Game Their Wives (feminist exposé through the lens of personal essay)
Quadruple-curated in Digital Life, Culture, Women, and Equality
You Can’t Be Brave Without Being Scared First
Triple-curated in Social Media, Women, and Equality
I seriously appreciate all your reads, claps—you can clap up to 50 times per piece—highlights, comments, and shares. If you enjoyed one of these Medium essays, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else you’d like!
Love,
Darcy