I like that your advices also is part solution to the free rider problem. You can't just use up everyone's resources you have to be an active part of the community in order to benefit. Be off with you, anyone who's not doing their part to build up others.
So true. Many don't take the time to do the research, at times I'm guilty of that as well, but this post emphasized to me the necessity to do just that. I think we all want to just be able to mark 'check' and move on to our next project. Maybe it's the busyness factor in today's hustle bustle world. But a long while back the person who created my first website, who was really incredible, told me the reason she excelled (I'd complimented her) was that she read everything. She said, "Most people never do." It was a heads up for me--to start reading the fine print, and to wake up. Thanks for this reminder!
Absolutely cannot be a writer without being a reader, and a critically thinking reader. Being a writer is not a get rich quick plan. People using AI to "write" are looking for a short cut to making money. Same thing with AI art. I despise it. It's evident and also wonderful that interacting with a community of readers and writers is an indisposable part of the writing process.
Even "bad" human art is much more pleasing for me to look at than AI renderings. That's why I do my simplistic watercolor images for a lot of my articles. At least you know it came from a human being. Yes, writers have to read. There's no way around it!
I once met a wannabe writer who never read books but wanted to write them. <scratching my head> That said, thank you for the words of wisdom and common sense. We can all use them all.
Mr. Rhein, thank you for this valuable information. I’ve been a part of writing groups before, I don’t know why I didn’t think about a community being available “out there” over the internet. As a secondary writing teacher, I had administrators in my room listening, and evaluating when I put my students in small, well guided response groups. They wanted to know if the kids were “goofing off” or following my instructions and handout. Was the community time really valuable or just a waste of time. They were shocked at the students’ ability to listen to their peers’ writing and then intelligently comment on what they heard.(Of course, that took some practice.) I spent years trying to explain to administrators and students why learning to write well was an essential skill. I believe much of that time was spent trying to cross a language barrier much like that heard in the Peanut’s cartoons between the children and the adults, “Wah, wah, wah, wah-wah, wah.” I spent the equivalent of months honing handouts that weren’t read and preparing presentations that were mostly ignored until “The State” mandated every student must have a proficient writing score to move forward.
Anyway . . . epiphany! As I read through your newsletter, I realized I needed to look more closely on Medium and Substack to see if I might find some writers similar to myself willing to bond together in a community. Although, I tend to write on different ends of the spectrum, I believe in the power of groups or communities as you call them to help me or anyone really, become a better written communicator.
What you're talking about is exactly why Medium's publication model works so well. I think too many writers just look at publications as places to submit. They need to take a few minutes and read the stories they find there. It sounds like you were doing a good job in your class! I got fed up with teaching largely because of preparing for those tests you mentioned. :)
I think community building works everywhere. Substack is similar to Medium. Both platforms offer email subscription. Substack has the advantage of notes and Medium has the advantage of publications. If you sincerely engage with publications you agree with, share their articles, leave comments, etc., you'll grow here too. I'm a newbie on Substack though, and I'm fairly well established on Medium, but it seems to be working here.
Medium is a publishing platform. There is a program that allows writers to earn a decent amount of money for their stories and articles once they build up a following. It works on a membership model, and uses human curators to select stories for further distribution (rather than an AI algorithm). Here's my profile if you're curious how it looks: https://medium.com/@walterrhein
Here on Substack, I have a modest number of subscribers, plus there are fellow writers on Substack who "follow" me. I'm not certain what the difference in terms of kudos is between a subscriber and a follower but I know that some subscribers don't read, and there are therefore probably some followers who don't follow. Judas Iscariot was a follower who didn't follow, but I truly believe it's a scandal he was never canonised, because he is the most valuable example of all the disciples.
What I notice from my meagre subscribers list is that it's always the same subscribers who read what I post. They never comment (or rarely), and they never like. But they read what I write and it is not the fact of being read that brings me satisfaction from that act. It is the connection to the faithful. I wrote recently about the cave paintings in Lascaux in France. They were discovered by accident in 1943 by a couple of children. They had lain unnoticed under the earth, concealed from view, for 17,000 years. Within 20 years of their discovery, they had deteriorated to the point where the caves needed to be closed to the public, and reproductions were instead crafted to be displayed in a dedicated museum.
The paintings at Lascaux were created before mankind had even conceived the idea of money. They are an expression of the artists' emotional attachment to their world. They are not unlike Millet's painting "The Gleaners", for which he received just a few dollars when he sold it. He created the painting in order to convey the idea, and it was his success that sealed his penury, for his social comment was all too well read by the powers that be.
I read your article with interest, but with reservations. I hope to make myself popular, while living the mantra: "If the cart you ride starts to look like a band wagon, get off." In short, I hope that my questioning of what drives popularity will make me popular. Whereupon, I shall question it as well.
Pilate crucified Jesus in order to be popular, didn't he?
Yes, I am. I recognized your Medium profile picture right away, so in addition to articles I've probably seen it on various work spaces (sometimes I get a little overwhelmed :). I haven't been on the nominator slack page in a while. I don't think I've seen 'The Point of View' before, I'll have to look into that! I'm always happy to chat about boost related topics, so feel free to shoot me an email anytime: walterrhein@gmail.com
I like that your advices also is part solution to the free rider problem. You can't just use up everyone's resources you have to be an active part of the community in order to benefit. Be off with you, anyone who's not doing their part to build up others.
Yes, they get swept away pretty quick. They end up burning out.
So true. Many don't take the time to do the research, at times I'm guilty of that as well, but this post emphasized to me the necessity to do just that. I think we all want to just be able to mark 'check' and move on to our next project. Maybe it's the busyness factor in today's hustle bustle world. But a long while back the person who created my first website, who was really incredible, told me the reason she excelled (I'd complimented her) was that she read everything. She said, "Most people never do." It was a heads up for me--to start reading the fine print, and to wake up. Thanks for this reminder!
Thanks for the lovely comment! I'm certainly guilty of making every possible mistake that's out there too :)
I think not! Appreciate your posts!
That's very nice of you! Thanks!
Loved this article
Thank you!
Absolutely cannot be a writer without being a reader, and a critically thinking reader. Being a writer is not a get rich quick plan. People using AI to "write" are looking for a short cut to making money. Same thing with AI art. I despise it. It's evident and also wonderful that interacting with a community of readers and writers is an indisposable part of the writing process.
Even "bad" human art is much more pleasing for me to look at than AI renderings. That's why I do my simplistic watercolor images for a lot of my articles. At least you know it came from a human being. Yes, writers have to read. There's no way around it!
I once met a wannabe writer who never read books but wanted to write them. <scratching my head> That said, thank you for the words of wisdom and common sense. We can all use them all.
I've met a few of those :) Thanks for the nice words.
Hello Walter. Thank you for your advice. I did so appreciate your post!
Thank you!
Thanks for the excellent advice. Hopefully, it will be read by those who disregard the rules, and moreover, the community.
We can hope, but that group doesn't tend to read :)
Mr. Rhein, thank you for this valuable information. I’ve been a part of writing groups before, I don’t know why I didn’t think about a community being available “out there” over the internet. As a secondary writing teacher, I had administrators in my room listening, and evaluating when I put my students in small, well guided response groups. They wanted to know if the kids were “goofing off” or following my instructions and handout. Was the community time really valuable or just a waste of time. They were shocked at the students’ ability to listen to their peers’ writing and then intelligently comment on what they heard.(Of course, that took some practice.) I spent years trying to explain to administrators and students why learning to write well was an essential skill. I believe much of that time was spent trying to cross a language barrier much like that heard in the Peanut’s cartoons between the children and the adults, “Wah, wah, wah, wah-wah, wah.” I spent the equivalent of months honing handouts that weren’t read and preparing presentations that were mostly ignored until “The State” mandated every student must have a proficient writing score to move forward.
Anyway . . . epiphany! As I read through your newsletter, I realized I needed to look more closely on Medium and Substack to see if I might find some writers similar to myself willing to bond together in a community. Although, I tend to write on different ends of the spectrum, I believe in the power of groups or communities as you call them to help me or anyone really, become a better written communicator.
What you're talking about is exactly why Medium's publication model works so well. I think too many writers just look at publications as places to submit. They need to take a few minutes and read the stories they find there. It sounds like you were doing a good job in your class! I got fed up with teaching largely because of preparing for those tests you mentioned. :)
As usual, you give good advice. And not just for conduct on Medium...
Really good advice. Any thoughts about Substack ? I don’t think medium would take anything I wrote, due to the content
I think community building works everywhere. Substack is similar to Medium. Both platforms offer email subscription. Substack has the advantage of notes and Medium has the advantage of publications. If you sincerely engage with publications you agree with, share their articles, leave comments, etc., you'll grow here too. I'm a newbie on Substack though, and I'm fairly well established on Medium, but it seems to be working here.
I see this word occasionally. What is "Medium"?
Very interesting, your piece, thank you.
Medium is a publishing platform. There is a program that allows writers to earn a decent amount of money for their stories and articles once they build up a following. It works on a membership model, and uses human curators to select stories for further distribution (rather than an AI algorithm). Here's my profile if you're curious how it looks: https://medium.com/@walterrhein
That's very kind, thank you.
Here on Substack, I have a modest number of subscribers, plus there are fellow writers on Substack who "follow" me. I'm not certain what the difference in terms of kudos is between a subscriber and a follower but I know that some subscribers don't read, and there are therefore probably some followers who don't follow. Judas Iscariot was a follower who didn't follow, but I truly believe it's a scandal he was never canonised, because he is the most valuable example of all the disciples.
What I notice from my meagre subscribers list is that it's always the same subscribers who read what I post. They never comment (or rarely), and they never like. But they read what I write and it is not the fact of being read that brings me satisfaction from that act. It is the connection to the faithful. I wrote recently about the cave paintings in Lascaux in France. They were discovered by accident in 1943 by a couple of children. They had lain unnoticed under the earth, concealed from view, for 17,000 years. Within 20 years of their discovery, they had deteriorated to the point where the caves needed to be closed to the public, and reproductions were instead crafted to be displayed in a dedicated museum.
The paintings at Lascaux were created before mankind had even conceived the idea of money. They are an expression of the artists' emotional attachment to their world. They are not unlike Millet's painting "The Gleaners", for which he received just a few dollars when he sold it. He created the painting in order to convey the idea, and it was his success that sealed his penury, for his social comment was all too well read by the powers that be.
I read your article with interest, but with reservations. I hope to make myself popular, while living the mantra: "If the cart you ride starts to look like a band wagon, get off." In short, I hope that my questioning of what drives popularity will make me popular. Whereupon, I shall question it as well.
Pilate crucified Jesus in order to be popular, didn't he?
Hi June! I've seen you on Medium, nice to see you here. Can you do Boost nominations through your publication?
Yes, I am. I recognized your Medium profile picture right away, so in addition to articles I've probably seen it on various work spaces (sometimes I get a little overwhelmed :). I haven't been on the nominator slack page in a while. I don't think I've seen 'The Point of View' before, I'll have to look into that! I'm always happy to chat about boost related topics, so feel free to shoot me an email anytime: walterrhein@gmail.com