Writing is fun to me for a variety of reasons. It is not only fun, but it is also one of my favorite ways of expressing my thoughts.
Why Do I Love to Write?
I love writing, because writing enables you to challenge your ideas — When you write, you are forced to expose the logic illuminating your internal reality. Re-reading your own writing allows you to easily verify the truth of your arguments using the same processes involved in examining the truth claims of others. It’s like math. When I do math, I must show my work. One reason for this is that otherwise it is impossible to know whether I performed the right steps to get my answer.
I love writing, because writing enables others to challenge your ideas — This second reason is similar to the first. You are not the only person for whom your arguments are relevant. In math, your reasoning has implications for the entire community. A faulty proof is an assault on the entire field of mathematics and therefore must be rooted out and explained away immediately. In a classroom setting, your teacher cannot assess your work if you have not done the actual work. The step-by-step dialectical process by which this occurs is the same broadly speaking in math as it is in writing essays — step 1: here is my belief; step 2: here is my reason for believing it; step 3: discuss. (By the way, I have no formal math training, but math is incredibly interesting to me from a philosophical and practical perspective.)
I love writing, because writing is beautiful — Writing has been around for many thousands of years (ok, closer to a small handful, but you get the picture). Unfortunately, society has experienced a shift towards visual media. Despite shifting attitudes towards written media, I am still of the conviction that the written word is a great source of joy and beauty in the world. Try reading “the Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe and see if it is possible to not be moved by the musicality of the rhyme scheme. Try reading the Book of Psalms and see if it is possible not to be in awe about the rawness and humanity of the spiritual condition of the psalmists. The list goes on and on, but, in the final analysis, writing is awesome, because it gives people the opportunity to create beauty rather than consume it. As a Christian, I see writing as an opportunity to partner with God in spreading goodness, truth, and beauty in the world, using my God-given reason to help illuminate how reality truly is.
Why Medium Specifically?
You may say, “yes, I get it. You love to write. But you could submit to many alternative writing platforms. Why Medium?”
I am an industry outsider — I don’t have the industry knowledge or experience to write for established outfits. I also lack the desire to obtain them, given that my lack of fear towards addressing controversial topics responsibly would disqualify me from many mainstream outlets (I am a Christian after all). I like the freedom of Medium to curate topics and explore them without conflict. Sure, they have the right to deplatform me or shadow ban me. If that happens, hopefully people will see my heart and continue to support my mission. But until then, Medium is a serviceable option.
Medium offers financial incentives — I do not have a traditional 9–5 job. There are obstacles preventing me from doing so (a story for another day). I see writing as my unique opportunity to contribute to the world. Therefore, I have taken upon myself the burden of learning the craft, including the philosophy that writing is a means of learning in and of itself. Hopefully, the result involves inhabiting the reality in which I earn some money and gain some godly influence in the realm of content creation. Medium will not pay the bills exclusively. At best, it will drop a few dollars into my pocket. No matter. At the end of the day, publishing articles on Medium represents taking a small step into the “real world” of functionality. I am living with my parents in my mid 20s, and I struggle with the lack of contribution I do provide to the household financially or otherwise. Biblically, being dependent on others is a no go (2 Thessalonians 3:10), so being on Medium has real meaning to me. (p.s. I did not know about the Medium Partners Program at the time of writing. Will have to do more research about whether to join that.)
There is feedback — I have many voices telling me I have no future in writing. Even if other people have had success, so the logic goes, it won’t trickle down to me. I don’t believe this one bit. I have a gift and a talent for writing given by God. I must, however, exercise the muscle so to speak in order to reach a large audience. If content creation were a gym, Medium would be one of the machines. If I didn’t hit the media gym, my talent would go to waste. It is as simple as that. I captured this sentiment in a spoken word poem saying that “You (God) have given me the talent, will it spoil in the dirt? Or witherspoon like the parable sower — shredded to bits by a perilous mower.”
A brief postscript on point 3 — when I argue that writing for Medium is good because “there is feedback”, I do not mean to suggest that I write for the sake of external validation. In general, I write for the sake of communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ and understanding the world God has created. Connecting with people on Medium is the perfect way to fulfill this purpose and sharpen my mental skills and engage the intellect and heart of my readers in the process.
Final Thoughts
I am very excited to take this first step into having a platform of my own. There are other social media / information sharing sites in which I participate, but this would be the first instance of putting myself in a position where people might come, visit my corner of the internet, and stay for the ride. Hopefully, you are one!
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Thank you,
Earlyatdawn
p.s. — Maybe I will talk later about the idea / morality of anonymous internet usage.
