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ESSAY
Why I Write
And why I publish on Medium
A wonderful poem by Janaka Stagnaro got me to thinking: Why do I write and why do I publish my work on Medium?
It’s certainly not to get rich. As of the date when I wrote this essay, my Medium posts had earned a glorious total of $2.53. I am happy that a few people have managed to make this a significant source of income. But that is not why I do it. I have a good job. At the age of 70, I have a standard comment that my family is probably getting tired of: My retirement plan is that my wife will pry the computer mouse from my cold, dead hand. I don’t need income from Medium.
No, I have a much more important, though less immediate reason for writing and for publishing here.
A few years ago, my oldest daughter said that I should gather up the poems I have written and get them published as a book. I replied that I’m not done writing them. She countered with, “Volume Two, Daddy!” We raised a very smart lady, and I couldn’t argue with her logic. So I self-published Overheard in Cyberspace: A Book of Poetry at Amazon. I had no plan that anybody would buy it. Indeed, I don’t think anybody has — except me. I bought 50 copies at the reduced author price. I got some specialty bookmarks printed up, bearing a poem to commemorate the occasion. I sent a book and bookmark…
