The Greatest Writing Compliment I Ever Received

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It’s 2015. You’re on Reddit. You find an AMA from a guy who makes $30k a month by building blogs. You want in.

You have no writing experience. You start learning.

You start a blog called Flat Calm Living. You want to help people live less stressful lives, not seeing the irony that a 21-year-old on a gap year doesn’t have a lot of stress.

You write 30 posts. You make $0.27. You start chasing affiliate marketing instead. You stop writing the blog and start making niche sites.

A year goes by. You’re living in Glasgow in the world’s smallest flat. Your wife comes home with news.

You step out from the desk you’ve set up under the loft bed you sleep in.

Your wife was sitting on the train home when she overheard two women talking.

One woman is telling her friend about this breathing technique she learned from a blog. Her friend asks what it’s called. She tells her.

Flat. Calm. Living.

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This happened to me. Flat calm living only ever got a few thousand views, and my wife overhears someone talking about it on a train? Unreal.

I’d like to say that when I heard that, I started that blog again. I didn’t. I was chasing money and didn’t know how a blog like that could earn enough. Instead, I chased algorithms, writing for Google using SEO.

But every time Google released an update, I’d get burned. It was like trying to write for the Mad Hatter. Every time I’d get somewhere, he’d scream, “Change places!” and everything would shuffle around, creating a new set of rules.

I made some money (not $30k a month), but I was never satisfied as a writer.

I tried writing on Medium, did okay there, but I was still writing for an algorithm. I tried Twitter, same thing.

And you know what?

I quit.

I am no longer writing for algorithms. I am officially writing for people again. I’ve shut down my niche site business and taken a seasonal job working outside at a nature reserve. Now, I can hone my craft without the pressure of it paying my bills.

So while my old writing goals were views+money, my new goals are much harder to measure:

• A connection with my readers
• A feeling that I shared an important idea
• Kind words from people who said it helped
• Hearing that someone told their friend to read
• Satisfaction that I did my best writing with a post

I, of course, still hope to use my writing to make money, but my priorities have shifted. Doing great writing is my top priority, and earning money is the second.

Perhaps this will even lead to making more money. Or perhaps it won’t.

Either way, I’ll know I’m doing my best work.

P.S. Flat Clam living still exists on the Way Back Machine. Click here if you’re interested in seeing it.

Much love from my screen to yours,

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