My poetry has always come in waves. Like a season of unleashing, the words come to me so fast and furious that it’s all I can do to not stay in my head wandering around, staring at the sky, and muttering to myself.
It used to make me feel crazy. Like, really crazy. Now, I embrace the season and try to write as much as I can.
Folks, I am in a season of poetry. Perhaps it is all the stress over ChatGPT and what that’s done to the freelancing business that’s been so good to me for the past several years. Perhaps it is the stress of losing my livelihood. Perhaps it is simply a season of writing—for whatever reason the words are coming, and I am honoring those words by writing them down.
I’ve published some of what I have written recently, and today I’d like to share some of that work with you.
I hope you’ll take the time to read each one. (And let me know your favorites!)
If you are not a Medium member you only get so many reads per month, but with this link you can subscribe, read all you want, and half of your monthly membership will go to support my work. Then, the other half is divvied up to the writers whose work you read on Medium. It’s a great way to support writers—I mean, where would our lives be without writers, right?—especially in a time when writers are suffering.
Filming for some of your favorite shows are being put on hold right now because writers are on strike. This is because many writers get paid a flat fee (a too-low one) and then do not earn any residuals for when shows air and do well.
Think about the popularity of Stranger Things, for example. Shouldn’t the writers for that show make a killer living? Well, they are not. In fact, many of them are living paycheck to paycheck with lulls of no money in between jobs. This isn’t fair for people who give our lives such richness and enjoyment.
Everything you see or watch today began with writers. Everything.
Supporting the creators that enrich our lives is something we can do to help…and they deserve it.
Writers like me don’t work for TV shows. We write on sites like Medium.com and we often get paid literal pennies for what we do. We also work in freelance capacities, which is what I do for a living. Because the economy has taken some hits and companies are cutting corners to save money, many of us have lost writing and editing accounts that paid our bills.
I had three accounts that have earned me a good living for 3+ years.
I lost all three. They are around, yes, but not ordering. I am currently earning a tenth of what I was making 5 months ago.
I’ve returned to Fiverr to do poetry editing jobs to keep me afloat—but in all honesty, this barely covers my car payment and insurance. I am currently losing my apartment because I cannot resign my lease at my new lowered income. I no longer qualify for my apartment. I have about 6 weeks to solve this problem. And that’s ok. I’ve been through worse. I’ll figue this out. I always do!
So, I am looking every day for more work, applying for WFH jobs, pitching my services, and writing more on Medium.com to try and make ends meet. (Because this gig economy is feast or famine, we writers also often take tips and donations to help fill in lulls between orders. At times like these, those tips have often made all the difference! I once got a 100.00 tip and because of that tip I was able to buy groceries.)
Also, as writers we promote our work like with the links for the the poems I shared in those blue clickable bubbles above.
How Your Paid Membership Helps Writers
Here’s how your reading support works: If you are not a paying member, you can read up to 5 pieces per month—this includes research articles, self-help and relationship articles, crtypto and science and political news…all kinds of things, including poetry and short stories and yes SEX stuff, too. But if you don’t pay, you get limited reads and your reading support does not financially contribute to the authors’ work.
Every paying Medium member gives a little to each writer whose work they read. There’s a reading time metric that’s recorded as you read and calculations are made to determine how much of your monthly membership is allotted for your reading time. The longer and more often you read an author the more of your membership goes to them. And writers self-promote, hoping that we get enough reading time to add up.
Two Ways to Help if You Are Not a Paying Member
If you cannot pay to be a Medium member and want to help—you can forward this email to others, share links of my work to your social media, and tell people what you love about my work or my books.
If you are not a paying member and read one of the allotted free reads, scroll to the bottom and see the author’s tipping feature, if they have one. This way, if you read something that really helps you or blesses you in some way, you can tip the author directly for any amount you choose.
NOTE: It’s not begging. It’s self-promotion and all writers must do this.
Thank you for following Fiddleheads & Floss Newsletter. I hope that my work has blessed you in some way.
Love & Words,
Christina M. Ward