A Thank You To The Stranger Who Tipped Me For a Story
And how we may be able to save ourselves on this platform, via this method.
She certainly and obviously didn’t have to, I mean nobody else ever has. Yet I woke up yesterday morning to the pleasant surprise of a reader having tipped me $10 via PayPal for one of my more recent stories published here.
I currently survive exclusively off the money I make writing for WebMD, here on Medium, the royalties from two self-published books, and various side hustles. To say the money was much needed is an understatement.
Beyond that though, it filled me with gratitude, not the money, but the gesture and the mere thought someone I never met read a single story I took the time to write and sent me more than this platform for an entire month’s worth of them, on some months anyway.
I’m currently facing difficulties in many forms. My Mother is very sick, we fear she’s dying. On top of the Major Depressive Disorder and anxiety issues I face daily, I’ve also been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel which specialists fear will quickly become rapidly onsetting arthritis.
Furthermore, I truly believe this tipping system is the best way for us writers to help support and sustain each other here on this platform, as I fear we may no longer be able to depend on this platform financially.
I understand not everyone can afford to, believe me, I understand this better than anyone. I just hope more of it happens on this platform for all of the writers putting out great work here on Medium.
Our hard work and best stories should not go unappreciated and underpaid, and perhaps it’s a problem only we, can now fix.
