Definitely not the sats, man. There are easier ways to do a side hustle. Apparently, you can zap emerging trending posts and maybe comment here and there and earn thousands of sats the next day.
But for better or for worse, I’m not into that. Of course, I won’t be so noble to say that writing in itself is its reward and that I’m purely intrinsically motivated to share my wisdom and blunders with the world. Nay. I buy gift cards with The Bitcoin Company, if you remember. Writing is a way for me to cope with the rising costs of living (and bloated expenses in keeping a family of four afloat).
If sats aren’t my entire motivation, then what does writing every day on SN yield me? Plenty, as it turns out.
No more inertia
Honestly, I treat SN as my free writing platform. And I don’t feel embarrassed about revealing my unpolished writing, warts and all. I do have confidence in the quality of my writing - that it reads smoothly and conveys my point of view clearly. Will taking it slower and slogging over every word lead to an improvement in the quality of my writing? Perhaps, but I don’t let my mind go in this direction. Because my belief is this: Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good. And my writing is good enough. I never look back at my writings and cringe, so when I have time to blog something, I will grab the bull by its horns. I have exactly seven minutes left before I need to put my phone down and take care of my children. So, writing every day has honed my inner strength; I let myself go and type type type as furiously as a Japanese salaryman chasing the last train.
Stamina
I noticed something these few weeks. Prior to writing every day, I would dread having to download a photo or research a saying in order to beef up my writing. I think the combined pressures of my life have shriveled my will and depleted my energies. But as the Japanese saying goes, “Continuance is strength.”
These days, I don’t shudder inwardly when I find that I need to settle these logistical issues while writing. I think it’s because I’m so used to writing that all these serve as roadblocks that I habitually circumvent. My capacity for writing has been stretched. And as an elongated rubber band will say, you never go back to the same state once you have been tested.
Writing format
Would I be so into writing if I don’t get to learn Markdown here? Probably not. Some days, I tell myself that I want to write differently from my usual style. So, I have learnt how to use footnotes. (I usually don’t do that. I prefer to have all my thoughts under one place.) I have learnt how to create tables with Markdown - never thought that writing concisely and comparing two items would bring me so much joy! By tackling new things for me to master, I develop my love of writing at the same time. It’s not even about finding the best words to convey my thoughts; I now ponder the best method to express these ideas. Markdown is fun!
Okay I overshot by six minutes. If you have read this far, thank you for staying online.