I Like to Read and Write Long Posts (and I Cannot Lie)

I left the following comment on a post by a writer I admire, @praguepainter, and then realized I wanted to make it a post on its own. Praguepainter posts interesting articles, and he also has written some of the longest, most interesting and appreciated comments on my posts. His post today was about a Medium article titled How To Grow A Ridiculous Following On Any Platform (Including Medium). I will let you find the link to that article on @praguepainter’s post: Blogging is Dead.

In this post he laments the idea that we need to cater to readers who want short articles, short paragraphs, and more or less dumbed down language. The article he linked to is a maddening pseudo listicle that reads like something my 8 year old son passes off as an essay when he’s bored in school. I get that the Medium article is written for people who simply want to make money as bloggers, but one of the very refreshing things about Steemit is that it’s the Wild West of blog sites. It is international and we get to build any type of following we want. People like @praguepainter and I get to follow each other and read each other’s long, complex, intelligent posts!

Here’s my rant:

*Image Source: Public Domain Pictures

I teach for people who want to learn, but many of my students who don’t want to learn want me to just shut up and tell them what’s going to be on the test (never mind I don’t give tests, but they wish I did).

I coach for kids who want to be athletes and push themselves to their highest potential, but many of the kids that come out for the team act annoyed that I take my job seriously, and they wish I’d just let them be lazy and pretend to be athletes so they can put it on their college applications or write a stupid essay about how they learned so much about life by being a total *%#king waste of space.

I write for people who want to read. I could give a crap about someone who thinks that I should care enough about a topic to devote time to writing about it, yet not care enough about it to do it justice.

On the other hand, I do have students who are thriving in their academic pursuits and we challenge each other daily, mutually benefiting from the exchange. I also have kids who commit themselves to showing up to practice everyday, not necessarily because they are talented, but because they appreciate what focus and hard work can accomplish. We inevitably end up celebrating their accomplishments together, celebrating what it means to be human on an existential level. I am here because I want to connect with other people about ideas and words and long, complex sentences, paragraphs and articles. To hell with anyone who isn’t here for that. (I’m kidding really, or at least mean it in the kindest way :).

I have no issue that anyone who writes short articles because they are trying to appeal to a specific audience that wants that. In fact, I have no problem with anyone here that posts anything that adds some sort of quality. That’s the whole point. I am writing this to anyone that might be tempted to leave their own artistic, creative or intellectual desires at the door because someone else is saying, “Keep it short.”

But alas, I can say these things because I’m not here for the money. Or am I. I am a teacher because I know that I don’t need to be rich, and I appreciate the predictability of a steady, modest income. That doesn’t mean I don’t teach For the money. I just want to earn my living on my terms. I’m a coach because I appreciate being active while helping develop young people and the pay is like a nice volunteer stipend that I put towards my retirement or vacation every year. Steemit provides some financial incentive that gives me an added push to write, and who knows, someday my account might be worth 5, 10, 20 times what it is today.

Maybe I’m a dinosaur, the last of an old breed that will surely die off and leave the blogosphere to people that eke out a living by writing for people who don’t really want to read. But on the other hand, maybe Steemit is providing the platform where we can take our good old sweet time to build a following of our own, based on doing whatever the hell makes us happy.

When we do things for money first, and enjoyment second, or money first, and lifestyle second, we compromise what brings us the most joy and satisfaction as humans. Life is too short to sacrifice that which is most enjoyable about being on this planet in the first place.