I couldn’t believe it when I opened the email.

I thought it was a mistake. A prank? Or worst one of the fraud emails?

It was not until three other writers reported in a SLACK group that they too got a bonus check of $500 that I realized that I had made my first real money from writing.

I am one of 1000 writers to get a $500 bonus from Medium.

I have been publishing one article a day for about 27 days now. Before that, I was averaging two articles a week. I have put an insane amount of hours into learning the craft of article writing in the past two and half years.

It feels good to be recognized.

It is not the money, but the recognition, that someone took notice of my work that feels good.

This $500 will go a long way.

Many writers like me needed this proof that we can develop a career by writing online.

This money is not enough to pay bills for many, but it is enough to give us the taste of online work. And it is a world with abundance. Thousands of entrepreneurs are building millions (nee billions) of dollars worth of businesses online. We just needed a tiny proof for ourselves.

I quit (I don’t like the word retired) a job where I earned $175K per year to start my writing career. This money is the first proof that the world is changing. That blogging could not only be intellectually satisfying but a means of earning a living.

I won’t be fully relying on Medium, but I want to thank them for the gesture.

I think they are going on the right track.

Most Medium members are interested in each other’s success. We want to hear each other’s views and learn from each other, not just about making money but also how to live this life better.

At Medium, we are part of a “scenius.”

Brian Eno, a musician, record producer, and visual artist, came up with the term “scenius.”

The word conveys the extreme creativity that a group, place or “scene” can occasionally generate. His actual definition is:

Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius. — Brian Eno

I first learned about scenius from Austin Kleon, who wrote in his book Steal Like an Artist, “What is great about the idea of scenius is that it makes room in the story of creativity for the rest of us: the people who don’t consider ourselves geniuses.”

It is not about how talented and how smart you are it is about what you have to contribute, the idea you can share, the quality of connections you can make and the conversations you start. — Austin Kleon

If we can forget about the geniuses and concentrate on how we can nurture and contribute to a scenius we can lean and grow much faster. Internet is basically is a bunch of seniuses. Blogs, social media sites, email groups and discussion board forums are the platforms where people hang out and talk about things they care about and share ideas. — Austin Kleon

Medium is that scenius.

Individuals immersed in a productive “scenius” blossom and produce their best work. When buoyed by scenius, you act like a genius. In addition, your like-minded peers and the entire environment inspire you.

At Medium, we are a whole scene of people supporting each other, looking at each other’s work, learning from each other, sharing and comparing and contributing ideas, and growing together as a group.Ev Williams, if you can keep Medium as a scenius for readers, writers, and thinkers, it will become a realization of your vision — Where good ideas find you.

I believe in Medium’s vision statement.

Medium is an open platform where readers find dynamic thinking, and where expert and undiscovered voices can share their writing on any topic.

In the meantime, that you for $500. They will pay for my next ten year’s subscription.

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