I’ve been reading a lot of articles here on Medium, and my feed has been mainly about how to be a good writer, how to generate ideas to write a blog about, and other people’s experience on Medium, to name a few.

What I notice are the articles about how people are earning on Medium other than through the Medium Partner Program. I got curious, so I read a few articles and notice that they have a common denominator: they can’t earn through the Medium Partner Program because their country is not available on Stripe.

This got me thinking, “What if my country is also not available on Stripe?” So I checked it out while not thinking much, I already assume that my country is not available on Stripe. I would be surprised if it were, to be honest. There are a lot of services not available in my country.

As I attempt to make my account, and yeah, the Philippines is also not available on Stripe. As I said earlier, I would be surprised if it were.

Does it discourage me from continue writing on Medium? No, I’m not. Though it’s a shame that I won’t be earning money through the Medium Partner Program, but I already assume that it’s not included.

I know to myself that that’s not the end for me. I already prepared myself that I won’t be earning much from writing, let alone on Medium. So I’m not discouraged. A little disappointed, yeah, because I’m basically unemployed and not in education, but it’ll take more than that to stop me from writing on Medium.

I was inspired by 

Lauren Como’s blog post titled “Medium’s Partner Program Is the Wrong Way to Monetize Your Content” when I read it a few days ago, and her blog post made me fix how I can monetize my blog posts. You can read her blog post here:

https://laurencomo.medium.com/mediums-partner-program-is-the-wrong-way-to-monetize-your-content-b31148b6e7eb

That’s why I added other means for people to support me financially if they like to, like buying me coffee. I’m also researching on other ways to monetize my blog post.

I’ve also mentioned on my previous post that writing is sort of therapeutic for me and that it gave me a means to express what I feel and to have a voice, that’s why making money is only my second reason for writing, my first reason being for therapy reason and I want to speak what’s on my mind.

No More Allowance: My Journey in Exploring Online Earning Opportunities

Christina Dewitt’s blog post titled “What if No One Reads Your Writing?” resonates to me when I meant writing is therapeutic for me. The reason being is that even if no one is reading what I write, it’s alright with me. But of course, I truly appreciate everyone who reads my blog posts because they spend a portion of their time to read what I write. You can read her blog post here:

https://medium.com/new-writers-welcome/what-if-no-one-reads-your-writing-31bc6612b187

Kristina God’s blog post titled “Medium’s Gold Rush Is Over — So What?” also resonates with me regarding having our own voice, in particular, this line:

“Don’t let others tear you down! Dare to be you and share your unique voice THIS YEAR and see what happens.” –

Kristina God

I truly agree with what she said. We each have our own voice, and we must not let other people talk us down because of it. Keep on pursuing your passion and ignore the noise.

As King George VI said in the movie The King’s Speech:

“Because I have a right to be heard! I have a voice!” -King George VI, The King’s Speech

You can read her blog post here:

https://medium.com/new-writers-welcome/medium-gold-rush-is-over-so-what-2b1a7a2cfffb

The three of them made an impact on me, and I’m truly grateful for them, but there are a lot of writers here on Medium that did the same, but I can’t mention them all and say what they did or else this blog post will turn into a novel. So, to the writers that I’ve failed to mention, thank you for inspiring me.

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In Other News

I’ve sent my manuscript to a publisher!

I’m super excited about this one. This is the reason why I have not been active lately on Medium, because I’ve been busy with finishing this manuscript I’ve been working on about personal finance for a while now.

Anvil Publishing is the publishing arm of National Book Store, the largest bookstore chain in the Philippines. They publish print books, e-books, and audiobooks. It’s a nationwide book dealer to network servicing dealers in the country which includes National Book Store, Goodwill Book Store, Rex Book Store, and Solidaridad.

That’s why I’m super excited.

I’ve written 25,243 words within 87 pages. To be honest, even though I have confidence on my writing, I’m not really confident when I submitted it to a publisher. “What if my manuscript was rejected?” was on my mind, but I just shrug it off and just submit it to a different publisher after editing it more and hoping that it would get published. If it didn’t get accepted after a few publishers, then I’ll opt to self-publish on Amazon again.

If ever my manuscript is accepted for publishing, then I can finally say I’m a “published author”, not just an “author”, not just a “writer”, but a “published author.”

It’s one of my dreams that I want to turn to reality. The first of all my dreams, even. The second is to become a lawyer, but I’ll put that on hold because I don’t have the funds to pay for my tuition to continue my studies after my father’s passing.

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Originally posted on Medium.