Godfrey, congrats on your 27K followers and $1253 paycheck. The advice you offer has some worth, but your commentary and judgments promote awful values. Why do you use Starbucks to illustrate an unsuccessful wannabe writer? Real people work there. And did you really mean that it's somehow too precious to write only when you have something to say? Maybe you are writing to hone your craft but it's pollution to churn out words into a public platform because you made a commitment to write daily. It clutters medium.com and obscures excellence under an avalanche.
"The only way for you to become an excellent writer is by being consistent.
Point blank.
Period."
Really? The ONLY way? You know this, and David B. Clear doesn't, and if I want to avoid being a barista, you have the answer.
The poor soul who wrote a billion articles on one topic you describe as living a pathetic existence. Not 'that wouldn't work for me' but 'pathetic.'The old people who don't have time to work in your way are not your problem. Why mention them at all?
Stop Telling People Everything and Stop Wasting Your Life are authoritative and aggressive titles that position you as an expert not only about medium but on life in general. You cite The 48 Laws of Power as an inspiration, tying the theme together. 20K claps, 474 comments, that's good work. But it doesn't support your claims that you have an absolute, exclusive understanding of success.
You stated that it's all random -- but you can't teach for random, no advice can influence random, so your basic premise is a contradiction.
Look, Godfrey, I'm being tough on you because you're too sure of yourself and your tone is arrogant and mean-spirited. Is "Godfrey the Great" tongue-in-cheek? I can't tell.
I could have written this as a stand-alone article as you did with your critique of David B. Clear, but there's an overdose of writers writing about writing ......... so I chose to communicate here, with only one other commenter from 3 months ago, without sarcasm or hyperbole.
I found your vignette about the two protégés condescending and self-serving .....(David's student) typical perfectionist with lofty and imaginary standards .... met with muted crickets ....... (your student) will eventually be too good to ignore ....... he trusts in Master Godfrey's methods. You've been doing this for how long? Two years? A little early to proclaim the title of Master.
And with all the work you put in, where is the technique and craft in writing 9 minutes worth of one-paragraph sentences about someone else's advice?
You admit to have chosen writing to channel your creativity, despite the fact that writing is not the best form of content, because it has a low barrier of entry, is the easiest and has low start-up costs. That denigrates and cheapens everyone's efforts, while you seem to be applauding your own con game in manipulating some money out of this unsophisticated alternative to Tik Tok , YouTube, Instagram and longform podcasts.
A lot of us are working at this in good faith, and there a hundred ways to do this well, and I felt compelled to stick up for all of us. Drop the sarcasm and the superiority and show a little kindness and restraint, please.
