Medium made me feel like a “celebrity”.
Getting recognised in public for being a “Writer”.
Writer’s aren’t exactly who we think of when the word “Celebrity” pops to mind, unless you’re J.K. Rowling or Stephen King; chance are very few people know what we look like.
I like being unrecognised, because well…I’m not exactly famous plus I’m not too comfortable with talking to strangers.
Little did I know though, a few seconds of being recognised could just make my day!
I’m at Kinokuniya (my favourite book store, not advertising — but they’re great), I’m browsing through the Autobiography section (I love Autobiographies).
Hmm…this one has a nice cover, hmm this one seems nice, oh maybe I’ll read one from Joan Didion!
Now where do I find Joan Didion, the electronic search device tells me there’s a few in stock, but I can’t seem to find them; I am truly lost.
Oh look there’s an a fellow who works here, maybe I’ll ask them.
“Hi…I’m looking for ‘The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion’”
“Oh yeah, sure let me have a look. I’ll take you to it.”
“Oh Thanks, mate…that’s nice of you.”
The walk was maybe a minute or two.
The fella was kind enough to mention, “I like her Netflix documentary, have you seen it?”
“Yeah, I loved it. That’s one of the reasons why I thought I’d read her book. I thought I might write about it.”
“Oh you write? That’s cool. For a magazine or online?”
“Yeah I write on this blogging platform called Medium…not sure if you know it?”
“Oh yeah, I’ve read a few articles on there. What’s your profile?”
“I’ll just show you on my phone, here you go!”
“Dude…I read your article!”
“Oh what? *SERIOUSLY*
“Yeah, it was the Printer article — that was a sick piece, man”
“Oh…umm. Cheers, dude. Thank you. That’s very kind”
“Dude no worries, hey I’ll slap a 10% discount if you want; we got employee benefits.”
“Oh yeah sure, I wouldn’t mind that. Give me a shout when you write, yeah?”
“Sure will, dude. Have a great day.”
Fuck yeah! 10% Discount — that’s heaps for a struggling writer.
Plus it’s the thought that counts.
And for the few minutes that my face lit up with pure joy; to have someone actually recognise me from my writing,
Life is full of coincidences!
The Article in Question, the one that made me feel special for a few moments and earned me a sweet 10% discount on my purchase.
It wouldn’t be fair to go on without Thanking Joe Keohane and Alexandra Sifferlin for helping polish and feature my article, from the initial draft I submitted.
Don’t expect me to share my copy of “The Year of Magical Thinking”, though. I’ll be keeping that one as a trophy.
