Writing a blog for income

I. Introduction

I have meandered on through this blog for about 3 1/2 years, always wondering, 'how can I earn a living doing what I enjoy, now that I can't practice active Emergency Medicine?' I quickly found I was in an unusual, if lucky situation.

I have a stable medical condition. Secondary Progressive MS sounds like a death sentence and I guess it is, seen from a non-medical perspective. My own perspective, though, is in some respects a little unique. I have a full medical education having spent two years after allopathic medical school as a Surgical Resident. Answering the question Am I Really A Surgeon as: NO, I then spent three years in the Indian Health Service at a reservation in Arizona followed by a four-year Residency in Emergency Medicine in Phoenix.So, at the age of 35, I found myself fully qualified to practice Emergency Medicine (in Arizona at least) with a long-suffering wife and two very small Munchkins banging about the apartment.

I talked with family members, who reminded me that after 'not doing well' as a pre-med in college I excelled thereafter in English Literature and after graduating with a B.A. in it, went to an in-city university for an excellent post-bac second degree (a B.S. this time) in Biology with time spent in microbiology and genetics. I think 7 years spent in college had me cooled off enough to approach Medical school in a more reasonable way.

II. A Possible Path Found

My first path taken in this blogging adventure started soon after I realized my active medical career was over, in mid-2007. For almost a year preceding this I had worked at another Indian Reservation and had finally seen it was Over, that other life courses must be taken.

I grew up on the grounds of a Veteran's Hospital in Portland and was led, I'm sure, by my Father, the chief surgeon there, My path was clearly shown as one of science, with a final goal as surgery. Ye gods, such a firmly-led life! It took five-plus years and much in-the-dark blundering to finally turn my trail to English Literature for a while and at last to Medicine, via lazy years in school and reading/writing in the South Park Blocks of my Home Town.

This is now the third time I've tried to write something in this capsule; I had finished many paragraphs but, before Saving the completed text, I found I had to do Something Else and a sudden fit of tittibation had me dropping my iPad on the floor, the result being a quick use of all the Anglo-Saxonisms I had readily available and eventually, a forced-calm approach to the problem of writing.

I had looked at the question of actually Making Some Money with writing and thought I would have to sit in dusty Library some where and crank off a Magnum Opus. Part of my mind told me, 'much too much Work', and I thought and think this is correct.

I am very lucky that we live in an increasingly Electronic century. With the emergence of the Internet, my worries about the Physical Necessities requisite to (of?) writing and publishing any piece have gone away. I'm still in the Process of evolving myself as a professional writer but it looks like it may happen.

The first step I took, was cozying up to Kindle, one of the first apps I ever had,long ago in the Dark Ages, maybe four years ago. Kindle acted as a conduit through which I built a library of several hundred books, usually spending nothing and limiting my costs to $10.00 per book. This was nice, having access to all my reading material with a good Connected Dictionary and associated Underlining (o Joy!).

Kindle has, in the last few years, begun a program of assisting new writers in getting their productions out into the public realm. I've considered this as an Avenue, but have not yet Done It. I do recommend people looking into it, if interested. As a Doctor, I can say it. Do As I Say, Not as I Haven't Yet Done.

It turns out I have bumped into a newer program; I think it's newer or at least I hadn't realized its existence until now. This program is with Hubpages which sees the need for making a little extra from what we bloggers do anyway and provides what looks like a very doable platform.

I began the process of Joining and was led over a week or so through the process of signing up for Paypal and completing the three-part path of providing a little information which, I Think and Hope, has made me a member of The Club and which may put a few Inoffensive Ads on my blog-borders. I am hoping this is enough to do the job. We will see.