Writing Uprising | My Social Life at Matters (Revised Edition)

This article is republished after revision, and the previous version has been hidden on the site - the content to be revised exceeds the 50 editing distance limited by the platform. It is not intentional to repeatedly post messages to defraud traffic. Please forgive me for any inconvenience caused.

"If you don't socialize on this platform (Matters), you will die, but socialize!" A well-meaning reader left me a message after the article "Desperate Writing" was published.

In fact, I have always been social, no one is not eager to communicate, no one is more eager to communicate than "Kafka in the hole". Over the past few years, I've tracked hundreds of authors on Matters, far more than my followers. Tracking is a "weak social" and the first step to breeding more possibilities.

I once sent messages to popular authors I admire, Chen Chun and Mimiana, and I was fortunate enough to get a response from the latter. By the way, Mimi and I are still friends on WeChat, and we can browse her Moments and see her living room and the scenery outside the window—the sunset in Winnipeg is breathtaking. Of course this is nothing to brag about, Mimi has thousands of WeChat friends and I am just one of them.

The biggest surprise was interacting with Shen Yuyuan. He is relatively low-key in Matters and doesn't publish many articles, but his talent makes me dizzy. I left a message under his article "Finally Saying Goodbye to September in 2020": "After reading it, I was deeply touched, and I had the idea of getting to know the author." He replied, "Thank you." Just four words made my heart skip a beat. accelerate. The profile on the homepage of his creative space is not very informative, far from satisfying my curiosity. For a long time I wondered: Who is this author? It was not until he wrote "Arriving in Göttingen under the pandemic" that the mystery was solved. This article was first published on the "Sandwich" WeChat public account, signed Zou Sicong - he is Shen Yuyuan! I left a message under his latest article "Farewell to 2021: Remember Some Things That Can't Be Taken": "It turns out that your real name is Zou Sicong, I saw your article in 'Sandwich', you are the best kind Chinese writer." He replied humbly: "Thank you, brother, I don't dare to do it. It's very difficult to resume writing and keep going." My pursuit finally touched him, and he read my article and left a message saying "Shocked by your life experience".

Generally speaking, my social interaction is more "Buddhist", and I will not cast a net aimlessly, or pester others to communicate, which also causes me to not "gain followers" for a few years and enjoy social dividends. One downside, I need a ladder to log in to Matters, and the ladder can malfunction. Last summer, the ladder on my phone suddenly failed, and there was no one around to turn to for help. Unable to do anything, I was forced to lose contact with Matters for a few months before I managed to find a new ladder to get back to the platform. What moved me was that a Hong Kong reader still remembered me and said that he had been chasing after me.

My social life has grown richer as I've been posting as hard as I can at Matters. The benefits of social networking are obvious to the naked eye. I have met a new batch of excellent writers. In the past week, my followers have increased by more than a dozen, and I am only one step away from "breaking 100". My writing income has become stable and predictable. Occasionally, well-meaning readers support me with Hong Kong dollars or LikeCoins. I am grateful, and I have become more and more firm in my belief in "death to write".

Matters has become my most important writing platform, and I have to make good use of it to squeeze more social dividends. Every time a new reader appreciates or follows me, I will check TA's creative space for the first time, read TA's articles, and give back to clap or follow. I started commenting more often, even for the sake of commenting - isn't it ridiculous and pathetic for me to do so just to be seen?

Maybe it's time to say goodbye to the WeChat public account! There is no future for my writing there. I'm fed up with censorship and growing disgusted with self-censorship, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Look at me, trembling with fear and hesitating to speak, where is the courage and courage needed for writing? I have been devastated by the censorship system, can I still express myself normally?

I really want to rebel. From today, write whatever comes to my mind, and let the censorship go to hell!