“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” ~ Ray Bradbury

Here are the winners we paid in October. Plus: Write with elephant journal, get paid if you’re consistent, quality, well-read.

We’ve now paid out over $21,000 mindfully-earned dollars…to our writers. In six months. Seventh month just started: ready, set, mindfully contribute!

Here’s the “best” post of last month.

Note: if you wish to collect your winnings, you must email your total by noon MST on the 1st of December at the latest to editorial @ elephantjournal dot com. Even five minutes late, and nothing. Seriously…Michelle.

THE DEADLINE IS FIRM (CAPS LOCK firm—and as editors, we hate ALL CAPS): No exceptions. If you submit early, we’re cool. If you submit late, we can not and will not be able to pay you (don’t blow it).

Minimum: four new blogs a month—at least two in first two weeks, at least two in second two weeks (no squeaking posts in at the end of the month).

What makes a mindful contribution? Poetry, photos, adventure, green, videos (a great way to, a la Upworthy, share quality with minimal intro—that said video plus quality article is a consistent winner), family, meditation, Dharma, politics, activism, conscious consumerism, contemplative arts, oh my: you can share anything that connects with our mission: to share the mindful life beyond our choir.

November:

Casual Contributor level: $50/month if you put up 4 or more a month and total 10,000 readers or more in the month.

$100/month if you put up 5 or more a month (I spend say 10 minutes to 30 minutes on a blog, so that’s in the range of $50/hour) reaching 20,000 readers or more in the month.

$300/month if you put up at least 6 blogs a month reaching 40,000 readers a month.

$500/month if you put up at least 7 blogs a month reaching 80,000 readers in the month.

$800/month if you put up at least 8 or more a month reaching 160,000 readers in the month.

$1,600/month if you put up at least 9 or more a month reaching 320,000 readers in the month.

$3,200/month if you put up at least 10 or more a month reaching 640,000 readers in the month.

Some general guideline jargon:

Writers deserve to get paid.

First, you have to be >consistent< to “win.” Secondly, we will not share anything that’s not >quality<, making it difficult for sexy (lascivious) or kitteny (cute) posts lacking other merits to win. Thirdly, if your consistent and quality writing is popular, we’ll pay you for your work and I’m happy to be able to do this, based on our growth (Elephant’s doing well, growing to 4.5 million, this month).

If you don’t want to get paid, you don’t have to play. Writers who are playing can not share their own posts on FB main page, but can on our appropriate focus pages.

Anyone who shares anything like “help me win so I can make money” will be disqualified: We reserve the right to disqualify anyone who is not writing or sharing in the spirit of our mission. A more mindful approach: “help support my work on elephant, here’s an article about xxx yyyy” or “help me, friends, by reading and sharing if so inspired.”

You dig? Send your article to:

elephantjournal.com/submit

(Note: editors and volunteers are eligible, but can not share their own articles on our main Facebook page [you can, however, share the article once per day on appropriate focus pages] if you choose to “play.”

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ― Douglas Adams

Note: if you wish to collect your winnings, you must email your total by noon MST on the 1st of November at the latest to editorial @ elephantjournal dot com. Even five minutes late, and nothing. Seriously.

THE DEADLINE IS FIRM (yes, it’s CAPS LOCK firm—no joke): No exceptions. If you submit early, we’re cool. If you submit late, we can not and will not be able to pay you (don’t blow it).

Note: Subscribe to our youtube channel for new videos.

Note: read our best, free! Get our newsletter, it’s free.

Who earned  multiple dollars with elephant last month, you ask? Here are our results:

(Congratulations to our bloggers from October, 2013. Hurray for you!)

 Gerry Ellen Avery: 10 articles; 11,369 views for a payout of $50

 Krystal Baugher: 7 articles; 43,263 views for a payout of $300

 Michele Bickley: 5 articles; 10,522 views for a payout of $50

 Dana Gornall: 10 articles; 22,385 views for a payout of $100

 Erica Leibrandt: 42 articles; 84,830 views for a payout of $500

 Kimberly Lo: 28 articles; 93,666 views for a payout of $500

 Renee Picard: 6 articles; 31,354 views for a payout of $100

 Lynn Shattuck: 7 articles; 14,423 views for a payout of $50

 Brentan Schellenbach: 13 articles; 336,243 views for a payout of $1600

 Michelle Marchildon: 4 articles; 23,659 views for a payout of $50

 Michelle Margaret: 25 articles; 51,983 views for a payout of $300

 Ann Nichols:13 articles; 24,529 views for a payout of $100

  Jennifer S. White: 42 articles; 147,048 views for a payout of $500