I’m Grateful For This Last Year in Writing

Thank you all for giving me the ability to spend my days writing stories

As I write this, I’m still awaiting a few critical packages to arrive in the mail. The next few days are going to be a whirlwind. I am fortunate enough to share a home with a couple of delightful forest sprites. They’ll wake up early on Christmas morning, take to wing, flutter down the stairs, and squeal with delight when they lay their eyes upon everything Santa brought them.

I’ve scheduled this article to publish on Christmas day, so by the time you get a chance to read this, you’ve probably already been through your Christmas hurricane. All the wrapping has been stuffed into garbage bags, and perhaps everyone has retreated after all the excitement to take an extended look at their “loot.”

I’ll probably be in the middle of cooking a turkey as you read this. That’s a few days away yet, so I’m not really thinking about it. Food is secondary to making sure all the hopes and wishes are adequately addressed.

As for me, I’ve already had my Christmas gift this year. I have to acknowledge that it’s been a wonderful year in writing for me. I deeply appreciate the changes that have taken place on Medium, and it seems like every day I meet another wave of new and wonderful people.

It seems hard to believe, but going back to December/January/February of last year, I was seriously wondering if I’d have to give up on Medium. My earnings were down, and it felt like I was putting in more effort than I could justify.

I’ve been dedicated to writing on Medium since June of 2020 (though I’ve had an account since November of 2016). I wasted the end of 2019 and the first part of 2020 writing for Vocal. The reason I was drawn to Vocal was that, of the two platforms, Vocal was the first to show earnings in my wallet.

I also won third place in one of the early challenges on Vocal, and that netted me around $700. For three or four solid months, I had at least one entry into every one of their challenges, but I never won again.

Boy, what a thrill it is to get an email that says “Congratulations!” It’s an even bigger thrill when the payment you’ve been promised actually comes through. One thing I’ve learned as a writer is that promised payments are meaningless. You shouldn’t celebrate until the funds have been deposited and cleared.

Anyway, after I quit winning challenges, I turned to Medium. It was slow going at first. Back then you awaited the email that said “Congratulations, your story has been selected for further distribution!” Then you’d see the “Distributed” notification on your stats page.

In August of 2020, I had my first Medium story make me over $800, so I slapped myself in the face for writing on Vocal. “Ah-ha!” I said. “This is the place to be.”

Throughout 2020, 2021, and 2022, I was also working with a couple of other platforms, but they’ve all slipped away. I do still dabble with other opportunities, but these days almost all of my work turns up on Medium.

One of the things I like a lot about Medium is how often it changes. For a few months, they experimented with handing out an “engagement” bonus. That meant that if your stories were performing well, they gave you some extra money.

Extra money always makes writers happy. I earned an extra $500 for three straight months, and those were the first months my earnings went over $1,000.

Then came the announcement that Evan Williams would be stepping down from Medium to be replaced by Tony Stubblebine. A change at the top always creates uncertainty that leads to concern, but Tony has been doing a wonderful job.

The Boost program started this year, and I filled out an application to be a nominator. I was picked in, I think, the second month of the program. Since then, every month has brought with it significant changes.

It’s not as if my earnings have steadily been on the rise in every single month, but they have been much higher this year than in the past. Also, my follower and subscriber count has really bloomed. In January of 2023 I had 6,758 followers and 181 email subscribers.

A year later, I have 38,757 followers and 606 email subscribers. My follower count almost doubled in July, and it’s been increasing at a steady clip since that date.

These days, I get very kind engagement with most of my posts. I appreciate all the comments I receive and I try to answer all of them. I wonder if I could ask Medium to create a feature that left you a notification about comments you didn’t answer? I’d like something like that. On days when I have a lot of notifications, it’s possible some comments slip through the cracks (but I do my best).

I enjoy that you have to constantly innovate and experiment on Medium. An article that doesn’t perform well is equally as important as one that does. The ones that don’t perform give you an idea as to what your readers expect from you.

I go into 2024 firmly committed to writing for Medium for the foreseeable future. In fact, I expect to get my eldest daughter established with an account here shortly. The thing that’s really important about Medium is that it’s the only platform I know of that uses human curators to identify quality content. I’m very disturbed by the extent to which hate speech is allowed to proliferate on many sites. The AI algorithms seem to promote hostility, and I don’t think that’s good for our society.

I appreciate the opportunity to have a platform from which I can express my observations. Yes, there are times that Medium makes decisions that I don’t agree with, but they have also shown an amazing willingness to change and adapt. Other platforms often frustrate me, but only Medium seems to listen to suggestions and try to do better.

It delights me to tell stories, and I’m grateful to have discovered a wonderful community that makes me feel at home. 2023 was a tremendous year for me as a writer, and I feel as if more amazing things are on the horizon.

I look forward to continuing the journey! Wishing you all the best in 2024!