365 Days of Medium

A ramble

I published my first Medium story on January 31st, 2023. That first article was a book review; since then, I have written dozens of book reviews and stories on several other topics, including writing, veganism, sustainability, well-being, and parenting. This will be my 192nd published article on the platform; I can hardly believe that number.

I wish I could come here and share amazing tips on what I learned through this last year. Perhaps even teach you to avoid making the same mistakes I made or show you how to become a better writer. But the truth is I don’t know how much I learned from all these stories I wrote; I don’t know if I have much to teach.

Some days, I feel that I have become better as a writer (even if I haven’t become any faster at it), but other days, I’m not so sure. I’ve received fantastic praise, but also some harsh criticism.

I like to think that I was able to listen to the advice I got from those trying to help me, but I’m not so sure I was able to actually put it into practice. I don’t have a good way to measure if I have improved or not, and although

I had some growth here on Medium over this last year in terms of followers, engagement, and even financial returns, it’s nothing to blow your socks off. So, I guess I don’t have the philosopher’s stone of good writing to share with you (yet).

I’m proud of my achievements

When I think about those articles I wrote, I feel this warmth take over my heart. I know I worked hard on them, sometimes for days on end, researching subjects and trying to get the words just right. I’m proud of the work I’ve done. I might not be the next Stephen King or even able to tell other people I’m a writer, but I am now confident enough to think of myself as a writer. That feels good!

I also experienced some very cool things because of Medium.

I learned how to publish my articles in publications; I’m now a writer for over 25 of them, although I mainly publish in TTO and BBB. I guess I have a thing for publications with three-letter acronyms. I still remember when I joined Medium thinking that it was very fancy to have your article in a publication. It’s undoubtedly super cool to be a part of the community, and I’m very thankful to be a writer for so many excellent pubs.

I became an editor for one of those publications, The Taoist Online, and even more surprisingly, I became an editor for Patrick Stewart’s book.

I had so much fun working with him. I was part of TTO’s panel on Medium Day, which was such a fantastic experience. I was also in charge of two incredible writing contests, one about “Death & the Afterlife” and the other about “Family & Celebrations”. It’s hard to express how much fun I had with those two contests and all the amazing entries we received for each one.

Over the past year, I even got a few articles boosted, which brought me some extra views, reads, and money. Although, the money from Medium isn’t a living wage — at least not for me. For the whole year I’ve been posting here, I made less than the minimum wage for one month of full-time work in Ireland.

I’m still thankful for all I’ve earned, though. It feels good to make some money from something you love doing. Having some articles boosted and seeing the interactions from other writers and readers on my articles gave me a lovely validation that I didn’t even know I wanted.

Over the last year, I gained over 3k followers here, but most of those people don’t interact with my articles in any way. I also gained about 60 subscribers, and although they don’t interact with all my articles, those are people I see quite often here and there.

But most importantly, I gained a bunch of friends. I’m not going to do a wall tag of people here, but I’m sure they all know who they are — and I’m very thankful for each and every one of these friendships that Medium has brought to my life.

The future holds what the future brings

When I first started here, I had no plans for Medium. I was studying copywriting at the time and hoping to make some money from writing, and I thought Medium could perhaps work as a portfolio for my work. I guess I started posting to have a feel for the website and see if I could use it that way. It turns out, I liked it too much here!

Since then, I have learned that copywriting isn’t for me for many personal reasons. I realised that the dream of earning a living from my writing was indeed only a dream, but I learned I could still make some money from it and have some fun while doing it. I’m very thankful for that.

I don’t know what the future holds. Right now, I don’t have any plans. I’ll continue writing on Medium, although perhaps not as often as last year. That’s because I’m not sure if what I write adds any value in any way, and many of my articles never leave my drafts folder or the notes app.

But whenever I think I have something worth sharing, I’ll do it here on Medium. I really enjoy this platform, how clean the articles look, and how easy it is to share my writing and ramblings. I also really appreciate that someone like me has a space here.

I’m very thankful for all the experiences I had because of Medium, all the friends I’ve made, all the fantastic articles I read, and all the personal growth this journey has brought me.

Today, I’m celebrating 365 days of writing on Medium. Here is to another 365!