One Year Medium Milestone

7 Helpful Tips from My First Year-and-a-bit on Medium

And introducing my new avatar

Me: But, Lynda, it’s been six weeks already. Actually, make that eight! Lynda: So? What difference does that make? Me: Well, eight weeks I suppose! It’s hardly a one-year milestone anymore, is it? Lynda: So, do something different. Make it a one-year-eight-week milestone! Me: Hmmm, do you think that would work? Like, really? Do you think anyone would read it? Lynda: Too bad if they don’t! Look, it’s your story. No one else has a story like yours. If you don’t write it, who will? It doesn’t matter if no one reads it. That’s not the point. Me: Hmm, yeah, I see what you mean. You’re right, you know. You always are.

And there’s my first takeaway right there!

✨ Helpful Tip 1

Always listen to your muse, because it’s likely they know better than you do!

I realise this is a strange way of starting a recap of my first year on Medium, but when I think about it, it’s actually perfect. Lynda got it right again! Of course, I should start with her. After all, Lynda is my heavenly muse who has been with me right from the start of my (our) Medium adventure. I first wrote about her here.

My next tip also comes from Lynda when she says, ‘No one else has a story like yours.’ I’ll say that again because it really needs emphasizing.

No one else has a story like yours.

It seems like it’s stating the obvious, but how often do we writers undervalue our unique perspectives on life, our creativity, and our funds of information and knowledge? No one else knows life the way we do. The only way we can share that is by expressing it in a meaningful way. For writers, it means writing.

✨ Helpful Tip 2

Your story is your story. It’s a story worth telling, so tell it the way you want it to be told.

So, with that said, it’s time for me to tell my story the way I want to tell it. It’s up to you if you hang around to the end. I hope you do. 😊

The Jumbo Bookends

I notched up my one-year Medium milestone on August 21, 2021.

I indulged in a sigh of relief and a feeling of fait accompli. Not because I’d achieved the milestone but because I’d finally hit the ‘publish’ button on my one-and-only submission to Medium’s first-ever writing competition, the Medium Writers Challenge.

It was only when I saw the date on the freshly published piece that I made the connection. I swear the timing was completely unintentional but that story, A Lantern Lit Up My Death Reflection, is now one of the jumbo bookends to my first year on Medium. I say jumbo because it’s a hefty 8-minute read (by my standards, that’s hefty).

Down the other end, i.e., my first Medium post published on August 21, 2020, is another jumbo bookend — a 9-minute read.

In between those two jumbos are 153 articles of varying dimensions, genres, and topics. Specifically, a lot of poetry.

I’m proud of my bookends.

I’m proud of them because of the comments they received. In particular, the comments from two readers who, at the time, didn’t know me at all and vice versa. I was so appreciative of their encouraging words that I wrote an article for each of them thanking them for their kindness (here and here).

And as an aside, the first of the gratitude articles, was my 100th post — a milestone within a milestone! 😊

✨ Helpful Tip 3

It doesn’t matter if it’s the writer’s first post or their umpteenth, a few simple words of encouragement from a reader is all it takes to boost a writer’s confidence and give them the motivation to keep writing. On the flip side, reciprocating with a standalone post that pays homage to the commenter and their comment is a goodwill gesture that serves everyone well.

The Magic of Curation

My first curated piece was 8 Steps to Writing a Harlequin Poem. It was my fourth published article. I self-published it because I didn’t have a clue which publication would take it, and I hadn’t at that stage joined the MPP. I made the bold move to cough up — I mean, sign up — three days later.

That’s when the magic happened!

First, the article was curated. Then, coincidence or not, an editor from The Start Up messaged me asking if they could publish the piece in their publication.

Hell, yeah!! Oops, sorry! Let me try that again. You beauty!! 😆

I should add here that this wasn’t the ‘chosen for further distribution’ variety of curation we have today. This was the real-deal curation that every writer clamored to achieve. This was hand-picked curation where selected pieces were displayed under topics for everyone to see. In this instance, my article was awarded writing, poetry and education badges.

I still pinch myself about the sequence of events. I literally scraped in by the skin of my teeth with this piece being curated when it was. Within days Medium officialdom informed us it was switching to the generic form of curation we now have.

At the time, I thought I’d hit the jackpot! 💥

Four articles in, and I’d made it to the big time! How easy was that! 😅

I waited for the stats to go through the roof and the pots of gold to pile up at my door! 🚀 💰 💰 💰

I’m still waiting! 😆 😆 😆

If I’m lucky and an adventurous reader clicks on the link and spends a few precious minutes reading the article, it might break through the $3 barrier! (Here’s the link 😜)

But, hey, it’s not all about the money, is it?

This post hasn’t bought me a cup of coffee yet, but it’s racked up the highest number of views of any of my articles to date — 620, and counting — 80% of them external, mostly from Google.

Whichever way I look at it, it’s a feather in my quill. And it wouldn’t have happened without Medium.

✨ Helpful Tip 4

Success can be measured in any number of ways. Stats and earnings are just some of the more visible means of ranking success. Even then, success can mean different things to different people. When it comes to online platforms like Medium, there is a certain element of luck. We need to make sure we don’t confuse success with luck. Essentially, success is something we have control over. As writers on Medium, the only thing we can control is our writing.

Creativity

Medium encourages creativity. It’s a key reason why I chose this platform over other online writing hubs.

I came here to prove to myself that I could write consistently, in terms of creativity, quality and output — that I was more than a writer of clinical reports and letters to pediatricians — that I could entertain people with my writing and share some of my knowledge along the way.

I came here to discover my true writer’s voice.

What I ended up doing was learning a lot about myself and getting a whole pile of stuff off my chest. 😅 😍

I’ve learned heaps about poetry that I had no clue about before. Sonnet anyone? I’ve experimented and taken risks. I’ve ranted and been a lunatic — in a poking-fun-at-me sort of way. 😜

I came here with the idea of giving more than I received. I’ve received more than I’ve given. But I have given, and I hope to continue giving. 🙏

My creative offerings, as in something new and a bit different, have been small. Small, as in micro. Micro as in micropoetry. Harlequin poems and twittles to be precise.

Harlequin poems

Harlequin poems are 25-syllable story poems arranged in a diamond shape.

They look fabulously decorative when tessellated together which is how they’re meant to be displayed.

I created harlequin poems some years ago primarily as a language-literacy device for students with learning difficulties.

Unfortunately, they’re not well suited to Medium because they need centre justification.

Here’s one I’ve prepared to commemorate my one-year Medium milestone.

Twittles

A twittle is a four-line micropoem constructed with exactly 100 alphabet letters and a teensy bit of rhyme, like this one –

It’s my one year Medium milestone A time to bestow my gratitude For every read, clap and comment My writing dream’s come true

I introduced twittles to Medium at the end of October 2020, i.e., there’s another milestone just around the corner!

The twittle train has been choofing around Medium ever since, picking up happy twittlers along the way.

✨ Helpful Tip 5

Creativity propagates creativity and it’s a breeding ground here on Medium! Take advantage of everything the platform has to offer, even if you think it doesn’t apply to you — there’s always something to be learned and more gained than lost. The world of online publishing is changing. It takes — it needs — creativity to drive that process. Be a driver. Take some risks. Explore unfamiliar pathways. Let creativity light the way.

Connection

Medium is not just a place to read and write. It’s a place to connect. And connect I have! With many wonderful people who I now have the good fortune to call friends.

I wouldn’t be the first one to say that writing and connecting with fellow writers is something of a lifesaver. A sanity saver. Finding a place within Medium’s writing community has helped me get through the pandemic — at least this far into the pandemic, who knows what lies ahead? There are so many I need to thank but to list you all will have me running the spammy gauntlet against the algorithm — that’s one risk I’d prefer not to take.

Instead, I hope a twittled-tanaga will go some of the way to convey my gratitude -

My gratitude spills over Blossom-flushed on a spring day Fruits of fellowship writers Blessed harvests coming your way

What the tanaga is a twittled-tanaga?!

Viraji Ogodapola recently introduced me to tanaga poetry. I’ve taken it one step further and given it the twittle treatment. Yep, it’s a 100-letter tanaga! See what I mean about creativity being a catalyst for more creativity! 😊

The Prompters

Inspiring and encouraging each other is a large part of what makes this writing community so vibrant, supportive, and truly remarkable. Writing prompts are instrumental in this process.

It took me three months to pluck up enough courage to participate in a writing prompt. Looking now at what I produced then, I have to say I’m impressed! The creativity dial was cranked up to the max! A shape poem about the Moon, no less! Take a look for yourself here.

Once I realized writing prompts could get me to the Moon and back, I was off and running! Special thanks go to the clever subset of writer-creatives who serve us up a delicious smorgasbord of topics and literary challenges to feast on. My prompters include Victor Sarkin, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), Sahil Patel, Dennett, Somsubhra Banerjee to name a few. 🙏

The Editors

I’ve reserved a special place here for the publication editors. Honestly, where would we be without them?

Yes, I admit I’m a tad bit biased. Full disclosure here — I, along with Suntonu Bhadra and Indubala Kachhawa, are editors for Paper Poetry, so I know what it means to be an editor. If anything, the experience has cemented my appreciation for the hours of work and commitment given voluntarily to run a publication that reaches all corners of the globe.

I’d like to make special mention here of Whitney Rose and her publication, Flicker and Flight. Sadly, they no longer have a presence in Medium, but I am forever indebted to Whitney as she was the first editor I approached with a request to write for a publication. Whitney was a delight to work with and her publication provided a nurturing environment for me to flex my online writer wings.

Overflowing buckets of thanks to Liz Porter at Boomerangs for hosting this piece in her publication. Liz has been incredibly helpful in providing editorial assistance with a few of my recent long-form pieces — yes, editors need editors too. Also, thanks to Art Bram for doing a fabulous job connecting with writers. 🙏 💕

✨ Helpful Tip 6

Connect with readers, writers and editors on the platform. The Medium writing community is amazing. We’re amazing! Group hug, everyone. 😊 💞 💝

A New Avatar

I’m marking the occasion of my first year-and-a-bit on Medium with a new avatar. I might come to regret it but ‘you never know until you give it a go’. I’ve opted for a more casual, mussed-up look — a nod to working from home during lockdown, and free-range hair due to salons still being closed! What do you think?

✨ Helpful Tip 7

Nothing stays the same. Change is inevitable (good title for an article!) Variety is the spice of life. A rolling stone gathers no moss. Keep them guessing. Catch me if you can!

Thank you all for reading. 🙏 💕

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