Down the Rabbit Hole…

Sometimes, even if you aren’t very brave, you just have to dive in and try something new. After considering it for almost a year, and seriously since last November, I finally decided to step out and join Medium. Yesterday, I felt like the little chick hiding behind his brave brother in the photo above. Today I decided to become the chick in front standing tall and looking around. I also became a member of the Medium Partner Program.

What is Medium and what is their Partner Program?

If your a Medium member/subscriber, you know. If not, here’s a quick rundown: Medium is an online platform where writers can post their work and if they join the Partner Program, they can also get paid a little for their writing.

Unlike traditional publications, payment here is based on readership. Essentially, as I understand it, writers get paid when someone clicks and reads something they’ve posted. Just what the formula is I don’t know. It’s not important to me at this juncture. But, why would you do that: click and read? As in any publication, it is because there is something in the title or associated image or introductory words that priced your interest. As with a good book, if you like what you read and find it worthwhile, you may be inclined to look for other articles by the same author and read them, as well. That helps with his or her stats, which eventually shows up in the paycheck.

One feature I like about Medium is that you can leave comments and “clap” to indicate your appreciation for the a story or article. (You clap by clicking the small hands at the bottom left of each article. It is similar to “Like” on Facebook, but you can clap more than once to show how much you enjoyed the article.) The author can also respond to any comments you leave in the response section. I like that kind of interaction. Communication is a two-way street. There’s nothing like getting feedback on something you’ve written. Positive or negative (but, preferably positive and constructive), it all helps make us better writers, and appreciation encourages us in our endeavors to produce good reading material for our readers.

Why would you comment? If you are like me, occasionally you read something that really strikes a chord. Perhaps it is something you’ve always thought or wondered about and now you see it on the screen. Maybe you want to add your 2 cents or compliment the author or take exception to something they’ve said. Maybe you learned something new or got a different perspective on something you’ve been thinking about. Whatever the reason, the platform enables such dialogue.

And, who knows, you may even find yourself liking the platform and what you’ve read on it enough to join. That’s what happened to me. My friend Rasheed Hooda joined a year ago. I’ve read several of his posts and written a few of my own. I’ve also read a few posts by other writers. Over time I became intrigued with the possibilities. I often have an idea that I want to explore by writing about it, as I’m doing now with my thoughts about joining Medium. As I mentioned, when I write something, I love to get feedback. Medium provides a versatile platform on which to post such writing and get that feedback. It is fairly easy to use, almost intuitive, in fact. I’ve yet to read how to do any of the things I’ve done here such as inserting pictures and tagging people like Rasheed.

If this old guy can figure it out, anyone can.

But there are lots of subtle “hidden” features that I’ve yet to figure out. The platform is a bit like a blog space, but I find it much easier to use and with more features than traditional blog sites.

Rasheed also encouraged me to join #Illumination which is a publication/online magazine developed by Dr Mehmet Yildiz within the Medium community. It hosts a group of writers who work to support and encourage each other and grow their readership by curating and promoting great articles. It is a new and growing community that I’m glad to be a part of. I’m a newbie, but I do my best to read and encourage and promote my fellow Illuminati writers. All of those I’ve read so far are truly good writers and I feel privileged to be in their company, so thank you Rasheed Hooda and Dr Mehmet Yildiz for inviting me to become a part of this great community.

There’s still a lot to learn and I’m way down on the toe of the learning curve. I feel like a male version of Alice in Wonderland who’s just fallen down the rabbit hole. I realize I’m no longer in “Kansas,” but I’m not sure where I am. Unlike Alice, though, there are lots of helpful people around who don’t seem at all put off by my dumb questions.

Which brings me to one final reason for joining. I’m 75 and one of the things I promised myself is to challenge this old brain to try a few new things this year. Little did I know when I made that promise to myself back in late December how different things would be in 2020 with COVID-19 and all. I hadn’t really thought a lot about Medium before November of last year, and only recently decided to join. The decision to join was based more on a desire to be able to read more than the 3 free articles each month. That desire was stimulated by my friend Rasheed Hooda’s posting links to a few of his articles on Facebook. With the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m spending more time at home. I thought this would be the perfect time to explore Medium. So I subscribed. At $5.00 per month, it’s the price of a latte, and I figured if I found a few good articles that were worth reading, it would be worth it. In fact, what I found in #Illumination is a treasure trove of great writing by people I would never have read or heard about otherwise.

So, Medium not only gives me something new to learn and do as I shelter-at-home during the pandemic, it also gives me a connection to some great writers and genuinely nice like-minded people. Sure it will challenge me, but what is life without a few challenges and new realms to explore? If you like to write or just to read good writing, I invite you to jump in and explore it, too. You can find me at:

Though I may make a few dollars along the way, that is not my goal or my focus; I am retired and not looking for another job or income source. However, if I can use my time to learn something new and help others, that appeals to me. If at the same time I can write a little and be directed to some worthwhile reading material and meet some interesting people with similar interests along the way, what could be better?

Happy reading and exploring. Thanks for accompanying me on this initial dive into Medium. I hope to meet you again down the road (or down the rabbit hole, if you will.)