I’m Addicted To Medium

The first step is admitting it, right?

(I wrote this as the very first story on this account, and intended to publish it at a specific publication. Unfortunately, I never heard back from them. Now I have my own. Sometimes it be like that.🤷‍♀️)

Hi! I’m The Accidental Monster. And this is my fifth account on Medium.

While the profile may say I started recently, in actuality it’s been months since my first ‘hit’ of Medium. That very first story I posted started a chain reaction of the slippery slope I’m still sliding down.

All for that sweet, sweet dopamine.

It starts with the sign up

Creating a new email with its own Chrome preferences and browser is a must. I can’t imagine trying to keep track of everything otherwise.

Once that’s squared away (and I’ve got Dark Reader installed — save the eyeballs!), I sign up to Medium proper.

Every account has the potential of supporting another Medium writer. It doesn’t have to; you can give all of the money to Medium itself. But there’s always the wonderful option of clicking on a referral link instead.

Everyone in the MPP has one — feel free to check out mine.

Of course, there’s no rule against signing up under your own account; in essence, you’d be supporting yourself. Not a big deal, but there’s something to be said for having a guaranteed monthly $2 per account.

I mean, just one account being in MPP (need help Getting That 100 Followers?) opens the door to feeding that dopamine addiction. Seeing that “referred member earnings” right at the top of the MPP page — exquisite!

It doesn’t matter that I’m losing $3 out of the deal.

The notification tells my other account that the first hit has been supplied to fuel another branch of my addiction. We’re in serotonin city, baby! Woot!

Then, there’s the setup

This could take days, or hours, depending on how much time I want to spend on obsessing over the details.

Signing up to Twitter, then Substack, and writing a basic profile description… it’s like character creation in a game. The choices are so varied and infinite, the limit is my imagination at this point.

After this stage, sometimes I have to wait a day to continue. It takes a lot out of me setting all this up.

But the dopamine is satisfied, so there’s that.

Medium Proper: The Real Drug

When everything’s set up, I get this sort of adrenaline rush. It’s so exciting! A brand new account, with so many possibilities!

Who will I meet? What will I write? Will I make money?

Maybe you feel the same way? Let’s go through the checklist:

100 Followers Hunt

So many people hate this part, but I LOVE IT.

Once you know the formula, it’s pretty easy to obtain within a week or maybe less. Every account was a little different, but overall it’s pretty simple and fun. I’ve even started a series to help others through it easier, too.😉

Besides, all those comments and notifications coming in bring a healthy hit of dopamine with them!

Storytime

This part is hit or miss- sometimes there’s no creativity to be had in a day. But generally speaking, what I’m after is that euphoric flow state where passion meets language.

You know what I’m talking about. Doing the writing thang.

Sometimes I feel it in a conversation with a good friend, riffing ideas and bouncing opinions back and forth. It’s effortless, freeing, and purely expressive. No thought, head empty.*

*It’s empty because all the thoughts are coming out at the speed they’re thought. Ish.

Other times, the inspiration comes to me at random. Those stories have a healthy dose of crazy in them. You’ll know them when you see them (still warming up to that, I think).

Writing, responses, the whole ordeal is just fantastic. That part alone is worth the effort of being on Medium.

Notification Station

That wonderful green (is it always green?) bell up there never loses its appeal. I love seeing it number the action I’ve missed since the last log in.

Responses are the kings of the land here, but they’re not the only source.

It also tells you when someone saved your story to their public list (not private lists, though). That feels pretty damn good, too.

Money, Money, Money

Not all of my accounts make money, but most of them are in the MPP and have paid memberships. Some of them are still waiting for me to bother with them, but that’s ok.

I’ll get to them eventually. Probably.

Even though one of my accounts doesn’t even break $1, there’s still this fuzzy feeling checking the stats every couple of days. When it stays the same, it still reinforces that it made something for me writing.

And that feels fantastic.

So… Why??? (Just Why?)

When I started my first account, I really intended to get serious about writing. I chose a genre that seemed lucrative, and went for it. I found moderate success, but… well, my attention started wandering elsewhere.

Writing in that one genre just got a bit difficult. And sometimes it was impossible. So, I started up new ones when I had a new theme to write under.

I thought that would make things easier, you know?

We’re all very complex people. Some maybe a bit more complex than others (for better and worse). But over the course of the other accounts, I started to feel stifled still. I needed yet another account.

One that I could just write without a clear genre, and it be ok.

Oh, and thank you infinitely, Fuck Niches. I am SOOO glad to have found this pub! Seriously, never knew it existed until I started this one. Must be fate.

It’s also the reason I created Monster Alley- which has a similar theme, but an overall goal to connect people. I’m sure people connect on Fuck Niches, too, but it isn’t specifically stated.

Don’t worry — I’m not trying to compete at all. I believe writers work better collaborating than they do competing.

(FN is kind of like MA’s cool, wiser uncle. Different, but same family.)

Freewriting Thoughts

This might sound self-serving or conceited, but I have some pretty interesting thoughts. I know this because I’ve kept a lot of them from decades back, and many still hold up.

Plus, my crazy ass thoughts are one of the reasons people like me IRL.

Not ALL my thoughts, obv. The ones that are worth sharing, though, I can’t always fit into a specific category like health, wellness, finance, etc.

Sometimes they’re just too varied to categorize.

And that’s what I hope to do here. Just let that crazy fountain of thought flow.

Right now, I’m riding the new-account dopamine wave, so everything is all about Medium, followers, and that jazz.

The weather will change, of that you can be certain.

Over time, we’ll see if this was/is a good idea or not; it may just spread my efforts too thin. BUT, I soooo love getting my new account fix. Let me know if you feel the same.

TLDR & Harsh Truth

I have multiple accounts to feed my hunger for dopamine. This account is less structured than all the rest, so might get a little crazy by comparison.

Though… I don’t intend to reveal my other accounts for that comparison, mind. Let’s just leave those in their boxes, eh?

The honest truth is, I’m still “searching for my voice” and such. Maybe there’s a topic out there (a genre, if you will) that will pull me to it day after day, where I never have writing paralysis again.

Maybe.

Oh, and I don’t mean writer’s block. It’s not burnout, either. It’s paralysis. And it’s super hard to explain, but creating new accounts helps to break through the walls.

All I can do is hope for the best, right? Got to keep at it, and roll with the punches as they come. Hopefully this account will be the last. But if not, well, I’ll just keep moving forward anyway.

That’s the writer’s spirit, is it not?

Until next time, follow each other, follow the dopamine, and follow yourself, always!

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