Improving My Writing Experience

This is my platform, too, and I am speaking out against things I find highly distasteful.

Introduction

As a family engagement influencer, my mission is primarily to ignite family engagement within education. However, the more I advocate for increased levels of family engagement in the schools that need it the most, the more I realize that my work must also include efforts to strengthen the family unit at home.

My work is being advanced through my published book called “Repair the Broken Pieces”. Other books will soon follow. Being the host and content creator for my “Ignite Family Engagement” YouTube channel, an e-learning family engagement continuing education course provider linked to my book, participating in various radio, television, and podcast interviews, and serving as a speaker and workshop facilitator enhance my effort. However, being a content creator on various literary platforms like Medium encompasses a lot of my work.

I especially appreciate being a writer for several publications on Medium. Doing so releases me to have the freedom to speak my truth as a professional who is working to improve the quality of family engagement.

A few months ago I wrote an article that accentuates my purpose. The link follows.

I also created a few YouTube videos for the same reason. Here are the links:

Like me, many professionals create purpose-driven content on Medium. Sadly, there are many celebrated writers whose sole purpose is to make money and to achieve a high level of notoriety through followers and claps. Still, other writers have infiltrated this platform to spread their venomous poison through crude, disrespectful, and classless rhetoric.

I have written some pieces about some of these concerns. Here is are links for two of them.

These writers are stealing the pride of purpose-driven writers because their literary antics diminish the quality of this platform. Quite frankly, the embarrassment that they bring to Medium is a reflection on everyone.

I must speak my truth about this overall concern, which is the main objective of this article. I hope my transparency will make a positive difference.

Some Things Are Just Wrong

I am exposing troubling things about some Medium writers that need to be exposed. My purpose for doing so is to enable me to create a more positive experience not only for myself but also for other writers who desire greater positivity.

Here are my top five concerns.

1. As a highly experienced professional and educator, I have always believed that it is improper to discuss the amount of money that is earned in exchange for your work. I have never worked in an environment where people freely show their paychecks, flaunt the bonuses they have earned, and shared screenshots of every penny they make. I feel like people who do so are simply not used to earning a decent wage for their work. I am fed up with writers boasting about their earnings as if they believe that other writers have never experienced financial success for working in their lives. Creating YouTube videos or writing stories about every penny earned on Medium is classless and tasteless. No one needs to know who received a bonus nor how much it was. That is something that mature wage earners will not do. For many, it is obvious that the sole purpose of writing on this platform is to receive financial gain and to let the entire writing community know about it. That is despicable to me.
2. It is highly inappropriate to use this platform as a funding source to support the needs, wants, and desires of others writers. Part of being a wage earner is making good financial choices that will support special circumstances in your life and the life of your family. Whether it is setting aside earnings to pay taxes or purchasing health or life insurance, this is what responsible wage earners do. Writers on this platform who take pride in receiving notoriety associated with being a high performer should use the common sense they devote to creating great content to do these responsible things. I believe in helping others who need help by contributing appropriate avenues for doing so. However, the purpose of Medium is not to collect funds for writers who already make a wonderful living working on this platform. I consider this type of solicitation to be a form of self-promotion, marketing, and advertising. If Medium allows this, others should be permitted to market their brand, advertise, and so much more.
3. When I joined this platform in April 2019, I was impressed by the idea of following writers who decided to follow me. This reciprocity initially amazed me. For me, the reality is that I have accumulated a lot of writers that I follow whose writings I am unable to follow because the numbers are too overwhelming to manage. Conversely, many people who follow me never read my work either. Sadly, it seems like having a lot of meaningless followers has become a status symbol of sorts. Since I support the idea of the relational aspect of Medium, I am personally working to correct this flaw. I have begun deleting a lot of followers who exist on my profile in numbers only and will work to strengthen my connection with the writers I follow and read their work. (That is very consistent with what Medium has recently done by removing some inactive, nonexistent writers, and other questionable entities from writer and publication profiles.) I know that collegiality is the intent of the platform. Unfortunately, I represent an example of how the follower count has gotten out of control for many writers.
4. While all writers active on the platform anticipate the release of the news of the Medium updates in August 2021, we need to remain mindful that reading the content created by colleagues matters. We all agree that at this time the number of claps that a piece receives can be connected to how well others receive the work along with the quality of the content. Despite this, I find it irritating that readers randomly clap for my articles, perhaps because they like the title and subtitle, without spending any time reading it. That defeats the idea behind writers sharing their unique content.
5. I sometimes feel as though there is the subtle belief among some writers that if they follow and support the work of very well-established and highly successful writers that there will be a magical impartation of success bestowed upon them for doing so. Nothing could be furthest from the truth because doing so propels the well-established into higher levels of success. My point is that writers must connect with other writers who share their sense of literary unity.

My Final Thoughts

I truly believe in the power of Medium as it relates to providing writers with an easy way to share their idea, values, and beliefs with others. For me, it is so much more.

I have grown as a writer and have established a higher level of global credibility as a family engagement influencer. My professional writings serve as a stepping stone that will lead me to the completion of my next book. Additionally, the research that I continuously engage in to produce my content has helped to position me as an international family engagement expert.

My thankfulness overflows when I have a chance to connect with the writers I consider colleagues. I truly appreciate all who purposefully read my work and connect with as well as follow me. Again, that is the unblemished beauty of this platform.

Regretfully, there is an unfortunate reality about being an active voice on Medium. Some things that I simply classify as wrong has permeated this gathering spot for writers. If Medium is to maintain a positive reputation as being a space for writers to support one another as well as a place to grow and share, the acute problems that exist have to be acknowledged so that they will ultimately be resolved.

My goal in writing this article is to bring the problems that I share to the forefront because these concerns block the success of many writers. The concerns also reduce the effectiveness of this unique platform. I hope my words will make a positive difference for other writers. Addressing these issues takes me closer to being a writer who advocates for change by sharing the truth.

While my words may have offended many and may have affirmed and reassured some, I am glad that I said what I felt needed to be spoken.

Thank you for spending time reading this story. I invite you to share it with other Medium writers, especially those adversely impacted by negativity. Doing so may help them have more positive experiences as a content creator.

Do you have other concerns that I did not address? I invite you to share them here.

Here is my golden ticket that helps me accomplish my mission.

Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired Teacher and School Administrator. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and her YouTube Channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1DPhBeA29UlybU9jzDkdQ.