Lessons I’ve Learned from Writing Over 1,100 Medium Essays

(One lesson: Medium might have menopausal tendencies?)

I just noticed I’ve been ‘practicing’ here on Medium for a while now. I’ve published over 1,100 posts. It has been quite an interesting writing ride since I began to dabble here.

When I started writing on Medium I found it a nice haven for my creative energy. I honestly wanted a place to share my thoughts and I liked the platform and the people.

My future goals were to write my Memoir and Broadway Musical — which I had half done — but for various reasons I also wanted to write stories and essays. Hey, I had a lot to say and Medium seemed a perfect place to say it!

I didn’t have extra finances to afford writing classes, workshops, teachers, coaches etc. I figured Medium would serve as my own ‘Private Writing School’. I wrote about that here:

I decided to use the wonderful Medium platform to:

1. Hone my writing skills.
2. Stay disciplined by publishing a minimum of one story a day — which I’ve done.
3. Make a little bit of money to feed 4 spoiled cats — a side hustle. I knew I could come up with enough subjects to write about so that seemed easy.

MY 6 MONTH MEDIUM EXPERIMENT

I decided to try Medium behind the paywall for 6 months, as an experiment.

The first 2 months were steadily good. Mainly, I was glad to feel disciplined and focused.

I experimented by posting random stories on various subjects, some lighthearted, some darker more personal — along with some poems and longer posts. Hey, it’s all good!

The fact that I doubled my income each month was nice. I heard that on Medium, only 8 percent of writers made over $100 a month. I was happy to be in that camp. Even more than that, I met some awesome writer friends, which I wasn’t expecting.

A nice side bonus.

One writer editor friend has offered to help me edit my Memoir and write a query letter for me soon. I also made some deep and ‘real’ connections with other writers, who have become very close friends.

I had never been around others writers. It was cool that we could send each other stories for feedback too.

A WIN/WIN.

Also, I was inspired to start two publications because I felt there was a need for them on Medium. They are both up and running and doing well.

Here they are:

So, overall I’m pleased with Medium thus far. It has been 3 months exactly for me behind the paywall. I am well aware Medium goes through odd moody changes often. (Maybe Medium has menopausal issues?) LOL — but I’ve strapped myself in with my seat belt on and I’m here for whatever this ride will be.

I thought I’d share with you a few things I’ve learned after writing 1,100 essays on Medium:

1. The stories I like the most are sometimes the least popular and vice versa.
2. Some publications are just NOT a good fit for me so I don’t worry about it. I move on.
3. I believe I will attract my ‘tribe’ without trying too hard. The reality is that any artist/writer can’t please everyone. I accept that many won’t like me . That’s fine. Bring it on! I do my thing anyway.

4. I’ve improved my writing over time.

5. I try not to judge my writing. I’m not highly invested in whatever I throw out there each day. Sometimes something bombs horribly. Oh well. Its brave to throw stories out, even if they are just experimental, so I do it. (Actually, as soon as I’m done publishing one story I immediately go to my drafts to pull up my next story and I begin. I love the idea of: Next. Next. NEXT more than fretting over a past story. No looking backwards, only forward for me!)

6. I’ve learned not to concern myself with Medium’s payments because I HONESTLY have no cluuuuuue how it works, and maybe I don’t wanna know! It might even mess with my brain if I knew what the secret ‘sauce’ or algorithms were. This way I just do my THING and let the chips fall where they may.

6. Many won’t like my writing and won’t read it. That’s fine. Who cares? I write to please me first. I look at it like the chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, pistachio nut ice cream analogy. Some just don’t like your FLAVOR! (I happen to love pistachio but some hate it with a passion.)

8. Some might judge or assume things about me that are FALSE. For instance, I applied to be a contributor to a Publication. The editor wrote back saying, “It’s obvious since you have followed so many writers that you write more to gain followers than for the act of writing.” HUH? That was total B.S. (His assumption was totally wrong, but whateverrrr.) You know what they say about ‘assuming’ — It makes an ass out of you and me? (ASS ume).

6. Not spending too much time editing each piece has worked best for me . I’m not trying to win a Noble Prize here. I’m just writing a damn Medium story. The stories I’ve spent too much time hemming and hawing and editing until I’m blue in the face sometimes ended up the worst. Maybe I edited them into the ground!

7. If I have a wild ass idea I get it DOWN! It might turn into a fun or valuable story despite my feelings about the subject matter — like this 2 line rant I spewed out in 32 seconds which got a large response. Go figure. haha.

8. Having fun writing is key!

THANKS FOR READING! contact me at: [email protected]

Michelle Monet has published 5 non-fiction books including 4 Poetic Memoirs. Her upcoming Memoir will be about her life in show business. She is also writing an autobiographical Broadway Musical.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +427,678 people.

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