My First 48 Hours On Medium

Thoughts on the Platform

Joining Medium

I’ll be totally honest here. I joined Medium because I heard it was a place I could share my writing and make money at the same time. Not “get rich quick” or “quit your day job” type of money, but a nice passive income while I write about whatever comes to mind. I also heard it was more article-type writing than the creative writing I’m used to, but I thought I’d give it a chance.

Worst case scenario: I hate it and delete the app. No problem.

Best case scenario: I find a home for some of my writing, a place to express my thoughts in a longer form than Twitter, gain experience with a different type of writing than I normally do, and find a great community of other writers.

As far as I was concerned, I had nothing to lose.

My First Day

I started out as an observer. I didn’t want to jump into anything too quickly without doing a little more research. So I read my first three articles for free.

Boom. I hit a paywall.

I wasn’t thrilled about that and was already second-guessing the platform. “Only three articles a month?” I thought. I didn’t like that a majority of the content was locked unless you had a paying membership.

Why would I pay for an app without knowing what I’m going to get out of it?

“Try your first 30 days free!” Medium taunted, knowing I was likely to give in.

I did.

So I read article after article, discovered beautiful poetry and diverse works of fiction, and started to get the hang of things.

There’s also a lot more to it than I thought.

In my eyes, claps (applause?) were good. Any kind of engagement would be perceived as good. I’m now learning that a low number of claps can be insulting, but too many can come off as ingenuine. I don’t agree with that and welcome any kind of engagement.

If you know the “right” or ideal number of claps, please let me know in the comments. I have no idea.

My First Article

For my first post, an introduction felt like it made the most sense. Why would you want to read my writing on a platform like this without knowing who I am or where I may get my information from?

However, I’m seeing that’s not the most popular route to take.

I could’ve jumped right in, spouting my opinions on writing and literature, from the get-go. But why? What part of that would make you care what I have to say?

Getting Vulnerable With Nonfiction

I didn’t want to go into this putting on some kind of social media front. I wanted you to know that I’m a real person, with a real life, facing many of the same struggles as others.

I’m a writer.

But I’m also a wife, mother, student, dog mom, reader, shopaholic, and so many other things. I want to share those parts of my life too. Maybe you’ll find those parts interesting. Maybe you’ll relate to something I’ve said.

So I wrote a quick creative nonfiction piece while sitting in the school pick up line. It felt vulnerable. It put one of my biggest insecurities in writing, but those are the pieces that resonate with readers. Raw and written with strong emotion.

I hit publish.

Future Plans

In my first two days, I’ve published three articles. This will be the fourth. My goal is to continue with two posts per day, sharing my writing on Twitter, and interacting as much as possible.

I plan to be involved.

Whether I’m sharing my own thoughts on writing, something I’ve learned from others, my fiction, weird stories about parenthood, or random thoughts from my Notes app, I hope you’ll join me.

I hope you’ll share links to articles or publications I might find interesting.

I hope to be published in a publication and be involved with one.

I hope to start my own publication.

Most importantly, I hope to find a community of writers to build each other up, workshop pieces, and share thoughts.

McCaylee Putney has a BA in English and Creative Writing from SNHU. She is working on her MFA in Creative Writing and editor of Moments of Memoir while juggling all the other facets of her life. Follow her here or on Twitter to see more of her journey.