Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic

Six Months to go Until my One-Year Anniversary of Medium Writing

Let the Countdown Begin

We all come from a place that’s very common when it comes to writing. We may not break out the typewriter and paper, but we all start with a blank page. We dig deep into our well of thoughts and then we let our fingers rip.

When I first started writing in the early 1980s, I used to have a pad and an ink pen. I never liked pencils because it was already hard enough to sometimes read what I wrote. Add a smudge into the equation, and I would be lost. So, I wrote in ink. Fast forward 20 years. The pen and pad have been traded in for a keyboard and a monitor.

Earlier in my writing career, I used to write everything out and edit what I wrote on paper. Now, everything is typed out and edited as I go.

As an Aside — Medium has added this little feature that now enables audio to read the articles out loud. This is an invaluable tool. I used to read all my material to my wife. Now, Medium can just read them out loud to me.

All of this leads up to when I discovered Medium. While in my Facebook Group, ‘Book Recommendations,’ I found Medium while searching for my next great read. I was fortunate to have found this website as I have spent a good amount of time dedicated to all that I do here (reading, writing, editing, commenting, and engaging with others).

That was on August 4, 2021. I haven’t been a writing zombie, but this will be my 89th article once published. I also have 15 drafts just waiting to be finished and shared with my more than 2,100 followers and subscribers, and the rest of the Medium reading audience.

What I Have Learned in Six Months of Writing on Medium

From my six months of activity on the platform, I would suggest that consistency in your activity is the one thing that will net you success. You must decide what success is to you. Is it financial reward? Is it building an audience? Is it strengthening your writing skills? Is it paying more attention to details? You get to decide what you believe is having a successful experience on the platform.

For me, success is building an engaging audience. Don’t get me wrong. I love the monthly paychecks! No doubt. But I mostly look forward to the responses to my articles. I hunger for them. When I get up early in the morning and go to my computer from my bed, the first thing I do is click to see who has left me a message. That’s my reward. The reads, the likes, the claps, the views, those are all gravy, but it’s the comments — the interactions between me and the readers are what I find most fulfilling.

There are writers on this platform from all around the world. Where else can you engage an organic audience of members and readers and writers who have a passion for this craft just the way you and I do? So, this has been great.

Over the next six months, I guess I will break the 200 articles mark. That means I’ll have to pick up the pace a bit. I’ve been taking it easy for a while. While I am writing, I am also living, and life waits for no man or woman!

Even selecting the images or in this case, the image, for the articles is a thing — and it’s a thing I enjoy doing. This has meaning. When I first started writing, there was nothing written. There was a blank page. But all these thoughts began pouring out of me, probably much like when you first started.

So, stick with it. Continue doing all the things described above. Learn what is important to you about what you do on here. It’s your time. I will leave you with this thought. I hate reading a book that isn’t entertaining or educational. I like to get something for the time I spend with it. I do give it time. But if it hasn’t caught my attention by 100 pages, I am hard pressed to finish it. In most cases, I will finish it anyway, but the review will suffer in my comments.

When you write on this platform, you are dedicating a certain amount of time. That’s the one thing you don’t get to waste in life because you can never get it back. Do something you value with your time. If you enjoy reading and writing, then you’ve come to the right place. I would like to invite you to stick around to see what I’m talking about six months from now.

About the Author

Julius Evans is a 2X Top Writer on Medium in Writing and Music. He has a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI; a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ; a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from City University, Bellevue, WA, and an Associate of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies from Central Texas College, Killeen, Texas. He is a 1985 graduate of the Defense Information School (DINFOS) of Print and Electronic Journalism and Advanced Public Affairs. DINFOS was relocated from Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, IN, to its current location at Fort George Meade, MD.

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