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Abstract

form.</p><h1 id="c5d9">My Medium friends</h1><p id="1b2a">The friends I’ve gained here since 21 April 2023 would of course top my list. I just like you and want to know more about your life. Like any friend in real life would.</p><p id="2c0a">I used to tag you as you can see in my older stories, but I now realise that might be annoying to some, so I stopped.</p><p id="8a02">Gives me compassion for new writers though, as they just follow suit and don’t mean any harm. Medium doesn’t state all the rules up front and it’s a learning curve for sure.</p><p id="3a44">But it’s super annoying when the only comment is for you to read their article. I find it rude. Clap and run is even worse. They just clap on multiple stories obviously without reading (the clapping is done within seconds) to get you to click on their profile. I wish Medium would ban these bot like accounts.</p><p id="f285">After analysing their page, just to be sure it’s not a genuine newbie, I report and block. Doing this helps other writers too, as their random clicking makes your read ratio fall and according to Medium your earnings are docked as a result.</p><h1 id="1880">Notifications: Tags & Emails</h1><p id="27e4">It only fully dawned on me when I started looking at my email that you get double the notification if you’re tagged as well. No wonder so many writers here who have been longer on the platform wrote stories about it. Saying they don’t like mass tagging.</p><p id="781b">I didn’t fully understand then. I rely more on the app notifications so that’s why it took so long for me to fully get this.</p><p id="d872">Also if you’re tagged as a specific shout out you can’t tell either. I finally see the light, but it took me forever to learn this.</p><p id="ac31">I now also subscribe to you and look at my email daily to see which stories pop out to me.</p><p id="be28">Tag for tag is okay in my opinion if both parties don’t mind. But the sweetest thing is to get a shout-out or get a story referenced. Totally makes my day.</p><h1 id="9470">Topics that draw me to you like a magnet</h1><p id="c4d5">I was drawn to you in the first place as a story you wrote spoke to me so loudly. I kept nodding, in my head, if you know what I mean. Finally, someone was in the same boat and understood what it was like. It was hard to find people who fully empathised with me in real life. I can’t blame them as they didn’t have the same experience.</p><h1 id="50e7">My topics or niches</h1><ul><li>Anxiety and Panic Attacks</li><li>Grief</li><li>Cancer</li><li>Fear</li><li>Childless not by choice</li><li>Toxic workplace</li><li>Bullying</li><li>Child abuse including SA</li

Options

<li>Sexual harassment (I haven’t written about this yet and I don’t know where to begin)</li><li>Aging</li></ul><p id="e469">Woah they all seem so bleak but I’m not totally a downer. I also talk about:</p><ul><li>How I love my family</li><li>My love for the children in my life and how I feel blessed they call me aunty</li><li>My favourite authors and books</li><li>Singapore, including the food and culture</li><li>My childhood</li><li>Music, TV and movies</li><li>Joy</li></ul><p id="b766">If you cover the above topics I’m very likely gonna read your stories and follow you. Especially for instance if you’re a cancer patient or if your loved one was diagnosed with it. I’d love to help if I can, since I’ve already gone through it.</p><p id="7923">Help with information or to lend a listening ear. I also am keen to learn from your experience. Often I find that patients help each other the most in coping, advocating and recovering. I’ve discovered many a new friend here this way.</p><h1 id="e098">Stories about Medium</h1><p id="ddf7">These help me when there is a lack of timely communication from Medium bosses. At least I get reassurance from my friends that I’m not alone in the earnings plunge. It was nothing I did.</p><p id="ded3">Or that my friends found themselves in comment jail too even though we felt we had not reached the 100 comments per 24 hour limit.</p><h1 id="729c">Stories about writing</h1><p id="c287">I find that my stories on writing are pretty popular. I like reading this type of story too.</p><p id="8b30">But not the generic stuff. Or writers who want to sell their courses. But perhaps they are appealing to the mass audience out there and not other writers.</p><p id="c689">Specific things that you’ve learnt in your writing experiment would help me.</p><p id="1878">We are always happy with unique insights. Learning something new and of value. Which makes me immediately self-conscious and wonder. Did I achieve that in this story?</p><blockquote id="f08c"><p><i>Entertain, Enlighten & Empower?</i></p></blockquote><blockquote id="bdca"><p><i>Illuminate your life?</i></p></blockquote><h1 id="81e7">Thank you</h1><p id="5153">Hope this piece gave you some value. Often writing helps me crystallise my thoughts. My brain after 2 lines of chemo is a bit muddled. They call it brain fog. So I need clarity more than ever.</p><p id="91be">Thank you for being with me. I can’t tell you how much I value your friendship and how you’re helping me elevate my craft through your stories and thoughtful comments.</p><p id="bc1a">You have given me back my purpose.</p><p id="9224">🌹</p><p id="b25b">Shanti</p></article></body>

What Makes Me Read Your Story

Off the bat, it’s writing style and topic. In that order. Even if the topic is alien to me, your masterful writing would draw me in. If the story was of interest, but reading felt like plodding through mud, I’d abandon it.

I’ll start with quotes by Anais Nin that struck me.

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it.

The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.

Writing style

I need clarity. I don’t really appreciate flowery words that don’t convey any particular meaning. Each word must count and have a purpose.

I like simple yet beautiful. It’s an elusive ability that I find quite a number of you have. I’m in awe of your ability.

Also if you’re clever and witty, I’m in. I love satire and irony. I wish I could be a humorist but I have to face facts. I just don’t have that ability. Yet?

Medium ‘For You’ page

The Medium For you page is akin to the TikTok feed. An endless scroll. It’s no wonder we all feel overwhelmed. I wish I could complete reading all my bookmarked stories, but I keep finding new stories that appeal to me.

Realistically I can only give decent attention to 7 stories a day. I noticed that I take up to 20 minutes on some stories including having mini dialogues in the comments section. I also read the other threads there.

The list grows faster than I can read. After 6 months on Medium, the algorithm knows what appeals to me.

What I skip

If you haven’t figured it out yet, you can close stories that don’t appeal to you so you’ll see less of them. For me that would include stories on crypto, AI, sports and those generic ones written using chatgpt. I always feel like I’ve wasted my precious time on those.

Formatting

With my poor eyesight, it’s hard to read very long paragraphs without breaks. So that puts me off unless you write so beautifully it doesn’t matter. Longer paragraphs make more sense in print form.

My Medium friends

The friends I’ve gained here since 21 April 2023 would of course top my list. I just like you and want to know more about your life. Like any friend in real life would.

I used to tag you as you can see in my older stories, but I now realise that might be annoying to some, so I stopped.

Gives me compassion for new writers though, as they just follow suit and don’t mean any harm. Medium doesn’t state all the rules up front and it’s a learning curve for sure.

But it’s super annoying when the only comment is for you to read their article. I find it rude. Clap and run is even worse. They just clap on multiple stories obviously without reading (the clapping is done within seconds) to get you to click on their profile. I wish Medium would ban these bot like accounts.

After analysing their page, just to be sure it’s not a genuine newbie, I report and block. Doing this helps other writers too, as their random clicking makes your read ratio fall and according to Medium your earnings are docked as a result.

Notifications: Tags & Emails

It only fully dawned on me when I started looking at my email that you get double the notification if you’re tagged as well. No wonder so many writers here who have been longer on the platform wrote stories about it. Saying they don’t like mass tagging.

I didn’t fully understand then. I rely more on the app notifications so that’s why it took so long for me to fully get this.

Also if you’re tagged as a specific shout out you can’t tell either. I finally see the light, but it took me forever to learn this.

I now also subscribe to you and look at my email daily to see which stories pop out to me.

Tag for tag is okay in my opinion if both parties don’t mind. But the sweetest thing is to get a shout-out or get a story referenced. Totally makes my day.

Topics that draw me to you like a magnet

I was drawn to you in the first place as a story you wrote spoke to me so loudly. I kept nodding, in my head, if you know what I mean. Finally, someone was in the same boat and understood what it was like. It was hard to find people who fully empathised with me in real life. I can’t blame them as they didn’t have the same experience.

My topics or niches

Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Grief
Cancer
Fear
Childless not by choice
Toxic workplace
Bullying
Child abuse including SA
Sexual harassment (I haven’t written about this yet and I don’t know where to begin)
Aging

Woah they all seem so bleak but I’m not totally a downer. I also talk about:

How I love my family
My love for the children in my life and how I feel blessed they call me aunty
My favourite authors and books
Singapore, including the food and culture
My childhood
Music, TV and movies
Joy

If you cover the above topics I’m very likely gonna read your stories and follow you. Especially for instance if you’re a cancer patient or if your loved one was diagnosed with it. I’d love to help if I can, since I’ve already gone through it.

Help with information or to lend a listening ear. I also am keen to learn from your experience. Often I find that patients help each other the most in coping, advocating and recovering. I’ve discovered many a new friend here this way.

Stories about Medium

These help me when there is a lack of timely communication from Medium bosses. At least I get reassurance from my friends that I’m not alone in the earnings plunge. It was nothing I did.

Or that my friends found themselves in comment jail too even though we felt we had not reached the 100 comments per 24 hour limit.

Stories about writing

I find that my stories on writing are pretty popular. I like reading this type of story too.

But not the generic stuff. Or writers who want to sell their courses. But perhaps they are appealing to the mass audience out there and not other writers.

Specific things that you’ve learnt in your writing experiment would help me.

We are always happy with unique insights. Learning something new and of value. Which makes me immediately self-conscious and wonder. Did I achieve that in this story?

Entertain, Enlighten & Empower?

Illuminate your life?

Thank you

Hope this piece gave you some value. Often writing helps me crystallise my thoughts. My brain after 2 lines of chemo is a bit muddled. They call it brain fog. So I need clarity more than ever.

Thank you for being with me. I can’t tell you how much I value your friendship and how you’re helping me elevate my craft through your stories and thoughtful comments.

You have given me back my purpose.

🌹

Shanti