Jumping into Medium: Just Keep Writing

I’ve been lurking around Medium for awhile. I get regular email updates on things I might like sent right to my inbox. The content falls in roughly two categories:

1. Mental health, self-care, and mindfulness
2. How-to tips for writers.

The information kind of blends into an alchemy of inspiration and guilt, advice for letting go and being okay with myself and mandates to get writing like my life depends on it. It is confusing and a bit paralyzing. Maybe I need to mix up my content a bit.

I’ve started posting there more often than here on WordPress. So if you’re a member of Medium, please check out my content there and help me earn some coinage.

So, I’ve lurked around wanting to publish more, but feeling like I need to figure some shit out first. What’s my niche? Who is my audience? Should I really write a bunch of stuff for the meager number of followers I have? I need to have a bunch of ideas ready to go before I start so I can keep the momentum? What does it all matter anyway? And maybe I should just chill out, breath and take a self-care day doing nothing.

Then, I do nothing.

This past week, the ‘get writing’ content has reached a fever pitch. “Why?” you ask. Well, if you haven’t heard, on October 22, 2019, Medium changed the way writers get paid. The result is a deluge of advice on how to navigate this change.How To Survive Medium’s New Payment ModelExplaining the changes to the Partner Program and taking action to thrive in this new paradigmmedium.comWhat Medium’s New Payment Model Means for Controversial WritersGood news for unpopular opinions is good news for society.medium.comMedium’s New Algorithm Means Output of Content Matters More than EverSome writers don’t want to hear this, but it’s the truth.medium.com

I feel like even the mental health writers I follow were all talking about this new payment model.

And yet, here I am, on the same topic.

The fervor about the new model has given me a bit of anxiety.

I’ve only published on Medium a few times. I started a personal blog years ago — No Return Ticket — on WordPress. It was a fun outlet, but I never got much of a following there. I couldn’t quite figure out how to promote it without spending massive time or money to do so.

I got a bit more traction when I was pouring my heart out about grief after my mother’s death, my rocky marriage, and this crazy thing I did — riding a motorcycle across the US alone. But, my audience remained friends, family, and a few others.Day 1- Pollock Pines to Austin; I am Really Doing This! | No Return TicketI vacillated between scared, excited, nervous, intimidated, antsy, hopeful, jittery, and optimistic with a undercurrent…noreturnticket.kceridon.com

Moving to Medium

This past month, I decided I’d try Medium as my primary platform for blogging. I even announced it when I cross-posted my last piece — Post-September Hangover: Realizing Fall Brings Brain Fuzz— to WordPress AFTER I posted it here.

Then, I got all caught up in those questions about “what to write” and “why bother” again. I haven’t posted anything here since — until today.

Feeding the Frenzy

Every day a new Medium article or 10 Medium articles hit my inbox explaining how to work the new payment algorithm to maximize income.

Reading another batch of “get out there and write” and “how to get paid on Medium” posts sans a bunch of “chill out and take care of yourself” posts has apparently caused my paralysis to get beat out by a fear of missing out.

So, as many others have done, I am going to try to write on Medium every day for 30 days and see what happens. Maybe I will even take a stab at Shaunta Grimes’ challenge to make it 60-day or 90-day.I blogged every day for 60 days. Here’s what happened.Spoilers: The second 30 days were SPECTACULAR.artplusmarketing.com

But I should slow down and take some baby steps. I am going to write for 30-day straight on Medium. I will cross-post here on WordPress once in awhile, but if you’re a member of Medium, please follow me there too.

Screw the paralyzing questions.

First things first, what will I write about tomorrow.