The Not-So-Terrible Twos
Happy second Medium birthday to me.
Two years ago today, I published my first-ever blog post on Medium. I was in a major funk, unhappy with my longtime career as a grant writer, and looking to do something new. Though I’d written a few short stories, none of them had been published (or would be for a long while), so I was trying to find a way to get my work in front of readers and maybe make a bit of money in the process.
Cue: Medium.
I’d read articles on Medium before but had no idea it was an open platform — a place where anyone, anywhere, could publish anything — and that it offered writers the opportunity to earn an income. (Or at least make enough to pay for a cup of coffee.)
During my lunch break one day, I wrote up a silly post on the difficulties of launching a blog. I posted it on Medium and tried not to throw up as I waited for the world to respond.
Turns out, most of the world doesn’t really care what I do. My piece didn’t generate a whole lot of reaction. BUT the few people who did read it said nice things and encouraged me to continue. So, I wrote and published more. And then some more. Soon, I had a small following of people who wanted to read my work.
And that’s when I decided to leave the nonprofit field to join the not-so-lucrative…
