I started writing this year and it really stuck with me, an actual hobby that is both sustainable and one that I am actively growing. I wrote on my personal WordPress blog at first, then I joined Medium in August and worked my way up to 100 followers to be able to remain in the Medium Partner Program. Milestones achieved, or so I thought, now to write engaging topics and get more viewership.
Three months on, I feel I have stagnated. Even with over 250 followers, the views for my posts are relatively low, and hardly making a profit. Although I try to post 2-3 written articles a week, which is already a commitment from me as I have a full-time job and three young children, I kept at it. Mainly because I enjoyed it, but also I was curious if I can actually make this into a side hustle.
It is not easy, I have not been curated nor any of my written articles distributed. At times, it can be discouraging, to the point that I really question my writing abilities. Sure the platform is saturated and I admit there are many good writers here that take a lot of the limelight, but it appears to me that most of the rest are doing relatively well and are progressing upwards in being curated, distributed, and being accepted into bigger publications.
So where does that leave me?
I have written about this before in a separate post, rationalizing to myself that it is worth staying on in Medium even when revenue for my writing is low, and I still stand by it. It was a realistic post, and there’s no pep in it, but an honest rant and expression.
Some days it gets me more than others, especially when I had to push myself to write when I am weighted down by other commitments. It’s a sacrifice of my time, but thankfully I do enjoy writing and that’s probably the biggest reason I still stick around.
Here’s to hoping my writing gets better and reaches further out into the Medium ocean of readers. If you have similar experiences, do care to drop a comment. Also, let me say that although I don’t reply to all of your comments, I do read them all and some of them do give me a fresh perspective, encouragement, or at the very least the feeling of not being the only one struggling on here. So, thank you for that, and I wish you good progress in your Medium journey.