My Name is Jack (Hi, Jack!) and I’m on Medium because…
It’s where my peeps are
In response to Jk Mansi’s request for “Why Are You On Medium?”…
A place to dump stuff
I first became aware of Medium back in 2015 when I found it was a place that let anyone (more or less) post things. My first posting: September 2015, with recycled stuff from my rebuilt genealogical website. I had made a faint attempt at a blog; nobody read it, except family, but even then only when I sent them a link. I was moving the genealogical data, but I didn’t want to lose the blog posts (all three!), so hey, Medium, what the heck, y’know? I occasionally posted new stuff, but not with any particular attempt at a pattern.
And then Holly Wood posted an interesting article about companies effectively run deficits, why not countries? It was well-written (profanity aside) and put a different spin on an old question, a different way of looking at an old problem. It made me realize that there was interesting material on Medium. So… not just a place to dump junk?
Interacting with people
I started leaving responses to posts. Just quick comments, at first. But then I started getting emotionally involved with the stories people posted (including Jennifer Smith, Jen Brown, Jules, Heather, Gutbloom, Jim Lamb, H. Nemesis Nyx, walkerjo lee, Tre, Classical Sass, Heath, Violet, SF Ali, Alexainie, Terijo, Rocket, others who have disappeared, or nearly so) and the unfiltered way they came across, and I started putting some of my emotions into the responses. There was a liberating feeling about it.
Conversations with My Wife
In December 2015, Deb and I had a conversation after a news snippet that came on the radio. I captured that conversation in text and posted it on Medium. The conversational format has evolved over the years (hint for those who want to create a series: come up with a format BEFORE you start posting [you’d think a tech writer would know this!]) and other people have similar things (looking at ACWMH, who is still great but now mostly publishes on her own blog), but it’s still my main shtick because my wonderful wife keeps giving me material. People say they enjoy reading these because it makes them laugh, but I don’t really see the conversations as “humor”; it’s just life, is all, and sometimes life is funny.
I like being married (January 2016)
For a time I was in a hard patch, when Mom (Deb’s mom) was dying from cancer at home, and Deb was living there to take care of her. I was spending a lot of time on Medium, reading and responding and posting. I started posting more things from my heart.
And the oddest thing happened. People noticed. I got asked if I wanted to have my article published in a Medium publication. (A… what? Um, sure, whatever.) I got interesting feedback. People could relate. Or wish they would also find that One Person (I gave them encouragement—hey, I was 41 when I met Deb, with a divorce and a failed relationship in between).
Poetry and odd thoughts
I do poetry. I like to read it and write it. It doesn’t get much respect (see Mike Essig for lamentations about that) but there are those on Medium who write it, read it, and like it. Medium gives us that corner and mostly doesn’t bother us so long as we keep the volume down and don’t annoy the main customers.
Not for the money
I had a little interest in the Medium writers program when it started up, and I soon lost it. I don’t need the money — we’re not independently rich, but we do okay — and the amount I’d earn wouldn’t be worth the hassle of dealing with the ever-evolving rules Medium has for the authors they pay. Plus a number of my Medium peeps do need the money, and I’d feel like I was taking their share of the pot if I was participating. But posting a new Conversation and having people react — ah, THAT is worth a fortune!
Our Peeps Show
If you read my Conversations with My Wife, you should read the responses. And possibly go back again later after others have responded. The best (so far) was when Deb came up with the idea of everybody getting together—talk about chum in the water (a bunch of writers with an impromptu prompt)!
We like our peeps! Yes, Deb hasn’t posted anything yet, but I have hopes, and anyway, people know her from what I’ve shared about her. And she knows our people from their postings, and responses, and photos (here and elsewhere on social media). Being good with names, she knows who is who (although the Anns/Annes/Annas/Annies sometimes makes it hard), and she’ll ask how someone is doing if they seemed to be having a hard time.
We feel like we’re in a community. Might be virtual, and online, and maybe we’ll meet someone IRL some day (and maybe not), but they give us a warm feeling. And when the bad times come (as surely they will) we know there will be people out there who will wish us hugs and hearts and better things to come.
