Am I a Writer? Medium has Helped Me Become a Better One

I write, therefore I am

Grumpy and unwashed me. Trying to write and publish on Medium in a wifi free zone in the wilds. Photo credit: authors husband

Am I a writer? Of course I am. And now I call myself one. But I always could have. I have written in homemade journals, on scraps of paper, on calendars and daytimers. I have jotted things on the backs of bills and recycling. For a while, I had a blog that was maintained as part of a job I had.

Writing has always been something I loved to do. I’ve done it since I was six years old and learned to read and put letters together to form words. A joyful moment in my history. In one of my early grade school report cards the teacher notes that the class loved to hear my stories.

But I lacked the confidence to call myself what I was. Then, and up until recently. When I began on Medium several years ago I was tentative. I would write things and at first, it was my husband and a couple of my kids who I forced to sign up who read them. Now I can fairly say I don’t rely on their readership or validation.

I have followers and people who comment on my work. Not always positively, but often. I am making a bit of money. That’s wonderful.

And editors from the publication work with me. I’ve had a few rejections and, early on a very rude response. I left that publication quite quickly. There’s a way to support people, there are…