Photo by I didn't know Buy Me A Coffee had a post feature! Let's see what this bad boy can do!
I completely forgot about my Buy Me A Coffee tip jar, until the awesome Martynas Ki from Medium left me a Christmas present. I'm floored at his generosity, and it led me to explore this space some more.
2023 is about to be over and I for one am excited!
Medium is becoming an increasingly exciting place for me to write and explore my capabilities as an online writer and storyteller. I'm a year in and having a blast!
Creative writing is something I've been doing privately for years, and I'm so happy to have found such a fun place to experiment with genres and write my heart out - in public!
Here's some fun discoveries I've made a long the way.
Writing for Publications
Medium has so many awesome publications to write for, and I found a fun fiction one right away. The Lightning Project taught me all about what went into writing for a publication. The requirements were easy and simple - write for 10 minutes, and edit as little as possible. Writing those bits of flash fiction really brought me out of my writing shell, and made me brave enough to try other pubs.
Creating Publications Myself
I started 3 new publications on Medium in 2023. One for non-fiction work about the writing process: Passages Through Writing, one to host fiction stories: Fascinate Me Fiction, and one for my specific brand of immersive fiction for a world I created: Alastairon News Broadcast. These are great places to log a library of work I can point people to, and a lot of fun to build.
Fascinate Me Fiction in particular is blossoming. I'm resolving to put more energy into my favorite fiction publication this year!
Increasing My Revenue
Yes I actually did increase my income stream on Medium this year, just a little. I went from a monthly haul of $0 last January to $24 this month, December 2023. Of course it's not much, but it's something! And it's like a fun game to see how much I can pull every month. I feel like I have some control over the situation. It's not a word-for-word transaction, like I have with my one writing client, but it's still money.
Final 2023 Thoughts
I've enjoyed writing and expressing myself on Medium. It's taught me some important lessons on possibilities and limits (pssst. There's a lot more possibilities and fewer limits than I thought!), and has definitely improved my writing stamina. Of course, the quality of my writing has also improved. I feel like a better writer, both in the digital realm and beyond.
Thanks for sticking with me so far! I hope to continue improving in the new year, and uncovering new opportunities for my family and myself! If you stumbled upon this post, consider donating to my digital writing efforts. And of course, check me out on my most active platform, Medium.com!
Happy new year!