Stupidly happy, in love, and on honeymoon
This is what week two of my writing project feels like, which begs the question: when will it all end?
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This is all going so swimmingly well. I’ve been hanging out with Medium writers for a fortnight now and I’ve noticed something astonishing:
There are no trolls in here.
Well, perhaps there are but I have yet to come across them. The lack of cynicism and base conversation is such a breath of fresh air, compared to the hellscape of Twitter, the banality of Instagram, and the low quality of Quora. Whether this is through algorithmic selection or a self-policing populace, I continue to be surprised by the Medium community.
And it's not simply a lack of trolls that’s remarkable, the culture goes deeper than this.
People want you to do well.
I’ve been on the fringes of writing communities before and there has definitely been a whiff of arrogance/ego to a number of the posts. New joiners are snubbed, optimistic voices snidely taken apart. This is a very different space.
I’m a total newbie and am receiving highlights, claps and supportive comments. People are generous with their reading time, take care to respond respectfully, and share whatever information they have.
This combination of courtesy, kindness and knowledge sharing makes for a brilliant learning environment.
Your learning curve can be exponential.
Every time I post something new I get feedback. Whether that’s a flurry of claps and highlights or the resounding silence of zero views, zero claps and zero comments, I get a feel for the platform and a feel for you, dear reader.
My aim is to experiment until I have found a good Venn diagram overlap of what I like writing about and what you enjoy reading. This is a profound shift in the way I thought about writing a few weeks ago (that I had to come up with a fully-fledged plan, execute this and tweak a little based on feedback). I feel free and alive; creative and curious. Enamoured with this platform and everything I have learned so far.
The pessimistic parts of my mind immediately go to the ultimate question:
When will it all end?
This is clearly the honeymoon period of my relationship with Medium, where my rose-tinted view has yet to see the crack and edges. I have high motivation and have yet to come across any dark corners or weird personalities. This clearly can’t go on forever. I’m just hoping that, like love, this burning fascination can change into a longer-lasting, pragmatic relationship.
I’ve just set myself a reminder for three, six and nine month’s time to come back to this post and see how I feel then.
I’d love to hear from others about their own relationship with Medium. What has changed for you?
