The Truth About Medium - Part Two - I Decided to Join

When I first joined Medium, I was not a paid-up member. I decided to give the platform a try, and the free membership allowed me to do that.

I thought it would be a good idea to see what kind of response I got. How much of an audience would there be? It would give me a chance to see what it was like and then use the option to join the paid programme later.

At first, I decided to write one or two longer-format stories each week. After all, everything I had read indicated that it was long-format, personal stories that do well on the platform.

As advertised, the platform was easy to use. 

The only criticism I would make is that there is not a grammar or spell check option, but other blogging sites don’t have that either. I just had to use other available options.

I wrote my first story, posted it and waited.

In fact, I didn’t have to wait long before I got a response.

The Truth About Medium - Part One: What is Medium?

It is September 2025, and I have just completed one year of being a paid member on the writing platform, Medium.

Having completed that year, has Medium delivered what I thought it would?

Read on.

But first, what is Medium?

Medium presents itself as a unique online writing platform that has transformed the way individuals share their thoughts, stories, and expertise with a global audience. 

It was launched in 2012 with the aim to provide a space where writers could express themselves freely. A platform where readers could discover high-quality content across a wide range of topics. 

It was to be a community of writers, and readers.

The platform itself offers the writer simplicity and accessibility. The user interface is fairly straightforward to understand and minimalist in design. It is not complicated to use. It allows writers to focus on their writing without the distractions often found on other platforms. 

It also helps that you do not need to be a tech genius to write on the platform. No widgets to install, or updates to deal with.

Just get on with writing.

I’m Bored With One Line Sentences - In Defence of the Humble Paragraph.

 

Welcome to the modern age.

The age of the short attention span.

Was the last sentence too long?

Maybe so, but it was shorter than this one.

By a couple of words.

I recently read an article that had over one hundred one-line sentences in it.

Most were short sentences, but it had the occasional long one, like the last sentence above and this one.

I got a brain freeze halfway through.

I couldn’t cope with it.

By line twenty, I had lost track of what the article was about.

Where was it going?

Did it have any meaning?

And what’s wrong with using a paragraph occasionally? I might start now. The humble paragraph has been used throughout history; why shouldn’t it be used? What did it ever do wrong to offend people?

Actually, I’m having some fun. I don’t mind the occasional one-line sentence in my writing.

It can make a point.

Or not.

Short and to the point.

A Story About Fame and Legacy

When I was a young lad, if ever I got a little too ambitious, my mother would say to me.

“You need to come back down to earth.”

Sometimes, when I was being far too ambitious.

“You need to get off your high horse.”

Meaning — stop acting as if you think you are better than others.

An idiom.

I grew up in a time when idioms were popular.

But I had no idea what an idiom was. I was probably not paying attention to the teacher at school.

I think it was my mother’s way of letting me down gently.

Life was regularly a letdown.

I did wonder about the high horse, though.

I lived in an inner city in middle England, so the only time we ever saw a horse was on television. The racing from Newmarket, Chepstow, or some other place that I would only ever see on the magical television screen.

The television also bought us a popular series for children about a horse called Black Beauty. It was based on an original story by the writer Anna Sewell. It was published in 1877, and she was paid a grand total of £40.

£40 is not much for writing a book, when you consider all the time and effort. In part because of ill health, it took her several years to write it.

But it was in 1877, and back then it might have been a lot of money.

I had to find out.

I Asked Chat GPT to Come Up With a New Book Cover (Part One)

As I have been thinking about changing the cover of my book, I asked ChatGPT to come up with something that was more upbeat and colourful than the one I had originally designed. I thought the original might be too dark and unappealing.

And this was its first attempt.

I thought it was colourful and bright, but wondered why the face features were missing. 

So, I asked it to come up with its own cover.

Everyone Needs a Happy Place

Do you have a happy place? A place you can go to where you feel better just by being there?

I do. I found a happy place, and it was on my doorstep.

Just a few minutes walk from my home, there is a wildlife park. It is a large park with artificial lakes, and I frequently take walks there. Walking in the park has become part of my regular exercise routine. It also helps to clear the mind.

The park is a place where I go to escape the real world.

Back to nature.

I find that early morning is the best time to go, before the rest of the world wakes up. Apart from the occasional dog walker, it often feels like I am the only person in the park. That suits me fine, as there is a silence early in the morning that I haven’t noticed at any other time. That might just be me, but most of the time the only noise comes from the birds.

I’ve also walked through the park at night, early evening, mainly because it is a shortcut to another area of the city where there is a shopping centre. In winter, to say that it is dark at that time would be an understatement. While the lights of the city can be seen in the distance, the park is in total darkness. A torch is an absolute necessity. Despite the darkness, I have never felt unsafe, but it can be a spooky adventure!

But there are other benefits.

A Journey Down Memory Lane. Wiping Away Errors, the Tipp-Ex Way

                                              

 Until recently, I was not aware that Tipp-Ex, the correction fluid, was still available.

I have not used it in years.

There was a time when I was a regular user. It was a necessity.

For me, that was in the days of pen and paper, long before the arrival of the personal computer and laptop. And for some time after they became available, they were expensive to buy, as was a typewriter or word processor.

I tried using a typewriter, but I soon discovered that I was never going to master it.

I was left with a pen and paper.

But before Tippex, writing anything could be problematic, as mistakes stood out.

At school, most of the time, I did not know that I had made a mistake. My English teacher was the grammar checker. She would return my essays with many red marks and notes in the margin.

She would comment that I needed to improve in certain areas.

“Could do better.”

So many boys had the same three words written on their essays.

One day I noticed that a friend of mine had a little white plastic container. He was applying, via a small brush, that was part of the lid top, a white liquid to his essay.

Once dried, you could write over any mistake.

Maybe with this magic liquid I could do better?

Of course, you do have to know that you have made a mistake, and checking words using a dictionary was very time-consuming. More so if the alternative was being outside playing football with my mates.

Five English Proverbs That Describe The Writing Journey

I decided to find five English proverbs that best describe the writing journey.

                                           Free image by Queena Deng from Pixabay

Here’s what I chose.

"The pen is mightier than the sword." 

If you can write and tell a story, then you have a powerful weapon. This has been known throughout history. It is why the enemies of words try to ban or burn books, and why the writer is often seen as dangerous. 

Become a writer and challenge the world.

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

Pictures do sell products.

It is probably why publishing companies and authors spend considerable time thinking about the cover image of a book.

Good writers paint a picture with their words. Is there a better feeling than finding a story that paints a picture in your mind when reading?

Imposter Syndrome: The Creative Person's Curse?

I must admit that I had never come across imposter syndrome until recently. I was on Twitter when someone, a self-published author, mentioned that they felt like they were not worthy of being called an author. That they felt like they were an imposter.  There then followed a discussion on Imposter syndrome.

Around this time, it was announced in the UK that the TV chat show host and journalist Michael Parkinson had passed away.  Parkinson interviewed many famous people from all walks of life.  He was considered to be the best in the business, the UK equivalent of Johnny Carson.  He was particularly good with great story tellers, like David Niven and Peter Ustinov.  

Then I read an article where his son Mike Parkinson said that his father had suffered from Imposter Syndrome, a feeling that he was not worthy of the undoubted success that he had achieved. He said that his famous father did not have as much self-confidence as he appeared to have on TV.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66605926

It's remarkable to think that someone who was so successful had so much self-doubt, but it does seem to happen quite a lot to those in the creative arts.  I'm sure that many who have a written a book, fiction or non-fiction, have wondered to themselves, “why would anyone want to read what I've written”. I've certainly had that self-doubt. 

When I was a lot younger, I would often hear people say things like “don't have ideas above your station” or “know your place”. It could be a class thing, or just that being from a certain background, you were not expected to be anything.  Michael Parkinson had working class roots, the people he worked for at the BBC were typically from a different background. 

Knowing your place is difficult to overcome. I'm still trying to beat it. My self-doubt makes me wonder if I ever will.