Medium | Writing

Brave and Brutal Questions and Answers About Medium

What is this? Twenty questions?

I picked the Medium ones, not the small or large ones! 😉 Author’s own image

I read a story by Penny Grubb with one of the longest titles I’ve seen:

• Be honest! Be brutal! Be brave! And Is It Really True That A Title Can Be As Long As I Choose To Make It — Could I Really Write A Whole Essay Here If I So Wished? Surely The Title Police Will Get Me. I Was Only Checking It Out, Officer, Don’t Set The Dog On Me.

Penny’s story links to Maria Rattray and Roz Warren, Writing Coach.

(I used links rather than tags because I’ve only just started following them, and I don’t want to be cheeky!)

It’s time for me to answer the questions!

Wish me luck!

1. How long have you been on Medium?

I created an account on 23 September 2020, or about 2 years and 8 months ago.

(It was 3:30 pm, according to the welcome email. But I don’t think anyone needs that level of detail, so pretend I didn’t mention the time.)

I became a paying member on 16 November 2021, which was about 18 months ago.

(Okay, okay… I’ll give you the time for that as well: 10:06 am.)

2. How long were you here before you realised you could clap more than once for a story?

It was about a month before I got my first follower, so you could say things got off to a slow start.

I was terrified that someone would find me and read my stories, so I kept a very low profile! That means I did not read much here at first.

I think it was months before I realised there was no “like button” and that multiple claps were possible. It was quite a shock!

3. How long were you on the platform before realising nobody understood the Medium algorithm?

Does nobody really understand the algorithm? I’m sure the highly successful writers are closer to understanding it than most.