What about yours?

To my Blog readers. This story was published in Medium’s Good Vibes Club. It is a reflection on my writing experience on the Medium platform.

Prelude

However, occasionally, like this morning, as I sit down to write story number 403, I imagine my Medium residence looks like this shack just around the corner from us.

Old, tired, collapsing, plant and animal infested — abandoned. A small number of readers, few reads, and fewer comments. For example, story 401, about 9/11, got five reads and two comments.

You may identify with this discouragement, regardless of the size of your Medium audience. I recall being on a friend’s 50-foot yacht in Chesapeake Bay and catching a glimpse of a 240-foot ship moored off to our right, thinking, “There’s always a bigger boat.”

We’re never satisfied, are we?

On Sunday, I went to church, something I rarely do. I should do it more often. It was a Presbyterian service. The Pastor admonished us not to “Covet our neighbor’s house.”

Of course, I spent the next minute in a visionary rapture over the magnificence of some of my Medium friends’ homes.

They get 1000s of claps, 100s of reads, and 10s of comments.

I had no idea what to expect when I joined Medium three years ago. In 2018, when I retired from forty years of teaching Politics to college students, I started writing a blog.

I disliked the third-person academic writing I had to do to get tenure and promotion. It was too far removed from exploring my immediate world, which fuels my Medium stories.

My blog tales were like this one, triggered by something that jumped up and bit me usually the day before. In this case, it was a combination of Pastor Jay’s chide, my jealous response, and that crappy shack I walked by for the hundredth time. And, of course, disappointment at the woeful response to my September 11th story.

But I wanted a bigger readership than the family and friends who faithfully followed paulmuses.com.

My blog house looked like this. I wanted more.

Tiny, Funky and Beautiful

Medium gave me more readers. It’s a busy street.

So there was a steady stream of people walking, biking, or driving by— seven hundred this month. About half linger, say hello, and then they’re off.

I appreciate each one. My door and windows are always open, and there’s a chair for you to sit on if you want to chat.

My property looks so much better today. A friend says I have a funky place. But I needed help.

A neighbor offered her kayak; another helped me install the solar panel and a third the housewarming plant.

Similarly, Medium has given me outlets. My favorites include Six Word Photo Story Challenge, Fiction Shorts, Crow’s Feet, Entertain Enlighten Empower, and Good Vibes Club.

There are so many more. Each has helped me grow as a writer. For example, before I joined Medium, I never used photos in my stories. Now, often, a visual image starts the creative process. It’s the seed. That’s how the shack in the second photo worked — it externalized my disappointment over the few reads for a story I believed deserved more.

Honestly, I don’t want a larger house. Occasionally, I think I should add another room or build a garage, but my house and yard would become too important. And I have other things to do, other vital things in my life.

Small is beautiful!

Postlude

I’ve been fortunate to have two Medium stories boosted. Each time, I rattled around in the mansion for a few days.

You can take the boy to New York, but you can’t take Iowa out of the boy.

I could not wait to return to my tiny, funky, beautiful Medium home.

How do you feel about your Medium experience?