My Journey Through Medium as a Writer

What Difference A Curve Makes 

I am shifting my writing focus from a personal blog to Medium where I can potentially reach a wider audience. However what I like about publishing my own independent blog is being able to say what I think. One can potentially get greater exposure on Medium by publishing in publications, but that sometimes has the effect of limiting what one can say, which sometimes is fine and at other times I question if I am losing the purpose that motivates me to write in the first place.

The Medium curators are like an anonymous board floating in the ether. There is no direct communication between writers and curators. One finds oneself guided by rumors about what the rules are. One rule is that one cannot re-publish articles — but what exactly does that mean?

At first, being unaware of the rule, I published some posts generally. My post What Difference A Curve Makes was picked up by StartUp, Mediums most active publication.

Then I learned about the rule prohibiting the republishing of posts, which I took it to mean that if I published generally (no publication), that I could not submit to a publication, so I switched to submitting drafts to a publication.

At first that worked. I seemed to have a good relationship with Dialogue and Discourse where I published IDEXX Becomes First Corporation to Exploit Maine’s Global Corporate Welfare Act and…

How The Morrill Act gave birth to Public Ownership of Private Intellectual Property in the USA.

Justin_Smith_Morrill_-_Brady-Handy

This article was also selected for Medium’s History Section. When I decided to write the story up for Medium, I thought it would be relatively simple because I had already done much of the research.

It was surprised when I found I needed a recovery period after writing the Morrill Act story, during which I didn’t think about Medium at all. Upon reflection, I think it happened that I needed a break because of the impact of the subject matter. One wants to believe that educational institutions exists for the public benefit, but the Morrill story reveals some of the exploitative practices of the University of Maine, which is central in Maine’s public-private centrally managed economy. The Morrill Act story is not time sensitive but retains its historical interest over the long term and so can be considered an investment.Dialogue and Discourse published a few articles, including this one about a current bill by which the Maine Legislature is attempting to force buy private electric power utilities in order to establish a state power monopoly.

Maine Legislature proposes to force buy all electric utilities with debt secured by private property of Maine residents

This Maine Power Utility Take Over story was shared by many Mainers on Facebook, which counts for nothing in Medium’s paywall, calculated by subscriber interest, not general interest outside of Medium. The story was successful in terms of my original motivation for blogging, which was a response to limited one sided points of view published in the Maine media. This story reveals a simple fact hidden in the act via an external link to pre-existing act. As with any debt there has to be collateral, in the case of purchasing a statewide electric power utility, the loan will be backed up by the private property of Maine residents, which was not being mentioned in the sales pitch. You can click on the link to the story to read how I arrived there.

However when I submitted my next article to Dialogue and Discourse, it was rejected, but not in through the usual channel of communication

The Problem Isn’t Unequal Wealth, It’s Unequal Opportunity

Instead of receiving a communication directly from Dialogue and Discourse, in my profile menu, which had been the custom until then, the notice of rejection came from general Medium curators, with a message that I could publish it generally, and no suggestion that I can submit it to another publication, which I did. It was immediately published by Thoughts, which is a new publication, just as I am a new author. Although Thoughts has a relatively small following, this story received twice as much applause as I had previously received as a base level, nothing to shout about by Medium standards but meaningful in my own perspective.

It also received one response which observed that this interesting article was not possible to find unless one was following me as a writer. Medium had not placed it in any category. The commenter also said that I had introduced him to Thoughts and that now he was following Thoughts.

Shealah Craighead [Public domain]

What Federalist Paper 65 Says About ImpeachmentThere will always be the danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt

Next I submitted an article analyzing the Trump defense arguments, including those of Marco Rubio, relative to Federalist Paper #65, and #66 by Alexander Hamilton. These two papers discuss impeachment. I ended the article with Nancy Pelosi, presenting her as the archer, an association that came to me spontaneously as the Greek Goddess Diana. It seemed appropriate, Pelosi is a sharp markswoman, going up against buck-shot-shooting Trump.

This was written after the vote to eliminate evidence and witnesses from the trial and before Nancy ripped up a copy of Trump’s speech. It is a subject which is time sensitive I submitted the article to Dialogue and Discourse and once again it was rejected but not directly by the publication but by an email from general Medium curators. I immediately submitted it to Thoughts. I waited three days and did not get a response. Considering the timely subject matter, this delay irritated me. Important events had already transpired since I first wrote the story, including Nancy’s remarkable media performance of ripping up a copy of Trump’s speech while clearly in view behind the back of the recently acquitted but clearly guilty president.

Then I read an article on Medium by someone who said she published her articles generally at first and publications requested them. This had also happened with What Difference A Curve Makes , so I decided to go back to publishing generally outside of any publication. Publications say they prefer drafts but that means one’s article does not get published while waiting to place it. When writing about something current, this makes a big difference.

I cancelled the submission to Thoughts and published What Does Federalist Paper 65 Say About Impeachment? generally. This means I can share it in social media immediately on a timely basis. I write because I want to have an impact on what is happening in my world.

I created my own publications Think Global and Act Local and Hand Making Makers of the World, on an instinct that I might someday need them, but for now I am going to publish generally, outside of any publication, even my own. I don’t have to wait to find out if a publication is going to publish a timely article. I can write whatever I want without having to worry if what I have to say will fit into general guidelines of someone else’s publication, and there is the chance that someone else’s publication will want to publish what I want to say, and I can gradually develop my own followers base. I can go back to submitting drafts to publications at any time.

With that idea, I published A Tale of Two Economies, which blends my personal story with the research I have been doing on the Maine economic development statutes and related information for the last 10 years.

I would never have become engaged in the research if I had not been looking for a means to recapitalize our business so it is appropriate that this story, I am writing now, also begins with the love of a work process which instigated my independent research into Maine economic development statutes. In A Tale of Two Economies, the research is the social context. I started with a post I had already written about the Maine Technology Institute and I inserted my own counter experiences within the American wealth redistribution economy. For a long time I have been looking for a way to present my research interwoven into my experiential story. Feeling liberated by not having to please anyone else, I just used the cut and paste method and started telling my own story in the backdrop of a research story about the centrally managed public-private corporate state.

The result is

Photo by Ian Baldwin Unsplash

A Tale of Two Economies
The Public-Private Wealth Redistribution Economy Vs The Small Entrepreneurial Free Enterprise Economy.

Sometimes I read the Medium articles on how to make it big and they depress me as they have nothing to do with what motivates me as a writer, which is having a forum to say what I have to say. However I followed advice in the title of this article, using the “why I did this” formula. It seems to be a popular choice so it must be clickbait, as they say.

However I prefer more poetic titles. “What Difference A Curve Makes” is inspired by the song, “What Difference A Day Makes” and was perfect for a story about the making process because I love making ceramics in my own studio, in part, because I get to listen to music and dance around the room, all day long,while I am working. If it we made a video where everyone was dancing while they worked, it would be an actual representation of reality. I miss that right now because we do not have a studio to work in and need to find the means to have one once again. But we still have a brand with its own unique history. Events are happening now that may be the beginning of a new chapter in our original brand. Its too early to say more, so that’s all for now, folks!.

In response to this article, published on Medium, I received a notice of a note from a publication in my menu but the note was nowhere to be seen on the article. Eventually I found the note in my email but the reply went back to my article where the note does not display. I published my own note to the sender. The note  is an invitation to submit articles but the process involves my drop down menu, which is supposed to include the publication as one that I can select- but it is not there. There are many publications that I can submit to, except I can't technically do so. Something is interfering. I do not know what.

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