And you know, sometimes what people have to say is niche. It’s not of wide interest to general readers, and that’s OK too. Medium gives us a platform to say those things, even if most Medium readers aren’t all that hot to read about it.

Here, we can connect with our networks and write what we care about, knowing we can find people who ARE interested, even if it’s not most people.

Which really brings up an important point. Why are we writing? Because we have something to say or because we want rewards?

Getting paid for writing is awesome. I’m happy when one of my stories does OK financially. Of course! But I’m not here on Medium for the primary purpose of looking for a paycheck. If I were, I’d probably be sad and frustrated.

I’m here to hook up with networks of vibrant, engaged beta readers for my fiction (which is a totally awesome part of Medium many don’t think about) and to write about LGBTQ activism and issues.

I write about those issues because I care deeply about them, not because I want to make it big on Medium.

If my primary concern were to make it big on Medium, my story this morning about the United Methodist Church schism would have been very different. I would have made it much more upbeat and positive, designed to appeal to as large a group of people as possible.

But if I’d done that, I wouldn’t have been writing honestly from my heart, I’d have been intellectually masturbating in public in hopes I’d get paid for it.

As you say, you’ve got to love writing. I might add, you’ve got to write for love.