Since the beaches opened up here in Trinidad & Tobago back in January, we’ve been taking full advantage of this situation.
Spending the day at the beach is one of my all-time favorite activities. I love the ocean air, the breeze, the swaying palm trees, the tide coming in, and I love drinking in the sunshine while looking out over the beautiful water… under a nice shady tree of course.
The beach is a great mood booster!
Success on Medium
When I first joined the Medium platform last year, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It seemed like a difficult place to succeed, but it also seemed like a great opportunity to share writing. So, I gave it a go.
Since that time, I’ve learned a lot and have managed to establish a nice following, although it’s taken time and A LOT of work.
It’s starting to pay off, as I’m generating a small income each month and I’m looking for that to keep growing. Each month I make more than what I made the previous month.
Medium is not for everyone. It’s a rather unique and quirky place, and one has to be open to that. If you’re thinking about joining Medium do let me know. Supporting new promising writers to the platform is one of my favorite things.
The Essentials of Medium
- Medium is a wonderful community of writers. I hadn’t expected this, and love being a part of it. Community is a powerful thing when a person learns how to embrace it.
- Writers on Medium are very supportive of each other and their work, but it has to be a mutual thing. It’s a place where writers support other writers. Succeeding on Medium without understanding how this works will be a lot tougher, I believe.
- Lately, something very cool has been happening. A lot of other writers are starting to mentioning me in their stories and share links to my stories. I often share links in my stories to other Medium writers and their stories as well. This happens in the blogging world, too, but not near as much as Medium. Goes to show just how strong the reciprocal support is.
- Many diverse topics and niches exist within the Medium community.
- However, there’s also a lot of writers who write about writing itself, both on the craft of writing as well as tips on succeeding as a writer on Medium. Since writing is one of my favorite subjects, I love this aspect of the platform the most really, although not everyone on the platform would agree.
- Medium publications are awesome. Joining niche publications is a great way to boost the community factor even more. One of my favorite pubs to publish in is Globetrotters. I loved it so much that in May I will join the editing team. So excited about that!
- Success on Medium takes hard work and time, no matter what anyone might say to the contrary. Overnight success can be done, but it’s quite rare.
Here are some “friend links” to some of my stories–this means you can check them out without worrying about the paywall.
- “Globetrotters Writer Spotlight — JoAnn Ryan“–Writing intros and about me stories is a very popular thing to do on Medium. I’ve written several now.
- “From Trinidad With Love: Beautiful Bougainvillea“–To date, this is my post with the most views: over 3,000 for this one story, so far.
The future of The Sunstone Journal?
In regards to my WordPress blog, I will still be posting here. I’ve long had a premium plan but will drop down to a basic plan when my annual is up in May. At this point, I see no benefit to keeping the premium plan. Not sure how this will affect formatting and what not–perhaps not at all. Will see in May.
Anyway, this is what’s going on in my neck of the woods.
Hope everyone is doing well!
The Sunstone Journal 
Beautiful!! You’re beginning to look like one of us JoAnn – 🤣🤣 – I miss the beach and sunshine!! Be well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have to agree with Fred. I’ve toyed with so many places for writing. I even have a couple different WP sites. Mostly because two of them are public via FB and this one is just for me and the followers who want to! I was surprised at how useless and useful many different places are. The blogger site I have had for decades is not a favorite at all, but it is family oriented, so that is ok. I’ve not looked at Medium. Am so glad you are enjoying the community there. I’m proud of the new things showing up in your world and YOU look absolutely wonderful!!! Keep on, my friend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
After thinking about it more, another big reason I like Medium is that I tend to be less self-centered, which I feel like I have a tendency to do on this blog. Not sure exactly why.
I didn’t know that you had another WP blog. Feel free to share details, if you want. I looked into Blogger at some point but didn’t care for it, although Medium was created by the same person, Evan Williams.
LikeLike
WP and Medium and Substack and Bloglovin all have their atmosphere and a different way of connecting. WP just happens to be the first place I landed and have little desire for broader horizons.
LikeLiked by 3 people
WordPress is great. Don’t get me wrong. I feel like my posts here get too self-reflective and whiney though. I have less of a tendency to do that on Medium. Maybe one of these days I will make changes to this blog and stick to them, lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great pictures, JoAnn. Especially the third snap, of Maracas Beach through the palms. Particularly calendar-worthy, that one.
Good to read you’ve found a welcoming home on Medium. Better yet, recognition of your talent, both in terms of acclaim and of revenue, is nice, huh? Not that the latter is what motivates you, but it does acknowledge your efforts.
For the moment I’ll keep posting on WP, though the audience here isn’t increasing as much as I had hoped it might. On the other hand, Instagram has been a pleasant surprise, and I haven’t trotted out most of my upgrades yet. For the time being, at least, I’m going forward with both.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I feel like writing on Medium keeps me from being so self-absorbed, for some reason, which I have a tendency to do on this blog.
Yes, revenue is great, too. Can’t deny that! Thanks for your lovely comments, as always!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, that never was my impression, JoAnn. This blog being “self-absorbed,” that is. Unless you define the term so broadly to include everything which interests you. In which case, all our blogs are “self-absorbed.”
Instead, I’ve found you to be interested in ideas. Sure, you relate how these concepts influence you, by way of illustration, but just as naturally, the ensuing discussions usually explore how those same concepts influence us.
That doesn’t seem to be very “self-absorbed,” huh? At least not on your part.
LikeLike
Good that you have found a writing community, where you feel at home so to speak. I wish you all the best for that especially with Globetrotter. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you! It’s nice to fit in somewhere. I’m used to just the opposite. First WorsPress and now Medium. I’m on a roll 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful beach photos, Joann, I wouldn’t mind to be there now! We had night frost last night … considering 15 degrees Celsius during the day warm.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh sorry to hear that. I was watching the news today and saw that they were having blizzards in some parts of the US. Yikes. Hopefully it’s not that bad where you are 🤔🌺
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, no, no blizzards, frost only and night and way too dry …
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad it’s going well on Medium! What I found really interesting when I was writing there was that the things that did well on WordPress didn’t do well on Medium, and vice versa.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That is very true. The writing and reading experience is quite different. Both have their pros and cons as well. Some features on Medium I wish they had on WordPress and vice versa.
LikeLiked by 1 person