Welcome to 2020, y’all! I thought I’d give you a break from the onslaught of newsletters that hit in the first few days of January, by not sending one out until the second week.
Let’s jump into things right away. Since the rollout of the new MPP payment structure, I’ve noticed something pretty interesting. Medium seems to be rehashing our pasts for us. I’m not sure how, but I have definitely noticed that each month the platform seems to choose one or two older, curated stories and gives them a boost.
Last month I received a ton of new hits on one particular curated story, pushing it to the top of my earnings pile. But this month, it has chosen an entirely different curated story to push. Now that one sits at the top of the pile. I had nothing to do with it, and before this apparent push, the story hadn’t come across my radar since I wrote it…in JULY.
Is anyone else noticing this little bonus effect? Reply and let me know if you’re experiencing the same thing.
Aside from that, we are seven days into the month and I’ve published seven new stories. I actually didn’t mean to, because I’ve half decided to take a step back from publishing so frequently. I’m just not finding my oomph lately and I don’t want to push out crappy writing. But I have indeed done it anyway, and my stats are showing it.
What I have discovered through mediocre writing, is that my audience also must think it sucks. I know the readers are out there because my pen name is celebrating record highs this month, but sadly, Kristi is celebrating record lows. I outline some of my findings in this article. Click the image to read the story:
I’m pretty sure we all took stock and recapped our 2019, before moving into the next decade. What was the MOST important skill you learned last year? My answer glared me in the face and inspired me to write this piece on the tail end of 2019:
The Most Important Skill I Learned This Year
The year of reckless abandonment allowed me to sit down with appreciation and look for the old me. The one who lived like she didn’t have a care in the world, even when she did. I found her, and I fell in love with her all over again.
Running From Adult Responsibilities
New years eve also brought me to a realization that I think many of us go through at later stages in life. I just don’t have the “peeps” I used to have. I recognized that many of the people I surround myself with aren’t my core group of allies anymore.
When Your Friendships Lack that Ride-Or-Die Feeling
And finally, I just decided to take my own damn advice and get over it all. No one blindly walks backwards in the woods. So why is it that people are so willing to let themselves blindly walk backwards in real life?
You Won’t Get Over it Until You Choose to Get Over It
If there’s one thing we know as writers, it’s that nothing ever comes easy. We basically sit down at our keyboards and bleed every day. Let’s listen to one message going forward into the new year:
So far, it MUST be worth it….or we wouldn’t continue to show up every day, right?
That’s it for now. What a relief huh?
Happy January…..
Kristi