A British pub — Photo by Connor Danylenko from Pexels

I Love A Challenge (*Updated*)

So here we go…

I write on Medium for fun. I enjoy expressing myself, and if anything I write about helps other people then that is a huge bonus.

I also like the gamified challenge of trying to keep those little green stats bars heading in the right direction.

In a sense, it’s me vs the algorithm.

And let me tell you, I’ve been taking a hammering recently. That algorithm is a slippery so-and-so.

For a while, self-publishing (which I love — it’s so satisfying to get your work straight out there instantly) was serving me well.

I was getting more views and reads on some self-published pieces than many in publications. I thought this made sense with the way Medium was going — shutting down publications and trying to encourage writers to become their own mini-brands.

But recently, self-publishing numbers seem to be low. It may just be that I’m an awful writer (sorry folks!) or there may be a pesky algorithm tweak taking effect.

I don’t write just for stats or earnings, far from it, but I would like as many people as possible to read what I’ve spent time writing. That article could help them or they could give me valuable feedback, maybe both.