Dear Medium, We Need to Talk
We can still be friends, maybe?
The last article I published here on Medium was September 23.
19 days ago.
Not that long, really, although the so-called Medium aficionados would liken that kind of absence to creative suicide.
Forgive me if I sound a little cranky, but these 19 days away have really got my wheels turning on what I’m doing over here, exactly.
I haven’t felt compelled to write at all lately, and I have my suspicions about the reasons. The obvious one is that I’ve been busy, and I’m tired.
The Medium aficionados would say, “That’s not good enough, that’s no excuse. I write no matter how tired I am. I set my alarm for 4 in the morning so I can fit in two precious hours of writing before I have to get ready for work. That’s what being a writer is.”
The thing is, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m simply not willing to live that way. And also, my refusal to get up at 4 a.m. doesn’t make me an inferior writer or less aspirational about my writing goals.
Writing is a part of who I am, but I accept the fact it’s not the entire picture.
When I started writing over here on Medium this past spring, I was so keyed up to validate my identity as a writer, and ohmigod…