Exploring the Medium of Medium

I signed up a while ago for the platform Medium, which highlights work by creatives. There are writers, journalists, artists, and bloggers who call the website home, plus a lot of great articles, essay, fiction, poetry, and artwork, among other items.

But I never did anything with my membership other than read a few articles. That changed yesterday - I've published 2 pieces on the website, with the idea of making this a regular endeavor.

First off, as a writer with 100+ publications, I'm often asked for advice on aspects of submitting. I decided to start out with a series of practical articles to help out new writers. First one: "How to Submit Your Short Stories, Poems & Essays for Publication: Query Letters." I'll also cover formatting submissions, how to find places to publish your work, the un-fun reality of rejections, and pretty much anything else that comes to mind that would be helpful (if you have an idea about what would be helpful to new writers, suggestions in the comments below would be very welcome).

I'm also doing a series of short personal essays (500 words or less) for Medium's Writing Contest. There are four subjects: Reentry, Death, Work, and Space. There are some kick-ass judges, including Natalie Portman, Roxane Gay, and Saeed Jones, among many, many others. It's a fun challenge, since I tend not to write nonfiction very much and the themes are very open-ended.

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