February 2025 Update: The Valentine's Day Edition
Hillam Happenings Newsletter - 2025 #1
Hello everyone,
When I came to my room/office this morning, I found David had left a sweet homemade Valentine’s card on my keyboard. He’s definitely the creative one in the family.
When I opened the “zine” underneath the Happy Valentine’s Day fold-out pictured above (on the right), he had written the following on each page over various pastel-colored hearts and cute little flower pots full of flowers and leaves:
Love is…
Kind & Giving
Caring & Sensitive
Patient & Forgiving
Loving & Self Giving
You are all of these and so much more
With All of My Love “D”
I married a good-un, didn’t I? 🤗
And just in case no one has said this to you today,
Happy Valentine’s Day!
What I’ve been writing on Medium
I’ve written six stories since my last update (Sept. 2024):
Short. Sweet. Valuable. published “The Best Way to Say Thank You to an Editor” on Oct. 18, 2024. As you might guess from the publication name, this was my attempt at short-form writing. How sweet and valuable it was, I’m not sure. Guess you would have to ask the 18 people who’ve read it so far. Earnings to date: $5.77.
Koinonia published “Can You Walk With God So Closely You Need Not Ask Him to Show You His Will?” on Nov. 12, 2024. I wrote it in response to Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, for March 20th and subtitled Friendship with God. The piece has done quite well within the Christian community. Stats so far: 176 views, 104 reads, and $18.68 in earnings.
Short. Sweet. Valuable. published “Hey Writer Friend: Are You Authentic?” on Dec. 6, 2024. I’ll share more about my smart notes note-taking system in the future, but I wrote this short, 2-minute read in less than two hours from my notes. In this case, I truly was practicing in public. Like my short story above, I’ve had 18 reads, yet it’s only earned $3.51. Why the difference? Maybe the low read ratio of only 38% compared to 56%? With Medium, you never really know.
Long. Sweet. Valuable. published “How We Paid Off Our 15-Year Mortgage in 3 Years” on Dec. 13, 2024. Three days later — for the first time since becoming a writer on Medium in July 2023 — my story was boosted. When I received the congratulatory email, I had only earned $1.50. But by the end of December, my earnings skyrocketed to $860 as more than 3,700 people read the story. Here’s what my stats looked like this morning (after opening David’s Happy Valentine’s card):
While the earnings are great, I’m most humbled and amazed at the number of reads. Only God could have done this, especially in light of what has been happening at Medium since January 7th, which led to my next piece.
I self-published “Medium, I’m Praying for You! — My thoughts on the current writer's MPP earnings crisis” on January 13th. Stats to date: 71 views, 44 reads, and…drum roll….0.32 in earnings. Yep, you saw that correctly. No one knows what’s behind the steep drop from dollars to pennies, but many writers have been affected. We were initially told that Medium was aware of the problem and was looking into it. But as of yesterday, still no word. And worse, comments from Tony S., the top guy at Medium, indicate that this may, in fact, be the new normal for some of us. 😞
On a more somber note, Beloved published "My Sister-in-Law, Helen, Died This Morning" on January 31st. Soon after publishing it, I shared it on Facebook. Thank you so much if you were one of the many who offered sympathies. Stats to date: 103 views with 64 reads and no earnings because I didn’t put this one behind a paywall. (Please continue to pray for David’s brother Brian.)
I’m sticking with Medium — at least for now
Many writers on Medium are considering migrating to Substack. Some already have. I wrote “Substack or Medium — Which is Better?” last August and clearly made the case that, at least for me at the time, Medium was the better option.
It still is. For now. But that might change, depending on what Medium does about what some are calling the Great Earnings Crash of 2025.
In the meantime, I’ll continue with my current ad hoc schedule of sending you these Hillam Happenings newsletters.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
Sharon (and David)