Hillam Happenings - December 2023
In this month's newsletter, I share links to articles I and others published in December and briefly recap 2023.
Hello everyone,
What a year it has been. After over five years of struggle and barely making any headway with my online writing, suddenly, my season shifted.
And it started with this post here on Substack, published January 2, 2023:
Two weeks later, I published our first Hillam Happenings newsletter:
I switched to a monthly schedule in September, just as my stories and articles began taking off on Medium. And, after your response to my questionnaire in October’s newsletter — that you wanted me to continue sharing the Friend Links to my Medium articles and personal news items monthly — monthly it is going into 2024.
Articles Published on Medium in December
A few hours after sending out last month's Hillam Happenings newsletter, Koinonia, Medium's largest Christian publication, published my article, 3 Simple Prayers That God Answered In An Amazing Way.
What a moment! I was chuffed!
The article has done well with 30 reads (defined as people who continued reading for at least 30 seconds) and moderate engagement (claps, highlights, and comments). Current earnings to date is $14.25. (For context, I only earned $8.72 for the entire month of September.)
On December 4th, ILLUMINATION, one of the largest publications on Medium, published my article, A Farewell Tribute to a Lifelong Friend — David's poem that I shared with you last month. (Note that I've since learned to do single-line breaks, so the formatting is much better now. Check it out!)
Later that same day, the Good Vibes Club published my article, I Became a Friend of Medium Today and Here's Why. Why the picture of Santa? Because of the subtitle: It’s like getting to be Santa all year round, y'all!
In November, Medium added a new membership level called Friend of Medium.
After reading I’m Just Serenity’s article I’m a Friend of Medium! How ’Bout You?, I followed suit by upgrading too, then wrote my article a few days later.
It’s my most-read, best-performing article to date with current earnings of $16.47.
Finally, on December 11th, I self-published Spreadin’ a Little Joy to the World, which includes the audio clip of my "Joy to the World Medley" that David uploaded to his SoundCloud account. (Thanks, Honey!)
After that, I decided to take a break from writing until after the holidays.
As always, David and I have much to be thankful for. God has been very good to us this year. We live a simple lifestyle that would probably be boring for most. But we like it. Peace reigns over our home. How valuable is that? Priceless, I say. 😊
And with that, 2023 is a wrap!
May you have a blessed, safe, and happy New Year! See you in 2024!
Sharon & David
And may you have a blessed happy and safe New Year valued friend!!!
Congrats Sharon on how the publishing is opening up to you this year! You are a gifted writer. David's poem was beautiful. Merry Christmas season and Happy New Year to you both!