Hillam Happenings for October 2023: Necessary Endings Precede Beginnings
In this month's newsletter, I talk about Henry Cloud's book, "Necessary Endings," and how endings have preceded some exciting new things for me in October.
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the 2nd monthly Hillam Happenings newsletter!
I started reading Henry Cloud’s book Necessary Endings a couple weeks ago. What a timely message! In the second sentence of the preface, he writes:
In your business and perhaps your life, the tomorrow that you desire and envision may never come to pass if you do not end some things you are doing today.1
It always happens. Whenever you step out and start doing something new, after a little while, you realize that SOME things are no longer working for you. So, it’s best to let them go.
In last month’s newsletter, I told you about my Friday Favorites on Medium and that I had just published week four. I published two more editions after that.
But during those first two weeks of October, other things began to emerge — BIGGER and BETTER things!
The Key to Growth on Medium: Publications
In my post, A Wide Door of Opportunity, I explained that Medium publications are like magazines that feature articles by many writers. So, for maximum exposure on Medium, you want to write for publications rather than self-publish.
I started with an obvious choice: About Me Stories. Your About Page is always SO important. While researching how others crafted their stories, I found a great format and ran with it.
I published my first article in About Me Stories on my birthday, Oct. 11th:
About Me — Sharon Hillam: Me from A to Z — A highlight reel of my first 66 years on planet Earth.
Suddenly, the number of people following me, clapping, and responding (commenting) grew sharply. And so did my earnings. To date, my About Me Story is at the top of my earnings list in Medium’s Partner Program.
Two days later, I published Friday Favorites #6: About Me Stories, and then decided to pull the plug. My Friday Favorites had run their course.
It was a necessary ending.
The Old Broken Chair — the Revised Version
As I mentioned in my newsletter on October 18th, The Old Broken Chair — a poem I've submitted to a publication on Medium, I became a writer for the Good Vibes Club. They published my poem a few hours later.
Because I made a few changes AFTER sending that newsletter to you, here is the revised and FINAL version of the poem:
The dust settles easily on the old broken chair,
Not a single speck is shifted by the soft breeze blowing there.
It was once a sapling growing to its height of endless truth,
Telling tales of spark and wisdom to the ears of wondering youth.
Ages past are all forgotten, taking a toll along the way,
So find the treasures of the moment — bind them up and bid them stay.
The echoes resound quietly amid the carving of the wood
Speak the truth of all those memories that are finally understood.
How I thank our God in heaven that He gives us comfort there
For dust cannot settle on what’s no longer an old broken chair.
This poem is my second most-viewed article on Medium — quite a surprise, I might add, as I can count on one hand how many I’ve written and still have fingers left over. 😊
I’m Now a Writer for FIVE Publications!
The following week, as I viewed my story stats, it was easy to see that I needed to write for more publications. Why? Because each one has its own focus.
Some are broad and cover many topics; others, like About Me Stories, are narrow and only focus on one or two. The most popular ones are hard to get into, and even when you do, it might take a week or two for them to publish your article.
As I prayed and researched publications, I found and have been approved as a writer for three more, bringing my total to five. I’ve also applied to Koinonia, the largest Christian publication on Medium, but I’ve not yet heard from them.
A List of Articles I Published in October
As a recap, here are the friend links to each article I published on Medium in October:
Sharon’s Friday Favorites #5 | published 10/6/23
About Me — Sharon Hillam | published 10/11/23 in About Me Stories
Sharon's Friday Favorites #6: About Me Stories | published 10/13/23
Run Fast. Eat Slow. Cookbook: NOT Just for Athletes | published 10/16/23
The Old Broken Chair — a Poem | published 10/18/23 in Good Vibes Club
How I Used My Evernote-PKM System to Publish a 43-Year-Old Poem | published 10/27/23 in PKM in the Wild
Did You Know That Hamas Is in the Bible 60 Times? | published 10/30/23 in Mustard Seed Sentinel
Another Necessary Ending?
I’m praying about and evaluating whether or not to continue with these monthly Hillam Happenings newsletters. One reason is that I don’t know how many of you are interested in hearing about what I’m doing on Medium — and that will be my main topic for the foreseeable future.
Substack stats show me how many people open these emails, but I have no way of knowing how many actually read them.
What I CAN see, however, is which links you click.
So here’s what I’m asking of you:
If you are no longer interested in hearing about my new adventure on Medium, you will NOT hurt my feelings if you unsubscribe. In fact, I ask that you please do. This will help, not hurt. I promise.
If you are mostly interested in keeping up with us personally rather than hearing me prattle on about what I’m doing on Medium, then can you please reply to this email or let me know via Facebook or text?
If you are happy to keep going as is, then PLEASE click at least one link, reply to this, leave a comment, send me a smoke signal, do SOMETHING, and let me know?
Regardless of your response (or lack thereof), I will NOT be shutting down The Hillam Blog. There’s no reason to.
But I may suspend our monthly Hillam Happenings and only publish articles that I think might be of interest to whoever continues as a subscriber.
If you’ve read this far, then thank you. Thank you for hanging in here with me as I’ve been practicing in public, figuring things out, and being about as predictable as a squirrel amped up on caffeine!
If you have any questions about any of this, please let me know.
Until next time (whenever and wherever that is),
Blessings always — Sharon
Connect with me on Medium by clicking here!
Henry Cloud, Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up In Order to Move Forward (New York: HarperCollins e-Books, 2011), “Preface”, Kindle.
I’m hanging in there with you… As another squirrel amped up on caffeine. Love it!