How I became a suggested writer on Medium
For the past week or so Medium has been telling me I'm a "suggested writer" in the Writing tag and that's how people have been finding me and following.
It's not "top writer" and I wouldn't have expected to be given that title but it's a reassuring shot in the arm.
As to whether it's automated or manually curated, I don't know.
To be honest I don't know how I became "suggested" - it's not been according to any particular plan but I can't really complain.
The story of me
I am not overly successful (most of my 1200+ followers were grandfathered from Twitter) and I'm not qualified, academically or otherwise, to lecture people on form or best practice.
I'm probably among the most unqualified.
But there is one thing I'm uniquely qualified to do, just like everyone else, and that is to tell the story of me, how I write and what it means to me.
Writing is more than the singular act of putting words on the page. It is insight, adventure and discovery, it is all those efforts behind the words to help get my thoughts to screen. Working on my blog, setting up workflows on my phone to better facilitate the writing process, it's all part of writing for me.
Writing is sanity mixed with uncertainty. It is being able to express yourself in any way you want without always knowing what's going to come out.
It's unpredictable and often frustrating but that only makes the joy of creation that much sweeter when it works.
Keep on keeping on
If the suggested writers list is curated then I can only say thank you but, if as I suspect, it is automated then it at least illustrates consistency and a degree of dedication to the process.
Write.
Keep doing it, keep using the same tags, keep following the passion. Eventually the algorithms (or maybe even people) will notice.
It's not why I do it but it's nice to know someone, or something, is paying attention.