Thank you for this, Shannon. I’ve been on Medium for a while… at least a year and a half…before I decided to join the partner program. I thought that it was better for me to build an audience before joining the program because my friends wouldn’t be able to read my work, especially if I were trying to do the recommended story per day. I didn’t know about the friends link. Sigh.

So I have been going back through previously published articles and designating them for distribution in the partner program. I have yet to have anything curated. Nonetheless in the past few months since I started with the partner program I have seen my income increase. Like $0.08 the first month, and $0.62 the next. It looks like I might make at least a dollar this month. I tried to take that pattern into heart.

Years ago, like 40 years ago (I am 71 ), I did some quizzes in the book “What Color is Your Parachute?... A book designed to help you figure out what to do with your life. The overwhelming result was that I am a truth seeker and a truth-teller. So that kind of limits me in careers since in most careers you really have to pretend a lot and not speak the truth very much-- because you’re bound to offend the people in power with what you say.

Now I am retired with a rather checkered set of jobs and careers behind me, in which I never achieved what one would call success. At least, not for very long. My truth-telling got me into too much trouble.

Nonetheless, through various means I practiced truth-telling and truth-seeking.

I have become very good at that, but I am not very good at seeking and finding readers. I’d rather just right right right ... God damn speech to text can’t handle homonyms!... Write.

Anyway, your article has given me hope.

My most popular piece... Published over a year ago... Would probably have earned a bit if I joined the program before then... is called OTSD: Ongoing Traumatic Stress Disorder (I am working with my phone or I would include a link). Between readers on Medium and readers on LinkedIn and academic.EDU, have received all together about 1,500 reads. And it’s a rather long piece. And one that still could use extension, possibly even a whole book. So I know I have it. I need to keep plugging away.