Why I’m Excited to Begin Writing on Medium

It was a no-brainer that I almost missed completely.

Photo by author

Hi, I’m Baz. I’ve been slogging my brains out over on Substack with minimal success here and here, but mostly… it’s my fault.

OK, it’s all my fault. 🙄

The problem was that I approached Substack more like a blog and classroom than a newsletter service. I should’ve known better. Whatevs.

Now I know.

Why I’m excited to be here on Medium

There are a few reasons I’m excited to begin writing on Medium.

1. I’m about to retire after writing professionally for the AEC industry (architecture, engineering, and construction) for the past 20 years and I couldn’t be more excited to never have to write about pavement design, methane recapture, or bulb-T concrete beams, or safety statistics ever again. Twenty years of writing this stuff is enough to drive anyone batshit crazy.
2. On Medium I can write about anything I want. Well, within ethical and moral boundaries. I have no problem with that. There are several areas that I’ve mentioned in my bio that I want to explore further here on Medium.
3. Combining my love for writing and the golden years of retirement is like this late bloomer’s (and Boomer’s) perfect storm. Even though I’m still working for my employer, I feel like there is light of the end of this very long tunnel — a tunnel that took 40 years to travel through.

Writing on Medium might cure my tunnel vision

I can burrow down a rabbit hole with the best of them. That’s what I did on Substack and after a year, my subscriber base and follower count is less than stellar. I know why now, and I’ll still be posting there but with a refined methodology.

I tend to think whatever platform I’m using is the ONLY platform that exists. That’s a recipe for disaster unless you have a very specific niche, and those of similar interests are a captive audience.

Medium, on the other hand, seems more expansive, open, and inviting.

So, here I am.

On Medium. Finally.

I don’t feel like I’m completely wasting my time on Substack, but the model here on Medium might be a better fit for me and I’m willing to give it all I’ve got.

I’ve watched others like Burk and Eve writing on both Substack and Medium and figured it was too complicated to do everything they were doing.

But what I forgot was this — they, and many others, had to begin somewhere. So what that I just turned 66 and I’m looking down the barrel of my twilight years. Who cares!

If I die doing this then, well, so be it. I have to go sometime.

I’ve got a fuzzy vision of what I want to accomplish on Medium that will clarify as I move forward.

With the sheer number of mentors here on the platform, I’m shit-faced happy to begin.😁

BAZ 🙏🏼🩶