Thanks, Joel! While I may not have the professional acclaim that you have earned, I have been writing and publishing for thirty years...because I love the craft. I'm 64 years old and appreciate good writing about topics OUTSIDE the how-to-make-money-at-Medium genre. History. Books. Medicine. Science. Food. Geography. Politics. Literature. Gardening. ....so many other things to write about and read about that should be lauded as valuable contributions instead of everyone talking about how to make a fast dollar here.

About those "fast dollars." It hasn't yet happened to me, and while I continue to write solid, well-researched pieces, the amount of money I make from this platform is laughable. After hundreds of pieces with a 100% curation rate in the last two years curated pieces and finally reaching more than 1000 followers, I still make less than $60 a month here.

Believe me. I'd like to go viral and make thousands of dollars every month here. (Even a couple of hundred a month would help!) But I am here not just as a trained, professional writer, but as a READER looking for scintillating topics other than how to write .

American writer and historian Gore Vidal once said that there are many great writers out there, but not enough great readers....

Maybe writing about different topics would bring more great readers to Medium.....