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2 min readJun 7, 2025
Text from quote: I have to consider whether it’s worth all that extra time making everything longer, fully researched/sourced, and perfect. … Because the audience appears to prefer short reads and many of them earn more! Meanwhile the better, longer, pieces tend to die a swift death unless they get a boost.
Susie Kearley in How’s Writing Shorter Pieces Going

questions the value of time spent on writing longer articles.

Except for my chess articles, where my “research” is part of my learning process, I prefer writing reflections from my personal knowledge and reflections on what I read in books, watch on YouTube, or listen to on podcasts. My favourite type of “article” to write is what you’re now reading. Instead of the usual way of responding to Medium posts, I don’t bother searching for images or using Grammarly. I just write in my own voice. With a text-based image, they’re not fit for submission to a publication, and the only one reading them is the author I’ve tagged.

I’ve not been very active on Medium apart from these short pieces. The other option is to write something for one of the “shortform” pubs.

Like Susie, I’m more inclined to treat Medium as a social media platform most of the time. I have other hobbies, and a husband who wants more of my attention now than before. My spiritual life and the obligations of my vocation to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites also take a significant portion of my daily time and attention.

My monthly earnings are rarely more than enough for a coffee shop visit. That’s not the reason I write. For the past year, I’ve only published once a week. Most of my articles have been like this one. Writing matters to me more than money. It always has.

kit_carmelite
kit_carmelite

Written by kit_carmelite

Married 25 years. Retired SAS programmer from Statistics Canada. Member of Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites since 2008. Love chess..

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