Have you thought about interviewing your dog? — Writing about pets, animals and wildlife can help lift you out of a low mood into a better state of mind. I’ve been doing it for years! I interviewed the reindeer keeper at Cotswold Wildlife Park here in the UK recently. We visited the reindeer paddock and chatted about their…

Principal forced out of her job over naked statue farce — Hope Carrasquilla, a school Principal in Florida, has resigned from her position after receiving complaints that sixth graders (11–12 years old) were being shown ‘pornography’ while learning about art. The ‘pornography’ in question was Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture, shown above. Ms Carrasquilla only started working at Tallahassee Classical School a year…

Check out the new functionality — You may have noticed that a new ‘Library’ option has appeared on your Medium menu recently. It replaced ‘Lists’. Clicking on ‘Library’ still takes you to lists you’ve created, but in addition to that, you can now follow other people’s lists, and you’ll get an alert every time a new…

The writing community gave him the confidence to keep trying — When I first joined my local writers’ group, among the first people I met was crime author, Dave Sivers, who has self-published a range of ebooks for Kindle and recently found his work among the top selling books in his genre. At that time, he’d published Scars Beneath the Soul…

Let’s dive into the stats… — Payment is based on member reading time, so let’s take a look at these stats and see what I’ve been paid for different read times… My best performing story this month is this one, which has earned $30.84 to date. It’s accrued 16 hours and 46 minutes of reading time. This Medium Writer Got a $1000 Legal Demand From Getty Images Royalty free doesn’t mean freemedium.com

How it went for me! — I started freelance writing for a living in 2011, with no experience, no contacts, and a lot of optimism. Within a few years, I had a book contract. I did this Q&A on getting started as a freelancer, to promote my book, ‘Freelance Writing on Health, Food and Gardens’. …

Lessons from the pandemic — Three years on from the start of the pandemic, it’s quite understandable why some people have embraced getting back to normal. But there have been good things about the time we took to pause and reflect. Appreciating the great outdoors I live in the Chiltern Hills in England. At the start of lockdown in…

Have you ever wished you could hear what your draft stories sound like when they’re being read through Medium’s audio feature? Would you…

They’re always seeking submissions — I submitted a story to Chicken Soup for the Soul in 2013. It was accepted and I received $200, five copies of the book, and regular newsletters. I became part of their community, which for US contributors, includes opportunities to participate in book fairs, events, advance copies, and special offers. …