Published in ILLUMINATION-Curated·PinnedMember-onlyThis Medium Writer Got a $1000 Legal Demand From Getty ImagesRoyalty free doesn’t mean free — A Medium writer read one of my stories about a Blogger who was sued for $150,000 over using a Creative Commons image and said… “This actually happened to me!” In reality, it wasn’t quite the same situation, but she received a legal demand for $1000 and paid $500 for using…Copyright5 min readCopyright5 min read
9 hours agoMember-onlyNever Ask a Doctor to Look at Your Sick Pets! Here’s Why…How a guinea pig survived a deadly prognosis — My mum was at a local doctor’s funeral recently. They relayed stories from his life, including one about the time he’d tried to treat a guinea pig as a patient. The guinea pig seemed very uncomfortable and had developed a lump. The owner was worried, but for some reason they…Pets2 min readPets2 min read
1 day agoMember-onlyMarkets for Animal Stories, & How They Benefit Your Mental HealthHave 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. …Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Published in Fuck Niches·2 days agoMember-onlyDo My Balls Look Big in This? When Classic Art is Deemed ‘Pornography’!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…Art3 min readArt3 min read
Published in The Daily Cuppa Grande·4 days agoMember-onlyGreat New Features in the Medium ‘Library’!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…Medium2 min readMedium2 min read
Published in SYNERGY·5 days agoMember-onlyCrime Novelist Self-Published His Books With Huge Success!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…Self Publishing3 min readSelf Publishing3 min read
Published in MIDFORM·6 days agoMember-onlyTrying to Understand Medium Pay Rates — Is It Me, or Are They Falling?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.comMedium3 min readMedium3 min read
Published in SYNERGY·Mar 20Member-onlyTaking the Leap into Professional Freelance WritingHow 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’. You…Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Published in Weeds & Wildflowers·Mar 19Member-onlyMore Reflections on Lockdown: The Best Things in Life are FreeLessons 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…Pandemic Stories5 min readPandemic Stories5 min read
Published in The Daily Cuppa·Mar 18Member-onlyHow To Listen To Your Medium Stories Before You Press PublishHave you ever wished you could hear what your draft stories sound like on Medium’s audio feature? Would you like to test how your stories sound before you press ‘publish’? Now you can! When you want to listen to a draft story, go to the menu (…) click ‘share draft…Writing Tips1 min readWriting Tips1 min read