The Kindness of Writers
Thank you to my first 100 followers
Yesterday I was in a bit of a panic. I’d just caught up with my junk emails and found an email hiding there from Medium (Follow You Follow Me). If I didn’t get 100 followers by beginning of March, I was off the Partner Program. I had over 40 to go.
Okay, it was my own fault. I’d heard about The 100 Or Out Rule at the end of last year, then promptly forgot about it again. Instead I just continued to write away in my own world, putting pieces out there, and wearing blinkers to everything else.
It some ways it has done me some good. Although I regularly read pieces from fellow writers I wasn’t devoting enough time to it. My followers were growing, but very slowly. And certainly not at the rate required to prevent me getting the Grand Order of the Medium Boot.
And now I will certainly adjust my priorities and spend more time reading the work of others. It was only over this past 24 hours that I woke up and realised what an incredibly supportive community this is.
I am so very grateful to everyone who has followed me both lately and since I joined the Partner Program in August. And an enormous thank you to those writers who took time to encourage me and give me valuable practical advise to quickly achieving the target. It made all the difference to achieving the target so quickly.
I can’t believe I have managed it in 24 hours. I did not think this was possible. Well, not for me. If I managed it at all I assumed it would be a close thing. But all I did was follow the advice of others, which was -
- Follow as many writers whose work appealed to me, as possible, while also using a follow me, follow you principle.
- Searching articles with ‘100 followers’ in the title, and asking for support
- Commenting and clapping as many pieces as I had time to do.
Simple but it worked. By five pm next day (today) I had reached 104.
So many, many thanks to one and all. Your help, kindness and support is very much appreciated. You’re the best.
