A good friend and fellow writer recently introduced me to Medium. NOT the dead-people-seeing-housewife tv show. Medium is a digital publishing platform/story-telling community for writers to engage through feedback, recommendations, and followings. There’s not much fluff—it’s cleanly designed and very simple, with a big variety of writing top.

Recently, Medium posed a writing prompt/contest that seemed too ripe to pass up: “I had to have it.” I ran with it, created an account and uploaded my response.

Since winning the contest had to do with ‘recommends,’ I don’t think my six followers who somehow appeared when I joined won me any trophies. But having a deadline and an audience for my response helped me get into high gear and actually write something. Whether the platform becomes part of my writing life remains to be seen, as does its own future in the realm of digital writing communities. But if my first post ends up also being my last, it’s not you, Medium, it’s me.