I look at Medium like a set of training wheels on a bicycle. It provides you support while you learn the basics, but ultimately, I am striving to get to the point that I can take the training wheels off and continue on my own. I have been writing all my life and had jobs where I had to write various kinds of copy and documents. It wasn’t until mid-February of this year that I began writing every day on Medium. By March, various publications were accepting my work. By the end of May, I hit $100 plus. In June, I made over $200. I write poetry, flash fiction, self-improvement, cooking, and lots of other things. My most lucrative stories by far have been history stories. This month I’ve put a lot of time in on getting my website and newsletter up and running and building a following on social media. I’ll make over $100 this month but just barely because I haven’t written many history stories. I devoted two days to writing one that was published yesterday and it’s already taking off. But here’s the thing: if it was just about making money, there are a lot of easier ways to do that. Write code? Sure, why not sell real estate or become a stock broker? I plan to publish books of my poetry soon, but I think that I want to be a fiction writer. I’m doing a little flash and microfiction to get my feet wet. The stuff I’ve done so far has had a decent reception but, being so short, it makes practically no money on Medium. I’m moving toward submitting stories to online and print publications that pay per story. If I get enough notches on my belt there, I should be able to interest a publisher. That said, I think your story would have been more helpful if you mentioned other actual writing jobs like freelancing and ghost blogging. You warned us, but this piece is still a let down. I couldn’t write code if somebody put a gun to my head.