Dear Medium…

Some ideas for making the writing and the experience even better.

Photo by hannah graceon Unsplash

Medium is a good thing. I’ve been on Medium for over a year and half now and have enjoyed reading about a vast array of experiences, each from a unique perspective. I’ve enjoyed writing and getting feedback on my writing.

Like with all things, that which is good can be made better. I’ve been doing some thinking on my experience so far with Medium and have a couple of itches that need scratching. So, with that in mind, I submit some ideas for improving the experience and the writing:

Editing

I’m a writer with a lot of ideas and some notion of how to present them. This takes my writing all over the place. I like to think that I’m steadily improving all the time, but the best I’ve done is often under the watchful eye of an editor. Indeed, the history of all my submissions to all the places I’ve ever done so are just attempts to get the attention of editors, in the hopes that they’ll help me polish and get better quicker.

There are a number of programs that catch typo’s and grammar slips. Some even attempt syntactical corrections and stylistic choices, though I’ve found them altogether lacking. There’s nothing like a live person to interrogate your writing and force you to clarify your thinking. In short, I…