Hey Tony, this is what I just put on Facebook to my 5K followers -

This is a big milestone for Medium. I don't know if I'll publish the memoirs of my growing up as a book or not but I get pro payment for them because I have worked extremely hard for the past 9-10 years to build a portfolio on Medium. Medium is a dialog - we know each other there. I have watched other women writers advance and I have been helped by many women writers there, especially Linda Caroll, who publishes History of Women & other publications. The established publishing system has been a shambles for most of my writing career.

I am also no longer going to listen to people who state it's "just a blog" and "you're self published". The overwhelming majority of writers who make a good living at writing are self-published. I have worked for pay in every writing medium except plays & comic books. My first collection was one of the first print on demand books and my first novel was one of the first POD hardcover books. I was a founding member & incorporating treasurer of Book View Cafe.

This is something I've been able to do no matter what the situation in other aspects of my life - whether Bruce's illness, having to work 3-4 other jobs - I could always write on Medium. I learned a lot and now I am at the point I am able to write for my self. I'm happy with what I am doing right now and I'm very proud that Tony has been able to announce this huge milestone. Medium was begun by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams to be a "long form Twitter" and to create a dialog between people. It has accomplished that. Many thanks to Patsy Fergusson with Fourth Wave publication who is publishing my Growing Up a Girl Child memoirs.