Okay, I gave you 50 claps for this, not because I’m feeling sorry for you (I am), but because you’ve struck gold with this one. It requires every kind of emotion without being hackneyed or obnoxious.

I don’t know how you feel, mainly because I’m not nearly as brave as you are. You put yourself out there, hoping for the best, allowing yourself to be rejected over and over again — and then you’re back out there. You should be proud of yourself. I’m proud of you! I gave up long ago because I don’t handle rejection well. I’m a coward pretending to know what the hell I’m doing.

As for Medium money, I’m one of the failures. I made $100 once in a month, but most often it’s around $40. Forty dollars! For a month’s work! So I went outside and got a sort of big break with HuffPo but nobody else has bitten. I have six stories out there waiting for a nibble but it’s been a while and nobody is calling at my door.

But I’ll go on doing what I’m doing here on Medium because I like the format and the venue and if I’m not making thousands a month there’s nothing I can do about it. I royally dislike those writers who spend more time bragging about how much they made than they do writing something I’d actually want to read. I don’t know their secret. I wish I did. I don’t get it. But I’ll go on. I hope you will, too, dear Sherry. Because you have so much to offer. (When I win the Powerball I’ll pay you myself. Promise.)