Yes, it’s the community that is both exhilarating and intimidating. I’ve been on Medium for a while but didn’t really engage until recently. So far I’ve had three stories curated and, as a perk, made a few dollars. I like that! But I could spend hours on here reading other’s stories, marveling at their talents (or sometimes wincing at their efforts — I’ll be honest), that old feeling of unworthiness rising up again because I want to be so much better.

When I was at my most productive I lived near Detroit, where there is a thriving writing community and everyone knows everyone else. I’ve been away from there for more than 20 years, living now in the boonies where writers are few and far between. I didn’t realize how much I missed that community, and how much the lack has affected by own writing, until I spent some time here and on the Facebook groups and realized how important that feedback was.

I’m happy here. I like that, too.