The gardening season is officially upon us. I spent the weekend gathering raised beds, sowing grass seeds, poring over the local gardening club's sale, and dreaming about what the garden will look like in a month, a year, or even ten years.
I think a lot about this: what can you do today, and every day, for the next ten years in your career, language acquisition, craft projects, or anything else?What might it look like?
This brings me to one of the many things I love about Medium. Some of the best work on the internet lives here. For example, over the weekend, I found the following:
- Timely advice on growing tomatoesAngela W
- A great story with tips on how to write dialogueShaunta Grimes
- Gardening and writing, writingJeffrey Gebhart
"Wait! I started my own thing a year ago, and I ignored it! Is it too late for me?" I hear your voice, and I'm happy to report that progress is not everything or nothing. Most projects can come back to life with a little TLC, no matter how long they've been ignored.
For example, this weekend, I finally worked on a long-abandoned novel after backing up last week's writers' time after we hosted ourselves.
And if you need inspiration or advice? Check out the topic pages to find the best writing on almost any theme.
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Media by the numbers...
April 2024...
- Published 1.4 million posts.
- 2,751 stories were boosted. Of those, 2,003 came from the Boost Nomination Pilot Program publishing editors.
- Created 64K lists.
- Bonus stats: Participated in the end) draft day and published 172 drafts! Congratulations to those who finally published with old drafts. You can check out the complete list of draft articles here.
Most highlighted passages of April
“And to all the Medium members: Thank you for being part of this community. I’m so glad you’re here.” - A note of gratitude from the CEO
“Is it a big dream for us to witness the phenomenon of humans coming together to work for the common good when such a divided country gathers to feel and witness the phenomenon?” - Reflection from the eclipse
“When it comes to writing online, ‘I’m going to beat the ‘how’” -
“Until Starbucks understands this, small indie coffee shops have a golden opportunity to thrive by offering artisanal coffee, personal service, and a sense of community.” - A hopeful note about how smaller, independent communities can find their niche even when facing industry titans
Top 10 most read stories of April
- “The Reverse of Netflix’s Federated Graph” by Ricky Gardiner, Alex Hutter, and Software Engineers Katie Lefevre from Netflix TechBlog
- “5 Total Mistakes to Avoid in Solar Power on April 8, 2024”, writer, astrophysicist, science communicator & NASA columnist, starts with Bang!Ethan Siegel
- “The Git Guide I Didn’t Have”, Developer Relations Engineer at GlasskubeJake Page
- “MVP is over. You need to think about MVE”, founder, operator, investor, of The Entrepreneur’s HandbookPete Sena
- “Team USA is proud of its new women’s track uniform. The Nike logo has become a sharp birthday suit”, comedy writer, Belladonna ComedyEmily Kapp
- “Four Hats of a Full Stack Data Scientist”, Data Scientist, Towards Data ScienceShaw Talebi
- “Yes, it’s genocide” by Amos Goldberg, researcher of the Holocaust and genocide
- “The Complexity of Choice: Conversations on Abortion, Motherhood, and Adoption”, keynote speaker and journalistRichelle Carey
- “There’s Something About Running in the Rain” by Trail/Ultra Runner and author Jeff Burton in The Runner’s Life
- “The Illusion of Writer’s Block” by , editor at Aha! and smart, The Writer’s GuideRobert Roy Britt
Most popular stories from the media archive
What is the lifespan of a story? In my opinion, some stories are never truly “finished.” They continue to convey wisdom, entertainment, and knowledge years after publication. Here are some older stories I’d like to read, share, highlight, or praise in April.
“I Made Pizza Cinnamon Rolls from Mario Batali’s Apology Letter for Sexual Misconduct”
“[Mario] Batali’s bucket has one more drop. He is not the first, and he certainly won’t be the last (he already isn’t). Misogyny runs so deep that the call has come from inside our heads. We blame ourselves. We hate ourselves. If our bodies are too prominent, we think our skirts are too short. We’re either asking for too much or not enough. We don’t trust ourselves.
We follow half-written recipes and think it’s our fault when it doesn’t work out.”
“Four Things I Did to Improve My Vocabulary”
“I think some readers came to this article hoping to find simple tips and tricks. And when they encounter suggestions like ‘read the dictionary for a few years’ or ‘learn Latin,’ they feel frustrated, discouraged, and unrealistic.
Here’s my apology in two bullets:
- When learning as a long game, the compounding and long-term rewards are astonishing. If you’re looking for quick fixes through hacks and shortcuts, the results won’t be worth it.
- I’ve tried hacks and shortcuts. They don’t work.”
“The Japanese Art of Making Boring Work Better”
“When we are positive about work, even boring work, people notice, and our attitude lifts the spirits of those around us. Knowing that you’re doing respected work can uplift others, making boring work better.”
Boosted stories from new writers
In April, brand new writers wrote amazing stories, and our boost nominators were on the lookout to help them find and boost their work. Here are some of my favorite selected picks.
“I Think I Might Die If I Make It”
“I’m not trying to exaggerate, but I think I might die if I make it.” A once naive girl who dreamed while respecting her idol. Now, peeking out from her golden cage, the tired rapid pace makes her fear she’s doing the right thing.”
“How Are We Accidentally Running for the President of Iceland?” by
“As a content designer, I was intrigued. How can so many people accidentally start campaigns for the President of Iceland?”
“N-of-1 Trials and Analyzing Your Own Fitness Data”
“After this tutorial, I hope you’ll download your data from your fitness tracker, take the initiative to get it, and play with it. I know that anyone can come up with hypotheses about how some variables affect their health, but what most people don’t realize is that you’re closer to getting quantifiable answers to that question than you think.”
Celebrating National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month here in America, and our resident poets celebrated in full swing. We saw over 9,000 works published under the poetry and poetry tags in April. One of my personal favorites was
As always, you can read more poetry about media on the poetry and poetry topic pages.
New publications about media
Here are some of my favorite new arrivals from April:
- Have you ever wanted to find a place to read fun facts and important new and old discoveries about fossils, paleontology, and evolution? There’s a Medium publication for that! Check out Fossils et al for all your paleontology needs.
- As a linguistics nerd, I was excited to find Babel, a new publication dedicated to celebrating the fascinating diversity of human language.
- Looking for a place to read and publish news, prompts, and essays about books and poetry? Newcomer Bookish Nook can scratch that itch for you. (Be sure to mention their first and last lines analysis in their first and last columns!)
Want to read more great stories from Medium writers and publications? Head to Staff Picks. Also, subscribe to the latest newsletter, The Daily Edition, to learn something new from Medium writers every week.
Medium can be a place where words become reality. Promotions, book deals, and notable people reaching out to you. If you’re a writer on Medium, let me know in the comments how your story has impacted your life.
If you’re a reader, take a moment to think: how many stories are there in your head that have no rent in the middle? What stories have impacted the way you live your life? I’d love to know!