Aw, Sandra, thank you!! I appreciate you reading this and am grateful for your kind comments.

I understand you not needing fiction or self-publishing tips and therefore, not following me on Patreon. Just wanted to reiterate that I set up the free chat there in case people want to connect and say hello - to me or to each other. As of yesterday I had about 25 people in there, all from Medium so just in case you ever do leave Medium and get a little lonely for some of the gang here, you could always pop over there and say hello.

Or you can google me and find my website, send an email and say hello if you feel so inclined. I'd love to hear from you if/when we both jump ship here.

I've always appreciated following you here, too, and feel that we're kindred spirits.

Patreon isn't my "preferred option" over Substack, per se. They're two completely different platforms with different purposes. I have no desire to spend my life writing the kinds of articles we write here or on Substack. I want to write novels. I've been trying to get back to this for many years; it's my favourite thing to do! I'm loving diving into "later in life" small town romance stories with characters who are flawed and working through their baggage while finding love (usually when they weren't looking for it). :)

It's a whole other way for me to share my life experience and insights and healing journey, and in a way that readers still connect with and find to be helpful in looking at their own 'stuff.'

Patreon isn't as much about what content you give members as it is about fans and followers showing support for the artist, writer, musician, podcaster, YouTuber - whatever - that they appreciate. A way to say "thank you for what you share with us."

Some Patreon creators only share one post a week or a month or even less. Others post more regularly.

The highest paid Patreon account is a group that does one podcast a week. They have over 57,000 members and are earning $180,000 a MONTH (their account settings show these figures - you can keep them private, as I do, or share them). A nice earning simply as support from people who appreciate the podcast, without the expectation of them doing anything more than that.

So Patreon is quite a different model with a different intention and not the same demands as Substack.

Big hug back!! And thank you for yours!