Thank you, Carolyn! Yes — Medium does encourage 5–7 but it also saw a need for shortform content and it started encouraging that, too, about a year ago (a bit more, I think). Probably because some people preferred it — and now more are loving it. Sometimes I want more — a meatier read with more substances. Other times I want something quick. And a short read can still be a powerful read.

And in terms of writing shortform, it’s just really fun to challenge myself in this way!