I Reached My First 1K Followers on Medium!

Yes, I’m as surprised as you are. I gained 1000 followers within 8 months! In case you missed it, here’s a link to my latest post on Medium. By the way, this article is free for everyone to read. I plan on posting an article very similar to this one when I reach 2,000 followers on Medium.

♡ Medium Article: 1K Followers: A New Milestone!

👉 Follow me on Medium @sereneluna

First, let’s start with some housekeeping. I have been feeling rather emotional this week for several reasons not mentioned here. Moreover, I recently caught conjunctivitis from my 18-month-old, and trust me, Pink Eye is not a good look. I am also dealing with a lingering cough that makes me sound like a chronic smoker (mind you, I don’t smoke), congested sinuses, and a sore throat, and Aunt Flo paid a visit. The emotional toll has been significant and now it’s impacting my mental health.

Not only that, I need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for Friday because I am working. The last thing I want to do is cancel work because I am sick. I am doing everything that I can to get better, but at the moment, my energy levels are too low for me to write anything more than a few sentences at a time – let alone blog posts or articles. I will not be posting any new recipes this week but I plan to continue where I left off next week. In case you missed it, I have been trying to create an archive of recipes that can be found under my Pages.

👉 You can find the entire archive on www.sereneluna.net

Okay, so let’s get back to what I was saying about Medium. I’ve reached a very important milestone, and I think it’s worth talking about what I learned along the way.

(っ◔◡◔)っ Confession Time: I didn’t plan to join Medium – it was more of an experiment.

I had no intention of joining Medium in the first place, but I wanted to entertain the idea of making some passive income. I have never considered joining this platform before, but I heard great things about it from fellow bloggers. I might not be the type of person who is interested in trying out every social media platform to determine which one is “the best” because, in reality, no such thing exists. And don’t get me wrong, I am all for exploring new avenues and keeping an open mind, but actively seeking out and maintaining multiple social media accounts is time-consuming, and frankly, exhausting.

For instance, you will find me avoiding platforms like Mastodon and Hive Social because half of Twitter has already migrated to these social media platforms. I intend to stay on Twitter because I use it in a similar manner as one would use Facebook for status updates. It is my way of screaming into the void for others to hear, something that most of the time falls upon deaf ears and yet still feels validating in some weird way.

Two Truths and No Lie

Since joining Medium, I learned a couple of harsh truths, which also hold true for bloggers on WordPress. This is what I learned:

Truth #1: Not everyone will reach 1K followers on Medium

How many people actually gain a decent following? Most accounts I’ve seen are stuck between 100 – 500 followers, and I think they’re missing a key element. The key to writing successful and well-received content is something that I cannot quite put my finger on, but I know it exists. Maybe it is a feeling or the right timing of events happening in the world. Maybe it’s both. Whatever it is, I will figure out this conundrum with enough time and effort put into my work.

While my Medium account managed to reach over a thousand followers, one particular blogger who encouraged me to sign up for Medium in the first place, who I shall not name, has had notably less success with her Medium account. I think it’s safe to say that she has a total of 19 followers on Medium. But I stopped counting after she blocked me on every platform she knows I bless my presence with. I choose to believe that she was frightened by my excellence and couldn’t cope with the pressure of my brilliance.

Arthur reference: “I’m frightened by [her] excellence” from the episode, Popular Girls.

Truth #2: Other Bloggers/Writers are Secretive AF.

Here is a nugget of truth that you don’t want to hear, but many bloggers and writers are often selfish and don’t want to share their secrets with others. It is important to understand that people aren’t inherently bad. However, after being burned so many times, I learned not to trust people so easily and I’m overly cautious. The thing is, people will keep secrets unless there’s something in it for them. For example, I know someone who has been keeping vital information from me. Even though she knew how to solve my problem, she chose to keep this information to herself. She had nothing to lose by telling me, but instead, I continued to take a huge tax cut on Medium commissions each month. This was until a complete stranger reached out and helped me solve my problem, which was so kind of her! $hit like this is what I’m talking about.


(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ FINAL THOUGHTS ♥

I’m not sure that my Medium account would have taken off as quickly as it has if it weren’t for this blog, www.sereneluna.net, in the first place. Although I am far from a professional writer, blogging has been a hobby that I enjoy doing for fun and it has also helped me stand out from the crowd. It could be because I have a passion for blogging, or maybe it’s simply because of the sheer numbers game behind it. Who knows?

I think that’s one of the reasons why I’m also sticking with Medium. There is so much to learn and explore on this platform. Do you have a Medium account? If you do, please share your handle with me so I can follow you. You can leave your Medium handles in the comment section below ↓

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

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I’m Keeping My WordPress Premium Plan

Yes, that’s right. I’m not leaving WordPress and I renewed the Premium Plan a few days ago. I was lucky enough to find a coupon for 50% off the Premium Plan and ended up only having to pay $63.00 CAD after tax! If you have a Premium Plan and are interested in taking advantage of this offer, please DM me. The coupon is only good for users who already have a Premium plan. 💻

Whenever I compare WordPress to a self-hosted site, I still conclude that WordPress is the best option for me. It’s no surprise that WordPress is popular because of the vibrant, caring online community that supports it. Even if you decided to host your own site instead of using WordPress, you wouldn’t get that same feeling of being part of a larger community. Yes, I know that WordPress is overpriced for what it is but it’s the community of bloggers that keeps me here. You can read my thoughts about WP Plans and what I like or dislike about it, here:

Related Blog Post: Blogging Fatigue

Regardless of whether you stumbled upon my blog, or you are already a member of the WP community, it is important to be courteous, kind, and respectful of those around you even if you disagree with their opinions. Please don’t be a little b.i.t.c.h. in the WordPress community. Because when you are, it becomes less enjoyable for everyone else.

The online world is already filled with criticism and naysayers. Individuals who don’t like you will always find a way to talk or write about you. It is never been easier to ignore these people because, like they have always done, they’re likely still lurking in the shadows of cyberspace 👀 If I left WordPress, my voice would be silenced, and I would be doing myself and everyone else a disservice. Her name is not mentioned for privacy reasons, but if she’s reading this and recognizes herself in these words, then yes–I am talking about you.

My Voice Will Not Be Silenced

You see, I still have a lot to say; hence, I am not going anywhere. Writing is very therapeutic for me and it helps me make sense of my thoughts and complicated emotions. And I know that there are some people who will disagree with me, but I also like using the Medium platform (follow me on Medium @sereneluna) because it is a great way to share my thoughts with the world. But it is not always easy to use and navigate, whereas WordPress is much easier to use. That’s why I will continue to share [most] of my articles on both platforms.

Furthermore, I have no intention of making my blog posts private because I aim to make all of my content easily accessible. Understand that I am not monetizing my blog content (I make $0 from this blog) so it’s a labor of love. I don’t need to blog for a living, so instead, I do it out of the kindness and generosity in my heart. Instead of putting up paywalls on everything, that’s what Medium is for 💁‍♀️ One way or another, I will find a way to pay for my blogging expenses so that I can continue to provide my readers with quality content.

Dear Readers, I Love You.

I want to take this moment to thank each and every one of my loyal readers for sticking around with me for all of these years. If it wasn’t for your dedication, my blog would never have grown into something so special and I am forever grateful that you have been there through the ups and downs. Something needs to change in order for me to keep going with this blog, but I am looking forward to what the future holds. I know there’s a lot of pressure to be perfect and keep up with social media trends but I don’t want to fall into the trap of being fake. That’s why I want to stay true to myself while also finding creative ways to show my personality. I really look up to bloggers who are able to write controversial blog posts and put out a clear message when they know some readers will disagree but they do it anyway because they are following their own truth. Only a small handful of bloggers come to mind, which I can count on my fingers.

This might be hard to hear (er, read), but I’m gonna be 100% honest with you. You can’t deceive yourself that everything is fine when it isn’t – I won’t lie and say “everything’s fine” when that is not the case. Sometimes my blogging may stop for a few weeks, but I can assure you that I have no intention of neglecting this account. I am not going anywhere, and I still try to find time to read your blog posts when I get the chance. I will admit that I read a lot fewer blog posts than I used to, and try not to get caught up too much in the blogging world these days.

(っ◔◡◔)っKey Takeaway: So I guess I am stuck using the WordPress Premium Plan for another year, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

P.S. If you’re interested in following my stories on other social media platforms, you can find me here. I do not actively post on Instagram and if you try to send me DMs there, I probably won’t reply. Twitter is where I primarily post updates about my personal life, especially my cat! 🐈‍⬛

Instagram: @serene_hilz

Twitter: @serene_hilz

Medium: @sereneluna

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

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I Did Another Thing on Medium

Image source: Pexels.com by Kristina Paukshtite

If you read my recent blog post about joining Medium, well I did another thing and decided to try my hand at publications. It had been a while since I wrote anything worth sharing, so I thought I might try this as a way to garner more traffic. You can read my previous blog post here:

♡ Related blog post: I Did a Thing and Joined Medium

I often find myself complaining that my blog is not getting many visitors these days, and I was looking for a place where I could improve my content and build a more engaged audience. Even though I’ve been really nervous about branching out and trying something new, I decided to try publishing on a popular platform that has been around for years. My experience so far has been a rewarding one, though it was also nerve-wracking when I had to go from making $0 on my hobby blog to joining the Medium Partner Program (MPP), not knowing what to expect. I am still on the journey of earning enough money for a cup of coffee. ☕💕

Anyways, I submitted an article to a publication on Medium last night and was nervous about the whole process. I chose a publication where the owner personally reached out to all of her contributors. She seemed nice and I wanted to help out. This publication seemed to be the least intimidating out of all the ones I have seen on Medium. Long story short, my article got added to the publication!

Normally, I would re-share my articles on my blog but I decided to put my most recent article behind a paywall. With the great amount of changing trends, publishers have been forced to consider paywalls as a response to the growing subscription economy. In this case, I wanted to implement this feature especially since I published this article exclusively for Medium. You can read my latest article here:

♡ Medium Article: It’s Time to Stop Procrastinating

Depending on how this goes, I will probably be posting most of my articles on the Medium platform. However, I will still share the links on this blog so you can read them.

Medium is a free platform and anyone can join, but if you decide to get a membership, you’ll have access to all the paywall content I’ve published at your heart’s desire. Your membership fee directly supports me and other writers too. You’ll also get full access to every story on Medium.

Interested in getting a Medium membership? You can click here to get started. Thank you for supporting me on my writing journey!

Follow me on Medium!

I Did a Thing and Joined Medium

Image source: https://pixabay.com

I joined Medium because blogging got boring.

I have been blogging since Spring 2016 and I have to admit that the novelty has worn off. Blogging has been my creative outlet, but recently, I found myself getting bored of sticking to one type of blog post, specifically listicles and practical guides. At the time, I didn’t even know that I was looking for a new platform that would allow me to express my thoughts and ideas in a diverse manner. Naturally, I am curious and I knew I wanted something that would enable me to make my voice heard by people who might not have listened otherwise. I would be lying if the potential to monetize wasn’t one of the primary drivers for my decision to join Medium.

Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back! —Proverb

👉 You can now find me on Medium! Here’s my account: https://medium.com/@sereneluna

Don’t get me wrong: I still love blogging on WordPress. It is a great way for me to share my thoughts and opinions with the world. I enjoy writing about my experiences, as well as sharing some of the things that I am learning along the way. But right now, blogging on WordPress is just not fun for me. I have tried to keep up with writing engaging content, but I just can’t seem to find anything worth sharing most of the time. I was always excited whenever I received a comment on my blog because it meant that someone had read what I wrote. Due to a lack of new visitors, I’ve been really feeling the burn lately and don’t want to do anything anymore. When this happens, it can be virtually impossible to put the same amount of energy into this blog like I once did. 🙇‍♀️

But It Gets Worse.

I also want to point out that there are only so many topics that I can write about before it becomes repetitive and boring. When you are writing on a weekly basis, it is hard to come up with original ideas that haven’t been covered before. It’s a shame that engagement on my blog is good but traffic and Domain Authority (DA) is pitiful. To be completely transparent, I don’t think I’ll be able to monetize anything on my site at this rate which is discouraging considering the money I’ve sunk into it. Oftentimes, this is a common problem for WordPress bloggers and I am feeling frustrated because of it. When it comes to blogging, I’m just not sure what I should do anymore.

Ideally, I want to find a writing space that allows me to grow and share my ideas with an engaged audience. Most of the time, I feel like I am not targeting the right audience on my blog which is incredibly frustrating. I do want to thank all you people who still come by and read my posts. You’re the reason why I haven’t given up yet and I really appreciate that. This blog wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for my loyal readers and followers! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! ❤

Now I find myself sitting here, wondering what exactly I’m supposed to do now. Do I just stop blogging altogether or find another way to make it fun? I feel like I’m in a bit of a slump and I don’t know how to get out of it. I’m sorry this wasn’t a happier blog post filled with unicorns, rainbows, and good vibes only. 🦄🌈

P.S. In case you didn’t know that I have a Twitter and Pinterest account, you can follow me on these platforms too by clicking here and here.

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

March Goals | Spring 2022

This is the beginning of a new month which means that we have a fresh start (yet again). I am not waiting another day for a fresh start, since we already know that January and February 2022 were bleh months for me. I am still catching up on the comments from January. No, I have not forgotten about you all. To all of my loyal readers and blogging friends, thank you for putting up with my sloth-like self. What I really need right now is a steeped tea and a calm place to escape to which does not exist in my world. As I continue to search for my quiet sanctuary, I often think back to life before the pandemic started 😷 When I was at U of Calgary B.C. (before Covid-19), I used to escape to the arboretum on campus. I really miss that place. *Le sigh*

If you knew me IRL, my life would probably bore you. If I am not doing mundane, mind-numbing chores, I am probably working or taking care of my 5-year old kinder and 9-month old baby. That being said, I want to be more organized this month so I think it’s only fair that I hold myself accountable somehow. Since I haven’t used Instagram since 2019, I don’t see the point of using IG stories, even though I have had some success with it in the past. Right now, blogging is the main platform that I use so it makes sense to share my goals here with my readers. Just a quick note that my goals this month are rather vague and I have not gone into much detail yet regarding my current diet. Perhaps I will elaborate more about my weight loss journey and plans in a future blog post if anyone is interested. FYI I am not overweight but I want to lose belly fat, specifically visceral fat. I fit the definition of skinny fat which is annoying because I cannot wear cute clothes without hating myself. 😓

The Daily Grind ☕💕

By now, we all know that I lack the motivation to grind away at writing, editing, and uploading new content for this blog. Even on my days off, I am too lazy to get off the couch and actually do something productive. The recipes I made earlier this week were not “Insta worthy” so I didn’t bother snapping photos. I would like to share my low-carb recipes with you, but the perfectionist in me is stopping me from actually following through with it. Perfectionism is a B.I.T.C.H. 🤦‍♀️ I currently have 31 drafts on WordPress + ideas in my head + ideas that live on a notepad on my iPhone. That being said, I refuse to upload half-baked blog posts just for the sake of gaining more views and followers.

Old News is New News

In other news, I was sick (again) during the month of February. To add to this series of unfortunate events, I was unable to find a habit tracker because Costco didn’t carry them this year and the calendar store is closed until further notice 🙇‍♀️ I am a visual learner and seem to do better when I can physically see what goals I need to achieve. Right now, I lack direction and feel a bit lost when it comes to setting short-term and long-term goals which is no surprise considering that I haven’t been using a planner at all. At this time, I am thinking of sharing my goals with you to keep myself accountable for the month of March. I really seem to struggle with finding the energy and motivation to stop being a lazy potato.

It is hard to believe that one year has passed since I last posted my goals for March 2021 🌸 You can also read about how that went down here. 🌸 I have decided to keep the same layout this year. Below ↓ I will show you my list for the month of March 2022. My daily lists are very similar except that daily lists include mundane tasks like cooking and cleaning. So what does my list for the month of March look like? Here, let me show you:

March Goals 2022

Career Goals:

  • Continue to work weekends and Fridays, preferably evening shifts
  • Bid on shifts so I average 7-9 shifts per month
  • Renew and review courses on MLL
  • Attend 2 online wellness seminars

Personal Goals:

  • Publish 1-2 blog posts per month
  • Publish 2-3 recipes and/or poems
  • Keep tabs on doctor’s appointments/pending appointments
  • Continue to declutter house every day
  • Have an IRL meeting/get-together

Health Goals:

  • Follow a low carb diet for 3+ months
  • Continue Intermittent Fasting (IF)
  • Slash 90-95% of wheat products. Slash 70% of refined foods including refined sugar 🧁
  • More cooking and baking at home
  • Daily walks and sunshine if weather permits ☀️

Not that anyone cares: My scale needs new batteries so I don’t know my actual weight. The way my clothes fit is a better indicator than a stupid number on the scale. I don’t care about weight as much as the way I feel on the inside and I know that my BMI falls within the healthy range of 18.5 – 24.9. And yet, people often tell me that I do not need to lose weight, but they aren’t me. What I do know is that I don’t feel good on the inside. I want to feel healthier and my body looks (and feels) tired. Ideally, I would like a flatter stomach by summer so that is what I am working towards. More importantly, I want to get rid of my inflammation as a result of sensitivities to certain foods. The last time I felt comfortable in my own body was in 2015. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but affirmations and mantras about body positivity do not make me feel better about myself. I also came to the harsh reality that I haven’t made much progress since 2017 when I wrote a blog post about my dieting woes called No Carbs, No Life.

“Oh I don’t need real food. I’ll just live on this raw cabbage. I’m so happy. This is fine. Everything is fine.” — Jenny Lawson

Do you have any goals that you are trying to achieve this month? If you do, what are they? Feel free to join the conversation by leaving a comment below ↓ I look forward to reading your comments. I am working this weekend, so I will reply to your comments and catch up on blog posts when I have time.

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

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Something Needs to Change

XOn3CljIt’s rare for me to upload more than one blog post in a single week, but I haven’t been feeling super talkative lately. Usually, you can’t get me to shut up, but my mood has been $hit lately. If you read my previous blog post, My 10 Favourite Feelings Tag, you may have thought that I am as happy as a clam. At least, I was feeling happy until yesterday. And as much as I want to complain and vent about everything that is wrong in my life right now, I rather not ruin your mood too. Being pessimistic is like a disease and all it takes is one pessimistic person to infect us all 😷 The stuff that I am dealing with is very personal and bothersome, and this topic is not open for discussion. Please do not ask me to elaborate in the comments section below ↓ or try to convince me that things will get better with time. Well yeah, things usually do get better eventually. This thing has been bothering me for a few years now and it’s incredibly frustrating. I though that I would have made some progress by now, but instead, I haven’t made much progress at all. Like a hamster running in a wheel, but never reaching its destination. ‘Stuck’ is how I would describe my life right now.

Stuck in the middle

Lately, I have been thinking about revamping this blog. I have yet to figure out how to turn secondary pages into blog posts. I feel like the majority of my readers end up missing most of my poetry and recipes because these sections are categorized under pages rather than blog posts. I want my current pages to show up on the home page, but at the same time, I want them to show up as previews under the parent pages. I currently use the free version, so I am not blessed with plugins and unlimited features. It’s just the basics.

Does anyone know if there is a way to add blog posts to pages so that you can see blog post previews on the pages themselves? Is there a way to categorizes blog posts on these pages? Am I making any sense?

Over the next few months, I am going to transfer my secondary pages to blog posts so that they will actually show up in the WP reader, which is where most of my traffic comes from. When I first started blogging in 2016, having secondary pages made the most sense because it allowed for visitors, mainly people who were not WP bloggers, to easily navigate my blog. However, I want to expand my recipes, poetry, and student life ツ sections, so having secondary pages isn’t the best option anymore.

Secondary pages, sometimes referred to as daughter pages, will appear under their parent pages. These secondary pages are different than blog posts.

For those of you who have been following me for a while, did you know that these pages even existed on my blog? If you answered no, then this is why something needs to change.

Thanks for stopping by!

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