“The more time I spend reading other work on Medium, the more I feel corralled and that I need to emulate writers whose work is popular on Medium. Attempting to emulate successful writers isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, in my case, attempting to fit a mold to do so doesn’t serve me well.”

This strikes me as a highly valuable insight, one that confirms not only how important your writing is to you but also the fact that you’re unwilling to compromise your creativity merely to impress others. It seems ever-more difficult to stay true to oneself in the Digital Age — congratulations on having the courage to do just that Jae!