Well said, Kate. I appreciate reading about other Medium writers' experiences, and your has been a lot like mine these first three months. Once story going viral after 20 that never paid enough to buy a tank of gas for my old Mitsubishi.

So now I catch myself swinging for the fences every time, rejecting story ideas that don't seem to have that level of potential. I know better, but Skinnerian conditioning still works on old psychologists.

What we should take away from this experience is that the gods of popular appeal as just as fickle as our muses. It's no different for musicians always trying for a hit, or for any other type of artist, I believe. You publish your most brilliant work, and crickets. You toss off a silly listicle because you're out of good ideas, and it pays your next month's bills.

Keep writing, Kate. You're good at it, as many here have noticed, and your creative effort will not fail to bring appreciation. But we write because we need to write--"We be of one blood, you and I"--and what else can we do?