Great article, Jessica. I think this will resonate with many here, myself included. While I fall into the category of, I make plenty of $ in my day job and don’t need to earn $ from my writing, there’s still that validation that comes with it, and a certain sense of pride that your work is good enough to be recognized in a meaningful way. I debated a long time about even joining the Medium Partner Program, and didn’t submit any of my stories into it for a good while after I joined, for fear of money ruining my passion for storytelling. One day, I realized a bunch of my stories had shown up in MPP, and I’d earned 18.47. I figured that settled that, and I started letting my stories go there. It hasn’t ruined it for me — in fact, I feel so much more like I’m part of a thriving, interactive, global community of writers now than I did before, I’m glad I jumped it.