I understand. I have a great and demanding day job. It is very rewarding, partly because it is so demanding.

I like commenting on Medium, and certainly my ego tells me I should post articles. Writing is time and energy intensive. What if I start making money on Medium? There is no way it can compare with the money I make in my day job, but getting paid directly for writing provides more direct feedback than the complicated contracts my company has for the technical work we do.

Do I want to start a career as a writer, even part-time? I know my personality. If I have success writing, it would be VERY hard for me to not want to invest more time in writing. Time I need for my day job.

To avoid that potential conflict, I have never even tried to monatize my writing on Medium. Then there is no pressure to write (which is good in phases of my day job like now where I have weeks and months of long days ahead of me).