Medium’s New Editor Makes Me So Emotional I Almost Cried

I wanted to try Medium’s new editor for Android and iOS so I wrote this article.

I don’t know why but this makes me feel like I am in 2021 all over again.

When I had started writing on Medium, I would write, edit, and publish through a Lenovo tablet that I had.

No computers or laptops. I didn’t have one. I still don’t own one.

And then Medium decides that their apps are better off without the editor. They removed the feature to write and publish from their apps.

I updated all the apps one day and lo, I can’t write from my tablet anymore.

Fortunately, I had access to PC by then.

Had this happened in the beginning, I wouldn’t have written a single article at all.

Who would go to an internet café to write an article when you can play games at Game Zone in the adjacent room of the same shop?

That’s why you’d see my initial articles missed a lot of formatting—no caption under images, no ALT text at all, etc.

Back then, it didn’t even offer the option of submitting to a publication. The present is no different by the way.

This Medium thing was all too confusing already and these things made it more so.

I vividly remember days I’d watch Zulie Rane’s video on how to properly format an article in Medium and would come back to the app only to find I can’t do that cool-looking thing from my tablet. I pity that past me.

Fast-forward to today.

Present editor is the same like the one existed a year ago.

And I am writing from the same tablet I used to write on an year ago.

Fortunately, I haven’t left it behind. It doesn’t work as smooth as it used to. But I want this journey to come full circle. I don’t know if that sentence is correct.

That’s why you’ll notice the cover image doesn’t have any captions and this article will not be published in a publication.

Because, again, I can’t submit it to one through the app.

So what has changed?

Apart from the fact that one year has passed since.

Nothing. Except one thing.

And that’s my mindset.

I’ll be honest with you guys. Back then I thought I needed whatnot to do what I want to do.

I thought I needed a laptop. Heck no. I wanted the laptop.

Still date, I don’t own a laptop.

Then how the f**k did I manage to run a publication and submit my articles to other publications?

In the beginning, I used the famous trick to write from the mobile devices that did the job.

You open Google Chrome. Change the settings to ‘Desktop site’. And boom, you can now write, edit, and submit to a publication!

You won’t believe it but I wrote that way for months. Okay, not that long, a couple of months only.

You might think it must be difficult, annoying or inconvenient.

But if it was anything, I think it was just the opposite.

I loved doing that. Yeah, it was a little difficult, but it was manageable.

I found myself fortunate to have a way to write from my dear tablet. Something is better than nothing, right?

I felt like that startup which was trying hard to survive when it had no VC money.

And it was a thrill in itself—to survive. I think I’m exaggerating haha.

Today I updated my Medium app again, after I read a tweet from Medium telling they have added editor in their latest update.

I was so happy.

Not because I still write from my tablet… I have access to a laptop and PC, though not my own.

But because I can write again from my tablet and mobile phone.

And I am writing this whole article on my tablet to reminisce those days when the Medium app’s Editor used to be my only escape.

I am writing this article in the exact same way I used to write in the beginning.

Type what comes to my head. No revisions. Hit publish. Read my own articles after I have published it.

“Oh no, there are five typos in the piece! Shit!” Hardly anyone had read it by the way.

Open the article again. Edit. Edit. Edit. Publish.

Life was so good. I want to write like that just one more time. This time.

From the next article, it will not be like this.

I’d type that on a PC in the morning. Edit it in the evening maybe. With the help of three different software that just can’t stop showing me red and yellow lines all over the screen.

It would again become my habit to make mistakes intentionally or spell a word wrong because I’d be sure Grammarly would correct it.

Edit it again. Submit to a publication… and then it’d get published.

Things became so complex. It increased the quality of my writing, definitely.

But that voice sometimes gets lost amidst the blankness of the big white screen and lines of blood words bleed. I run with a first aid kit with me. I become more of a doctor and less of a writer.

That’s it for the storytime I think. I have not re-read it from top to bottom so forgive me if this piece needs any more editing.

I’ll do that once it’s published and I spot mistakes while reading the published piece.

And the cover picture is a random one I found on my tablet.

See you soon!

This editor is exactly like the old ones.

But writing again feels so surreal.

Thanks Medium for bringing it back. You made me cry.