Does this happen to you?

Probably like most writers on Medium, I use my phone most of the time, for reading, commenting and writing my stories.

When my brain and heart are creatively fertile, I’m constantly grabbing my phone to add a new idea to Draft.

(I used to write them down, but I ended up with enough sticky notes to plaster my writing room.)

This approach using Draft to capture my story seeds works beautifully. I might just quickly record the idea with a working title, or I might write several paragraphs that come to me spontaneously. In either case, I know I can always come back and finish the writing on my phone, as well as adding images and formatting such as quotes.

But I usually don’t publish from my phone. This is because of limitations of the app that I haven’t figured out yet. Or maybe they’re just the limitations of the app.

Does any of this happen to you?

Adding the Drop Cap

I love the way the drop cap looks on the first letter of my stories. It’s stylish. It’s even part of why I love Medium — the extra formatting touches make my stories look inviting and professional.

I have not found a way to add the drop cap from the tool bar on my phone.

I don’t keep my laptop set up on my desk anymore. That’s on purpose, so I’ll focus as much on my creativity as I do on my work. This means I have to haul the laptop out of its hidey-hole to add a drop cap.

Not a big deal in the grander scheme of things. But, why? Why can’t the app do the same simple things I can do on my laptop?

Alt Text on Images

I’m interested in good SEO for my stories. I also use a lot of my own photos, so I want my credit to appear in the search engines. I have not found a way to add alt text on images in the app.

Drop caps and alt text are two seemingly minor (but important to me) reasons why I have to drag my laptop out every time I want to publish.

Adding an Image to a Comment

Only once have I had a reason to do this. I didn’t know how, so I Googled and found a story from another Medium writer about how to do it. But, as far as I can tell, this can only be done on a laptop, using very precise steps.

The one time I had occasion to add an image to my comment was for the gracious and well-loved Grandma Smillew, on her All About M publication guidelines. You can see the image on my comment here: From One Grandma to Another (and matters of pastry).

Your Feedback Please

I didn’t want to write to Medium Support and get the usual “as long as it’s not against our guidelines” reply. I decided to ask the All About M writers who read this story to enlighten me.

What are your habits around publishing?

Do you publish from your phone no matter what?

Am I missing something about how to do these simple tasks on my phone?

Milli Thornton is a creative writing coach and seasoned house sitter. Under her pen name, she wrote a Kindle book based on her experiences, House Sitting Secrets Revealed. Her latest house-sitting adventure included riding in a float plane above Lake Washington on a gorgeous, sunny day. Milli is course presenter for the creatively liberating Fear of Writing Online Course: putting the fun back into writing!

Medium App vs. My Laptop was originally published in All About Something on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.