I think you're doing fine. Keep doing what you're doing. Your authenticity shines. Writers like you that publish great work, engage, read and comment always stands out. Everything you said is fair. I haven't written much in the last couple of months so my joy has been reading and meeting new writers. I actually started Medium as a reader only. I like taking my time to spark a conversation on what I just read. Not just great article check out mine! That's so basic and corny. The bottom line is you get back what you put in. Right? While you're doing that you find some amazing humans that happen to be writers. There's writers on here that I read that don't even have to read mine. The reward is THEIR work. I try to keep the love of reading and writing separate. I compartmentalize well. Great work as always!