Thank you so much for your long and thoughtful response. This is what Medium should be about.

I don’t sweat the revenue. Being retired with a reasonable 401k gives me that luxury. My initial goal was to make Medium pay for itself but now I breeze by that without even writing anything.
I think a substantial number of the people who follow me do so on the basis of my profile byline. In a couple of cases I even asked, "Why did you follow me?" "Because I love your little bio." Full disclosure: I didn’t make it up. It comes from a bumper sticker a friend has had on her refrigerator for as long as I can remember.
I write when an idea strikes me or I force it by writing aimlessly until something starts to emerge. "When Animals Die" was originally supposed to be funny, that is, a riff on evolution in action, but then I remembered the incident with the dog, and it took a dark turn, and there I was 40 years ago pulling the plug. Reverse psychology? Not deliberately. I genuinely felt it incumbent on me to give potential readers some idea what they were in for. I am aware that I have a higher tolerance for gore than many people. But I get that some may be pulled into it then continue on the basis of horrified fascination. Those who get to the end are rewarded with that glimmering note of redemption.

"But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved."
Matt 24:13