Hi Carol, good piece and some excellent questions.

I don’t know about the reading time question.

As far as comments go, I know how much I appreciate them so I do my best to respond to all and make certain I return the read( with a comment).

Same with claps, I know what goes into creating these posts so almost always I clap 50 times. Again I do my best to read each person reading and clapping for my posts.

No question this takes a lot of time but I just figure it out. When the day comes and there are not enough hours, again, I will figure it out.

Sometimes I am a week or so late, but I get it done. I believe that a site like this is a two way street, reading and writing, supporting one another through reads, highlights, claps and comments.

I feel so lucky to have met so many talented and supportive people here on Medium.