I read a statement many years ago that has stuck in my brain — something to the effect of, "A problem with platforms like Word is that we're tempted to start formatting before we finish writing or editing."

I wish I could remember the source of the quote, but alas, that was before I kept good (plain text) notes.

But I find that statement to be so true for me. Plain text allows me to focus on putting down my thoughts without thinking about issues like fonts and other formatting issues. Markdown gives me simple tools to provide structure to my writing with headings, and some basic formatting with bold and italics that is more about emphasizing text than making it look a certain way.

Once my writing content is the way I want it, then I can make the shift to style issues. And honestly? Converting plain text/Markdown to any of the apps you mentioned is MUCH easier than putting it into a Medium article!