[DarrenDev]

You could try Wordpress.com, then import each story / post to Medium to attract the larger audience. This gives you control over your content on your own blog, and the potential of the larger audience on Medium.

Wordpress.com isn't mentioned often here on Hacker News (been around too long maybe), but if you want to avoid spending time on setup and maintenance, it's an ideal solution with some good off-the-shelf themes.

Not free though, but not pricey either.