Writer Focus

Chewbacca Will Always be on My Vision Board

New writer spotlight and update on June writing challenges

With a degree editorial bias, I bring you articles about creating an electronic vision board and best strategies for learning a foreign language today, since I have some plans to do both. But I also have a great piece on the language of loss, plus a Star Wars related story with some super cute photos!

Each day in June I hope to feature a few articles from writers that have just recently been added to the publication. I am doing this because I want to make a point of welcoming and getting acquainted with the new writers, and doing a feature allows me to read some of their work and pick items that catch my eye each day.

My hope is to get these authors a few extra eyes on their writing and perhaps gain a few fans that otherwise might not have seen their work. If these new-to-Illumination writers don’t have bios yet, we hope they write one soon so we can add it to our growing list:

But until then, my aim is to choose a handful of writers from the ranks of the newly added to Illumination and highlight one of their articles. Then I will have an ask of them afterward (Hint: I will ask that they pay it forward by doing the same thing for other writers).

Plus, an ongoing list of writer challenges follows the feature articles below! So, without further ado:

New Writer Spotlight

Loss of a loved one is never easy, and we all have to learn how to deal with it in our own way. Emma Kemp has written a truly wonderful story about how we alter our language to deal with loss.

In just a few words, Emma sums up a lifetime of thoughts about how we react when we lose someone close. Please give it a read here:

Next, Phillip Steixner uses a provocative title of how NOT to learn a language to introduce us to a strategy for language assimilation that makes plenty of sense and provides a structured roadmap for language learning success.

Learn how to learn a language by avoiding the pitfalls that keep you from doing so here:

Have a vision? Have a dream? I do, but I don’t have a stack of magazines and poster board hanging around the house, so I can’t make a vision board. Do I put my dreams on hold?

Nope, not anymore. Carly Lumsden has a digital solution that uses Canva to help you design the electronic vision board of your dreams (catch that?). I plan to follow her advice and make my own, and you can too:

And finally, Chewbacca! Fantastic father Walter Rhein notes that, “Little kids will have all their lives to dress up in work clothes. Dressing them that way as babies is kind of an affront to nature.”

I have to completely agree with that statement, and personally think all kids should wear whatever suits their fancy and fantasy whenever possible. And, I kind of think that when you are retired you should be able to wear whatever you want too! (But maybe that is the subject of a different story?)

Meanwhile check out this article about the proper attire for kids accompanied by pictures of the most adorable Chewbacca you have ever seen here:

Let’s Make a Connection

Next I want to broker an introduction of the new writers tagged in this article and one of our editors and/or writers who has been at Illumination for a bit.

An article that P.G. Barnett published today really resonated with me, and so I will share it below. But first, by way of introduction, Paul is a writer and editor that has been with Illumination from the beginning, and it is no mystery why Dr Mehmet Yildiz sought him out in his initial recruitment article.

Paul is an accomplished writer that is riding a massive streak of consecutive writing, having published more than one article each day for way over a year now. You might go as far as calling him an impossibly overachieving lunatic! But, you wouldn’t be the first to do so, because he beat you to it over a month ago.

Paul’s article today struck a chord with me because it talks about accepting feedback from your readers. While you might get a chorus of “nice jobs” and rounds of back patting from your friends and family for your work, it might not be truly credible validation. In fact, they might be shining you on a bit because they love you.

Paul suggest that if you aren’t ready to hear the truth about how badly your writing sucks, then you probably want to stick with friends and family for review of your work. Read Paul’s timely insights about how to get your work put up on the refrigerator as an adult here:

Thanks for keeping it real. No blessing of your heart found here!

If you want to connect with me or any of the editors, please consider joining the Illumination Slack workgroup. You can request an invitation to Slack by contacting Dr Mehmet Yildiz from this link. Please type “Request for Slack” on the heading as Dr. Yildiz has many other requests from this link.

I am always willing to answer questions and provide information for anyone. The other editors and writers are as well. Slack is the best way to interact if you have questions.

If you need some tips to get up and running on Slack, this article is a good starting point:

The Big Ask

As promised, if I featured your story here, or are reading this and feel inspired, I encourage you to pay forward the concept of highlighting the work of others.

Please consider choosing another writer (or writers) and creating a story that emphasizes aspects that you appreciate about their work. It could be their style, topic choices, voice, technical aspects of writing, or maybe you just like their profile picture.

I am confident that when you do this you will find that your own writing work gets better. In many ways I believe that the person that brings attention to others’ work benefits even more than the recipient. That is one of the core premises and values of Illumination, and when you engage you will find that you reap dividends. I encourage you to give it a whirl. And, when you do, tag me in your article. I love being exposed to stuff I might not have otherwise seen.

Bonus Gift — The Writing Challenge

There are two types of writers in the world. Those who have experienced writer’s block, and those that will.

One of the great remedies to the question, “What do I write next?” is responding to a prompt or challenge provided by another writer. I personally have benefitted significantly from this and, to some extent, this section is a bit self-serving because I want to have some handy prompts to write about occasionally.

Older prompts

Some older prompts I have been involved in are: If I wasn’t a writer I would…, Self-Discovery during lock down, a funny video prompt, and a musical prompt.

List of New Challenges and Prompts

I am hoping to develop a list of newer prompts with their originators. Send me your writing prompts! Here’s what we have so far:

Kevin Buddaeus

Sarah E Sturgis

Sherry McGuinn

Tree Langdon ♾️

New today is this prompt from B. A. Cumberlidge. asks what you would do if you had a superpower for a day? Give that some thought, write it up and tag me and Brian in your responses!

If you are participating in or originating a challenge and you want to include it here for people to find, either respond to this article or hit me up on Slack (@timothykey).

Next Group

Tomorrow I will pull from this new group of recently added writers:

Eric Sangerma, Arianna Meschia, Emma Leamore, Julie Ranson, Emily, Caleb Pels, Sin, Charles Mansfield, Nathan Patrick Brown, Aamir Kamal 🚀🚀🚀, James G Brennan, Beth Elkassih, Rita Duponty, Sulaiman Wahid Akhondzad, Emmett Ferguson, Ria Singh, Shaun Denholm, Marina Zigneli, Philip Sundt, Ana, Dipanshu Mohapatra, Manish Jain, Kim Funk, Bren Anne-Writer, Kevin Miller, Alexandria LeForce, Todd Genger, Mirek Gosney, Maria Eszter Brhlik, Dawn

If you want me to highlight one of your stories in particular, or have any questions just respond to this story, or better yet, find me on Slack!

Thanks for reading, I am enjoying getting to know all the new writers on Illumination!

If you liked this article, you may also like:

Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.