Editor’s Choice— Top 10: Two Principles to Overcome Writing Fears by Seth Godin

Read our top 10 writers who are following these principles in letter and spirit

Wiring is related to speaking, but it not the same. Human beings have been talking for millions of years.

Seth Godin¹ — writer of 20 bestsellers — says in his post, “Speaking happens in real-time. Only recently, we have become capable of recording it. Now your words can move across time and space.”

When we talk to another, we fill in the gaps. We visually figure out if the other person is understanding us or not. Your spoken words — if someone wrote them down — might not match with what you had in mind.

“Writing is different — it is designed to transcend time and space.” Seth Godin says, “Someone we might not know is going to read it in the future. It is magical.”

Writing is a process of communicating from mind to mind — upgrading the primitive face to face way of saying things. A writer tries to induce the stream of her thoughts in the mind of her reader — transforming her way of thinking — it is a mutually shared way of mental evolution. Writing is more permanent than spoken words.

People with the writer’s block have not written enough. Seth says people invented writer’s block because they were afraid of writing. He says if you do enough bad writing, good writing will come to you naturally.

We should write because writing allows us to learn something new. We can structure our thoughts using words, and we can make a better record of our creative processes and core beliefs.

You don’t need more motivation to write — Seth insists. You don’t need to learn more tips. You just need to commit to practice your writing skills — to record something worth sharing.

You have been brainwashed to believe you don’t have something to say, but you do. You can light up someone’s mind with your ideas.

The two principle to overcome your writing fears are:

1. Start writing now
2. Write at this place

If you start writing now, at this place, your writing will get better with time. You will fail to write well in the start, but it will get better. You can open the draft of your writing at any time and make it clearer for your reader.

“Go make your ruckus.” ~ Seth Godin says

The more you write, the better your writing becomes. Don’t fear failure. Just do it.

Here is the list of our top 10 writers who are ready to go beyond their time and space:

10. 5 Habits that Will Help You Read for Longer

Violet Daniels is a twenty-something graduate and an excellent writer. She writes about books, writing, politics, mental health, and lifestyle.

Her writing style is frank and highly engaging. You’ll love to read this masterpiece. Do check her other work.

Have you ever got one page into a book and felt your mind beginning to wander? You’re reading the words, but actually, you’re thinking about what to have for dinner or adding those final finishing touches to a piece of work you were doing earlier on in the day.

We’ve all been there — me included — in many ways, it is no surprise that many of us find it difficult to concentrate on a book for longer than a few minutes at a time. We live our lives through our screens and on social media, where we are trained to absorb information and read things in the shortest time possible.

9. How Cuomo Became the Leader of the Nation’s COVID-19 Response

Dr. Dion is an outstanding writer. Unbothered. Unapologetic. Unashamed.

Her writing style is direct, informative, and very engaging. She has three stories on this list.

Some of her stories have gone viral in recent days. Follow her. Read her. Try to learn from her style.

In the spring of this year, New York State became the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis. New York was slammed with COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as a horrified nation watched in disbelief. NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo began a series of daily COVID briefings that alternately captivated and comforted the country. For many weeks, they were broadcast on national news networks, presenting a stark contrast to Donald Trump’s own daily briefings which ranged from ridiculous to bizarre to downright dangerous as he downplayed the pandemic, crowed about his ratings, moved the goalposts every time he missed his own mark, and encouraged people to alternately try snake oil remedies and ingest any number of household disinfectants.

8. Failure is Part of Life

Janice Arenofsky is a freelance writer who loves animals and making people laugh or smile. You’ll love her style.

She is a skilled writer. This story is something you should bookmark for re-reading if you want to be successful in life.

Everyone knows that failure is part of life. We’ve been told that since the day we first started school. I can’t argue with that. And before I go any further, please note that this is not a service piece in which I give five ways to cope with failure.

I’m not able to write that article because I’m a failure at dealing with failure. People that lean toward perfectionism usually are. Of course the flip side of failure is success, and what is more successful than perfectionism? Nothing really. If you’ve answered every question right on a test, written a perfectly cohesive, coherent essay or given a flawlessly-executed speech, you’ve tasted perfectionism and success.

7. “The Truman Show” Might Have Been a Preview of Everyone’s Lives Today

The Maverick Files is a thinker, finance professional, loving husband, a doting dad, and a fitness enthusiast. He is an editor of Illumination as well.

He has a simple, direct, and engaging writing style. Don’t miss this masterpiece. Do check his other work.

I think it was 2008, and I was a 20-year old living in a boys’ hostel during my undergraduate degree, and all we did was play a bunch of multiplayer games (think Age of Empires II and Counter-strike — yep, those golden days!) and exchange movies on “hard drives” because the cloud didn’t exist.

The Truman Show, a real gem of a movie from 1998, was one of those that I watched during those days, and it left a lasting impression on me, and I’ve probably watched it about 5 times since. Once when I wanted my parents to watch it for the crazy idea that it was, another time with my sister and brother-in-law, and the latest being with my wife, who isn’t so much of a Hollywood movie person.

6. How I Love My Body, Then and Now

Caitlin Jill Anders is a full-time writer with anxiety figuring it out. She likes talking about sex, mental health, relationships, and everything in between.

She is an exquisite writer. Her style is simple, direct, and engaging. You’ll love this piece. Don’t forget to check her other work.

I used to struggle heavily with body dysmorphia. I hated my body and was constantly on a mission to change it. People would talk about self-love and body acceptance and I would think, once I lose five pounds, then I’ll love my body. My body image issues were too deeply rooted for me to see how problematic that was.

Learning to love my body did not happen overnight, and there are some days where I still struggle. If I’m having a bad mental health day, the way I view my body is often one of the first things to take a hit. I’m not always kind to myself, but most days I’m way kinder than I used to be. Most days I genuinely love my body, because it’s mine. Every little blemish or perceived flaw is a part of who I am, and I’m done trying to change them.

5. The 3 Questions to Ask Yourself to Manifest Your Best Life

Julee Everett is a writer, reader, observer. People enthusiast. Overdoes sunrises, never makes it to sunset, can’t pass up a good cup of coffee. Hails from the Gulf Coast, FL.

She is an excellent writer. She has a — forgive me if you don’t agree — killer style. Her words engage your mind in a way that it’s impossible to click away.

She is a rising star — waiting to reveal herself. Do encourage her to write more.

Rachel is a founder, a bringer of ideas, a bias-toward-action, err on the side of collaboration kind of gal. She’s started communities of practices, meditation groups, mentoring circles, and book clubs. She serves on conference boards. She speaks at conferences. She mentors others. Her philosophy is that opportunity drives opportunity.

But now, she’s tired. The kind of fatigue that sucks the energy out of the (virtual) room, that shows up in destructive self-talk, and that leads to long hours of escapism through novels or binge-watching Netflix. Despite her accomplishments, this was not the life she dreamed of.

4. Five Things I Learned From Reviewing My Reading Stats This Year

Lucy The Eggcademic is trying to fill the cracks on conflicting improvement advice. She is a superb writer. Her style is way beyond engaging. If you started reading this story, you would not be able to click away.

She is talking about how her love of reading was miraculously revived. Do check her other work.

This year was the year I dove back into two long-time abandoned hobbies. Somehow, in just a span of a year, I’d written over 200 articles and poems, and read 21 books.

For some, 21 books might not be a lot but consider the context. I’d probably embarrassingly read about 21 books in the past 10 years. As I trudged through high school and undergrad, my love for books died a slow death due to assigned readings. It took nothing short of a miracle to revive this habit.

3. Barr Abandons Trump When He Needs Him Most

Dr. Dion is an outstanding writer². Unbothered. Unapologetic. Unashamed.

Her writing style is direct, informative, and very engaging. She has three stories on this list.

Some of her stories have gone viral in recent days. Follow her. Read her. Try to learn from her style.

By all accounts, Donald Trump is angry, defiant, delusional, and downright sad about having to leave the White House. You did not have to be a psychiatrist or a mind reader to know early in Trump’s presidency that he never planned to leave the office. He would often talk fancifully of serving two, three, even four terms in office before protesting in a breezy tone that he was “just joking” to forever own the libs. Trump actually filed for re-election for 2020 on his first day in office in 2016. He regularly claimed that he deserved a third term because his first term was mired in Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation of Team Trump’s election conspiracy with Russia.

So, one could have expected that Trump would not respond well to the stark reality that he would only serve one term — four measly years — in the top job. Trump is at his lowest point in the presidency. The thought of no longer wielding almost unlimited power, coupled with the knowledge that he will cede that power to “Sleepy Joe,” who was able to defeat Trump from his “basement” is galling for him.

2. Thanks For Your Advice, But I Need To Be White To Follow It

Rebecca Stevens A. is: Global nomad-Sierra Leone-Switzerland-Canada-Sociologist-Philosopher-Writer-Swimmer-Paraglider-Dog lover-Passionate-Kind-Impatient Optimist-Pro-Democracy-Brave.

She is an extraordinary writer. Her style is going to stir your emotions. Follow her, read her, and wait for her next story.

I am an antiracism writer. I share my experiences with racism so that people understand that it is real, that it is not the collective hallucination of black people the world over. I write from a place of pain and trauma, it hurts to relive these experiences as I recount them, but I feel I need to share them with the universe to generate empathy, compassion, and hopefully change.

Often, white people mainly, get aggressive and defensive about what I write. This manifests itself by outright insults, gaslighting, and bullying. Others look down from their pedestal of white privilege and give me advice that could only possibly work for me if I were white like them.

1. What Barack Said About Michelle

At number one, it is Dr. Dion. She is an outstanding writer. Unbothered. Unapologetic. Unashamed.

Her writing style is direct, informative, and very engaging. She has three stories on this list.

Some of her stories have gone viral in recent days. Follow her. Read her. Try to learn from her style.

Former President Barack Obama recently released his nearly 800-page memoir detailing the time from his first run for the White House nearly 14 years ago until the current day. Many notable excerpts from the memoir spilled into the public conversation as Obama made the perfunctory rounds of book-release interviews. Among those were his trip to the inauguration with his predecessor George W. Bush, his thorny relationship with Senator Mitch McConnell, and the role racial resentment of his presidency played in the rise of Donald Trump.

Final Thoughts

If your story was selected as one of the Top 10, please share another one of your stories in the comments with a brief introduction and a short review that can convince a reader to read your piece. (Please write the review in the third person and start it with your name.)

I must have missed something today. I cannot read every story on Illumination and Illumination-Curated. Dr Mehmet Yildiz, the Chief Editor and Founder of Illumination and Illumination-Curated, read, highlighted, and applauded every good story when he started his publications. He still reads almost all of the good ones. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the masterpieces.

Dr Mehmet Yildiz has kindly allowed our top 10 series a full shelf on the front page of Illumination-Curated and Illumination:

So, help me to find and rank the best work of the writers of Illumination and Illumination-Curated.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

To improve your chances of success as a writer, read these curation guidelines.

You can read my curated stories here.

Notes: 1. Seth Godin provides a lot of good writing advice. Don’t forget to follow him, 2. The triple reproduction of Dr. Dion’s introduction is intentional.