Editor’s Choice — Top 10: Your Life and Hopes Are the GPS of Your Writing

Read the stories of these top 10 writers and imagine their writing GPS

Andre Dubus, the writer of House of Sand and Fog, describes writing as inching your way along a very dark, very long tunnel: you can make out the next few feet in front of you, but you’re not quite certain where you’ll end up or when you’ll get there.

That is exactly how I feel when I start writing.

I know what I want to say, but I have no words to say it. Or at least not when I sit to write. The idea is there but in a vague and distant state — if I don’t develop it by trying to find the right words to express it clearly — it will likely fade from my mind.

People talk to themselves all the time and it takes a tremendous act of will to understand what is going on inside our minds. ~ Noam Chomsky

But how do you develop a vague idea? You reflect. But you are going to leave a mark of your own personality and character on the development of the idea. If you don’t hope for good things in life, your views will become a part of the expression of your thought process.

If, however, you have a positive attitude towards life, you’ll nourish the vague idea in that light.

Imagine you are writing about a relationship problem. If you have a vague idea about the problem — and you have not been in a healthy and nourishing relationship recently — you’ll impose your personal bias on the thought as it develops. If you were writing about increasing dirty talk as a part of the communication process and you haven’t experienced how it turns some people on, you’re probably going to say it may not benefit a couple because of the financial pressures or loss of sexual interest in each other.

Your own life, its problems, and your hopes are going to guide you when you are trying to explore a vague idea. That is your job as a writer — to express what you feel about that particular idea, how you see from a different angle what others might not have considered.

At this moment, I am trying to find my way out of the fog.

Since you see everything from your point of view, it means you can write about everything in your life — even the seemingly insignificant and unimportant things. Your writing will always be appreciated by someone who sees things as you do. That is the reason diversity is a thing to celebrate, and our differences should not be a cause of social conflict.

If you use your life as a GPS for your writing, your opinion will always be original and of value to many people.

Here is the list of top 10 stories today — imagine about their GPS as they grapple with complexities of life:

10. If You Don’t Have a Dream, Consider Yourself Lucky

Viki Hines is a “free-floating anomaly of the female persuasion” — isn’t that delightful— and a writer of inspiring stories. She is an excellent writer and you should read her angle about chasing your dreams.

We see it every day. Our social media feeds are bombarded with ads on how to make a crazy amount of money doing this trick or that trick. Twenty-something-year-olds showing everyone how they achieved financial success, making six figures in a year’s time. Everyone is doing it. Everyone wants it.

Where’s your marketing video? How about your YouTube channel?

The pressure to achieve some level of success within a certain timeframe has been a part of life for generations in the U.S. We’re supposed to chase our dreams and know what we want to do with our lives straight out of high school, or at least before we’re thirty. Right?

9. Please Don’t Tell My Daughter She’s Pretty

Krista Mollion is a business owner and a writer. Read her excellent story about how teenagers exaggerate the importance of looks. Don’t miss this one.

It’s a Saturday morning and I hear from my teen daughter’s room: “Do you think these jeans make me look fat?” She is on a video chat with her friend. Teenage girls are notoriously obsessed with their looks. They spend hours scrolling through their social media feeds, liking and commenting on images, and countless hours at the mall shopping for clothing and makeup.

Why are looks so important to them?

8. The Tried and Tested Method to Beat Resistance

Jamie Jackson is a superb writer and he has is sharing his methods to beat resistance. I think you should bookmark it as well and reread it when you feel resistance.

I lost my job in July and now I don’t want to do shit.

I’m serious.

I get up every day with lofty dreams about creative endeavours and passive income streams and then I sit down and scroll through social media for hours.

It never used to be like this, previous to unemployment, I was super busy.

I had a responsible corporate job, but found time to write articles during toilet breaks, I recorded vlogs at lunchtime, I drove to London to perform stand up comedy in the evenings and when I didn’t do that I visited the gym instead. This was all done with a 3-year-old son, a wife and 3 step-children.

7. Fear Of Success: Overcome It And Live Your Life To The Fullest

Amanze Collins is passionate about his writing. You must have missed it, but this piece will help you overcome your fear of success.

Do you know what is referred to as “fear of success”? Nikephobia. It is a term introduced rather recently in dictionaries, but which was created by combining the two ancient Greek terms “Nike”, victory, and “Phobos”, fear. In short, “fear of winning”.

Nikephobia is when you have an ongoing fear of succeeding, it’s not that you think you’re incapable of succeeding. It’s more about the fear of change that may come and whether you’re up for it.

6. Black Men Have Tears

Lemy is a storyteller. He is a wonderful writer and he is ready to shatter some stereotypes today. Don’t miss it.

The conversation surrounding mental health is never an easy one. This is especially true amongst black men. There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule that a black man that is vocal about their feelings is weak.

For as long as I can remember I have always had the impression that I can handle anything. I lived through situations whereby in my eyes, things could not possibly get any worse. Whatever else comes my way I could easily shrug off. In my language, Sesotho, we have a saying, “Munna ke nku ha a lle!” Loosely translated, “A man is a sheep, and so he does not cry!” This is because as you kill a sheep it does not make a sound, it merely kicks, closes its eyes, and drifts to death. I am almost certain that you are familiar with phraseology along the same lines. Maybe “Don’t let ’em see your tears champ” or maybe even “shed blood before you can shed a tear.” This is how we approach pain, grief, and mental health but unbeknownst to most, the wounds cut deep.

5. How to Stay Positive When Dealing With Negativity

Adebayo Ijidakinro’s story is related to a topic that every one of us faces at some point: effectively dealing with negativity. Don’t miss it.

Negativity is everywhere. We all have to deal with it. Some of us have to deal with it more than others. Growing up, I always struggled with dealing with negative people. I always felt like I had to defend myself against people who looked down on me or viewed me negatively. And it was difficult because I had a very negative view of myself. So dealing with so much harmful criticism would cripple me mentally.

It was very difficult. And there were times when I honestly felt I couldn’t go on. But a few years back, I decided I needed to figure out how to deal with this. Not just for myself. But for the many people who have the same struggle.

4. The 3 Best Free Courses for Entrepreneurs

Max Dufour is a growth strategy advisor. His article tells you about the three best free courses.

The entrepreneurship journey is a high-stakes endeavor. Unfortunately, very few startups become unicorns, a few do well but most fail. Only 50% of businesses with employees survive past the first five years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

These 3 courses provide invaluable knowledge and experiences to entrepreneurs and startup founders. They are also ideally suited for future founders, college students, and curious go-getters.

3. Not Taking Marketing Seriously Taught Me a Bitter Lesson in my Entrepreneur Journey

Harun Güneş is a web developer, a violinist, and a writer. He is sharing his personal experiences about marketing as an entrepreneur. You’ll love this story.

If there was one thing I could tell my early entrepreneur self, it is most definitely “to have a marketing plan.”

I learned the hard way that not having a marketing and plan and not having a business plan that does not prioritize marketing is a futile attempt at entrepreneurship, delivering no possible outcome.

2. Why Consciousness Is the Ultimate Frontier of Human Evolution

If you enjoyed this story by Shivendra Misra, chances are that you’ll read every other story written by this master writer. He is fond of bending the reality through his work.

According to what we call science today, the Universe appeared out of nowhere. Everything fell perfectly into its place — the matter, the energies, and all the laws that govern them.

While only a few of us take time to question this hypothesis, it’s worth contemplating. Whether this statement is true or not will determine what kind of lives each one of us leads.

To give you an analogy, thinking that the Universe came out of nothing would be like saying that the device you’re reading this article on also appeared out of nowhere — where all the hardware and the batteries running the device fell into a perfect position governed by the laws of circuits that were also defined out of nowhere. Seems crazy, right? Thought so.

1. Making Sense of the Pro-Life Movement

Dr. Dion is unbothered, unapologetic, and unashamed. Her writing voice is confident and sane. This masterpiece is about abortion rights and explains the difference between the terms Pro-Life and Pro-Choice in more detail. If you haven’t read it already, go ahead and read it.

Pro-Life and Pro-Choice have been the terms of record for the abortion movement for decades. Pro-life means no right to an abortion — except in certain circumstances usually beyond the woman’s control. Pro-choice means the woman gets to decide to terminate a pregnancy or not and — for the most part — other people butt out.

Many — perhaps even most — of the members of the no-abortion group tie their position on the issue to their religious faith, whether Christian or some other religious tradition. They often say it is their faith that causes them to vehemently oppose the taking of a human life.

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. Help me to find and rank the best work of the writers of Illumination and Illumination-Curated.

Happy reading.

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

You can read my curated stories here.

Note: The inspiration for the writing GPS came from Ann Handley’s book, Everybody Writes.