Editor’s Choice — Weekly Top 10: Blogging Is Literature in a Hurry
These are the top 10 stories from our daily lists of Top 10
Some believe blogging is more of a skill than an art form, and they insist blogging is literature in a hurry. Matthew Arnold had similar opinions about journalism in his day. I believe online writing still retains an element of the art.
Excellent writers are, I believe, both natural and nurtured. Ideas are only half the story. A writer cannot achieve a high standard without practicing the craft.
If a new writer doesn’t learn to compose smart sentences, to follow the guidelines, there is the chance that the digital page will be filled with the equivalent of Facebook posts. They may go viral, but the posts will have no depth and will move no heart.
Blogging is as respectable as literature if it pays your bills. But if you are looking for a day job, your craft needs improvement.
Charles Dickens earned money by editing a magazine — Household Words. Most of us, like Chartrand, shouldn’t kid ourselves into thinking that our writing is ‘art.’ But the writers in this list can be your inspiration.
I believe blogging is a training field. As you become more skilled, it is more likely that one day you’ll fill the digital page with genuine ‘art.’
Chew every one of these stories to get out their juice:
10. Seven Myths and Misconceptions About Your Brain
Simon Spichak is a neuroscience and science communicator. His masterpiece can help you separate myths from knowledge about your brain.
“The brain is irrational, often relying on a set of cognitive rules as shortcuts. When oversaturated with data, it is particularly susceptible to misinformation. Worse yet, this misinformation can anchor our ideas of a specific topic, even influencing how we think about it when presented with new evidence. Did you grow up thinking that we swallowed eight spiders a year in our sleep? I did. This titillating tidbit about the world is downright false, but it hasn’t stopped the myth or variations of it from propagating through our culture. A writer in a magazine fabricated the spider swallowing fact to show how easily false information spreads.”
9. Quest for The “Best Jokes Ever” and How They Can Heal Us
Joe Moody wants you to enjoy the hidden benefits of jokes. If you haven’t read it already, now is a good time to go for it.
To learn about the power of laughter, I went on a quest for the “best jokes” out there.
I already had glimpses of how laughter benefits us. Sometimes, when something outrageously bad happens, the only thing left to do is laugh. “If I didn’t laugh, I’d have to cry…”
Sure, we can react with anger or frustration, but that usually just makes matters worse. Laughter shines a bright light on a negative incident, helping us both accept it while downplaying it.
8. Golden Tips To Have More Confidence In Yourself
Amanze Collins is passionate about his writing. You must have missed it, but this piece will help you boost your self-confidence.
To tell the truth, I haven’t found the perfect recipe for self-confidence yet… perhaps because recipes don’t exist in this field (and when they exist, they don’t work for long).
However, I understood one thing with certainty: believing in one’s abilities is something that grows inversely proportional to our desire to please everyone.
7. Life Isn’t Fair
This one minute read by John Ross is more compelling than my own 6-minute take on the topic.
There’s a quote I love from Naval Ravikant in Tim Ferris’ Tribe of Mentors which says “Ignore the unfairness — it is not fair. Play the hand you’re dealt with the best of your ability.”
6. The Left Still Doesn’t Understand Trump’s Appeal
Steve QJ’s superb insights that you have to read to know why Trump got so many votes.
“As I watch America wrestle with the task of un-electing an orange-tinted ball of insecurity and pettiness, I’m trying to figure out how to sum up my feelings in a way that does more than express frustration and/or despair. Try as I might, I don’t think I can do it directly. So let’s try an analogy or two.”
5. 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.”
4. Why You Should Write Your Story, Even If You Think Others Won’t Get It
Roger A. Reid, Ph.D. is telling us to write what we have to. I know I’ll be writing much more after reading this article.
“Every reader is different, with different levels of experience, education, and intelligence. And each person will evaluate the quality of what they read based on what’s going on in their life at that moment in time. For some, it will be precisely what they need to read. Others will be bored to tears.”
3. Why The Buddhists and Aztecs Insist That Happiness Follows The Words You Say
At number three, Sebastian Purcell, PhD is talking about how your words pre-frame your mind. I wrote about this topic in one of my articles.
“The noted psychologist, Robert Cialdini, relates a story that changed his mind about the impact of small words. He was invited to give a talk at SSM Health, a non-profit in the medical industry renowned for its stratospheric performance. Yet he was told that in his presentation he would have to replace specific words.”
2. 3 Underrated Habits That Can Help You Get More Done in a Day Than Most People Do in a Week
At number two, Thomas Oppong is telling us about getting more done in the smartest way possible.
“Your time is limited and precious.
If you want to get more things done, do your best work every day and crush your work and life goals, you have to make time for habits that may seem like lazy but actually help you get more work done.
Everyone aspires to get things done in the fastest, smartest ways possible. No one wants to waste time on low-value tasks.”
1. Tales of Nāgārjuna
Mac Daniels is at number one with this masterpiece. I wish I could write like him. This story was also featured on the front page by Medium staff.
He is taking you on an unusual journey. I know nobody recommended it to you, but here is your chance now. Listen.
“Come on a journey with me. Suspend your traditional notions of cause and effect. I will reveal the one cause of a billion negative effects. The idea is not my own. Its truth is not new. In fact, it is very old — to be found under stones left unturned, in quiet places, away from the hustle and bustle, in niches and nooks where truth can hide.”
Final Thoughts
No one knows they are brilliant when they start. They hope they are. All of the above writers have the potential to earn thousands of dollars through writing alone.
Writing is thinking on paper. If you can think clearly and write it once, you can do it again. The questions that remain to be answered: do you believe that you are a great writer? Are you willing to do what it takes?
Illumination and Illumination-Curated — through the vision of their Chief Editor and Founder Dr Mehmet Yildiz— are providing an opportunity to the excellent writers to reach their potential. The editors are always trying to encourage the writers to be authentic.
I want the readers, writers, and editors to help me in preparing these lists. If you have read an excellent story, please share it in the comments below. If you want to give a short review, you can do that too. I’ll try to publish it with your name if I like the story.
Happy reading.
My curated stories about personal development— before Medium pulled the plug on its curation program:
You can visit this week’s lists here: Top List 1, Top List 2, Top List 3, and Top List 4.
You can read my curated stories here.