Editor’s Picks — Top 10:

Why There Is No Mechanical Way To Get the Writing Done

Let’s have a look at our Top 10 stories today

Mechanical ways of writing cannot get you far. Yesterday, I read in an article that the human heart has 40,000 neurons in it — our hearts have their own minds.

To be a writer, you have to use this ‘heart-brain’ of yours. The reader decides to read if your work appeals to his or her ‘heart-brain.’

Our hearts feel happy about little things and become sad for next to no reason — just like a child. Children change their minds pretty quickly. Or don’t they?

Good writing cannot follow a formula. William Faulkner intuitively knew this. “The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him, ” he once said.

Just like the child, good writing is always unpredictable. If the reader knew what was going to happen, they’d quit reading immediately.

So, how can you match the mercurial temperament of your reader? One trick is to write what your inner child believes.

Write from the core of your being that you have always repressed because society taught you to keep it under control.

You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it. ~Robin Williams

Learn to listen to your ‘heart-brain.’ Its perspective is always unusual. It lives only in the present moment — the next heartbeat is all it cares.

Move the heart of your reader a bit faster with your words.

But how can your words stand out in the crowd? Neil Gaiman advises you to start telling the stories that only you can tell. “The reader will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say. In the pictures you have painted about your life. This decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of,” Anne Lamott suggests.

E. B. White also guides new writers to share personal experiences. He wrote, “Advice to young writers who want to get ahead without any annoying delays: don’t write about Man, write about a man.”

Your ability to listen to your foolish protests, childish tantrums, dark secrets, naive hopes, and dumb prophecies is the key to your success as a writer.

Ray Bradbury agrees to appeal to this little-brain. “If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world,” he wrote.

Trust yourself and forget logic and reason. Ignore all advice. Compose what you want to write and then edit it. Make your piece readable — and hope that your readers like it.

Here is a list of our top 10 stories today — by writers who know how to appeal to your heart-brain:

10. Revisiting Edvard Munch’s The Scream

Alexander Bird is a top-writer in Science. M.A. in Philosophy. And his favorite science fictions are Metropolis and King Kong.

He is a fine writer. His writing style is informative, easy to read, and engaging. Do check his other work.

Recently, the National Museum of Norway announced its determination that Munch had indeed written the message in the top left-hand corner of Munch’s most famous painting, The Scream. The message says:

“Can only have been painted by a madman.”

9. Sailboats and Swallows: Loss, Grief, and Meaning in “Nomadland”

Eleri Denham is interested in maps, myths, and all the other ways humans have found to interact with the natural world.

She is a good writer. Her writing style is witty, easy to follow, and very engaging. Do check her other work.

I just watched Nomadland.

And, well — wow.

I knew, from the moment the end credits started rolling, I had to write about it. It’s that kind of movie.

I’ll press on as if you’ve already seen it, so there are spoilers ahead. But first, some quick background on the film:

8. The Woman Made an Impression: Artist Marie Bracquemond

Paula Sue Bryant follows her art. She writes about artists, rebels, and outcasts at flashpoints in history.

She is a superb writer. Her writing style is informative, direct, and very engaging. Do check her other work.

Fruit and flowers were all very charming, but Marie Bracquemond (born Marie Quivoron in France’s Brittany in 1840) didn’t want to paint them. Instead, she populated her outdoor scenes with individuals.

Their searching, speculative expressions betray far more sophistication than she got credit for from the art establishment, then and now.

7. Conversations with Creatives — Writer, Valerie Udeozor

anniewood is a former Huff Post contributor and dating game show host. Rom-com & YA writer, TV/film actor & artist from Hollywood. Enthusiasm enthusiast. 👊🏼

She is an excellent writer. Her writing style is honest, direct, and very pleasant. Do check her other work.

Annie: Hi, Val! We met 15 (or more?) years ago. It was on your Nurses project. What ended up happening with that project?

Valerie: Yes! Time has flown. That was a Workshop scene for a producers guild fellowship I did. I had written and produced a film called Burned Out Nurse about a nurse who becomes addicted to Vicodin. It’s used in several nursing schools and streaming on Tubi and Bherctv.

6. You Don’t Have to Innovate From Scratch

Tülay Circir writes about mindsets and personal development. She is a part-time but wholehearted writer.

She is a fine writer. Her writing style is informative, logical, and engaging. Do check her other work.

Developing innovative products and business models is no walk in the park for entrepreneurs. Finding the right source of a breakthrough innovation appears to be somewhat unpredictable. When companies want to consciously initiate innovations, many use conventional and not always effective creativity techniques.

5. Love and Other Punishments — Part 1 of 4

Simon Dillon is a novelist and whort story-ist. Film and Book Lover. “If you cut me, I bleed celluloid and paper pulp,” he says.

He is a fine writer. His writing style is full of suspense, easy to read, and engaging. It is a 4 part story. Do check his other work.

There comes a point when people simply expect you to get over the death of your wife and children.

I can’t say I blame them. After all, who wants to be around someone who mopes all the time, blithering on about their dead loved ones? Who wants to hear how every waking moment is agony? I certainly wouldn’t.

4. Where Will Classical Music Be A Hundred Years From Now

Agnes Laurens is a mother and a wife. She is a journalist who loves painting and worships the violin. But she has given her soul to writing.

She is an excellent writer. Her writing style is informative, relevant, and charming. Do check her other work.

As a fanatic classical music fan, I want this music genre to exists forever. And that it won’t stop. It must be told generations from now on. And I think that people, these days, don’t even know who Mozart is, or Beethoven, Vivaldi, or whatever composer on earth there is.

I try to teach my children about classical music. Unfortunately, they prefer to listen to pop music. Especially the oldest. She is at a certain age that she compares her tastes with that of her friends.

3. Great Successes Who Died Failures

Holly Kellums is an author, social media influencer, recovery coach, and human potential activist.

She is a wonderful writer. Her writing style is witty, emotionally appealing, and very engaging. Do check her other work.

Success appears to be less about the world wanting what we have to offer and more about our resolve to give it, even in the face of rejection. Most of the work that has made the greatest impact on our human existence was done without permission.

Perhaps there is truth in what we have heard 1,000 times but rarely live by.

2. How We Create Our Sacred Myths

Lewiscoaches offers advice on the arts, innovation, self-improvement, life lessons, mental health, game theory strategies, and love.

He is a superb writer. His writing style is informative, logical, and detailed. Don’t miss this masterpiece.

Since the beginning of time, humans created stories both for themselves and for whatever groups they may have been part of.

Today new technology and multiculturalism have changed the narratives and qualities of these stories. These new technologies and multiculturalism have increasingly influenced the ever-expanding global economy and has reshaped many of these legends and sacred stories in ways that could never have been conceived of even fifty years ago.

1. Don’t Interrupt My Daydreaming!

At number one, it is Terry Mansfield. He is trying to be the best writer he can be. Specialist in eclecticism. Check out his online newspaper, ‘The Social Media Daily.’

He is an excellent writer. His writing style is enlightening, coherent, and extremely engaging. Don’t miss this one.

Follow him. Read him. Wait for his next story.

“I always wanted to know, and I always used to daydream, about what it would be like to stand on a really big stage and sing songs for a lot of people, songs that I had written… Daydreaming was kind of my №1 thing when I was little because I didn’t have much of a social life going on. “— Taylor Swift

Daydreaming is a healthy and often fruitful mind exercise that allows you to take a welcome detour from what’s happening around you in the real world. Let’s face it, the real world can become very unpleasant at times, so getting away from it on occasion is a good thing.

This post is part of the Top 10 Series — you can meet 500+ top writers with these links:

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Final Thoughts

If your story was selected in the Top 10, please share another story with a brief introduction and a short convincing review — in the comments. (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. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the masterpieces.

Please join our private Facebook group for Illumination writers to post your articles daily. Also, I invite you to become a writer for my publication — positive minds.

Iꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴀɴʏ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇ, ᴛʏᴘᴏ, ᴏʀ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ ɴᴏᴛᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴄᴏʀʀᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. Tʜᴀɴᴋs.

To be included as a top 10 writer, read these curation guidelines carefully.

You can read my curated stories here.