Inspiration

Featured Writer Profiles Today

V-3 — Writers you can connect now

Dear Readers,

As a cross-pollination activity, we want to introduce you to some engaging writers from their pen. Writers need support from readers to create more.

Many thanks for feedback and encouragement in previous introductions.

In this digest, you can find a short extract from the writers’ pen.

Please enjoy and connect with them.

Melinda Blau

Through a series of serendipitous events, I became who I am now. A journalist and advice-giver who lives in multiple places; now, for a second time in Paris. I could never have imagined this — nor so much else since then. Twenty years ago, I was already writing books and articles. But I could never have imagined a best-seller about babies. I could never have imagined royalties that would keep me in groceries.

Ulf Wolf

I was born Ulf Ronnquist (meaning branch of rowan tree) one snowy night in late October, in one of those northern Swedish towns that are little more than a clearing in the forest. Fast forward through twenty Swedish years, ten or so English ones, and another twenty-four in the US and you’ll find me in front of an immigrations officer conducting the final citizenship interview, at the end of which he asks me, “What name would you like on your passport?” And here I recall what a friend had told me, that you can pick just about any name you want at this point, and I heard me say “Ulf Wolf.”

Keri Mangis

A couple years ago, as I was preparing to launch my new book into the world, I did the dreaded but necessary branding work. There’s nothing I hate more than trying to label myself, for that’s what I thought branding work was — a way to put a label, something final, on who I was. But I needed to do it, and I got intrigued by a woman who explained that the work was not about putting myself in a box with a label, but an exploration of who I am and what I’m about. Well, that was a little better, but I still pretty much thought I’d break her process and at some point she’d say, “Here’s your money back. This doesn’t work for you.” Had that happened, it would have been par for the course for me — the Outsider, once again.

Emily Jennings

Hi, I’m Emily. I have always known I was a writer, ever since I was a child. I have been writing fiction for years. Now I write self-improvement posts on Medium. I keep things positive in my writing because I truly believe that humanity has a bright future if we all change our mindsets to healing ourselves and this planet.

Sarah Seweryniak

I majored in Communications in college and I had every intention of being behind the camera as a photojournalist. I had done an internship in the field and quickly realized working in broadcasting wasn’t for me. When I realized broadcasting wasn’t for me, I felt lost. Luckily, I had time to complete another internship. This time I focused on writing and took a gig at a local newspaper. The rest is history. I’m the type of person that likes to be inspired. I also hope to be someone who can inspire others. As my writing career has progressed I have developed the motto that, “one piece of content can change your life.” I think that’s what makes Medium work!

Markus Scorelius

I work full-time in clinical research and I attend school full time in a master’s degree program in clinical research management. I find the time to read and write by being an introverted single male with no kids. I also sleep a maximum of 6 hours a night. I type about 90 words a minute. I was asked about 9 months ago to write my biography. That, apparently, is my kryptonite. This is my third attempt. My first two attempts sounded insincere and very much like me putting on a (bad) performance acting like me instead of being me.

Sebastian Purcell, PhD

As you might imagine, my father and mother met quite by accident. It was the early 1970s, and for his study abroad, my father (Jeffrey, but he uses Jeff) went to Mexico. He and his roommate were apparently unusually studious and quiet. As a result, their host family worried that something was wrong. The mother of the host family called over her niece to translate and to figure out what to do. That niece was my mother, Nora. After that meeting, Nora and Jeff went on a double date. Then they began dating on their own. Eventually, Jeff had to return to the United States, and so they continued their relationship in the old way — by writing letters to each other.

Paula Bramante

What I most enjoy is hanging out in the gray areas of life. I mean those juicy places where different spheres of thought intersect in potentially exciting ways. Let me give you a couple of examples from my days as an educator. I once mentored a master’s student who used her background in music to create a pronunciation lesson. The class (university-level English language learners) was preparing poetry presentations, and she taught them how to score their poems using musical notation. Students had fun and gave powerful recitations. Another time, as a master’s student myself, I taught irregular French verbs using a fairy tale. I developed materials to guide students in retelling the story using the verbs they needed to learn.

Graceygee

I am not sure what Illumination is about other than its wild energy. Illumination provides a higher vibration. And so do I. I’m not saying that in an egoistic way, but from a place of honesty and humbleness. When I write, I write from my heart. And when I first started writing on Medium, I would pour my heart out and not get any recognition. Well, thanks to Illumination, we can get the recognition we deserve and rightly so because what I write is there to help you find your inner peace. I am here to tell you it’s ok not to be ok.

Fred: Almost Famous

Born in a small terraced house in Oldham; then one of Lancashire’s highly-polluted Cotton Mill Towns in England’s North West, Near Manchester. Oldham has produced quite a few celebrities over the years, including Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test-tube baby’, born in the same Oldham Hospital as my own daughter. Brian Cox the astrophysicist is also a Lad from Oldham. In 2010, The Kelvin Medal was awarded to Professor Cox by The Institute of Physics for ‘Communicating the Appeal and Excitement of Science to the General Public’.

Clive Wilson MCIM

It didn’t start well…School and I didn’t get on very well. At all. I failed all my exams and left with little more than a passion for electronics and an inquiring mind, always needing to understand how things worked (or mostly how things came apart and didn’t quite go back together again).

Jay Toran

Back when there were listserves, a guy posted an essay. He talked about a story told by his (as it turns out, fictitious) “Uncle Festus.” Don’t remember the story, but the name stuck. I go by the moniker “GranPa-Festus” because it allows me to remain semi-anonymous. It’s not solely because I’m ashamed of some-a what I’ve done in the past. I just don’t want the bother of being personally identified with the things I write. I go by “j”.

Yve Laran

I am a born and bred New Yorker and live in a busy suburb 45 minutes outside of New York City. During an early part of my life, I was a classical musician and performed with an orchestra in the Bronx for 15 years. Although I no longer perform music on a professional level, I listen to music of all genres. When I am networking on LinkedIn, I listen to country music. When I am proofreading at work, I listen to hip-hop music. When I clean the house, I enjoy R&B. When I’m chopping vegetables in the kitchen, I love listening to jazz.

Adelia Ritchie

Years ago, my boss-to-be, studying my résumé and glaring at me across his desk, said, “For a person so young, you’ve had the career of ten people.” At first I was flattered, until I realized he was not paying me a compliment. Fortunately, he hired me anyway, an enthusiastic, ambitious, female PhD in physical organic chemistry, with a minor in nuclear magnetic resonance. And fortunately for him and his newly established office in the Pentagon, I would fill a civilian position equal in rank to a full colonel, and at the same time check an “equal opportunity” box for those bat-winged, basement-dwelling denizens of the Pentagon personnel office. That was more than 30 years ago…

Bebe Nicholson

I had exposed a corruption scheme that got the police chief fired, and I had interviewed the owner of a new massage parlor on the outskirts of town. I don’t know which story was the bigger draw. Featured with the massage parlor story was a photo I had snapped of the curvy woman in charge, perched on an exercise bike, smiling sexily. People in a small southern town in the seventies were as shocked by a massage parlor as they might have been had they seen Lady Godiva riding through town naked on a horse. But the police chief scandal was big news, too.

Floyd Mori

I was born and raised in Utah. I joined the U.S. Army Reserves after high school and spent six months on active duty at Fort Ord, California. Then I started college at the University of Southern California. I went on a two year mission to Hawaii for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after which I transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU). I graduated with a Bachelors and then a Masters Degree from BYU. I began teaching Economics to college students in Hayward, California, which I did for ten years.

Eizza Misa

Ladies and gentlemen, wonderful readers of this publication, and especially you, welcome to the quickest flight of your life. I’m here to take you on this brief journey so you’ll know me more and you’ll find out what’s in it for you if you follow me here in Medium and ILLUMINATION.

DB Crema

This year, I set out to write a memoir about something I’ve avoided dealing with for over 30 years. It’s a story of personal growth — learning compassion for others by learning it for myself. It is challenging to dig deep to find the truth and then to transfer it onto the blank page. It continues to be a slow process and, finding both joy and sorrow in the journey, I am continually filling my cup. In the slow, painstaking process of writing this memoir, however, I’ve found so many other things to write about! One of those topics is race.

Erwin Leonardy

Hi there! My name is Erwin, a trilingual from the world’s fourth most populous country, Indonesia. I spent some of my teenager and early young adult days in Singapore before returning to my hometown, Jakarta, late last year.

Dr. Deborah M. Vereen

Greetings literary, educational, and parental colleagues as well as members of our global village. I am honored that you chose to read my introductory story. While our diverse experiences, perspectives, and voices unite us as each word is read on the ILLUMINATION-Curated and Medium platform, I am happy that you now have an opportunity to get to know me as a writer. My professional mission is to ignite family engagement within education. It was passion that led me to this phase of my life.

You can find more writer bios from this collection.

We recommend all writers to introduce their background in a bio story. Here are the reasons.

Prospective writers

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