Let’s Get Engaged! — Part I

Writer favorites — their own

It’s no secret that us writers read — a lot. Since my time on Medium, I have had the pleasure of reading countless high-quality pieces of work. While there is an absolute joy in reading, connecting with the humans behind the stories is invaluable.

As the reading is destined to continue, I figured it would be great to highlight some engaged writers and share their work with you.

Here’s the catch, these stories are favorites of their own. What better way to connect with a writer on another level? Now you have a writer’s favorite story that they have written and know they are engaging humans!

If you dig their story, you can reach out and build a relationship with them by engaging with one another through your writings. You can connect with that writer and their work all the time.

From a good laugh to writing advice, encouragement, forming friendships, and personal bonds, connecting with other writers is super beneficial.

Highly engaged writers make for a thrilling reading experience!

The inspiration

I remember when I started writing on Medium in March of this year. Finding engaging writers on Medium and in Facebook groups was like my husband trying to find his wallet in the mornings.

“Hunny, have you seen my wallet?”

“You never put these important things up! I keep telling you to keep it in the same spot. Then you wouldn’t have this problem! Ugh! I don’t believe that this is my fault. I shouldn’t have to look!” I complain as I stomp around like a dinosaur looking for the elusive wallet.

Just as I felt like it will never be easy for him to locate his wallet, I felt as though finding engaged writers would always be implausible.

Now I recall the past three months of my journey. I met some incredible people in a Facebook group, M24I, who are encouraging, fun, and get this folks — they interact! Whoa!

On Medium, I’ve also found magnificent people who are engaging, uplifting, and have impacted me in super positive ways.

I want to highlight all of these writers!

The desire to continuously help others has always been a part of me.

So, to sum it all up, the inspiration for doing this comes in two parts.

To help give engaging writers (anywhere and everywhere) recognition and exposure, and help new writers connect with people who inspire, motivate, and simply speak-up.

We are all here to help each other.

Don’t you think it’s about time that writers on Medium are recognized for engaging? It takes a lot of time, energy, and thought into reading, clapping, and responding — so, I do.

Wouldn’t you love to connect with writers that embody humanity behind their words and inspire you? I want you to.

Medium isn’t the easiest platform to thrive in, but connecting with the people here will carry you through the journey.

The stories

Stories are alphabetized with read times for your convenience.

Aimée Gramblin wears many hats as she is an awesome writer of all genres and topics (7 mins).

Amy Sarah is an amazing writer who writes about many different topics. This one will pull on your heart strings, like so many others (8 mins):

Anu Anniah is an awesome story-teller and a lot of her stories are through a “fun filter.” Get a dose of her here (6 mins):

Bingz Huang is a gentleness and healing expert and she brings light to humans she calls Gentleness Ambassadors (10 mins):

Carolyn Riker has a smooth way with words. Her poetry is so beautiful and vivid (1 min):

Chirag’s Diabolical Duo series gives me something to laugh about every day, but this right here is an incredible story which left me in tears (4 mins).

Estelle Bardon (MyLibook) is an awesome writer on a mission to help children learn how to read. She posts stories to help parents and children (4 mins):

Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers is a knowledgeable, positive writer who makes you think and feel through her words (7 mins):

Jezebel is passionate about sustainability. She warms our hearts with this amazing story (12 mins):

Julene Cole loves sunsets and takes some amazing photographs to go with her lovely poetry. This poem is in Michael’s honor 😂 (1 min)

Kim McKinney is passionate writer who cares about a lot of important life topics (4 mins):

Melissa Speed is an incredible poet and story-teller. Check out this dark story (4 mins):

Michael Whalen, whale, he’s an O.G. (2 mins):

Salma Alaa enlightens us with her interesting perspectives and this piece is a great example of it (5 mins):

Shanna Loga writes speaks honestly and with courage in many of her stories (5 mins):

Stephen Dalton is a man who has been through so much in his life, but his positive outlook shines through his writing (7 mins):

Sydney Duke Richey is an awesome poet who definitely “writes from her heart” (1 min):

Tej is an amazing poet and her sweetness shines through her words. Check out her poetry here (1 minute):

Tracy Stengel is an amazing story-teller and comedian. She’s also very brave to befriend a ghost (7 mins):

Conclusion

There you have it — 18 fantastic stories, totaling 96 minutes, from some engaged humans. I realize it’s a lot, but I couldn’t help myself this first time around — so exciting!

It would have been a lot more, but I want to encourage you to take the time to read them all.

Highlighting Engaged Writers will be an ongoing series I will publish monthly. In the future, I will choose up to ten stories (yikes, so tough) at a time.

I encourage your feedback as it will allow me to make decisions in the future on the frequency of these highlights and anything else you may suggest.

Prompt:

If you are inspired and it is convenient, I welcome you to join.

There are two ways to do this:

Option 1: This option requires you to engage writers (who you notice on either Medium and Facebook groups, or both) and ask them what their favorite story is that they have published.

Option 2: You can choose the engaged writer’s featured story on their profile page and surprise them!

You can decide to include as many or as little stories in your compilation as you like.

If you decide to take up this initiative, for an easy search, please use the tag:

Engaged Writers

Link this article as a reference and publish it anywhere you like.

We all want to know and be known. That’s why doing good is so powerful when the focus is first and foremost the people and not the project. — Chris Marlow

Thank you for reading! 💛 Buzz with Bee! Twitter/ Facebook/Instagram

Gratitude

Thankful for human connection.