Illumination Editor Introduction: Kevin Buddaeus

Telling a bit about myself

I originally wrote an introduction in early April, when I joined Illumination as a writer. And since it was among the first posts I ever did on a platform like this, what I wrote pretty much ended up like a classical “dear diary”.

So today, after about 1 month, I thought I might create a more focused introduction.

Since we got many new writers in the meantime, I thought it would be useful to learn more about the editors who manage the publication you joined. Like if you’d like to blackmail us one day, it should be easier with some useful info at hand, right? 😉

Maybe our other editors feel compelled to do the same at some point.

Professional stuff

I’m Kevin, an editor and writer for both Illumination and Polyglot Poetry. I’ve joined both Medium and Illumination in April 2020. Though I have worked as an editor, writer and translator since 2016, writing on Medium was a new endeavor for me.

With the help of a great community, I quickly found my bearing and managed to land a very successful start. I write everything I can put my mind to, from poetry to articles about self-improvement, to little tidbits of wisdom and humor I’ve since scraped from the backyard of humanity.

As an editor, I try to make sure that all articles fulfill the Medium rules and get published in a timely manner. I have since created our official Twitter account and automated posting of your stories to both the official Facebook and Twitter accounts, so your stories will be shared on social media as well, even if you don’t have an account for either one yourself.

I’m also active on our Slack channel. Whether you’d like to chat about the day or need help with something, I’ll be there to listen. But please keep in mind the time zone difference, as I am located in Japan. My timezone is GMT+9.

Also, and this is important to me:

Please don’t just follow me or read my articles because I’m an editor here. We should separate my being an editor from my being a writer. I will treat all of you equally.

It’s not a position of power and I don’t tend to play any favor cards. If you aren’t compelled to click on something I wrote, I won’t hold it against you. This way, I know that when you read and engage with something I wrote, it’s sincere. I will still read and engage with as much as I can.

Sometimes, this means I’ll “just” leave with claps due to the huge amount of new articles being published (and I still need to write my own stuff too), but please know that I did read your story if I did. I don’t skim. I don’t skip. I don’t clap without reading. Those things would feel dishonest to both you and me.

In the end, I think even claps aren’t worth as much. The most important metric you can get is the one Medium does not show you. If someone really reads your story start to end.

Apart from writing on Medium, I’m still an active and well-established freelancer with a dedicated clientele in the translation and ghostwriting business, as well as a copywriter for a Dutch company that provides website copy for businesses.

But due to the current coronavirus outbreak, my clients too are short for work, which results in me having more time to spend on Medium.

Personal stuff

I live in Japan since 2014, am married since 2015 and proud father of a beautiful little girl since November 30th, 2018. I was born on May 10th, so I’ll soon hit that magical 30 everyone is so reluctant to talk about. What will happen? Will I finally receive my invitation to Hogwarts?

I am an atheist but respect other people’s beliefs. I would even say I’m a bit agnostic since there are still a few things, even science can provide no satisfactory answer to. For example, what happens after death. Are we truly dead? A big black nothing? Not even science can rule out that there might be something afterward, whether that will be a rebirth, “Heaven” or something else.

I abhor all forms of abuse. From bullying to domestic violence to mental abuse. I’m an advocate for common sense and reason, which now sounds much more special than it might have 20 years ago.

Politics rarely interest me, since I’ve not seen a single politician on earth doing a good job in my whole time here. They all suck, to be blatant.

I support all people in their endeavors and keep an open mind in things I have limited knowledge yet.

I used to be an insecure, introvert person who’d measure their own value solely based on how others perceived me. That has changed.

I’m my own person, have my own life and defend my own opinions. I don’t care what others think of me. If you disagree with me, that’s your choice. But I don’t give a wet damn about haters, whiners, know-it-alls and self-righteous idiots who put others down just to feel a bit better about themselves.

I love making friends, but I don’t mind making enemies either. Call it arrogance. But that’s me.

To me, the most important values are honesty and respect. This includes the honesty to stand up for your mistakes. I used to never admit anything, always pointing my finger to others. That has changed too.

Since I learned to take responsibility for myself, I can admit when I’m wrong and even laugh about myself without feeling ashamed or insulted.

If I screw up, I’ll let you know. I hope you can do the same.

My favorite two questions are “how” and “why”. Because they give answers to the most important things in life for me. How something is/works and why something is or works in a certain way. It allows me to not only accept something but also to understand and learn from it.

How you do something teaches me a way. Why you do something teaches me a reason.

I think that’s it for now. Maybe I’ll add some things in the future. But I guess it’s enough talking about myself for now. If you really read all of that, thank you.

If you just skimmed. Thank you anyways. 😁

Kevin is an editor and writer for the ILLUMINATION and Polyglot Poetry publications. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.