ILLUMINATION Writers

Interview with Amy Sarah

Featuring creative writers of ILLUMINATION

Purpose of the Story

In this story, I share with you an interview that I conducted with Amy Cottreau. I have been following insightful stories of Amy before she joined ILLUMINATION.

It was a privilege for me to have Amy as a writer for our publication from the first day. I found Amy’s stories authentic and related to many of us. Many stories written by Amy have informative, thought-provoking, inspiring, motivating, and uplifting for me.

Amy is a reputable writer on ILLUMINATION and a fantastic blogger on other platforms, engaging meaningfully with writers and bloggers supporting their content.

Let’s explore the background of this accomplished writer and blogger.

Tell us a bit about your background, Amy.

I have been a writer trapped by my own self-doubt my entire life. I was heavily encouraged by my high school journalism teacher to become a writer but I felt like it wasn’t a realistic career path, so being young and naive, I denied my dream and decided to go into the medical field. I worked as a nursing assistant specializing in Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease for almost seven years. I was diagnosed with severe cervical arthritis and left the medical field to go to college. I graduated nine months pregnant with my first daughter and after staying at home for a couple of years, I needed something else in my life. I missed working.

I have been researching the cases of missing people and homicides in Canada for ten plus years. Every night for hours I would read their stories, getting further into their world. I realized that I wasn’t really helping these people or myself, I was only storing dark information in my mind. I decided I needed to tell their stories.

I found Medium and haven’t looked back!

Why do you write on Medium?

I write on Medium to dip my toes into the “writing pool” and to bring attention to Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous people.

What are your values as a writer?

Accurate research and reporting, integrity, and strength in my message.

What are the top three books affected your life?

1. The Power of Now by Eckhart Toole: This is the book that introduced me to New Age spirituality.

2. Daymares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King: A beautiful compilation of haunting short stories written by the “King of Horror”.

3. Helters Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi with ‎Curt Gentry: A true-crime masterpiece.

What are your hobbies?

Researching true crime cases, crocheting, painting, spending time with my husband, daughter, and stepdaughter.

How do you connect with your readers?

I always try to respond to every message, positive and negative. I always make sure I make an effort to read other writer’s work. I actually spend a lot of time supporting new writers because I know how challenging it is at first.

Why did you join ILLUMINATION and how do you find it so far?

Dr Mehmet Yildiz reached out to me and invited me to be a part of Illumination. I think it’s a wonderful idea and groundbreaking for Medium. The amount of time spent by “Doc” promoting our work is staggering. It is impressive and very kind of him to accept so many new writers. It has taken on a life of its own and is quite the community now.

Who are the top ten writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?

Here are some top writers I follow regularly:

Stephen Dalton, Jezebel, Melissa Bee, Sira M., Roxanna Azimy, Aurora Eliam, CMP, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers

What are your top five stories that you want to share with your audience and why?

This is my pride and joy. It is about racial profiling in missing person cases. This story has almost 10,000 reads and that makes me so happy because I know people are learning about Canada’s problem with racism against Indigenous people.

This story is special to me because it was my way of dealing with a mass shooting that happened in our sister province of Nova Scotia. Two years ago, a shooting happened in our beautiful city and none of us had any idea how to cope, as this kind of tragedy has never struck our town. I wanted to help people deal with the aftermath of a hometown tragedy.

This piece was hard for me to write. It is about my personal experience with voyeurism and the impact it had on my life afterward. This incident began my “obsession” with personal safety.

I lost my soulmate dog in January. I am still reeling from his loss and writing this story helped me heal somewhat. Lucky was a special dog. I never thought losing him would impact me in this way.

This article is very special to me because it tells my story of living with Postpartum OCD. This is an illness that is common but not talked about. Motherly actually asked for this story to publish on their website so that is exciting as well!

What are the success factors for you as a writer on Medium?

I feel that my approach to true crime is unique because I also tackle discrimination in my stories as well.

I am Canadian, and I think people are curious about the dark side of Canada since we are looked at as being one of the best countries in the world to live in.

A conversational tone and showing your vulnerability does wonders to pull readers into your world!

What do you recommend to the new writers on ILLUMINATION?

Write as much as possible in the beginning. I am now enjoying the fruits of my labor after writing almost 100 articles in five months.

Give yourself a well-deserved break once you have written an adequate amount of content. Learn the signs of writer burnout: Memorize them and don’t let yourself get to that point.

Don’t get hung up on curation. My most successful articles had a great publisher behind them, like Illumination, but some weren’t curated and still did very well.

**I’m going to add one more BIG tip: If you’re here to make easy money — it isn’t going to work for you. This is not an easy way to be successful.

What are your future plans as a writer?

I want to obtain some clients for ghostwriting, write a book about Postpartum OCD, and enjoy a happy life doing what I love from home with my family. My dream is to have a nice, big old fashioned farmhouse in the country with my husband and Willow (my daughter), have one more child, and have a hobby farm while maintaining my writing career.

My Fivver gig can be found from this link.

Thank you for your valuable time Amy Cottreau. I enjoy reading your remarkable stories on ILLUMINATION and several other publications. Your writing style and choice of content are appealing, uplifting, and inspirational to me. The rigor in your content quality is beyond reproach. I appreciate your wonderful support of our publication, writers, and readers. Our readers will discover your insightful stories and blogs.

If you are a writer on ILLUMINATION and would like to be interviewed, please send a request via this link with the title of “Interview Request”.

Other Interviews

You may also check other interviews I conducted with inspiring writers of ILLUMINATION recently. These stories can provide a great opportunity to know more about our creative writers and connect with them.

Timothy Key

Desiree Driesenaar

Holly Jahangiri

Dr John Rose

Ming Qian

P.G. Barnett

Jill Ebstein

Bill Abbate

Terry Mansfield

Ann K Frailey

Woei T

Charles Roast

Julia E Hubbel

Aric D Mayer

Chris Hedges

Paroma Sen

Jeff Hanlon

Besom & Bletherskite

Sherry McGuinn

Sylvia Love Johnson

Maïa Belart

Henery X (long)

Chowa Sekai

conny manero

Sumera Rizwan

Karen Madej 💛

Anita Lesko

Marianna Saver

Suntonu Bhadra

John Cousins

Annelise Lords

Tree Langdon ♾️

Aisha

Aurora Eliam, CMP

Martine Weber

Sharon Hurley Hall

MaryJo Wagner, PhD

Phil Truman

Christopher D. Connors

Tim Maudlin

Mallika Vasak

Kevin Buddaeus

Invitation to writers to join ILLUMINATION

If you want to join our growing, enjoyable, and supportive publication as a writer, please leave a message via this link. We help you become a successful writer on Medium.

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You might check more interviews in the attached collection.

You can find inspiring profiles of ILLUMINATION writers from this story.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

About the Author

Thank you for subscribing to my content. I share my health and well-being stories in my publication, Euphoria. If you are new to Medium, you may join by following this link. A small part of your membership fee will not only support my writing, but your reading times can support many great writers on this platform.

I see opportunities endless for readers and writers on Medium. You can join my publications as a writer requesting access via this weblink.

In addition to self-improvement, leadership, technology, and health, I also enjoy writing about essential molecules such as lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, digestive enzymes, magnesium, creatine, choline, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, CoQ10, NADH, TMG, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, and other nutrients for health and fitness.