ABOUT ME STORIES.

Let’s Talk About How I Got Here

Featured Writer at Flint & Steel

I have published several about-me stories out here but I get daily countless new followers who might be interested in getting to know me. Plus, this was a different one. I am answering a selection of questions.

How did you discover Medium and how long have you been writing here?

I was reading an article of a friend and left him a reply when he responded saying I should also write for “them”. I had no idea what Medium was and that a nobody like me would be accepted.

This was in May 2020. I became a reader on Medium at the same time I started writing on this platform. Two years later, I have written and published over 550 articles of which most of them are 5-minute-reads or longer.

I am a rather active reader as well and comment on almost every piece I read out here. This way I wrote 1000 responses over the past two years.

What are you reading, listening to and/or watching these days?

I have never been into watching movies or series. I struggle to enjoy it due to too much empathy I guess. I get quickly embarrassed or sad for whatever character is experiencing stress in a movie. Which is why I can’t relax. Sounds weird but I guess I’m weird like that.

I read much rather but since I discovered Medium I don’t read books anymore and read exclusively on this platform. I read about travel, expat stories, adventures in the great outdoors, and love some good nature photography.

This is also the only kind of series I watch on TV. Documentaries. The last one I watched was “Welcome to Earth” with Will Smith. Such a stunning story with fascinating facts being shared in it.

What is around you while you write? Describe the places you like to write, using all the senses.

This is a difficult one to answer. Since I move a lot around the world and write in any location, there are lots of different places I write.

I write in bed before falling asleep or before getting up in the morning. That could be a tent, a hotel, a cottage, or a normal home. I write while lying in the hammock listening to the sound of the waves or the birds in the forest.

I write on the plane or on trains (not in cars because I get easily motion sick). I write on a meadow lying in the grass while insects are buzzing around me and the sun is tickling my skin.

I write in the desert, on a mattress on the ground with a million stars sparkling above me.

I love writing in a hammock while being emerged by nature. It can be the sound of the ocean inspiring me to keep on typing or the singing of birds.

I also write in the mountains. Or on the beach.

I write wherever I am. Whenever I can. And always on my tablet. I’m using the Medium App to create my drafts, I insert images and only proofread the articles on the laptop later on.

My tablet is always with me and allows me to write wherever I am and whenever I get inspired.

What is your guilty pleasure(s)?

My guilty pleasure is definitely having a cold beer after work. I don’t need it every day of course but there are some days when I really crave that cold one. And I’m telling you, after a full day of jumping out of planes that beer tastes different. It’s exactly what I need.

What must be in your fridge (and/or cupboards) at all times?

A cold beer of course.

And cheese. I always need cheese. I love cheese.

When I went to Ghana on my first trip abroad all my friends said I won’t survive because I’ll miss meat. Yes, I’m a big meat eater. But meat you get everywhere. I’m not talking about good meat. But you get some kind of meat.

What I first missed living in West Africa was cheese. After a six-month-long trip across the African continent, there was nothing I craved more than cheese.

Things you learn about yourself when traveling…

If you could travel anywhere right now where would you go? (in the perfect bubble where money, covid, and the world is not an issue)

Oh, that’s a difficult one. There are so many places up on my list but if I need to pin down one destination right now I think it would be Alaska.

I love the wilderness and raw nature. I love snow and ice and have traveled mostly in warm and sunny climates in the past few years. I’d love to go to someplace cold. Do snowshoe hiking and travel with a husky sled across the vastness of Alaska.

And a lot more.

Tell us about one of your Medium articles that you loved writing, that you are the most proud about?

This is a difficult one because there are sure a few articles that either cover a topic that is close to my heart or describe an experience that shaped me in some ways.

But there is one article I am surely proud of because it was published in my second month on this platform and still today it is being read every month bringing me in a few pennies.

“My Experience of Traveling Alone as a Woman in Africa” is about a time in my life that didn’t just change the path I was going to take but opened my worldview in so many ways.

Tell us about your favorite Medium writers, ones you read on a regular basis.

Dennett — our lives couldn’t be more different yet we love communicating out here. While she has lived mostly in isolation for the past two years, I have lived and worked on three different continents. Each year. But we connect through photography, the love for nature and both of us enjoy sharing the beauty of life. I have fallen for the squirrels she encounters on a regular basis and that beautiful pond right on her porch.

Erika Burkhalter — even though her life seems very different from mine, she and I have a lot in common. We love to travel, have a passion for photography, and get inspired by nature’s beauty. I admire her incredible wildlife stories. She can tell a compelling story by simply watching birds drink in her garden.

pockett dessert — she’s taken part in countless writing prompts and her responses keep on surprising me. She has an incredible skill in creating art with her words. I adore her narrative and style of writing.

Susan Alison — there is not much more to say than her paintings. I adore all the little cats and dogs Susan is painting. She shares them together with other photographs but the illustrations are always my favorite.

Randy Runtsch — his photographs are mindblowing. He shares about his travels and captures birds in breathtaking photographs. Not just birds, but also other wildlife.

K. Barrett — it’s all about finding awe in the world out there. She’s sharing practices and ideas on how to experience awe in your everyday life.

Melissa Frost — a Norwegian living in the US. Her stories about the Scandinavian lifestyle and American consumerism convince me more about visiting her home country than the one she lives in right now. But I love her stories.

Adrienne Beaumont — comes not only from a different continent and background than me but her travel stories and experiences remind me so much of my own. I love her articles including not only the glamour but the real experience of traveling the world.

Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages — traveling the world as a team with a great mission on board. Not only do our minds work alike but they also fell in love with the African continent and are currently painting murals in Uganda. They joined just recently my reading list but since they appeared on my screen I haven’t missed one article (I think). Saying that I just looked for you and realized I never pressed the follow button. Sorry!

Sh*t Happens - Lost Girl Travel — Georgie has been off the board for a few months while traveling through South America. But she’s back and she has a ton of real and authentic travel stories waiting to be told.

And others such as David Wade Chambers | Øivind H. Solheim | Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles | Ronald C. Flores-Gunkle | Gurpreet Dhariwal | Louise Peacock | Remington Write | JoAnn Ryan | Kristina God | Kim Zuch | Anastasia Frugaard | Ellie Jacobson | Jane Frost | Shruthi Sundaram |

And your favorite Medium publications to write for and why?

Weeds & Wildflowers — It might have been one of the first publications I ever joined and is today the one I submit several drafts a week to. I love Dennett’s writing challenges and share a lot of my nature and photography pieces here.

SNAPSHOTS — I joined this publication when I first saw Dennett’s photo-a-day challenge in 2020. Since then I have not missed a week without submitting a piece even if I struggle sometimes with the word limit. But it is good to have a challenge. I often write too much so this forces me to keep my articles short and sweet.

Globetrotters — I had always struggled to find a home for all my travel pieces and was happy when I found the World Traveler’s Blog last year of which I became an editor shortly after. For various reasons, we decided to shut it down and I am happy to have now a new home again for my work. I definitely see myself as a globetrotter.

Flint and Steel — This is where I find a home for all the writing prompts and where I get inspired for creating new pieces myself.

For Awe — If there is something to share with the world it is that there is a lot of beauty out there. For those having an eye for it. But you can practice finding joy in the small things in life.

Six Word Photo Story Challenge — About keeping it short and simple. If I have one photograph I’d like to share with the world, this is the home for it.

Wildlife Trekker — If I got stories to share about African wildlife or birds I spot in my backyard, this is where I submit my work to.

Writers’ Blokke — And all stories talking about writing on Medium and my journey in the world of writers are being submitted here.

I have published pieces in larger publications such as P.S.I.L.Y, The Ascent, and Age of Awareness but nothing recently.

Where else can we find you outside of Medium?

Anywhere in the world. I’m a modern-day nomad. I am home in the world.

Jokes aside. I have my own website, a newsletter and I’m present on some other social media sites.

On my website: I started my website in 2014 when I first traveled to Africa and have been blogging on it ever since. I started out in German and publish now every article in bilingual — German and English.

Through my newsletter: I try to send out my newsletter once a week, sometimes it is less. I share articles from Medium through the friends' links and also posts from my website. If there’s a new video out on my youtube channel, it will be sent out in the email as well.

On Instagram: Well, it is Instagram. I share photos with some quotes and stories about my daily life.

And on Youtube: Together with my husband I create videos of our adventures in Africa and the world.

Thank you Ellie Jacobson for the interview and for featuring writers out here.

More stories about me and my life around the world:

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