Medium Highlights of the week

A few new can’t miss stories and some oldies but goodies

In my quest to find quotes for the collaborative book “The Tao of Blogging,” I found a ton of great writing in the last week.

Also, this is a shout out to Solitary Cook who did a “best of” compilation last week. She gave me the idea to do the same thing. Since these things do take time, I’m not sure I will be doing one next week, but here are my favorite stories that I discovered during the last week.

Tales of Grace

My new favorite writer is Thom Garrett. All of his stories are powerful, heart-felt expressions of a love for the soul mate all you millennials are dying to find through dating apps (good luck with that, but I have the sneaking suspicion he didn’t find her through Tinder). Here are my personal favorites:

A hilarious quote that I just had to have for the book:

Making love in a most unexpected way:

Poetry about love and grief:

Best description of how people feel at the height of true love:

And, an incredibly moving story about Grace’s compassion and the pain of so many children living in poverty:

Okay, I know this entire article could be about Thom, but here’s even more great writing:

Hilarious stories you might have missed

Some people can write funny things because of their imagination. Sherry Caris writes incredibly funny stories because of her memory. This is the rare person whose real stories would be rejected by TV writers for being too implausible. I used to call her the Emily Litella of Medium, because of stories where she misunderstood a situation, figured out her mistake and then said “Never mind.” For you younger readers, Gilda Radner made this character famous in the original incarnation of SNL. But Sherry’s comic misadventures have a range that transcends one character, so that’s why I now crown her the Lucille Ball of Medium.

A little subversive of my own heart:

A hilarious take on the last taboos:

Love and farting, what could be more romantic? (book quote in here!):

The fine line between creative genius and absolute stupidity:

Wild Women of Medium

I know there are tons of you wild women out there, but my reading this week included two favorite writers and discovering a completely different side to them. Check that. A completely different facet, because they are like gems. You think you understand these sparkly objets d’art, but you have no idea how differently each facet of the stone reflects light and gives off a completely different vibe.

Here’s Jules going from the self-conscious hiding-in-plain-sight writer when we first met to a volcanic dynamo of mind-blowing sexual energy:

And here’s S Lynn Knight jumping off the turrets of spirituality and ardent feminism into the lake of laughter:

Noobies!

In my search for quotes, I expanded my search and found a bunch of new writers who are making the courageous leap into publishing their work for the world to see. Please support their efforts at:

I recommend our more experienced writers going to this site and finding someone to befriend and mentor (if they want an editor). I can’t tell you how cool it is to have a trusted friend who will edit your work, whether it is catching typos, discussing story ideas, or just giving feedback like “OMG! Why would you ever think that, let alone publish it!?”

Even though she has extensive blogging experience, she decided to take on the discipline of 100 Naked Words, so I’m going to include my friend and ninja editor, JoJo Magno, who had the incredible courage (only two weeks after joining Medium) to dive into the maw of unknown horror by writing a chapter for The Grammar Games:

I’m so glad I didn’t scare her away forever, that first day she commented on #WillWriteForDonuts. Now, she has become an OG Widow Queen and we are all the richer for it.

In addition, here are some of my newest favorite writers. They might have been around for a while, but we, the unwashed masses of Medium have pretty much ignored them:

Nerissa Naidoo gave me a great quote for the book, as well as a densely textured images that reveal the life of a school kid in Egypt, anxiety in New York, taking the driving test and going to law school.

Letterwriter has been around a little longer, but she isn’t as well known, so it took me a while to find her. I hope to remedy that situation, because, like every person who truly opens up to share a story, she has a special gift:

Colette reminds me of Athena, springing full grown as a writer on Medium to challenge Gutbloom and me in a battle royale of humor. Sadly (or happily, depending on how you look at it), her fame is growing at such an accelerating speed, she will soon no longer qualify for nOOb protection:

Earl of Nutella Sandwich is another new writer to Medium, starting on June first. Was it an accident that he literally exploded onto the scene with this story about rectal exams?

Heavyweights of Humor

They don’t have the following of mind numbing life-hackers and content marketers, but I laughed until my face was numb, so these stories get my vote for the funniest stuff I read this week:

Mike Ottum wrote a brilliant and original take on Sherlock Holmes that every fan and deviant should enjoy. Think NSFW 30 Rock in merry old England. There are so many jokes thrown at you, you don’t even realize it, until you stop and go back and start laughing at the clever wordsmithing:

My last intro is for Ben Thomas and I will simply copy and paste my response to his article:

This may be the greatest article ever written on Medium. It has everything I could ever want: humor, historical fact, Easter Eggs (Arthur Berzinsh!), a subversive mischief that skewers the pronouncements of pompous fools, and a profound insight into the human condition.

I feel like I have seen the online literary version of Venice**

Parting thought

As I have stated in my open letter to open letters by self-help, life-hack and tech-bro haters, there is a ton of great writing on Medium which is getting ignored by the attention paid to the content marketers and the ranters.

Here’s a thought: spend more time exploring Medium.

Step 1: do a search for a topic you like. Seriously, people, if you can Google “best fire retardants to use when extracting flaming gerbils* from your ass,” I think you can type into the space next to the magnifying glass icon and find a topic.

Step 2: read through the comments. There’s gold in them thar hills. I can’t tell you how many great writers I have found by reading their comments. If they can write something hilarious or thought provoking in a paragraph or two, there’s a good chance they’ve got the goods. Which leads me to the final step in getting your Cub scout badge in finding online nourishment:

Step 3: read profiles to find articles they have written. Just scroll down through their writing history (or, if they have one, a personal archive located just below their profile). And take the time to read a few articles. I’m sure you’ll find something you will like, even if you find a dud once in a while. Hell, one of my favorite stories about my dad has been almost completely ignored by the readers of Coffeelicious. Could 94,000 people all be wrong? F*ck yeah, they are. That’s what writers do. We speak to our truth, regardless of whether anyone else likes it.

Enjoy the weekend. You’ve got a lot of reading ahead of you!

• *No animals were harmed in this Google search
• **I actually wrote at the end of my open letter to open letters that I no longer need to write on Medium, or write period. This is obviously not true, since I’m writing this now. However, we are getting to the end of “The Tao of Blogging,” so I will divert more attention to marketing and selling the book as the proceeds will go to literacy non-profits. Anyone out there in PR, or publishing, I would love to get some help or advice from you. Thanks.

If you enjoyed this article, please show your love and RECOMMEND THEIR STORIES, NOT MINE.

I’ve already got my little group of friends on Medium; I don’t need any more attention.