My Top 5 Stories
Why I rate them and how they might be useful to you.
For my first choice, this was an experiment with tagging people. It was also the first time I’d got up at around three in the morning because I’d woken up with the idea of something positive and wanting to know what other people’s thoughts were on the activities that I found free, simple, and pleasurable.
On one hand, I was delighted by the responses, interaction, and the claps received. But on the other, gutted that it didn’t get to the magic 1k claps. I love claps, don’t you?
Less than half of those tagged didn’t mind at all. The rest, I never heard from!
My first taste of curation heaven was almost three months after I started writing on this platform. I’d given up on it ever happening. I got the email from Medium and had to self-isolate on the same morning. A memorable day of still feeling raw from the task of writing so many truths and the joy of having my work validated. The story didn’t catch on but it was (and still is) a slow-burn success, one of those evergreen articles that marketers talk about.
The third story is the one I wrote before I wrote the letter to myself. It was to my son and therefore, far more important to me. I’m sad it didn’t grab the hearts (pun unintended) of many readers. Who knows, maybe one day it will!
Shortly after the explosive launch of ILLUMINATION, the good Dr chose an article of mine to be the feature of the day. It was such an exciting twenty-four hours! I can remember all the tweets and shares from so many fellow writers and editors and the joy of being part of a publication that was growing daily.
My first curation success was a simply formatted story from the heart. My second and most recent contained no links, one photo of my own (correctly captioned), and a reference to where I obtained the prompt for my inspiration.
Both of my curated pieces were placed under SELF. You might have noticed that I published with Middle-Pause and not ILLUMINATION.
Believe me, I have a fierce loyalty to ILLUMINATION, so I did deliberate for a while before choosing Debbie Walker’s publication. Her supportive approach to women and helping them grow and succeed as writers are very valuable to me.
The first story was in response to a Middle-Pause writing prompt, so of course, it belonged to that publication.
I felt the second would sit well in the same place because of the changes in my life mainly relating to what I learnt and saw after my change of life. Plus, there was a little superstition surrounding Middle-Pause as being lucky.
What I noticed, when I reflected on the articles, was that they flowed. All my other articles have not been natural, free-flowing, and ordered. I’ve had to struggle to make them appear that way but I didn’t always convince myself and I guess I didn’t convince others either.
The difference is that I’ve been writing my life stories for eleven years, and I’ve only been writing about new and interesting topics for six months. I have a ways to go on the latter. But I’m a lover of the process and I don’t give up easily.
I hope you feel inspired to continue your writing journey.
This last article is written by Dr Mehmet Yildiz. That he chose to write a testimonial about me means a great deal. To have been invited to join his amazing publication, and be part of this incredible journey of learning how to become a successful writer, is a huge honour.
