November’s Best — Editor’s Choice: A Good Writer Doesn’t Pretend to Be a Writer

The simple act of sharing your experiences helps you write well

Trying to write like a “writer” doesn’t make you a good writer. Using obscure words and vague ideas — instead of saying what’s on your mind — alienates your followers.

A good writer writes in her own style. She intentionally chooses to be different.

Original first sentences are as necessary as a well-thought ending. Your story must flow from start to end like the river flows. Generate a question or state a problem and then answer the question or solve the problem but don’t say too much.

Your journal is the place for your daily cathartic writing. Don’t complain. Don’t swear. Don’t be discourteous.

Write to spread knowledge, wisdom, and love. Tell your readers to face their lives with courage. Tell them life is not easy for anyone — those who boast of ‘living happily ever after’ are not being honest.

Tell your readers we are descendants of survivors. We are children of people who loved and fought for love. Our parents are the proof that we can do it too.

Write to help your readers feel better about themselves. Write your life stories and your streams of consciousness. Give your readers hope.

We are always telling ourselves a story. Others are doing it too. When we tell ourselves unhappy stories, we become sad. Why not choose a happy story? Everything happened to make you a better version of yourself.

Good writers make sense out of chaos. Anything you create is your intellectual property. If your work is excellent by your standards, you’ll get acknowledged in time.

Editors are always looking for well-written stories. Publications love excellent pieces. Reader adore a unique voice.

These superb writers wrote stories you’d love. These are our most favorite stories for November:

63. A New World Order

Stuart Englander writes to inspire. He loves to write film reviews. If you choose to read this story, you’ll become a fan for life.

They arrived as a group of two dozen adventurers to find a barren and desolate plain, and there was no turning back now. Within a few years of sweat and toil, they turned the soil into a burgeoning landscape, and ultimately, it became a fully functioning ecosystem. This group of like-minded pioneers had much to be proud of, not the least of which was the creation of a new community, a garden of prosperity.

Marvin Stafford perched on his favourite boulder, a pinkish-red block just outside his door. He stared across the still, rough landscape outside the compound, reminiscing over the past fifty years. He’d been here from the beginning, an unlikely leader who became the driving force behind the village’s success.

62. Advice that changed my Writing style

Muda El Masry’s brilliant advice is an asset to be bookmarked. You have missed it, but once you read it, you’d want to read more from Muda El Masry.

As much as I have internalized inspirational messages like “write the book you want to read” and “believe in your writing”, I still procrastinate and feel down about the quantity and quality of my stories. Change is easier said than done. But on rare occasions, I find a piece of writing advice that triggers a metamorphosis. My entire mind shifts and I become an altogether different type of writer behaving in ways I had never tempted before, these are three pieces of writing advice that changed my life.

The image is not blank — there is a pen to the far left that is not visible in the thumbnail.

61. Why Do So Many Love Vaporwave Music?

Isaiah McCall is a brilliant writer and a USA Today reporter. If you read this story, you are definitely going to read his other stories.

Vaporwave is strange. It’s likely what a postmodernist would envision music to become. I say that because in many ways vaporwave has surpassed what we know as a traditional genre of music. It evades proper meaning and is sometimes too abstract for its own good. However, it is in this polarizing niche that vaporwave thrives.

60. Writing Roots

Lisa Wathen is dedicated to storytelling. Her writer’s voice is calm and composed. If you have a headache, read this story to cure it.

I bought a large spiral notebook, with pages lined the way I like them — not too wide, but big enough for handwriting to still be legible. I bought a set of three very nice ball point pens. I set some ground rules for myself: it was okay to cross things out, scribble, and interrupt one narrative with another when inspiration strikes. Then I rolled up my shirt sleeves and began a new novel.

59. Writing Isn’t a Job. It’s a Religion

Dustin T. Cox loves to write about movies, books, and politics. He is a writer who knows his own mind. You must have missed it. So, please read it now.

I was raised a Southern Baptist. That means I was conditioned for fundamentalism — the SBC was and is deeply dogmatic. While I have long since left the church, that conditioning is to some extent permanent.

That means I tend to frame things with religious logic — I take an all or nothing approach to most aspects of life. While I have had mixed results in most areas with that mentality, it has served me well as a writer. I admit no compromise; I refuse to ‘sell out.’

58. How I Surrendered to the Creative Flow and Wrote a Book

Miri shares her experiences hoping to heal us all. She is an accomplished writer and writes mostly in German. She has her fears and doubts. Please read her story and tell her that she must write more.

Even throughout my corporate career and as a mum of toddlers, I had never really ceased to write. In fact, there are at least three unfinished novels, a few children’s stories, and countless poems sitting on my computer, waiting to be released into the wild.

Still, I had never made the conscious decision to call myself a writer. Maybe because I did not trust my skills? Maybe because I did not think my writing was worth sharing?

57. Twelve Star Trek Characters We Need To See Again

Brian E. Wish, Ph.D. is a skilled writer and you should follow him. His work is entertaining and informative. Don’t miss this one.

For Star Trek fans, we’re living in a new age of glory. There are no less than four series in production: Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, and the recently announced Strange New Worlds which will feature Captain Christopher Pike’s Enterprise.

56. 4 Truths to Live by to Become a Successful Writer

Kristina Segarra is a writer and an editor. She is sharing what she has learned from her writing life. Read her and fall in love with her style.

To become a successful writer takes time, patience, and effort. You can’t expect overnight success — becoming better is a gradual process.

You have to take writing seriously and that means you treat it as a business — something you can grow in overtime — rather than as a hobby.

Here are the four truths about writing you have to embrace.

55. Stop Draining The Energy Out Of Yourself By Constant Complaining

You’ll love Esther George’s frank and simple style. Most of us are not happy with life. But all that complaining is making you weak. Don’t miss this amazing account.

Do you complain, thinking that venting does you good? You gripe when things go wrong, when your feathers are ruffled, or when you encounter someone’s behavior or actions that you considered to be less than intelligent.

We know everyone is doing the best they can, and it’s fine if you want to make lemonade occasionally from the lemons life throws at you. If you’re a regular lemon magnet, then it’s all on you.

54. The Real Reasons People Resist Change (But Won’t Tell You)

Jessica Donahue, PHR is a talent management consultant. She is a talented writer. If you have missed her masterpiece, please read it now.

Imagine this — You’ve come up with a brilliant new idea, technology, or way of doing things that has the potential to do tremendous things for the team, the business, and the company.

You jump up and exclaim, “Great news, everyone — I found a better way!” expecting the team to applaud your innovative thinking and rally around you to make your idea a reality.

Instead, you’re greeted with blank stares and variations of, “No.” Why?

“Now’s not a good time.”

“It’s been done before.”

“That’s not the way we do things around here.”

“It’s complicated.”

53. Forensic Linguistic Evidence

Naouress Akrouti is a blogger and a linguist. Her style is formal and informative. She is a brilliant writer and you’d love her story.

Forensic linguistics is a rising forensic science that has been growing fast since the 1950’s. A forensic linguistics definition lies in the interface between the science of language, law, and law enforcement. The forensic linguistics meaning consists in the relationship between the legal context and language used by humans.

Spoken language or written text become forensic items when present in a legal or criminal context; hence, the need for a forensic linguist. The term forensic lignuist meaning the role of who does the forensic linguistic investigation has entered the job market.

52. 7 Truly Bizarre Books that Changed My Life

Valerie King’s informal style is absolutely charming. I think you’ll become friends with her in a minute. You can read it to know about the 7 bizarre books.

I’m obsessed with listicles, but one of my pet peeves, as a lifelong reader, is reading a million book listicles that all have the same generic classics in it. We get it, Heathcliff is your fictional crush. You relate to Jane Eyre. You managed to get all the way through Moby Dick.

I want to share 7 weird books with you. Books no one talks about. These are books that disturbed me, but changed the way I look at the world.

51. This Bed Isn’t Mine

Emma Tuftin loves to tell stories with a dash of magic. Like the young man in Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, she is facing a predicament when she wakes up. Don’t miss this one.

This bed isn’t mine.

With a yawn, I rub my eyes in an attempt to clear the sleep away. Nope, it’s not my bed or even my room. Where am I? Looking around, my half-conscious mind shutters like a camera, taking in my surroundings.

50. The MAGA Conundrum

Phil Rossi writes both fiction and nonfiction. Here he is predicting the future like a political oracle. Her writing voice is authoritative and logical. I hope you’ll love to read his masterpiece.

For every clown car waving flags, praising Trump, and crying election fraud, there are multitudes and a majority of Trump voters grounded in reality. They know the 2020 Presidential Election wasn’t rigged. Disappointed Trump lost, but remain grateful that our institutions held up.

Why? These are normal, decent, and honest Americans. Hard-working who play by the rules. They believe in our constitution, rule of law, and process.

49. My Migraines Led To A Near-Fatal Overdose On Prescription Medicine

Jennifer Friebely is a writer, editor, and coach. She is sharing a personal experience that all of us have faced at some point in our life. Read carefully and follow her advice. Someday your life, or the life of someone you love, might depend on what you are going to read today.

I began to write this, hours after being released from the hospital from a near-fatal accidental overdose from one pill of medicine I take to prevent migraines. I am finally well enough to finish writing four days later.

Please don’t make the same mistake I did. And please, do not ever think that “just one extra pill by mistake” is nothing. It’s holy sh*t not.

48. So You Think You’re Anti-Racist But You Support The War On Drugs? You’re Kidding Yourself.

Nicole M. Luongo is an author, academic, and a self-styled mad woman. Her story is strongly backed by extensive research and she is showing you the other side of the argument. Don’t miss this one.

Since the pandemic began, the West has been in turmoil. First, confusion about the severity of Covid-19 divided communities and families, and disagreements about its consequences still rage despite overwhelming evidence that even among the “recovered,” the virus isn’t good.

In the United States, interpretations of Covid — that is, its seriousness and the extent to which we should worry about its impact — are split down partisan lines. Unsurprisingly, Democrats have capitalized on the pandemic to point out that President Trump, who has long been a source of mockery among world leaders, has displayed bumbling incompetence in the face of adversity.

47. Quest for The “Best Jokes Ever” and How They Can Heal Us

Joe Moody wants you to enjoy the hidden benefits of jokes. If you haven’t read it already, now is a good time to go for it.

To learn about the power of laughter, I went on a quest for the “best jokes” out there.

I already had glimpses of how laughter benefits us. Sometimes, when something outrageously bad happens, the only thing left to do is laugh. “If I didn’t laugh, I’d have to cry…”

Sure, we can react with anger or frustration, but that usually just makes matters worse. Laughter shines a bright light on a negative incident, helping us both accept it while downplaying it.

46. 6 Amazing Hobbies for Lonely and Anxious People

Valerie King’s informal style is absolutely charming. I think you’ll become friends with her in a minute. You can read it to know the hobbies.

In 2020, everyone is a little more anxious and a little more lonely than ever before. Usually, a little solitude is great- you can eat a pint of ice cream without judgment, walk around naked, and can generally do whatever you want, whenever you want. But sometimes those bouts of loneliness, boredom, or anxiety get super overwhelming and you feel bad for not being productive. When this feeling of (totally unwarranted) guilt overwhelms me, I turn to my more casual hobbies. Hopefully, some of these activities can help you out, too.

45. How to Stay Positive When Dealing With Negativity

Adebayo Ijidakinro’s story is related to a topic that every one of us faces at some point: effectively dealing with negativity. Don’t miss it.

Negativity is everywhere. We all have to deal with it. Some of us have to deal with it more than others. Growing up, I always struggled with dealing with negative people. I always felt like I had to defend myself against people who looked down on me or viewed me negatively. And it was difficult because I had a very negative view of myself. So dealing with so much harmful criticism would cripple me mentally.

It was very difficult. And there were times when I honestly felt I couldn’t go on. But a few years back, I decided I needed to figure out how to deal with this. Not just for myself. But for the many people who have the same struggle.

44. What Can You Learn By Writing Online?

Thomas Dylan Daniel is a brilliant writer. He wants to share how writing has changed him. If you forgot to read it, you can do it now — a must-read.

Are you satisfied or happy with your life right now? Are you really okay with things continuing as they are? Do you want more?

Sometimes we choose not to grow further because the answer is, yes, everything is pretty much as perfect as you’d like. It’s a rare satisfaction, but I’ve known more than one person who was just fine where they were in life and had no good reason to be anything or anyone else.

43. Seven Myths and Misconceptions About Your Brain

Simon Spichak is a neuroscience and science communicator. His masterpiece can help you separate myths from knowledge about your brain.

The brain is irrational, often relying on a set of cognitive rules as shortcuts. When oversaturated with data, it is particularly susceptible to misinformation. Worse yet, this misinformation can anchor our ideas of a specific topic, even influencing how we think about it when presented with new evidence. Did you grow up thinking that we swallowed eight spiders a year in our sleep? I did. This titillating tidbit about the world is downright false, but it hasn’t stopped the myth or variations of it from propagating through our culture. A writer in a magazine fabricated the spider swallowing fact to show how easily false information spreads.

42. The Invisible Father

Sonia Chauhan is the author of this fabulous short story about love and selfishness of lovers who leave and never return. No spoilers. Read it.

She often wondered whether time had stopped. Aeons had elapsed since she’d met him, or so it seemed to her. She tried not to think about the future, but that was all she could think of. As if to dampen her spirits further, he seemed rather aloof on phone calls. Could it be that he had found out the truth about his father? Or the circumstances of her departure from his father’s life.

41. Cliches that Stick in Your Craw

Janice Arenofsky’s effort is worthy of a bookmark. Reread it when you forget to be original.

Don’t you just love it when someone pulls a cliche out of their pocket and applies it to something serious you just said? Did you say no? Well, I’m the same way. Cliches can be like puns — you feel like holding your nose or making an obscene noise when you hear them. You feel like saying, is that all you can come up with?

40. The Spacebar Is the Secret to a Solid Relationship

Aurellia T. Elisha is trying to inspire you to figure out life with her. This 3-minute read says a lot. When she writes, she is on fire.

Most of us associate space with relationships as a bad sign. But we all have heard the advice that space in any relationship: platonic and romantic is healthy.

Regardless, we are still scared of it. We see couples taking a break and ended up separating. We see friends expanding their individual social circles and ended up breaking. It’s worse if it’s long-distance.

Space is like a spacebar. Once you master where to put space, your relationships will flourish.

39. Running & Writing — The Mantra for Success Isn’t Too Different

The Maverick Files has written this wonderful piece that asks questions and explores possible answers to achieve success in writing.

This is the biggest reason why the first step towards any new skill or hobby is the hardest one to take.

Why should I even do this? Is there any benefit to doing this? Will I be good at it or am I even cut out to do this? Am I missing out on anything by not doing this? Why change?

Countless questions that have no real answers. The only answer is: If you never try, you will never find out.

38. How To Develop Open-Mindedness

Amanze Collins wrote this masterpiece but you must have missed it.

A study conducted at the University of Melbourne revealed that open-minded people perceive a completely different reality from that experienced by those with a closed mind. Through a binocular rivalry exercise in which several images are presented per eye, the researchers found that people with an open mind can combine both images, while those who are not sufficiently open-minded can only process one image at a time.

37. You Need To Change How You Value Talent

Jessica Donahue, PHR is the author of this great story. You must have missed it but this piece gives you a distinct perspective of the employer and employee relationship.

In a recent white paper, the World Economic Forum detailed this shift and said, “a resetting of strategy and metrics that value talent as an asset rather than an expense is critical for companies under pressure to operate more efficiently, build resilience and create value from their workforce investments.”

36. Why You Need to Know About Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation comes from within you. Markus Skårnes’s brilliant advice is something to be bookmarked. You have missed it but once you read it, you’d want to read more from Markus Skårnes.

What would you rather your motivation be dependent on; your own joy in the process, or external rewards? In this article, I’ll teach you about different types of motivation and what you can do to ensure your motivation doesn’t rely on anything but yourself.

35. How to Be a Great Writer — Learn from Great Musicians

Gary McBrine presents a thoroughly enjoyable comparison. Don’t miss it now if you have not read it already.

I remember when I first started to learn the guitar. Other siblings in my family also wanted to play, so they too bought guitars. Unfortunately, they didn’t continue. They didn’t practice enough. I continued to work through the sore fingers and learned to play. My guitar has been my life-long friend ever since.

34. The Truth About Our Own Ignorance, the Lies We Tell Ourselves, and the Meaning of Real Wisdom

This four-minute read by Dawn Bevier is an eye-opener for all of us. A rare piece written with more emotions than most people can pour into their writing.

One of the greatest areas of our ignorance concerns our own identity and personality. We foolishly judge others and delude ourselves into believing that when it comes to the vast majority of humans, we have the intellectual and moral “high ground.”

33. How to Get More Out of Social Media as a Content Creator

Kevin Lee is a lover of life and coffee. You must have missed this piece, but it will help you optimize your social media experience as a writer.

After spending some time on all the social media outlets, I’ve come to the realisation that they don’t serve me equally. Perhaps the same is true for you.

To me, most of them are pure distraction and noise. And a select few are more targeted and focused on the type of content I want to create. The differences and nuances of each platform make some more appropriate than others.

32. 3 Ways To Decolonise Your Bookshelf

Shaheen Hashmi wrote this masterpiece but you must have missed it.

Each book we read transforms us in subtle yet radical ways. Leaving a small imprint on us, our thinking and perceptions of the world shift and grow with reach read. It’s like finding something new in a familiar picture, something you cannot unsee. Or like adding a new lens to your perspective glasses. Whether you agree with this new perspective or not, it inevitably becomes a part of you.

31. 6 Proven Ways to Generate Article Ideas

Kristina Segarra is the author of this brilliant story. You must have missed it, but every writer is looking for such pieces.

As a writer, I’ve been there. I knew I wanted to write. But what will I write? Every time I sat down at my desk, I felt frustrated because I wasn’t able to write anything. Not even a word. I knew I had ideas somewhere in the back of my mind, but I didn’t have a magic wand to let them out.

20. Improve Your Chances of Getting Into a Big Publication By Editing Like a Cambridge Exam Student

Alexa V.S. wrote this piece in a way that totally makes sense. I am sure most of you missed it — here is an opportunity to learn more about editing from someone who knows what she is saying.

I am, though, an English teacher specialized in the Cambridge exams. Following the official rubric, I’ve corrected hundreds of student essays, letters, reports, proposals, reviews, and articles. Considering four points — content, communicative achievement, organization, and language — I’ve helped countless learners achieve their goals.

29. A Feminine Way to Productivity

Desiree Driesenaar is a fellow editor at Illumination. Here is a unique approach to productivity. Don’t miss it now if you didn’t read it already.

The feminine way to productivity is a smoother, easier way for me. I’m on a path of rewilding my soul and it works way better than the masculine pushing, pulling, and forcing. I used to have that in my life when I was still working full-time in my corporate jobs.

28. Life Isn’t Fair

This one minute read by John Ross is more compelling than my own 6-minute take on the topic.

There’s a quote I love from Naval Ravikant in Tim Ferris’ Tribe of Mentors which says “Ignore the unfairness — it is not fair. Play the hand you’re dealt with the best of your ability.”

27. 6 Golden Tips To Have More Confidence In Yourself

Amanze Collins is passionate about his writing. You must have missed it, but this piece will help you boost your self-confidence.

To tell the truth, I haven’t found the perfect recipe for self-confidence yet… perhaps because recipes don’t exist in this field (and when they exist, they don’t work for long).

However, I understood one thing with certainty: believing in one’s abilities is something that grows inversely proportional to our desire to please everyone.

25. Seven Myths and Misconceptions About Your Brain

Simon Spichak is a neuroscience and science communicator. His masterpiece can help you separate myths from knowledge about your brain.

“The brain is irrational, often relying on a set of cognitive rules as shortcuts. When oversaturated with data, it is particularly susceptible to misinformation. Worse yet, this misinformation can anchor our ideas of a specific topic, even influencing how we think about it when presented with new evidence. Did you grow up thinking that we swallowed eight spiders a year in our sleep? I did. This titillating tidbit about the world is downright false, but it hasn’t stopped the myth or variations of it from propagating through our culture. A writer in a magazine fabricated the spider swallowing fact to show how easily false information spreads.”

24. Quest for The “Best Jokes Ever” and How They Can Heal Us

Joe Moody wants you to enjoy the hidden benefits of jokes. If you haven’t read it already, now is a good time to go for it.

To learn about the power of laughter, I went on a quest for the “best jokes” out there.

I already had glimpses of how laughter benefits us. Sometimes, when something outrageously bad happens, the only thing left to do is laugh. “If I didn’t laugh, I’d have to cry…”

Sure, we can react with anger or frustration, but that usually just makes matters worse. Laughter shines a bright light on a negative incident, helping us both accept it while downplaying it.

23. Are You Hitting the Stores for Black Friday This Year?

Rose Bak is a writer, author, and yoga teacher from Portland, Oregan. Her style will teach you to knit words into interesting sentences while she explores the shopping frenzy on Black Fridays.

The term “Black Friday” initially was coined to mark the devastating stock market crash in 1929.

It became associated with the day after Thanksgiving in the 1950s, where the police department in Philadelphia started using the term to describe the chaos of Christmas shopping. The combination of crazy crowds, brazen shoplifters, pickpockets, and the requirement to work on the day after Thanksgiving was a dark day for those in law enforcement.

22. Ten Tips for Writing Better Articles

Amy Chamberlain’s style is simple and elegant. If you read her articles, you’ll definitely like to read more from her.

There’s a lot of competition in the writing industry, so your content has to be of high quality; otherwise, you’re not going to make it because anybody can write things and publish them.

But good content isn’t that difficult to create, everybody has exciting stories, but the technique to write them down correctly can be an issue sometimes, but this is mostly the thing that makes or break an article.

Your article has to be interesting to read and have quality, but that doesn’t mean it must be difficult to read.

21. The Only Way Out if Self-Criticism Is Killing Your Work

I wrote this piece. I hope you like it.

When you start doing some work, a stream of thoughts starts simultaneously to tell you that your techniques are not good enough. After some time, you do not even have to criticize yourself; the inner critic runs in the background — like a state of mind — forever telling you that you do not have what it takes to be the chosen one, the liked one, or the preferred one.

You cannot get rid of this feeling. I used to think that some people had it, and others didn’t — as if it was a bacterial infection or a genetic mutation.

20. Debunking Three Myths About Raising Bilingual Kids

Vic Bowling’s intriguing style will definitely hold your attention. She engages you with her deep understanding of the issue. Invoking emotions in this way is difficult for most of the writers.

I started feeling like I was losing a battle that had barely begun.

Both my partner and I wanted our child to grow up bilingual. But it’s easier said than done. Because I — myself and I — would be the parent responsible for our little one’s bilingual skills. And it’s kind of daunting.

I also realised that I had a lot of fears associated with trying to teach my child two languages at the same time.

19. Europe’s Regional Languages Risk Dying Out

Roxana Azimi’s take on this issue is noteworthy. She is a good writer. Try to keep track of her future work.

The EU currently boasts 24 official languages, but this region is also home to numerous regional languages beyond the likes of our beloved Spanish, French and Italian. From Sicilian to Silesian, Gaelic to Galician, Venetian to Valencian — there’s more to the European language story we are often told…

Often pushed to the side-lines, some of these regional vernaculars — the hipster equivalents of languages, if you will — have even been threatened with extinction because, quite frankly, people aren’t speaking them as much.

So what can we do to ensure these less prominent languages live on? Should we bother at all?

18. Going for alcohol-free beer: A silly experience

Enzo M. Battista-Dowds PhD. RD. is a registered dietician. He is sharing a personal experience. Please do read it.

The date was October 31, which is not only Halloween and the birthday of one of my best friends — shout out to Panny — it’s also the final day of ‘Stoptober’. If you’re unfamiliar, Stoptober is a public health campaign in the UK that encourages people to quit smoking for the month.

I don’t smoke, alcohol is my vice. So, as a personal challenge, I decided to be alcohol-free for 31 days. On October 31, I had a bright idea, genius, really. Why not celebrate going alcohol free for a month by having an alcohol free beer on the final day of the challenge? It’s poetic — and I’m guessing a tasty experience too. Win, win.

17. On Becoming Tina

Tina Olson’s story will grab your attention instantly. You’ll feel compelled to read it to the end.

Humans are only one of the many colonies that inhabit the Earth. I bet ants think they are hot shit too.

On a summery Fall day, when the sun hung low and the leaf dust picked up easily in the breeze, I walked along the winding empty road leading from the Casino to the TV Station. These are old boots, the buckle on one side waves awkwardly after being ripped from rage and the other boot is too tight on my broken toe nail.

16. Be More Creative. Think Like Goldilocks

Neil Pavitt is an author, speaker, coach, and teacher. He is a Fast Company contributor as well. Read his work to learn more about writing and creativity. If you like this story, you’ll read every other story he has written.

The unconscious mind plays a very important role in coming up with ideas. But you need to create the right conditions for this to happen. There’s no guarantee ideas will pop up from your unconscious, but it’s like planting a seed; if you plant it in a sunny spot in good soil and give it plenty of water, you’ve given it the best chance to grow.

One of the most common misconceptions is that “creative” people have these “light bulb moments” that just pop into their heads as if from nowhere. But no one has great ideas without thinking about a problem for a long time. It only seems to come out of nowhere because it comes from your unconscious. They never just appear without a lot of hard work.

15. The Real Reasons People Resist Change (But Won’t Tell You)

Jessica Donahue, PHR is a talent management consultant. She is a talented writer. If you have missed her masterpiece, please read it now.

Imagine this — You’ve come up with a brilliant new idea, technology, or way of doing things that has the potential to do tremendous things for the team, the business, and the company.

You jump up and exclaim, “Great news, everyone — I found a better way!” expecting the team to applaud your innovative thinking and rally around you to make your idea a reality.

Instead, you’re greeted with blank stares and variations of, “No.” Why?

“Now’s not a good time.”

“It’s been done before.”

“That’s not the way we do things around here.”

“It’s complicated.”

14. The Currency Of Time

Nikhil Dhawan is a story-listener and a story-teller. Here is an interesting take on receiving notifications. Don’t miss it.

On a recent Fall evening, I was out for a stroll in the crisp weather. The clouds in the sky were scattering, crunchy leaves sprawled the ground, and a distant lake reflected the setting sun’s orange. It was a moment I was content soaking in.

Meanwhile, a friend was walking near me, texting and catching up on his phone. He was actively focusing on his messages, which might have been his only opportunity to do so. My instinct was to understand his situation and why he chose that moment to engage in said activity.

13. How The Right Volunteering Experience Can Change Your Life and Remind You That You’re a Person.

Aaron Nichols is an excellent writer and a teacher. His style is simple, engaging, and he has a message for us — perhaps the most important message of all. Don’t miss this one.

Most of what I know to be true about love and our capacity for change came to me as I stood on a hillside in Thailand, digging a grave for a dog I’d never met.

Do I have your attention? Good. This is a story about hope.

Last year (when things like this were still possible) I took a three-month backpacking trip through southeast Asia. Before we left, a friend and I signed up for Workaway, a fabulous website that can connect you with amazing volunteer experiences across the globe (when pandemics aren’t happening).

12. Why is TikTok is so Addicting?

Kate Cohen writes about life. She is a talented writer and you are going to fall in love with her simple and direct style. If you did not read this, here is your chance.

POV: You downloaded TikTok as a joke and now you are here reading this article about why TikTok is so addictive.

Congrats and welcome to the club!

Before COVID, TikTok just seemed like a Gen Z app with teenagers doing random dances. However, as people are craving escapism from all that is going wrong in the world, many are starting to understand what makes TikTok so unique.

11. Why I Quit Social Media for A Year

Insaf Ali is sharing his personal experience of social media addiction.

From January of 2018 to January of 2019 I quit using social media. Mainly Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. But I was still doing things like watching the occasional YouTube video and using email.

This is a topic that often gets people quite worked up. You have people that demonize social media and applaud anyone who quits. Then you have other people who say that social media is amazing and quitting is stupid, or that you should just use it less.

I’m not trying to convince you that social media is the devil or that everyone should quit. This is just a reflection on my own life about why I quit, what I learned, and how I use social media now.

10. Why Electronic Voting Is Still a Horrible Idea

Matt Stevenson is a superb writer. He is trying to explain why electronic voting might still be a horrible idea.

You’d think by 2020 that electronic voting would be a feasible reality, but this is far from the truth. Here’s why electronic voting is still a horrible idea.

Elections have some very unusual requirements. There are two key features that are almost opposed to each other — anonymity and trust.

9. I Wouldn’t Have Survived My Teenage Years in This Age of Social Media

Daniella Mini wants to help us know ourselves. Her style is simple, direct, and engaging. If you read her story from start to end, you’d want to read all her stories.

In addition, the hormonal and brain changes that come with puberty hit me mighty hard, as they do a lot of people, girls in particular. Add the brace and a strong genetic predisposition for depression and you’ve got yourself a real confused teenager.

I channeled my acute sense of inadequacy by withdrawing and becoming — and I mean this in a descriptive, not negative, way — a shy nerd. I lost my two best friends since the second grade and had no real close peers to talk to, call, or go out with for nearly three years.

8. The Relationship Of Millennials With An Early Midlife Crisis

Kashish Mehta’s style is simple and elegant. His questions are great and he is pointing out why we may be pursuing the wrong objectives in our lives. Please do read this great story.

We spend all the time and effort in the world trying to figure out everything around us but seldom put in half of that effort and time in figuring ourselves out. The lesser time we invest in knowing ourselves, the harder it gets for us to cope with the changing times and their relevance in our lives. Millennials like me fit into this description perfectly.

We compete with everything and everyone around us and make the external environment and its stakeholders our holy grail. In a way, our fire is fueled not by our own innate abilities and desires to grow and get better, but by the accomplishments of those that we know and hear of.

7. Tricks In The Medium Editor You Didn’t Know About

Puck is a curious microbiologist. But in this article, he wants to tell you about Medium Editor’s built-in features. You’ll enjoy reading it.

Sometimes my fingers have their own minds and press different keys than I intend to. So, one time when typing away, in the Medium Editor, this box on the bottom of the page popped up.

Chock full with keyboard shortcuts — a cheat sheet. Who would have known? Well, I am going to spill the beans and tell the world about it.

6. Flee to the Desert

Richard J. Goodrich is an author and a history professor. He is a wonderful writer. Don’t you want to know why sane and sensible people starting living on the rim of the Sahara desert? How could it benefit them? Intrigued? Go ahead and read the story.

In the mid-fourth century, the Roman world witnessed one of the strangest phenomena of its 1,100-year history. Men and women — Christians, who were to all outward appearances sane, sensible, and sober — began to abandon their towns and villages, families and friends, vocations and careers to make their way to the harsh deserts of Egypt. Some settled in newly-established colonies along the Nile river; others chose to live alone, away from the river, in isolated stone cells concealed in the arid wasteland along the eastern rim of the Sahara. Here, living beneath the scorching sun, these men and women devoted themselves to a single-minded search for God.

5. Why Consciousness Is the Ultimate Frontier of Human Evolution

If you enjoyed this story by Shivendra Misra, chances are that you’ll read every other story written by this master writer. He is fond of bending the reality through his work.

According to what we call science today, the Universe appeared out of nowhere. Everything fell perfectly into its place — the matter, the energies, and all the laws that govern them.

While only a few of us take time to question this hypothesis, it’s worth contemplating. Whether this statement is true or not will determine what kind of lives each one of us leads.

To give you an analogy, thinking that the Universe came out of nothing would be like saying that the device you’re reading this article on also appeared out of nowhere — where all the hardware and the batteries running the device fell into a perfect position governed by the laws of circuits that were also defined out of nowhere. Seems crazy, right? Thought so.

4. Three Japanese Habits That The World Could Benefit From Right Now

Tom Matsuda is a British-Japanese writer from London. He has been published in OneZero and Human Parts. Don’t miss this interesting take on how Japanese culture saved the people from the pandemic’s impact.

During my year abroad in Japan, I realised how my upbringing as a person of British-Japanese descent imparted onto me certain traits. Previously, I thought that these were my own idiosyncrasies but as time went past I began to see these reflected back to me in Japanese culture. I’ve been back in my birth country of the UK for less than two weeks now and immediately found myself in reverse culture shock.

Whilst Japan and its people are diverse in character and ways of thinking, there are certain habits and ideas that offer guidelines on how to live. Ones that perhaps people raised there aren’t even conscious of.

3. Why Uber Isn’t Built to Last

Matt Stevenson is a superb writer. It seems he has discovered a flaw in Uber’s business plan. Would you like to know more? I think you would. Don’t miss this masterpiece.

Uber has been so successful because it doesn’t sell car rides, it sells time and convenience. Just open the app — almost anywhere — and you’ll be able to find a ride. And for the most part, they’ve found a way to keep prices low.

Uber’s way of calculating the ride cost is really quite simple, they start with the regular base fare, add the per-minute rate multiplied by the time spent in car, plus distance times the per-mile rate. All of this is — of course — dependent on the city.

2. How Tony Hsieh’s Death Is A Reminder Of How To Build A Great Company And Life

[arlie] PEYTON helps brands to grow — through his writing and SEO skills. Tony Hsieh has left behind remarkable leadership advice. If you haven’t read this story already, do it now.

When I was a college business adjunct, I had many discussions with my students about startups and what makes them work.

I also had a penchant for talking ad nauseum about how startups fail since most of them do. I felt people ought to brace themselves for difficult times.

Startups are odd beasts and there is no perfect formula. Of course, value creation is very important. We also love billion-dollar markets and low saturation. Dozens of things can make or break a startup.

1. The 3-Stage Model For Acquiring New Skills Very Quickly

At number one, Thomas Oppong is telling us to new skills very quickly with a 3 stage model. Don’t miss it.

The ability to acquire new skills quickly is an important skill in a rapidly changing world. If you are at an important stage of your career, there are probably more skills you want to learn than you have time for.

As information becomes more readily accessible online, it’s important to focus on a few approaches that can accelerate your learning.

Final Thoughts

If your story was selected as one of the Top 10, please share another one of your stories in the comments with a brief introduction and a short review that can convince a reader to read your piece. (Please write the review in the third person and start it with your name.)

I must have missed something today. I cannot read every story on Illumination and Illumination-Curated. Dr Mehmet Yildiz, the Chief Editor and Founder of Illumination and Illumination-Curated, read, highlighted, and applauded every good story when he started his publications. He still reads almost all of the good ones. I try — and fail daily — to read all of the masterpieces.

So, help me. Help me to find and rank the best work of the writers of Illumination and Illumination-Curated.

Happy reading.

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