Writer Focus

Of Tech and Tears; New Writers on Illumination

New writer spotlight and update on June writing challenges

This was headed towards being my first all tech-related feature article because we have three great software, hardware and usability pieces to highlight. However, then I came across a story that simply had to be featured, even if no tech was involved, so that is where we are at today!

Each day in June I hope to feature a few articles from writers that have just recently been added to the publication. I am doing this because I want to make a point of welcoming and getting acquainted with the new writers, and doing a feature allows me to read some of their work and pick items that catch my eye each day.

My hope is to get these authors a few extra eyes on their writing and perhaps gain a few fans that otherwise might not have seen their work. If these new-to-Illumination writers don’t have bios yet, we hope they write one soon so we can add it to our growing list:

But until then, my aim is to choose a handful of writers from the ranks of the newly added to Illumination and highlight one of their articles. Then I will have an ask of them afterward (Hint: I will ask that they pay it forward by doing the same thing for other writers).

Plus, an ongoing list of writer challenges follows the feature articles below! So, without further ado:

New Writer Spotlight

Our first writer answers the age-old question on everyone’s mind: Mac or PC? Can a Mac user ever transition to using a Windows product? Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Bibhuti Bhusan Jagat lays out all the particulars, the specs, the good, the bad and the ugly in his article:

Next we find someone in the midst of a job orientation when the unthinkable occurs in front of the Human Resources lead. After talking yourself up, nailing the interview, suiting up and showing up for the first day of work, one would expect they wouldn’t be stymied by something so simple as turning on their computer.

Join Vishal Sharma as he walks us through what may possibly be one of the most embarrassing first days on the job ever:

If you think TikTok is simply the sound a grandfather clock makes in between chiming each hour, then you probably need to read up a bit. The video app TikTok is taking the world by storm, whether we like it or not.

If you are in the range somewhere between Millennial and Boomer, then chances are you have heard of TikTok, but you aren’t quite sure what it is. Thankfully Thong Teck Yew is here to help us get not just famous; but “TikTok Famous”:

Finally, while this last piece doesn’t have much to do with tech, it certainly deserves a lot of attention.

Eshal Rose crafts a letter to her future daughter that will resonate with every parent; and every child, and it may also generate a few tears. I don’t want to take anything away from this excellent writing by trying to summarize it. You simply have to go here and read it yourself. You will be very glad that you did.

Let’s Make a Connection

Next I want to broker an introduction of the new writers tagged in this article and one of our editors and/or writers who has been at Illumination for a bit.

Keno Ogbo has been with Illumination since early May. Not only did she Crack Medium in 2 Weeks, she also has managed to engage with numerous other writers and editors on the platform and always has insightful viewpoints.

Keno was the originator of one of the writing prompts many of us took up in May that posed 12 questions to make sense of lockdown. And yesterday she published this piece that extracted many of the responses and gives some global perspective on how people approached and dealt with lockdown all over the world:

If you want to connect with me or any of the editors, please consider joining the Illumination Slack workgroup. You can request an invitation to Slack by contacting Dr Mehmet Yildiz from this link. Please type “Request for Slack” on the heading as Dr. Yildiz has many other requests from this link.

I am always willing to answer questions and provide information for anyone. The other editors and writers are as well. Slack is the best way to interact if you have questions.

If you need some tips to get up and running on Slack, this article is a good starting point:

The Big Ask

As promised, if I featured your story here, or are reading this and feel inspired, I encourage you to pay forward the concept of highlighting the work of others.

Please consider choosing another writer (or writers) and creating a story that emphasizes aspects that you appreciate about their work. It could be their style, topic choices, voice, technical aspects of writing, or maybe you just like their profile picture.

I am confident that when you do this you will find that your own writing work gets better. In many ways I believe that the person that brings attention to others’ work benefits even more than the recipient. That is one of the core premises and values of Illumination, and when you engage you will find that you reap dividends. I encourage you to give it a whirl. And, when you do, tag me in your article. I love being exposed to stuff I might not have otherwise seen.

Bonus Gift — The Writing Challenge

There are two types of writers in the world. Those who have experienced writer’s block, and those that will.

One of the great remedies to the question, “What do I write next?” is responding to a prompt or challenge provided by another writer. I personally have benefitted significantly from this and, to some extent, this section is a bit self-serving because I want to have some handy prompts to write about occasionally.

Older prompts

Some older prompts I have been involved in are: If I wasn’t a writer I would…, Self-Discovery during lock down, a funny video prompt, and a musical prompt.

List of New Challenges and Prompts

I am hoping to develop a list of newer prompts with their originators. Send me your writing prompts! Here’s what we have so far:

Kevin Buddaeus

Sarah E Sturgis

Here is a new challenge from Sherry McGuinn that asks us if we are turning into our mothers — or our fathers, respectively. Or maybe not respectively; you decide and write your own response!

If you are participating in or originating a challenge and you want to include it here for people to find, either respond to this article or hit me up on Slack (@timothykey).

Next Group

Tomorrow I will pull from this new group of recently added writers:

Shrita Pathak, Iryna Kokota, Ada, Narinman Aresh, Maddy Chen, Alyssa Atkinson, Martin Andersson Aaberge, Kiran Jain, Eli Snow, Ujjawal Srivastava, Jian Xu, Sumon Basak, Fatima Khan, Rubaiyat Rahman, Bassey Elimian, Sithara Ariyarathna, Chris Chau, Diane Lee, Shrita Pathak, Ashley Chang, Christine Tu, Onyedikachukwu Czar, Tsava Dree, James Frank Sanders, Katarina Zunic, Yomi Omoogun, Allen R. Marquez, Natasha Curtis, Shawn Forno, Angel Santiago-Lopez, William Palmer, Ralph Deckers, Sayed Saryah Sareer

If you want me to highlight one of your stories in particular, or have any questions just respond to this story, or better yet, find me on Slack!

Thanks for reading, I am enjoying getting to know all the new writers on Illumination!

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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.