Writer Focus

Quitting; Sometimes it’s the Best Way to Change Your Fortune

New writer spotlight and update on June writing challenges

To wrest a turn of phrase from the inimitable Ron White, this story has a lot of quit in it. As it turns out, quitting can have some very positive outcomes. You just need to know how and when to do so. Today we are going to talk about giving up on online courses, quitting drinking, throwing out our excess stuff and the art of breaking up with your horse.

Saddle up, grab some garbage bags and get to work on reading these great articles from five writers new to Illumination!

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

If you are like me and have wondered a bit about the value found in webinars and “master classes”, then you will appreciate Daniel St. Joseph‘s perspective on experts, gurus and billionaires that want to tell you how to be “just like them”.

It turns out if you want to be just like them, then you need to get a whole bunch of people to buy your online course. It is a simple as that.

If you have other dreams or passions, it might be time to read up on how to quit falling for those online courses here:

When you get done purging your online junk, it is probably time to figure out why it is that you can’t seem to let go of your physical junk as well.

Read this excellent piece by Alyson Dalton and find out how “Limbo-land” is helping us rationalize holding on to those holey undies and mismatched socks when they should be in the trash already:

Once the virtual and physical garbage is cleared, we might consider taking a look at our habits. While a glass of wine or beer on the porch on a nice day could be a delightful diversion, Scott Hisey realized that those diversions were detracting from his ability to turn daydreams into reality.

Scott decided to stop drinking and get up off the porch and chase his dreams instead of just idly thinking about them. Scott shares his insight and makes an argument for abstinence that makes a ton of sense here:

Another good thing to consider quitting is holding on to the fears and insecurities that keep us from being our best selves. INFJ Elder shares a wonderful story of how a middle school teacher made a huge impact in her life many years ago.

Posing as a fortune teller at a school fair, this teacher let her façade slip for a second and touched a young woman’s life for the profoundly better. If it is okay with INFJ Elder I will add this story to my list of writing challenges because it has a CTA that asks us to remember one person that nurtured us when we really needed it.

And finally, a classic tail (yep) of, “it’s not you, it’s me” comes to light in the barn. Join Pepper Lowe as she weaves an excellent story about love and relationships.

Breaking up is always hard to do even if one of the parties happens to be of the equine persuasion. But getting out of bad relationships allows both parties to grow and learn and be happy. Read all about what happens when your horse tells you it is time to move on:

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.

One of the writers on board since the beginning (or very near) of Illumination is R Tsambounieri Talarantas. A dedicated reader and supporter of other writers on the platform, she is constantly encouraging others and is a dedicated highlighter.

Descended from Venetian royalty and hailing from a long line of the best herders and pipers on her island of Karpathos, she provides us with poetry and stories that touch the soul. Please read her bio for more interesting family history and read this great piece as well:

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.

Supporting others 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.

List of New Challenges and Prompts

Send me your writing prompts! Here’s what we have so far:

Kevin Buddaeus

Sarah E Sturgis

Sherry McGuinn

Tree Langdon ♾️

B. A. Cumberlidge.

A new one today from Brian as well. What is one day that makes an everlasting memory?

Holly Jahangiri — A challenge, sneakily hidden in a newsletter!

INFJ Elder New today, (and featured above) a prompt to write about one person that made a positive impact on us.

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:

Dénika Soria Jiménez, Tanush Prem, Manolo Romero, Anna Winterbell, Gavin Sher, Julius Naras, Sophia Paige, Tina L. Smith, helenaknows, Alaina Balkaran, Khadejah Jones, Eleonora Hristova, Sparkle, Rancell Tapia, Nate Muller, Lena Ovechkin, Edris Quinn C., Mihai Sandu, Casi Mclean, Terence Walter,

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.