Shout Out: The Magic of Spreading Love

In response to Coffee Challenge; Why I am a pro-shout-out movement.

My journey in Medium is two and half months old, a fresh chapter of my life filled with lots of hope, positivity, and passion. I started to write on Medium to reignite my passion, and craft my profile as a professional writer.

While exploring the emerging publications that embrace new writers, I landed on the submission page of Coffee Times, where one of the mandates is to shout out others’ stories.

I find it one of the unique and striking features of this publication. I am learning how Winston brings value to the community through his unique style. For example, mandatory Shout-out, Coffee Times Movement, Coffee Times Lounge, dedicated editors for different columns, etc.

I read a lot to find out the stories that I loved most to give it a shout-out. In this process of meeting the mandatory criteria, I am learning something every day. I usually analyze the different writers’ styles, charm, and uniqueness.

The Magic Happened to Me

The magic happened to me one fine morning when I also got a shout-out.

Yes, Tamil mentioned me for the first time in one of her stories that surprised me and brightened my entire day. I got more motivated to read, engage and connect. My belief in the shout-out is reinforced every time I get a shout-out in others’ stories. That’s a lovely feeling of being warmly embraced. It acts as word-of-mouth for a writer.

When the brilliant editor, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles mentioned me in Coffee Times Weekly Round-up-6, that was like my dream come true as I admire her round-ups.

Every week, she picks up the stories as flowers and stitches a garland in the form of Round-ups for us. Being a part of that was something unexplainable. While she mentioned my article, it came as sun-shine on my baby plant of dreaming a loved writer.

Shout-outs gives me the privilege to be connected with experienced and brilliant writers like Kris Bedenian, Liberty Forrest, Author Lady Dr. Gabriella Korosi ,Neera Handa Dr A.H. Mehr Sorina Raluca Băbău Amanda Laughtland Walter Pop Matthews IV Natasha Nichole Lake Radhika Iyer Niall Leah, Arbab Z. Sujona Chatterjee Art Bram B.R. Shenoy, and the list goes on.

I have around 300 followers, and I published four stories in Coffee Times, and all of the stories got high engagement in terms of claps, respondents, and read-time.

For example, all four stories published at Coffee Times get around 1 k claps individually. It’s not only a 1k claps but also a 1k love for me.

This community has shown me the magic of giving love. How great editors like Dr. Preeti Singh and Yana Bostongirl nurture the writing spirits of budding writers like me through their encouraging comments is beyond expressions. Yes, I called myself a budding writer, and I learned this term from Drashti Shroff, another shining editor like Sharing Randomly and Marrisa W.

Shout-Out Spells the Magic

I believe that Shout-out is like spreading love. When I took time to read others’ stories, get involved with the story and shout out — the whole activity is the one kind of expression of love to others’ work. I don’t shout out that if I don’t love that.

If you give love to anyone in this world, that is bound to come back to you in a different form from different people. Yes, this is the law of nature. As you sow, so you reap. In fact, from our childhood, we are raised hearing several stories on giving, such as a famous story of The Ant and The Dove.

On a hot day in the summertime, an ant was thirsty and looking for water to drink. She slipped and fell into a river while trying to drink water. A dove sitting on a branch of a tree saw the ant struggling. The dove quickly plucked a leaf and dropped it into the river to help the ant. The ant escaped from drowning with the help of that leaf. She looked up to the tree and thanked the dove.

Afterward, a bird catcher nearby was about to trap the dove through the net. An ant saw him and quickly bit his foot. Feeling the pain, the bird catcher dropped that net. The dove noticed it and quickly flew away and saved from being trapped.

This story helped us learn the moral- If you do good, good will come to you. One good turn deserves another.

I believe love is a two-way relationship. How can one expect pure love from one’s partner without loving?

The relationship with our Almighty is also a two-way connection. If we don’t walk as per His command, we will not be His good-book.

Even see closely and deeply a relationship between mother and her infant. The little one also gives back the warmth and love to its mom.

‘Shout Out ‘ has given me more true connections and engagement in my journey as a writer. I can connect with the readers and writers who can resonate with me. This connection is the foundation of creating my own brand value.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Ravyne Hawke for giving us this amazing publication ‘Promptly Written’ to publish our stories for the Coffee Times Shout out challenge.

Finally, my thanks go to Coffee Times Times for shining through unique style.

Coffee Times is one of my favorite publications. As rightly Winston says, it is not only a publication but also a movement. Being a part of a movement gives me a sense of joy.