GOOD READING

Sorry For Oversharing

But I’ve Been Busy

Never surf when drinking coffee — it’ll spill

For a couple of years now, I’ve been stashing articles that look interesting in my own private list. When I sit back with a coffee (tea/beer) I go to the list and have a ready-made collection of good writing. Always have your reading matter ready. Never surf when drinking coffee (tea/beer) — you’ll only spill it.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been busy — mega busy. I’ve continued to stash but have barely found time to make the coffee, let alone sit back to read while I drink it. The list has grown and it occurred to me a couple of weeks ago that I was generating “an excellence” of good writers and I shouldn’t keep it to myself — so I shared my last couple of lists. Excellence, by the way, is not an official collective noun for writers, but is one of many suggestions that have been put forward — others are pen, quill, procrastination, library, and chapter. Excellence works well for my list.

What do I tag when I’m busy?

The past week was busier than ever and the list is huge. It’s also themed, which wasn’t my intention, but provides a window on the sorts of things I tag when I’m busy. I was interested to note the extremes — a whole stash of very short articles, plus a couple of massive ones.

Some perennial favourites

These include Anne Bonfert, here heading south for the winter with the birds.

And Jan Sebastian — always good for a laugh and often with a stack of useful tips in tow.

I’m always keen to discover new culinary delights — and I’ve found a good few on Medium — like pockett dessert who not only provides the recipes but also builds the story around the food, making it quite irresistible.

I can’t let a foodie section go by without mentioning Kris Bedenian, the genius who tipped me off to pears and parsnips as a good combo in soup. Here she is with a useful way to avoid wasting all that surplus Halloween pumpkin.

Indeed, food figures prominently in my current list. Here’s Elin Melaas with Norwegian Apple Cake.

Not forgetting some great artistic talent

Have you discovered the artistic talent on here? I’ve found paintings, illustrations, craftwork … all manner of things. I always leap upon anything by Susan Alison to check out what watercolour Doggo has been up to.

Check out these illustrations by Christopher Robin.

Letting others do the heavy lifting

Others share their own collections, themed from various angles, and it’s a good way to mine seams of good reading.

Sahil Patel is a must. His reading marathons are thoughtfully put together and always worth reading. In this one, he explores the work of Julie Gaeta, an excellent writer who I had already discovered. If she’s new to you, you have a treat in store.

Here’s another rich vein of good content. This is a round-up of stories from Mary Chang Story Writer’s excellent publication, the Six Word Photo Story Challenge, by editor Ellie Jacobson.

This is Mary Chang’s take on the challenge — and includes her account of triathlon swimming:

Within the round up, you’ll find gems from Judy Walker, Paul Gardner, Shubha Apte, John Dean, Osan Fernando, L Burton, Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages, K. Barrett, Randy Runtsch, Nicole Anders, Mia Verita, Rodrigo S-C, and Barb Dalton 🇺🇦.

Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles writes about everything so she’s a regular on my list. Here’s a quirky take on her life in which she poses an interesting question. As I write this, I still don’t know if I have the right answer.

Maria Rattray once told the story of someone who challenged her to write about uplifting topics, saying that her subjects were too dark and gloomy. Whoever it was might have had a point, but given the world we live in, we need the Marias to raise our consciousness. We all inhabit the same planet and we all have a responsibility towards it and each other.

Here’s David Perlmutter genuinely surprised to have achieved Top Writer status.

I don’t think any readers of his short stories will be surprised. If you’ve not encountered his work before, try something from the spooky collection listed in this one:

Here’s a challenge that I’ve been following because it intrigued me. Of course, I left it way too late to join in, but these are regular challenges, so I might get on board with a later one.

Short reads — Long reads

For short reads, you can’t beat The Daily Cuppa. Katie Michaelson is currently writing a spooky mini-series in bite-sized chunks. In my list, I’m up to #4. Here’s #1

It takes me a while to read this next set because they’re long. I rarely get through them in one go, but there is always plenty of good reading in an ILLUMINATION Amplifier hand-picked articles piece. My current list contained enough Illumination reading for several coffees and a couple of beers:

Writers — Don’t Miss Out!

My list was a long one this time. I haven’t shared it all but sorry if I overshared. I hope you found some new and interesting writers along the way.

I’ll end on this one because I’ve seen a lot of article headlines bemoaning the constant shrinking of writers’ income. It’s true, it’s harder and harder to make a living with the pen. So it’s all the more important not to miss out on money that is rightfully yours, particularly when someone else has done the hard work of collecting it for you, and is just waiting to put it into your palm if you would only reach out.

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