Writer Focus

The 5 Best Full-Bodied and Imperfect Walking Games for Fall

New writer spotlight and update on June writing challenges

Today’s group of writers made things really tough, there were a lot of great articles to choose from. I even had to grab an article with a “5” in the title because it was about the benefits of walking, which I highly espouse.

Food words and word games are featured today, as well as how to best close out a life phase and the power of imperfection. So, grab your chef’s hat, thesaurus, calendar, and walking shoes and get ready for some appetizing stories!

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

Today we start with a story that I almost didn’t read. When I am looking for articles to feature, I tend to stay away from longer ones, so the 9-minute read time almost scared me off. But I am glad that it didn’t!

Michael J. Vowles makes some great points about how we commonly misunderstand one another because we are conducting the conversation by different rules. But, in addition to having a fantastic topic, he also weaves a great story and keeps you wanting to read along to see what transpires in the article.

See why this feels more like a two-minute read because it is so compelling:

Next comes another great concept from Ria Tagulinao; the idea that all the phases of our lives are like seasons, and that each season needs its own sendoff.

Ria argues that each major milepost in life deserves recognition and a chance to be celebrated and cemented into our past in order for us to more effectively move forward. Read about Ria’s interesting take on closing chapters here:

Next is a piece that helps us appreciate and celebrate our imperfections. Sadhana G notes that some of the most amazing things in life are not perfect, but rather unique imperfections.

Let Sadhana show you how to turn “imperfect” into, “I’m Perfect!”

I like this next article because for the longest time in my life I considered walking to not have much value. I figured if it wasn’t running or lifting weights then it didn’t really count as exercise. Fortunately, I changed my perspective and now I walk all the time.

So, I guess it is only natural that I enjoyed, and completely agree with, Nimisha Gorasia‘s great article on why we need to walk more. I liked it so much that I even ignored the fact it has a “5” in the title ;-)

Read up on all the compelling reasons to get out and explore on your feet:

And finally, an awesome article by Emily Morgan that captures our love for food and how a good meal or dish perfectly prepared can turn us into creative wordsmiths to attempt to explain what is going on in our mouths and brain synapses when we eat it.

The way we alter words to describe our tastes like gooey and melty, made me think of Tree Langdon ♾️‘s challenge (included below) about new words that should be in the dictionary.

Read Emily’s article to get yourself some gustatory ideas on good eats and then you can make up new words with the best of them:

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.

Another new editor added to the ranks recently to help balance the workload and give some perspective is Brian E. Wish, PhD.

I have enjoyed many of Brian’s articles on leadership, but I couldn’t resist featuring a relatively recent piece which centers on his dog, Willow. Find out how hard work and determination beats good looks and aloofness every time in this entertaining story:

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.

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

INFJ Elder 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:

martina m, Øivind H. Solheim, Joydwip Mohajon, Viji Nataraj, Zoe Lee, Clarissa Wilson, Onalenna Neo, Harun Reşit Aydin, Paul Abela, Phil Rossi, Brianna Bohacs, Zafer Öztürk, Delaney Closs, Rashmi Maya, TanyaIv, Adelaide-Speaks, Sajiv Shah

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.