Writing | Connections | Mindfulness | ILLUMINATION Writing Challenge

Today’s Delightful Discovery From Following a Fan

I fall down a Rabbit Hole

Recently, Dr Mehmet Yildiz proposed that we write about our fans, selecting one or two and making a connection with them.

As of this writing, my most recent fan is Amritansh Sagar. We first met when he highlighted and clapped for my article about wrong-doing and right-doing.

A little while later, he became a follower.

I usually check a user’s profile before I follow them back so I went to have a look. Amritansh is new to Medium. He’s been a member since April 2020, and he’s shared a lot of poetry.

I was interested to see that Amritansh is a research fellow. His profile indicates that he’s “A pure and candid mind open to experimenting with possibilities and writing and fuelling into innovation.” He also writes about Artificial Intelligence.

I love it when a fellow nerd is also a poet.

There’s a certain quality that comes through in their poetry and it appeals to my logical brain.

His discussion of artificial intelligence and the struggle scientists are experiencing is concise and easy to follow.

Best of all, he engages with his fellow writers. I noticed he shares a love of poetry with another writer named Dennett.

Here is her comment on a lovely poem about love and loss:

“This is a poignant line, Amritansh, it is the heart of the poem. What can be more heartbreaking than to forget someone every day, over and over again?”

Here’s his poem:

The comment intrigued me and I had to find out more, so

I fell down the Rabbit Hole.

Dennett turned out to be a prolific writer and editor, a Medium member since 2017. She’s also a talented poet and I lingered on her profile page, getting to know her writing.

I especially enjoyed New Neverending.

Dennett wrote this poem in response to a prompt by another Medium writer, Samantha Lazar. Her profile photo reminded me of an actress from the series “Orange is the New Black.”

The prompt that inspired Dennett was Quote Prompt №13, one of a series of prompts inspired by famous quotes that resonated with Samantha.

I immediately loved Samantha’s candid writing style and the way she connected the quote from ― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, to our current situation.

I also love a thoughtful quote so I decided to follow her as well. I look forward to receiving her prompts.

As you can see, the journey from Fan to Follower can lead you to unexpected places. I love getting lost in the connections here on Medium.

Tree Langdon is a writer and editor for ILLUMINATION and Whispers of Magic. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.*