Illumination Writing Challenge

What Can We Do to Make ILLUMINATION a Better Place?

A thoughtful writing prompt deserves an equally thoughtful reply

I am not a new writer on ILLUMINATION. I have been here since the beginning, well a few days after the beginning as Dr Mehmet Yildiz missed my first reply to his original solicitation story on March 18th (reposted here for nostalgia’s sake):

But a day or so later, when I saw I hadn’t been added as a writer, I replied again, and this time I upped my game and asked to be an editor. Nearly four months later I can say I have been here since the outset; through the day ILLUMINATION went dark, to its resurgence on the other side and rapid perpetual growth since.

My role as editor has evolved as well, from passing enthusiast at the outset, to a creator of some of our internal guidelines, to now being as big a cheerleader as possible. When things are going well it is easy to do the cheerleading part. And a danger of that is getting so caught up in the back-patting that we miss tiny signals, and sometimes even big and overt signals that things aren’t all kittens and unicorns.

That is why when B. A. Cumberlidge. wrote a little story with the prompt asking what ILLUMINATION could do better, I thought it was wise to give that some attention. I feel like things are clicking along nicely, but I also realize that I have a limited perspective and my views are colored by my biases and personal filters.

So, while I think things seem to be going smashingly, I also understand that others could have a different perspective. I am also wise enough to know that tiny course corrections early on are far more effective than massive re-routes after being off course for too long.

So, that is why I am here today echoing Brian’s question: What could we be doing better at ILLUMINATION?

In particular Brian (and I am too) is interested in the perspective of those newest to the publication because they have the gift of fresh eyes from which to view the happenings.

I am going to offer up one observation from my non-newbie eyes for the consideration of all. It concerns highlighting.

Highlighting, like clapping, commenting and following is a great way to show engagement with others’ writing and demonstrate your approval of what they have to say. From the outset Dr Mehmet Yildiz has been a big proponent of highlighting, and likely as such, a lot of it goes on this publication (at least compared to my perception of the world outside ILLUMINATION).

My issue isn’t with highlighting. I do it all the time and think it is a wonderful way to send a positive message, and also to note when something really resonates with you as the reader. Yay for highlighting, and I am glad Medium has the feature.

What tends to erode my love for the feature, however, is when people OVER highlight.

What does that mean, Tim? Over highlight? That seems pretty subjective, how could you question a person’s right to mark up the entire page if they please?

Okay, yes, I admit that this is my personal bias and there is a possibility that it is not widely shared. But, then again, perhaps it annoys the heck out of other people too, and how would they know we were in the same boat unless I said something?

Here is my take on highlighting. In any given article, there is probably somewhere around 5% of the writing that cries out for highlighting. Four or five spots perhaps. Anything after that, from my perspective, is no longer highlighting but average lighting. It becomes a practice of changing the color behind words and not selecting the pinnacle of poignancy in an article.

Having someone highlight an article, to me, means asking them to point out the very few select things that figuratively jumped off the page at you. It is capturing the HIGHLIGHTS. Highlighting is identifying the information you might quote directly in an article if you were reviewing the particular story you are reading.

I do understand that people use the highlighting function for other reasons as well. It provides a bookmark, or trail of sorts to the articles you have read. Some people probably also ingest information better if they highlight some phrases as they read. I get it.

I guess all that I ask is that you take note of the fact that your actions take on meaning down the road for the article and the writer.

When I read an article where over half of the writing is highlighted, the fact that the highlights are there transitions from a thought of, “hey, there is some good stuff in here” to just simply an annoyance. I find the overly highlighted articles difficult to read, and sometimes it actually puts me off reading them.

But that is just me. I can soldier on if the rest of the world is supportive or ambivalent about over highlighting. But I do worry just a bit that it isn’t just me and that new readers and writers might be put off by the abundance of over highlighting that seems to happen on the publication.

So, that is why I spoke out.

Now, new writers (and I have tagged on recently added group randomly in hopes they will oblige), what are the little things that you think ILLUMINATION could do better?

Remember that a publication is a collective sum of the readers and writers, not just a place for the editors to hang out. What could we all do a bit better? What could the editors do better? What information do you wish was more readily available? What sort of writing do you wish was here? What questions do you have?

Vaishnavi Paliwal, Channing Lee, Helen Hazelmare, Lester Golden, Michael Lubinski, Marc Palumbo, Karen DeGroot Carter, Ritarshi Banerjee, Ozden Bennett, pooja junnuri, Shaurya Gulati, Ashley Chow, Sadiq Rza, Lizzy Wang, Tori Champine, Rachel Yerks, Natalie Alnic, Aparajita Pk, Idan Solon, Daniella Cavenagh, Ph.D., Manasi, Paula Perea, Akshad Singi, Joe Loper, Ankit Gupta, Abdul Qadeer, Abi Anday, Penny Zhou, Sayeed Ibrahim Ahmed, Sunha Paul Kim, Ehsan Nazim,

I offered up something where I believe the slightest tweak could really be beneficial to the publication. Do you have any tweaks? I definitely want to know.

Even if you aren’t in the tagged group, and even if you aren’t “new”, I would still love to hear your input.

Thanks so much for reading and joining in!

If you like this, you might like some of my other recent writing, including my July daily roundup of writing challenges:

And a recent response to a prior challenge:

And this blast from the past:

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.