Writer Focus

What do Uncut Gems, Vampires, Ketamine and Sourdough Bread Have in Common?

New writer spotlight and update on June writing challenges

What catches your eye in a story and has you reading until the end? That simple question has a complex answer, and there are plenty of writing tip articles on the Medium platform to help you create that story that everyone is going to want to read.

This article isn’t one of those. Instead it is a spotlight on some of the writers that are brand new to the Illumination Publication.

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.

I don’t have any particular criteria for who I chose, except that I will tend to focus on writers who have a lower follower count than higher. I am hoping that by highlighting one of their articles they will get a few extra eyes on their writing and perhaps gain a few fans that otherwise might not have seen their work.

I realize that many folks might be accomplished writers, but new to Medium. Or, they might be new to writing entirely. Hopefully shortly after joining Illumination they will submit an author bio so we can get to know them better and they can be added here:

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).

Also, in this series I would like to keep a running list of any writing challenges going on in and around Illumination. That list will follow the feature articles below.

So, without further ado:

New Writer Spotlight

Our first article today comes from Ellen Arian and shares with us the promise delivered by sourdough bread. Personally, I have never baked bread and I am relatively naïve to the process, except that I knew that sourdough originates from something called a “starter”.

Ellen’s article points out how tough it is to screw up sourdough, and in spite of any potential missteps you might incur on the journey, you always end up with a version of bread at the end. For us amateurs that is a comforting thought and enough to make us consider baking up a loaf.

Give Ellen’s article a read here:

Next comes a set of 2019 movie reviews from Samuel Duffy, a writer that already has a bio here. Sam points out in his article that movies from 2020 largely suck, so it might be a good thing to find a better option from 2019’s offerings.

I won’t spoil Sam’s list except in saying that Uncut Gems is on there (you knew that from this article’s title). I found his list very useful because there are several movies I had not even heard of, and now I have some new stuff to watch; thanks Sam!

I suggest you read his bio first, then head to this:

Next comes a book review that makes a link between two bestsellers (both also movies) that I would have never made on my own. Denna Kingsley contrasts Twilight and Ready Player One in a cynical and snarky manner that I loved.

She points out some of the absurdities of both books that the casual reader probably never noticed. She also makes a clever observation that living in the past is as much of a version of living in a fantasy world as pining over vampires. Trust me, you are missing some crafty insight if you don’t read this:

And finally, because there was just too much to pull from to only do three, there is a more serious read from Marilyn Temple.

Anyone that has battled depression, or is close to someone who has, will be interested in Marilyn’s first-hand account of the use of Ketamine for treatment resistant depression. She provides us with a glimpse of how a person that looks like they have it all together on the outside may actually be struggling.

She relays her journey with depression and how treatment with Ketamine has, “changed my life and given me a renewed hope for the future.” Read her story here:

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 writers who has been at Illumination since the beginning (which wasn’t really all that long ago in the big scheme of things).

Chris Hedges is our resident SEO expert and writes about a wide array of topics on Illumination and on other publications. Check out her work from her profile, and also here is one of her recent articles from Illumination that provides some solid tips on writing (I guess I lied at the top when I said this article wouldn’t include writing tips — oops!)

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 highlights aspects that you appreciate about their work. It could be their style, topic choices, voice, technical aspects of writing, or if you just like their profile picture.

I am confident that when you do this you will find that your own writing work gets better. In many ways I believe that the person that brings attention to others’ work benefits even more than the recipient. That 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. I personally have benefitted significantly from this and, to some extent, this section is a bit self-serving because I want to have some handy prompts to write about occasionally.

Older prompts

Some older prompts I have been involved in are: If I wasn’t a writer I would…, Self-Discovery during lock down, a funny video prompt, a musical prompt and most recently a query about what I would do if I suddenly became rich.

List of New Challenges and Prompts

I am hoping to develop a list of newer prompts with their originators. Since I know the “If I Was Rich” article was recent and I know the originator, I will make it first on our list of current prompts:

Feel free to join in an participate on any of these prompts:

Kevin Buddaeus

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:

Ardsheer Ali, Ibrahim John, Kris Freeman, Lindsay Brown, Prince Chowdhury, QuadConjures, Siddhanth Pachipala, Anangsha Alammyan, Kyra Krishna, Irfan Alghani Khalid, Ibrahim Hussein, Galit Birk, PhD, Ella Pearson, Viggy Hampton, MPH, Andrei Neboian, Dr, Brian Hampton, Emeka Nwanedo, IMΛBӨПG FΛMIПЦ, Sylene “SylJoe” Joseph, Eleni Angelou, Marianna Morais, Delight C. Asaphs, Joe T. Santhanavanich, J.A. Becker, Chrissy, Dipanshu Mohapatra, Ankush Punj, Nicholas Durocher, Ankush Punj, Sotiris Savvas, Anamika Pokharel

If you want me to highlight one of your stories in particular, or have any questions just respond to this story, or better yet, hit me up 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.