Nope, Nothing Strange Going on Here…
By: Timothy Key
Tags: Inspiration, Mental Health, Leadership, Writing, Reading

For the month of July I am doing a daily feature that highlights ongoing writing challenges, provides a handy Daily Tip for all Medium writers, provides opportunity for collaboration on the ILLUMINATION Publication, and extends a warm and heartfelt welcome to new writers.

Welcome New Writers!

In June I highlighted existing stories of new writers, but this month I am offering writers, both new and not-so-new, a chance to:

Write your own new story!

This feature has a list of writing prompts, and we want to see your writing. Pen a response to any of the prompts, tag me Timothy Keyand also mention if you happen to be one of the new writers on the publication.

I will include your stories in an upcoming version of the “Your July Challenge” piece.

The onus is not only on you however, I will be attempting to respond to one challenge or prompt for each day as well. I wouldn’t want to ask you to do something I wouldn’t be willing to do.

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

Regardless of how long you have been with the publication, be it a minute, or since day one, we have a whole team of editors and other writers that are ready to support you and promote your work.

All any of us ask in return, is that you do the same.

Keep on reading to see how you can engage with others, but first:

The Daily Tip!

Did you know that you can add photos and tags to your responses to other peoples’ stories? Medium considers each response to be a story in itself and offers you all the features that are available in the regular story editor when you make comments.

Adding a photo, hyperlink or embedding a video is a great way to bring some attention to your responses.

Create your writer bio

One of the best ways we can get to know you is for you to provide a writer’s bio. When you do, Dr Mehmet Yildiz will highlight it in his daily bulletin and it will be added to our collection of writer bios. Check out the rest here:

Daily distribution list

Another fantastic way to get engaged with other writers on the ILLUMINATION publication is by checking out Dr Mehmet Yildiz‘s daily distribution list. In it he includes all of the stories in the last 24 hours. When you write something and publish on ILLUMINATION your article will appear there too!

Here is a link to the bulletin:

Let’s Connect

If you want to connect with me or any of the editors or writers, 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:

Curation Stars

The environment of encouragement and support can be substantiated just by looking at the many writers that are seeing their stories get traction in the way of being curated by Medium. Here is a great article giving tips and pointers, as well as links to curated stories of Illumination writers:

Today’s Challenge and Response

Today I write in response to an idea generated by Infiniti who suggested this great prompt: Something Weird Happened…

And here is my response:

Upcoming Challenges

In the coming days I will be tackling each of these challenges, and I am listing them here to help you get your writing pump primed as well:

Desiree Driesenaar has another one, which I think originated with Holly Jahangiri. It is to create an Abecedarian poem. I think the topic is open, although Desiree chose to use life perspective.

I can’t resist mentioning that Desiree Driesenaar called my “Rasheed” when she posted this link as a comment on my daily feature. I will take that as a compliment… of sorts. ;-)

B. A. Cumberlidge. has suggested two new prompts. The first asks new writers to make some observations on what could be better about Illumination. The idea is to make positive suggestions rather than poke holes.

The next is a weighty one which asks us when can we start trying to solve the issues that matter?

Dr Mehmet Yildiz has a new challenge today; Create at least one testimonial for another writer whom you admire. He offers this one as an example:

And in a mildly egocentric move, here is one that B. A. Cumberlidge. wrote about me. Some of it is even true!

Holly Jahangiri tagged me in a poem chain that originated here with Martin Rushton:

And Holly’s response:

Rasheed Hooda challenges us to describe ourselves in an acronym of the first letters of our name:

And I am actively looking for new challenges!

Rear view mirror

Here is a list of the challenges I have completed:

Week 1

In the first week of July I responded to challenges issued by Dr Mehmet Yildiz , Tree Langdon ♾️, B. A. Cumberlidge., Holly Jahangiri, Rasheed Hooda (a couple of them had two challenges to total seven). Read all of them in a Your July Challenge compilation article!

Week 2 — This Week

Desiree Driesenaar, who wonders what verb you would be?

Sherry McGuinn tells us about the hole in her pants, and asks us if we are feeling the same way?