My Medium Icebreaker

Greetings fellow Medium.com readers and writers,

As a former member of Toastmasters, I opted to name my first article as “My Medium Icebreaker”.

I decided to take the plunge and write my first article after being inspired by the many articles on this platform. My goal is become a better writer and speaker.

I am an avid year-round road cyclist and have cycled over 40,000 km on my one and only road bike which is a Cervelo R3, with entry level wheels and, a Shimano Ultegra Groupset.

From 2015 to 2019, I participated in a charity fundraiser bike ride with Ride2Survive and raised monies for the Canadian Cancer Society to beat Cancer. My longest ride was 400km where I cycled from Kelowna to Delta, BC.

During my free time, I like to rustle up healthy homemade meals for myself and my lovely wife, Nikki, whom I have been married to for the past 4 years. Nikki has introduced me to a sustainable diet whilst maintaining my health and fitness goals.

My main hustle is ‘workin 9 to 5’ as Dolly Parton puts it, in the accounting profession.

Some wonderful things I have done this year are:

- Started a vegetable garden with my wife; and

- Went on a 11-day Alaskan Cruise in June.

- Hiked 30 kilometres in the Garibaldi Lake area, which is near Whistler, BC.

The key writing tips I thought of after reading “Welcome to Upside Down!” and “Writing your First Article” by Jordan W. were:

1) Keep it Simple (KIS). Do not overchallenge yourself and write an essay or a short story. Someone told me that if you took up road cycling that you would not ride 100 kilometres on your first day.

2) Write an outline in the form of a short and sweet shopping list.

3) Generating your ideas over time. It can be over a cup of coffee, while enjoying your hobbies and interests or while doing your household chores.

4) ‘A few takeaways from Jordan’s articles were to support your readers that includes giving them a round of applause (a clap), comment and highlight parts of their article; and

5) Write short points, which are easy to read’.

The links for Jordan’s articles are:

https://medium.com/upside-down/new-to-this-publication-start-here-37d06fb6b970

https://medium.com/upside-down/writing-your-first-article-f8f14634c978

I encourage you to consider taking up the art of writing and, I look forward to sharing my thoughts, experiences and knowledge in many areas.

Happy writing and reading!

PS — I would like to thank Nikki for proofreading and editing my first article.