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So, #NiNoBilMa week 3 post is now live. This week's two-pronged prompt is animals and colors.
I'll be doing mini prompts on Twitter on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week, due to scheduling stuff on my end.
buttondown.email/AlexandraErin/…
I'll be doing mini prompts on Twitter on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week, due to scheduling stuff on my end.
buttondown.email/AlexandraErin/…
Related to this, and as I mention in the post, I am very grateful for the steady stream of new newsletter sign-ups I've had this month. As the only thing I'm doing differently is NiNoBilma, it seems like it's getting some attention, in a modest way.
Today's #NiNoBilMa mini prompt.
Color: Blue
Shade (Optional):
Ultramarine. Animal: Weasel.
My first line: "If she'd ever seen a weasel with such strikingly blue eyes, she hadn't noticed."
Color: Blue
Shade (Optional):
Ultramarine. Animal: Weasel.
My first line: "If she'd ever seen a weasel with such strikingly blue eyes, she hadn't noticed."
In which I outline my plans for a more sustainable and productive second week of the #NiNoBilMa experiment in progress.
The Twitter prompt games I tried last week were fun and interesting, but took more of my time and energy than I'd expected... and while I think the creativity that resulted within myself from them "counts", it kept me from doing more writing-writing.
Today's #NiNoBilMa game!
This is a fun warm-up exercise meant to help writers write with fewer inhibitions and hesitations. It's open to anybody who wants to join in.
You can participate on Twitter or off, even just out loud or in your head.
This is a fun warm-up exercise meant to help writers write with fewer inhibitions and hesitations. It's open to anybody who wants to join in.
You can participate on Twitter or off, even just out loud or in your head.
Today we're using the random animal list generator at randomlists.com/random-animals. When you click that link, you should get a list of six different animals with pictures. You can refresh to get others if you're not feeling the first mix.
Today's #NiNoBilMa prompt is #RandomAnimalDialogue.
To begin:
One of your six animals has just announced something. Who is it, and what do they say? (You can decide based on the pictures, or the order of the list, or whatever makes sense to you.)
To begin:
One of your six animals has just announced something. Who is it, and what do they say? (You can decide based on the pictures, or the order of the list, or whatever makes sense to you.)
It was the bathtub running at odd hours of the night. It's not unusual for someone to have insomnia and take a bath at three in the morning in our house, but when we heard the water running when we were all awake downstairs, we knew something was up.
#NiNoBilMa #GhostGator
#NiNoBilMa #GhostGator
The footprints were a big clue, and so were the glimpses of a spectral tail whipping around a corner, but of course we couldn't confirm it was an alligator until we got a good look at the snout... at the cost of a rotisserie chicken.
#NiNoBilMa #GhostGator
#NiNoBilMa #GhostGator
When we were getting glimpses of it, it was hard to be sure of what we were seeing... but when we saw it going through the locked door up into the attic as though the door wasn't there, we knew the gator wasn't.
#NiNoBilMa #GhostGator
#NiNoBilMa #GhostGator
Okay, time for another #NiNoBilMa game! Today I'm going to tweet the questions all at once, like yesterday, but I'm going to spread my own answers out for reasons of greater visibility/exposure in the algorithm.
Yesterday's game is here. It's still 100% doable if you're interested in it, there's no expiration date on these.
Today's #NiNoBilMa game is: There's An Alligator In The House! Anybody who wants a fun creative writing warm-up and mental icebreaker is welcome to participate.
Her name is Poppy. Poppy O. Podes, but her best friend started calling her "Butterfly" because "Poppy O" sounds a bit like "Papillon" and now that's what their friend group calls her most of the time.
#NiNoBilMa #AboutMyOctopus
#NiNoBilMa #AboutMyOctopus
Butterfly lives in Riptidedale, a medium-ish town of somewhat indeterminate size and geographical location, but somewhere vaguely off the Atlantic coast of the northern United States.
#NiNoBilMa #AboutMyOctopus
#NiNoBilMa #AboutMyOctopus
She loves popcorn, but she hates when it gets soggy. This fact alone keeps sending her away from Riptidedale to a nearby boardwalk that has a popcorn stand as part of an old-fashioned fun fair.
#NiNoBilMa #AboutMyOctopus
#NiNoBilMa #AboutMyOctopus
#NiNoBilMa game for December 7th: Tell Me About Your Octopus.
This is a creative warm-up game for anyone who wants to write more (or to play along for fun). You can learn about #NiNoBilMa under the tag on my Patreon, but no prior knowledge is necessary.
patreon.com/AlexandraErin/…
This is a creative warm-up game for anyone who wants to write more (or to play along for fun). You can learn about #NiNoBilMa under the tag on my Patreon, but no prior knowledge is necessary.
patreon.com/AlexandraErin/…
The next ten tweets will each contain one question. You can answer to yourself, or in a private document, or as a reply/QT of the question. Putting the hashtags #NiNoBilMa and/or #AboutMyOctopus in answers will make it easier for others to see your answers, if that interests you.
Spotty internet has made this take longer than planned/expected, especially as more feedback came in as I was working on it, leading to a greater degree of adjustment to my original plans for #NiNoBilMa.
I describe the changes and the reasoning behind them in the update post, before getting into the exercises. The short version is I'm figuring out that "the basics" to get back to when it comes to writing is very much not open-ended and undirected writing.
buttondown.email/AlexandraErin/…
buttondown.email/AlexandraErin/…
So I think that the difference between this month and the ones that follow, in terms of the prompts, should not be about having less direction now, but directions with lower stakes/pressure.
Heard from a couple of people that the first two #NiNoBilMa prompts are too open-ended for them to be able to just sit down and start writing without prep.
I'm sorry about that. I have definitely had similar experiences.
I'm sorry about that. I have definitely had similar experiences.
This idea came to me near the end of November and I had planned on spending two weeks developing it further before launching in December, but... I had a pretty rough time, and even giving myself most of another week by basing it around Mondays didn't help much.
And I also did not put together the fact that the first Monday in December is a day of traditional importance for my family, as it's not one I grew up with but cohabited into, so I didn't have as much time during the day to put into the project as I might otherwise have.
Going to preface this thread that I'm not speaking as a wise woman from atop the mountain of wisdom but as someone working through how and why she responds so badly to things so often. Also turning off replies for a very specific reason, which I'll get to in the next tweet.
The reason replies are turned off is because there are easily half a dozen people who would read some of these tweets and respond, for reasons that undoubtedly make sense to them, with apologies and encouragement to things that don't really call for them.
And one of the things that spikes my anxiety in the specific way that leaves me feeling brittle and defensive is when people are expressing emotions at me that I don't know what to do with.
So I mentioned #NiNoBilMa in my last thread, in passing. For those who don't know what I'm talking about: it's a sort of informal, year-long writing tune-up that I decided to give myself next year, and also decided to turn into a public participatory exercise.
The name I gave it evokes NaNoWriMo to convey that it's meant to be an open-to-all event/challenge that anyone can do on their own in their own time, and also convey that it's not a wholly original idea, both in the sense that it borrows from NaNoWriMo...
...and in the sense that #NiNoBilMa is short for "New idea? No, it's Billy Madison."
(Now THERE's a timely reference.)
Each month of 2022, I'm theming after a different grade/academic year of US primary and secondary schooling, with a soft launch this month for Kindergarten.
(Now THERE's a timely reference.)
Each month of 2022, I'm theming after a different grade/academic year of US primary and secondary schooling, with a soft launch this month for Kindergarten.
Introducing #NiNoBilMa 2022
A year-long public and participatory writing experiment aimed at breaking down my inhibitions around writing and (re-)acquiring skills I missed out on due to the intersection of ADHD and gifted child baggage.
patreon.com/posts/introduc…
A year-long public and participatory writing experiment aimed at breaking down my inhibitions around writing and (re-)acquiring skills I missed out on due to the intersection of ADHD and gifted child baggage.
patreon.com/posts/introduc…
Don't let the currently outdated media preview card generated by Twitter fool you... the post is unlocked. And as it explains, all basic #NiNoBilMa materials will also be unlocked as I invite anybody else who wants to write along on their own to join in.
The same posts will also be crossposted to my newsletter, as this one was, so if you do want to keep up with them you've got options.
buttondown.email/AlexandraErin/…
buttondown.email/AlexandraErin/…
Very thoughtful interview not just on NFTs (I especially appreciate the point about non-profits legitimizing the scam by participating) but about the nature of crowdfunded artistry, the difference between being paid for clicks vs. paid by people who enjoy your work.
As a disabled creator with ADHD that has only recently been treated, I've had long periods where I've struggled with the question of, "Am I actually providing enough value for the money I bring in?"
But at the end of the day, that's up to the people putting the money in.
But at the end of the day, that's up to the people putting the money in.
And the correlation between how people value what I do and how much money they spend is much more direct in crowdfunding than with other payment schemes in between us, like if I were employed for fixed wages by someone who sells my labor indirectly through products.
