BC WRITING
Saved by @Jacobtldr

I can second this observation through personal experience. I was only able to start writing because "it's just dumb weeb fanfiction quests, who cares." 100,000 pages of dumb weeb fanfic later, and I actually got better... but only because I was trying my best with every page.

 "It's dumb weeb fanfiction" gave me permission to be bad, to vomit things onto the page that I knew fell far short of what I wanted it to be. To just write and write instead of laboring over six paragraphs for weeks like I'd always done before.

But I still *wanted* to be good.
Writing is HARD. And unfortunately, most people don't appreciate just how hard writing (or communication in general) is, and that cultural attitude infects writers, too.

You must give yourself permission to be bad. And realize that all writing is practice.

IT. COUNTS.
And as the folks in my mentions are pointing out...

https://t.co/5kyxA5Ezm2
... it's an excellent way to find out what actually resonates with other people - putting work out there. Even your early bad stuff you'll cringe at later.

What resonates is NOT easy to tell, because we all, inherently cringe at ourselves, a lot.

https://t.co/g5Nt5LGTNN
Writing is inherently indulgent. We're plumbing our Id and dredging up the things we like and care most about after all; and inside our brains we're still six year olds playing with toy airplanes and wanting to be cowboys when we grow up, without a trace of self-consciousness.
But even then...

Not long ago I was in the Greenfield Village train museum, watching a young boy who reminded me much of myself. Despite his youth he clearly knew his shit about trains; he knew terminology I only vaguely recalled myself, as an adult.
And yet, despite being encouraged by everyone, and having a very receptive (and plainly thrilled) senior engineer happy to talk about trains and answer every question he could, the kid was very plainly painfully shy and had to be coaxed into talking about it.

It's always there.
Even at that age, it's already apparent that you like things others don't. Most kids don't play with airplane toys. They run out to the playground to play Power Ranger or whatever. They're into things you can actually see on TV.

Somehow, you always know.
It's always hard, then, to write about what you *really* want to write about. To turn people into dinosaurs instead of curing cancer, which is what Conventional Wisdom says you should do with your skills.

But if you do, you'll find out just how many people think like you do.
And if you're tempering your indulgence; if you're subjecting your deeply-held beliefs to the bite of reality, and exploring how they can be resolved, if ever, you're just mirroring the internal struggle of most human beings. It's perhaps the essence of the human condition.
Dumb fun indulgent things sell well. And I don't mean just "hurr cute" like Strike Witches; I mean the stuff your inner seventh-grade chuuni still loves and unironically thinks is cool as hell.

But we're ALL like that, deep down. We all have the inner chuuni, still lurking.
That's the stuff we really, truly love. Nobody loves being an adult, stuck on this bitch of an earth where dull pragmatism and soul-crushingly boring routine labors dominate, all so we can perpetuate existence till we're in a pine box.

We all *want* that magic back again.
But you have to remember that vast tension between our imagination and our reality is what has driven our civilization ever-onward. You'd have to be a chuuni to be a fighter pilot; bolting your ass to a supersonic fuel tank with a lit torch on one fucking end.
You have to be even more insane to do it with a moon rocket - especially given how mind-numbingly hard they are to engineer and build.

But that's where the hard-working, pragmatic adult and the chuuni have a meeting of minds; the former can realize the latter's ambition.
And that, IMO, is why I was pushing the limits and always *trying* for serious things even when I was writing what was effectively a weeb crossover fanfic romantic comedy.

Because I simply couldn't help myself. Because I really DO believe we can realize our chuuni dreams.
I'm not saying that pure fluffy escapism fantasy is bad. I'm certainly not qualified to judge. But I DO think that if you wall off your own work like that, because you think those nice things can never be realized, not even a little, in real life - you're going to live a sad life
I went through a very dark period after my grandmother died a few years back; what little I produced during that period was just an existential scream. I thought I'd embraced that philosophy wholesale, swallowed the blackpill.

But eventually I realized, I couldn't accept it.
Whatever your inner chuuni ambition is, you have to embrace it. *Fully,* and without shame. Use whatever excuse you have to, to start out with. But shed them, when you're ready. In the end, you can't outrun yourself. And really, you shouldn't try to.

Say what you truly believe.

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Daniel Solis, Jive Turkey
Daniel Solis, Jive Tur...
@DanielSolis
Thread: Common instances of passive voice in rules text that can be clearer with more direct voice.

But first: Why do we so often write rules in passive voice? Outlining the "laws" of our game feels like a very formal position with an of aloof authority. Avoid that voice.

"THE PLAYER"

Question any instance of "the player" in a sentence. If you are addressing one player, address them directly in the first sentence of the paragraph and use "you" thereafter.

"If you are the first player, you may X, Y, then Z. If you X, see next page."

"HAVE/HAD/HAS/'D/"

Examine any of these words or contractions. There is usually a more succinct way of phrasing that sentence in the present tense and direct address.

"The player who has just moved must..."
vs.
"After you move, you must..."

"WE"

If you want to put yourself at the table with the players, do so CONSISTENTLY. A random "we" in one paragraph really sticks out. You can even play with voice that way.

"We suggest using option A for your first game."
vs.
"Ahoy, cadet! Use option A for your first game!"

"YOU MAY BUILD, HARVEST, or REST."

Break up action options into a bulleted list rather than a long sentence. e.g.

"On your turn, do one of the following:
• Build: Pay X to place a card.
• Harvest: Destroy a card to gain X.
• Rest: Draw a card from the deck."
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Chris Baty
Chris Baty
@chrisbaty
I can feel it in my bones: NaNoWriMo starts soon. If you meant to do some novel planning this month but never quite got around to the planning part, here are a few questions to help you think through your story arc.

These questions are based on Hollywood screenplays, the hero’s journey, and the work of writers who are much smarter than I am—looking at you @RachaelHerron and @LaniDianeRich and @darynda. I didn’t invent any of this.

And, it's totally okay to do no outlining and just wing the whole dang thing! Or do your planning in a wildly different way. But I've found these questions useful. So.

To start, you’ll need a main character. Let’s assume your main character is an orphaned boy whose horrible extended family has forced him to live in a cupboard beneath the stairs. Question #1: What’s missing from your main character’s life?

All of us are missing something. Maybe it’s a feeling of danger or true love or a sense of higher purpose. Maybe it’s a large animatronic penguin that can dispense boba tea through its nostrils. For our orphaned boy, it’s a sense of belonging.
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Julian Shapiro
Julian Shapiro
@Julian
THREAD: How to choose what to write about.

When you're blocked by the lie of "writer's block."

1. First, where I get ideas from:

• I teach others and rewrite the transcriptions into blog posts.

• I capture real stories I tell over dinner. Vulnerable, authentic experiences.

• I find strong opinions (on Twitter) that I disagree with. My counter-argument becomes a post.

Of these ideas, the BEST is whichever I can't not write about.

Which idea, of all those swimming inside your brain, are you compelled to pursue the way Ahab was driven to hunt Moby Dick?
—Steven Pressfield

Here's the two-step framework for finding your "must write" ideas:

My first step is choosing an objective for my article, such as:
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Old Salty Chief, OSC (SW) USN Ret
Old Salty Chief, OSC (...
@old_osc
@SenatorBurr , @SenBillCassidy @SenatorCollins @lisamurkowski @MittRomney @SenSasse @SenToomey @Mike_Pence

[Thread]

I have spent a long time think of this an many months writing and rewriting it I have found it very difficult to put into words my feelings about what has
1/

happened to the Republican Party. I will say to the chagrin of my many liberal and democratic friends that I was once a Republican. I did not change the Republican Party left me, today I don’t even recognize the Republican Party for it is truly the Party of Trump.
2/

It has morphed into a party that hates anyone who is not a hardcore Trumper who will not blindly devote themselves to Trump, Republican ideals be dammed.

I say to you, If you want to save the Republican Party leave it, for they have left you,
3/

I will say without hesitation the rank and file of the Republican Party hates you, and no sir, it is not a small minority of the Party. Let their be no doubt this is the Party of Trump

Before Trump I thought I was pretty middle of the road, a middle right American
4/

I support a women’s right to choose, even though it would not be my choice

Myself I am not a religious person, I consider myself Spiritual, I do believe their must be some kind of creator, what it is, is beyond my comprehension. What you believe is your right and
5/
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Cory Doctorow #BLM
Cory Doctorow #BLM
@doctorow
I've been talking to @polygon's @TashaRobinson about my books for nearly two decades. She was one of the reviewers to dig into Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, my debut novel, all the way back in 2003 when she was at @theonion's @TheAVClub.

https://t.co/t55DCpCNAl

1/


She's always had smart things to say about my books (and is never shy about criticizing them) so I was delighted to talk with her about my latest, ATTACK SURFACE, for an interview: "Cory Doctorow on his drive to inspire positive

As the title suggests, the interview digs into the relationship between our narratives about the future and the future itself when it arrives - the delights and perils of dystopianism, a philosophy that I find seductive even as I reject it.

3/

Many conversations and books disabused me of dystopianism, but the turning points came from a pair of woman historians. First: Rebecca Solnit's "A Paradise Built In Hell" - a gorgeous, brilliantly researched book about the true histories of

And second was @Ada_Palmer's legendary end-of-year event with her undergrad Renaissance history students at the University of Chicago:
WRITING

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Michael King \U0001f1fa\U0001f1f8
Michael King 🇺🇸...
@8MichaelKing
Ever notice how the top niches are centered around health, wealth, and relationships?

There's a deep-rooted psychological (and biological) reason why.

And today, I'm gonna to explain all of it so you can start profiting off of this knowledge 💰💰

*Now, this thread is going to be long and in depth. Make sure to favorite the top tweet now so you can come back to it later.

So. Down to the very core of every living being (humans, dolphins, bacteria, aliens), there are only two drivers:
1. To survive
2. To reproduce

Right off the bat, we know that sex is a primary driver to human behavior.

This would also mean that each gender has its own insecurities regarding sex.

Men have a subconscious fear that their woman will leave them for someone more successful

Women have a fear that their man will leave them for someone younger & better-looking

We can conclude that men are attracted to looks, and women are attracted to status.

This is human nature down to its very core.

Crazy, blue-haired feminists will try to argue and say otherwise.

But, 50 years of feminism DOES NOT OVERRIDE millions of years of evolutionary biology.

Here's a quick visualization exercise so you can see how true all this is...
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Engineer Who
Engineer Who
@Engr_Who
A long but must read thread. Udaybhan Rathore and myth making in Maratha history: An analysis. This is the thread on Udaybhan Rathore, who he was and how over the time period, his life was portrayed in maratha chronicles and pseudo history. (1/n)

Udaybhan rathore was the head of Bhinai thikana (84 villages) in Ajmer. He was the direct descendant of the famous Rao Chandrasen, Raja of Marwar (4th generation) who resisted Akbar all his life and never made any alliance with mughals like Maharana Pratap. (2/n)

Later in 1783, Maharaja of Jodhpur gave title of Raja to Bhinai family for their military service. Bhinai family and their direct descendant Raja Sh Mayuraj Singh still lives in Ajmer. Anyway coming to Udaybhan Rathore and story of Tanaji. (3/n)

Jai Singh's march on Shivaji and treaty of Purandar (1665) is a well known episode to repeat here. After getting the hill forts from Shivaji under the treaty, Jai Singh didn't have enough man-power to man every one of the small forts because of his next (4/n)

campaign against Bijapur. Jai Singh personally took over a couple of important forts like Kondhana (Sinhgarh), Purandar etc. Others were given to some mughals or their fortification walls destroyed. Jai Singh died in 1667 near Burhanpur while enroute to the north. (5/n)
INDIA
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History Under Your Feet
History Under Your Fee...
@HUFToday
#TodayInHistory Ram Prasad Bismil,Ashfaqullah Khan and Roshan Singh are hanged in 1927, as they give up their life for the cause of freedom and inspire many a revolutionary. #LestWeForget


Shahjahanpur was a hub of revolution during the freedom struggle. Most of the revolutioaries in the North, were from this town. And among them, the most famous were two friends, whom destiny would bring together- Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan.

Ashfaqullah Khan was born at the turn of the 20th century on October 22, while Bismil was born 3 years earlier on June 11, in the same town. Both of them were excellent writers in Urdu and Hindi.

Both of them would come together under the Hindustan Republican Association, not to mention the fact that Ashfaq was an admirer of Bismil’s poetry, and became close friends with him on that account.

And both these men were hanged on the same date, December 19, 1927 for their involvement in the Kakori event. Two men from different religions, different backgrounds, yet destiny would bring them together.
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Hermann Peterscheck
Hermann Peterscheck
@petershk
For fun I made a Robinhood account. It took me 5 minutes to sign up, get approved and transfer funds for trading...

Here's some details... Read on.

...it took me another 5 minutes to get qualified for options.

If I share a sign up I get "free shares" and I can share as much as I want up to 500$ worth.

The main UI has a prepopulated "list" of stocks/crypto to watch and links to news.


Clicking a stock opens a "trade" button that looks like this.

Notice options is first, buy second.

Options took me to an approval process (which took about a minute) and now away I go trading Baba options.


Buying stock looks like this. It emphasizes fractional shares.
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Jim O'Shaughnessy
Jim O'Shaughnessy
@jposhaughnessy
I’m torn on how to approach the idea of luck. I’m the first to admit that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. To be born into a prosperous American family in 1960 with smart parents is to start life on third base. The odds against my very existence are astronomical.


I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.

In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.

So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.

Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.
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