Break out your spinning wheel. With all the straw stuffing your Twitter timeline, you can find some serious writing gold.
Look at your tweets because there’s a story there. Possibly many.
Right there. See that? It’s the beginning of a blog post. Maybe even a personal essay. It could be turned into some flash fiction.
Mine your tweets. You’ll find some gems in there.
Scroll through your Twitter account. Tweeting doesn’t carry the same pressures as other types of writing. They’re often spontaneous, unfiltered thoughts.
Tweets have your voice, your experiences, your opinions. And something about the content made you want to put it in writing and publish it.
Not all that glitters is gold, though, right?
So let those zingers and one-liners be. If it fit into 140 characters neatly, leave it alone. Or pin it to your profile page. But don’t drag it out and drag us through a post about something that should have been left on your timeline. If you have to force it, let it be.
Otherwise, grab that tweet and spin it like Rumpelstiltskin.
Illustration by Paul Zelinksky
My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.
Do you ever look through your Twitter (or Facebook) timeline? Do you grab ideas/words/stories from there?
Lemon Shark 
Genius. Genuinely never thought of doing this. I only ever look for writing tips content. Actually and the occasional photo or quote But never inspiration thanks for the tip 😊
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Writing tips. That’s great, actually. Don’t think you do many writing challenges on Twitter. ? But check out some conversations you’ve had there. Unfiltered Sacha. 💖 Gold.
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Huh? I don’t do any challenges on Twitter. What convos?! I’m so lost!
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Just back and forth conversations on social media. You don’t stress or edit or perfect them, you just talk. Then… You say something that gives you an idea for a blog post or leads to an essay or story. 😊
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Good idea Lemon Shark 🙂
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Thanks. 🐠 I’ve found some great stuff hiding there.
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Absolutely! I do it all the time!!
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Your tweets are quite brilliant to begin with. The poetry folks on Twitter spend a bit more time crafting tweets than most, I assume. And yours are beautiful – begging to be turned into lengthier poems. #mast ❤️
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Well if anyone is qualified to identify brilliance, it would be you.
You’re awesome, Sarah.
#mast ❤
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Cor! Two posts for the price of one! Inspired blogging efficiency and a great flash gem!
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“Inspired blogging efficiency…” 😄 That’s awesome. And true, I suppose. Don’t waste good words! 💖
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No! Just hoard them! Have you read Jeanne’s poem in my comments on Organising Chaos? Awesome 💘
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Reblogged this on In My Mind, This Is All Connected and commented:
I need to consider this some days.
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Thanks! 😊 You really should.
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I do it easily all the time, most of my tweets are stories of sorts some flash fiction, actually I use my twitter more as a draft folder of ideas if anything ^_^
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Using Twitter as a “draft folder”. 😄 That’s brilliant. You, my friend, are more likely to tweet poetic, fully-formed micro fiction. Those are the gold.
With conversational tweets, it’s like finding a $20 in your pocket when you’re doing laundry.
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hahahaha yep but those are the best kind, cause they are like a gift from past you to muse future you 🙂
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Yes! The recent ones are great but the ones from last year or even last month are such fun to find. You are your own social media muse. 😄
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You’ve just convinced me my tweets are way too boring!
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No they’re not! 😜 Just look… You have conversations on there. It’s pure you. No editing. No pressure. You’ll find witty Anne responses.
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Terrific idea! Twitter is the last place I would think of for generating ideas, but now that you mention it – it’s practically the motherlode!
This opens a whole new world. Thanks!
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With your blog’s focus, you might get an idea from a reply to someone about a particular film/genre/director… Anything.
Pure gold. 💖 (Or, silver, in your case.)
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That’s a great idea – I never thought about my Twitter feed that way!
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Take a peek. I bet you find something… 😊
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`Not all that glitters is gold´… But that blue birdie could be coining some gems… at least in the ethereal shapes of potential ideas. 😊
A very interesting approach here… thanks for sharing, Aquileana ⭐ .-
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Yes! Potential ideas. 🌟 Doesn’t have to be gold. Just panning for gold. Could find bits of anything, really, to upcycle and turn into a beautiful piece of art.
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Makes me feel like a guilty tweeter — my nuggets are mostly links to my posts and articles. Guess I better spin some tweets!
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No. A lot of people use Twitter that way. But you should take a look at your conversations with tweeps. I bet there are some funny things in there. 😜
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Haha…you crack me up Sarah! ‘Otherwise, grab that tweet and spin it like Rumpelstiltskin.’ I love the way you write, I really do. And this just goes to prove that I STILL have no bloody idea what I’m doing over in Twitter land. Say what? It’s for spinning short, snappy zingers? And I thought it was just for posting links to ‘stuff’. I’m so useless at this Twitter stuff…but you’re teaching me the way, thank you! ❤ And now I'm going to let down my long, hair…
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Thanks, Sherri! ❤ Okay, well, you're fairly new to Twitter and it's a confusing place and they're always changing stuff. Pfft! So, yes, snappy zingers. Well, just in conversation you could find some funny thing you said that leads to an idea. But, also, there are numerous writing prompts on there that could serve as inspiration (like the one up there in my post about the milk container). I love you, Sherri, but you are mixing up your fairy tales.
Ooh! You should write a flash! "When Rapunzel Met Rumpelstiltskin".
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I’ve done searches where I put my name and a hashtag… and wow……. basically have two collections waiting for formatting. 😀
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Yes! Exactly. I do those searches and get tons of straw to spin. It could absolutely fill a (very small) book or two. ❤️
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