twitter prompt

I just figured out I could retweet myself.

Late to the party.

I won’t lie. I played around with it a bit, hovering over those double arrows, clicking them, unclicking them, and generally goofing around.

My first thought, before I played, was: “That’s weird. Why would I do that?”

My second thought was: “I wish Twitter would introduce some useful new features.” (Ahem. Edit button.)

It went downhill from there:

“Hee-hee. I wonder if I’ll get a notification from myself that I got an RT from myself.”

“Where would it come from?”

“What would it say? ‘You retweeted you!’ or ‘You really think you’re something special to RT your own tweet, you humble fool.’”

But, then, I got to thinking about how I use my Twitter account.

As I’ve mentioned, I mine my own tweets for future short stories and flash. So it might be kinda cool to revisit a piece of micro fiction and have it show up on the timeline of someone who missed it.

Then again, I could just pin it or copy and paste it into a new tweet… So, I guess, I’m back to my first reaction. Retweeting yourself is weird.

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

Do you retweet yourself? Did you know you could retweet yourself? Do you find any benefits to retweeting yourself that I’m completely missing? Did you notice how I just like saying ‘retweet yourself’ because I’m immature and find it amusing?

As you know, I created a writing prompt for my tweeps. It’s been wicked fun and I know a couple writers who have already used their tweets to write a flash or blog post (myself included).

But this is a new venture and I’m working out the kinks. So, today, I’ve ditched my poor Thought Bubble in favor of a follow-up FAQ to the original #Tweets4Blogs post.

I have a hat. For real. I’m using the old pick-a-name-out-of-a-hat trick. (Hee. Hat trick. Nice.) Anyway, each week, I’ll put in slips of paper with forms on them (1 line, memoir, haiku, etc.) to decide what we’ll be writing that week.

Yes. This is exactly what you’ve gotten yourself into. A prompt from a hat. But, hey, don’t underestimate the power of a hat. I mean, Harry Potter was sorted by one. It gave him a sword to defeat the basilisk in the (secret) chamber of secrets. Also, it sings. Wicked powerful.

After the hat business, I’ll make up a prompt. It’s going to be silly sometimes so bear with me.

Remember our mantra: It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done.

I want you to have buckets full of gems to dig through for your blog so, when I create the prompt, I’ll keep that in mind. But I’ll also be thinking that I want you to have fun.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s unbecoming. And not allowed. I’m very strict about this rule.

Everything is good. We’re all shiny, happy people here. Okay, really not. Please don’t be a shiny, happy person near me. *shudders*

Okay! Rules!

Eh. No rules. (But here is a “FAQ” or “Q&A” page.) Also known as “FYI”. Pick one.

These tweets are yours. They are for you. Your own mine full of gold. But I’ll let you know some stuff. (And I’ll alter this page as we go along.)

Original artwork by @ReeDwithaBee

The tweets from the last few weeks? Amazing. I’m blown away by the variety and quality of responses. Just awesome.

Here are the FAQs:

Why the heck are you doing this? To give you inspiration for your blogs (flash fiction, short stories, posts…whatever floats your boat). My glorious reward? Reading your awesome writing and knowing you’re building a gold mine.
When the heck are you doing this? Tuesdays. (I will pin the prompt to the top of my Twitter timeline.)
Is there a due date? No. These are ideas, sparks of inspiration. For you. Sticking to Tuesdays gives you a better chance at making sure you write weekly but, basically, “whenever” is a good time to tweet.
Should I “reply” to your tweet? No need to “reply” to my prompt, just write your own tweet using the hashtag #Tweets4Blogs. Also, you don’t need to link back to me, my tweet, or my blog. These are for your own, special Twitter library.
How do I write the hashtag? Hashtags are not case-sensitive so whether you write #Tweets4Blogs, #TWEETS4BLOGS, or #tweets4blogs, you’re good.
What are we writing? We’ll be using various forms of poetry and prose (see Forms below). Each form should follow the prompt for that week.
How many should I write? As many as you’d like. If you have time for one, write one. If you want to write two, ten, twelve, go for it.
Will you RT every tweet? I’ve actually decided not to RT these. Here’s why.
- First, these are for you. I want the #Tweets4Blogs hashtag to be a fun way to get you tweeting interesting material that you can find in one quick step.
- Second, I don’t want to miss anyone. It is SO easy to do. (I know this because I missed a few last week.) How did I manage that? I’ll tell you. Writers respond to the prompt on different days. Also, some people participating in this have private accounts so their tweets don’t show up under the hashtag. In addition, some Twitter twerps have started using the hashtag for their own nefarious purposes and mucking up the feed. Damn them! (It’s only been two weeks—how did they even find us???) So there you have it. Just know I am reading and loving these tweets you’ve written.

Forms:

First line – One sentence (the, erm, first line)
1 line – One sentence
Micro fiction – A story/piece of fiction
Memoir – Nonfiction (about you or, at least, based on a true story)
6 words – Um. This would be six words (See what I did there?)
Haiku – A 3 line poem using the 5/7/5 format. First line 5 syllables. Second line 7. Third line 5.

Prompts:

This will be anything from “cookies” to “a 7-yr-old trying to take over the world”.

You’ll soon have a collection of awesome stuff you’ve written which you can quickly and easily find on Twitter. Using the search bar, enter your handle and the hashtag. Like this:

@sarahbrentyn #Tweets4Blogs

And, just like magic, all your words will pop up for you to admire and, hopefully, use on your blog.

Go forth and tweet, my fellow word weavers! And, remember our mantra: It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done.

A few tweeps wanted to participate last week and said their writing was kind of, um, bad (for lack of a better word). My answer to that is as follows:

“No, no! You’re thinking about this all wrong. Bad writing, clichés, fragments, adverbs… All good. This is a no-pressure prompt! Now go write!” See? No pressure. *mwah* Believe it or not, even what you think of now as “bad” writing can later spark an idea for a beautiful blog post. It happens. Trust me.

See you on Twitter. Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.