iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

#AskAnAuthor I ended up creating a website to hold my writing. Mainly because I write interconnected short stories and it was the only way to create any sort of coherency. Each story is stand-alone but part of larger arc. nudgestories.com

nudgestories.com

Welcome

I can just hear you asking, why call it the Nudge Stories? And my only answer is it was the only name that made sense. Because at its heart, these stories are about the countless decisions we make…

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

I'm excited to announce my 8th story has been posted today, and I'd love some feedback on it. 🧵 Dark Brandon was really fun to write. It's the beginning of the true split of the alternate universe from our own. nudgestories.com/story/dark-b... #scienceFiction #amWriting #writing #story 1/5

nudgestories.com

Dark Brandon

After the Foundation reveals itself to the world, Alexandra is the Face of the Foundation speaking directly with the President of the United States.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

nudgestories.com

Dark Brandon

After the Foundation reveals itself to the world, Alexandra is the Face of the Foundation speaking directly with the President of the United States.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Good morning #WriteSky! Yesterday was a good writing day, I moved a story from first to second draft. More dialogue, more descriptions and I got to add a whole new commentary on something I've been wanting to expand on. 1/ #WritingCommunity

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Ashley Apples @ashleyapples.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

A helpful tool for the #WritingCommunity especially for #FantasyWriters. watabou.github.io Watabou's procgen arcana! You can randomly generator realms, dungeons, and more! I'm attaching a realm I just generated that is unrelated to my current WIP. #Writers #Romantasy #Romance #Fantasy #WIP

A randomly generated map in beige, black, and white colors. It has a label of 'Kingdom of Everbloom', with a large lake in the center with a compass rose, and several randomly generated cities, towns, and villages that are also randomly names. This is generated with watabou's procgen arcana.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I link to a lot in my stories, links to my glossary and also end notes justifying and linking to more information when a reference to a subject just doesn't do it justice. If anyone else does this and uses US govt websites, you might want to go through your links. #WritingCommunity #writing 1/5

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DanTheZombieWriter - Zombie Book Club Podcast 💙🇺🇦🇵🇸🇨🇦🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️🧟🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💙 @danthezombiewriter.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

WRITERS; what you do is an act of rebellion. Writing your truth is the most important contribution you can make to a revolution. You can change heart and minds, you can inspire. #writingcommunity #writersky

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

In this issue: the only thing worse than building-to-learn is hiring-to-learn. Hiring for conformity results in terrible UX design, and you can't AI your way out of it - but between the war on DEI and austerity thinking, tech companies are doing exactly that.

productpicnic.beehiiv.com

Hiring learners 👍 vs hiring to learn 👎

UX teams are optimizing themselves into being bad at UX.

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DanTheZombieWriter - Zombie Book Club Podcast 💙🇺🇦🇵🇸🇨🇦🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️🧟🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💙 @danthezombiewriter.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

How can I write when my fiction is becoming reality. Sure, maybe there are no zombies, but the government is crumbling, people are dying, hope is waning. I wanted to show people what could happen under these exact conditions... and now we're seeing it happen. I should have written faster.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

I don't feel like a natural writer. Probably one of the reasons I have to force myself to post on social media lately. Creative writing doesn't come naturally to me. I struggle to bring the stories inside of me out into words. #amWriting #WritingCommunity #nudgeStories 1/9

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Léonie Watson @tink.uk · 30/01/2025

The US Web Design System deletes info on inclusive design, in response to the Executive order "Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs...". github.com/uswds/uswds-... Why not use the Inclusive Design principles instead: inclusivedesignprinciples.info #accessibility #a11y #inclusion

github.com

Remove content related to 1/20/25 EO by thisisdano · Pull Request #3078 · uswds/uswds-site

Summary Removed report link and introduction. Removed content related to the January 20, 2025 Executive Order, "Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing". This...

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

some really great tips here:

“Insist on doing everything through ‘channels.’ Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.”
“Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate ‘patriotic’ comments.”
“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
“Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.”
“‘Misunderstand’ orders. Ask endless questions or engage in long correspondence about such orders. Quibble over them when you can.”
“In making work assignments, always sign out the unimportant jobs first. See that the important jobs are assigned to inefficient workers of poor machines.”
“To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”

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Krys⸆⸉ (she/her) @becomingkrys.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

I made a list of all the pitch events in the BlueSky #WritingCommunity. I've included links to hashtags, whether they're an agent pitch or a hype event, what manuscripts are included, and the accounts associated with the events! ❓ What events don't I have listed? docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

Pitch Events on BlueSky

Pitch Events on BlueSky Rules of Thumb All pitch events have their own rules, but here are a few rules of thumb for best results on BlueSky. No AI – all work should be your own (commissioned art shoul...

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Mia Farrow @miafarrow.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

We will not forget

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Mary.Mary Quite Contrary @mary-quitecontrary.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Just heard from an Alzheimer's researcher that the studies have been halted and even if they resume there will be major lost time and some of the studies will be voided. That is the direct result of halting funding, so the billionaires can have their tax cuts. What have we become?

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

It's hard not to channel your inner @edzitron.com when the past week has been story after story of big tech rolling back ill-advised AI products nobody wanted. This is only going to continue, as companies divest from user research and go all-in on AI "insights" that happily confirm all assumptions.

productpicnic.beehiiv.com

Tools for not-thinking

User research would have prevented this week's extremely expensive mistakes - but leaders are determined to keep making them.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

This morning, I found myself musing on tolerance, which ended up being the focus of this morning's writing. 🧵 #politics #thinkythoughts #tolerance #writing #philosophy #nudgestories #amwriting 1/15

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Mary.Mary Quite Contrary @mary-quitecontrary.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I am calling BS on all of the whining about Trump's new policies. What is the plan to call attention to the demise of democracy and all it involves? Where are our leaders? How are they getting the message out? How can we as individuals be effective in turning this around?

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Walt @waltedinger.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I interview them.

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Carlos Sellan @csellan.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Hi Alexandra, I tailor character voices using a multi-dimensional system, but for simplicity, focus on story genres. A great example is Apple TV+’s murder mystery comedy “The Afterparty” season 1, where every suspect’s voice reflects a different genre of #storytelling. #Writing youtu.be/9x_eYUna_D4

youtu.be

The Afterparty — Official Trailer | Apple TV+

YouTube video by Apple UK

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Chuck @chuckrudolph.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

There is an official who hired an unqualified applicant based on race and gender despite being an alcoholic who has run every organization he’s been in charge of into the ground, and having been removed from his previous position in government service for disloyalty. Someone should report that guy

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

#WritingCommunity, what's up? It's still freaking cold here, and our pellet stove is struggling. Meanwhile, I'm bundled up in my office, starting to work through some notes and being pulled to research the pov character. 1/4

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

I just checked nudgestories.com and it looks good. There are a few things we know about because of the front-end limitations, but overall, it all stays proportional. What about the sites you work on? How do they look when someone changes the font size? #web 1/2

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Good morning #WriteSky. It's all of four freaking degrees here this morning, and our pellet stove is struggling to warm the house right now. I'm in my office, wrapped in a shawl, working hard on the #nudgestories. I have my editing hat on; yesterday, I moved a story into final draft. #amWriting 1/4

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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Was looking for this link for ages and finally found it so I'm posting it here to not lose it - LLMs do NOT summarize. A summary strips out everything but the essential. GenAI merely shortens the text - with no understanding of what was important.

ea.rna.nl

When ChatGPT summarises, it actually does nothing of the kind.

One of the use cases I thought was reasonable to expect from ChatGPT and Friends (LLMs) was summarising. It turns out I was wrong. What ChatGPT isn’t summarising at all, it only looks like it…

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

@shayna-productions.bsky.social, my friend and web developer, is here! Apparently, they've started a substack because writing 300 characters at a time is too much.

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SusanRez @susanrez.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

You write some notes and a quick outline of your idea. Put it in a file for when you need ideas and then get back to your original writing. That file will save you when you get writers block.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

This morning I've had the thrill of meeting a new character and discovering they're intersex. I've got some research to do. Any recommendations? {A} #nudgestories #amWriting #writing #characters

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I'm posting a screenshot of a quote (alt texted) that really resonates with me; it's something I think a lot about as I write the Nudge Stories. What would our lives be like if our work hours were shortened? Would we be more creative? Build better relationships? #thoughts #nudgestories 1/2

A screenshot shows a quote by David Cain, "But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8 hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience, gratification and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching television and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of work. We've been led into a culture that has been engineered to leave us tired, hungry for indulgence, willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment, and, most importantly, vaguely dissatisfied with our lives so that we continue wanting things we don't have. We buy so much because it always seems like something is missing."

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Ready for a new story? Taking place the day after An Unexpected Path, Kevin and Alexandra Hanlon are informed about the Foundation's interest in them. It's time to make a decision. Should they stay, or should they go? #shortStory #amWriting #writeSky #writingCommunity shorturl.at/FlsOR 1/2

Screenshot of the first paragraph of Should We Stay or Should We Go

Point of View: Alexandra Hanlon - Story Date: December 3, 2016

Waking up in a strange bed brought me right back to thinking about why we were even here. The entire scenario presented sounded like a science fiction story: ordinary people lured to a deserted town and then driven in a windowless van to what we were told was one of twenty underground cities scattered around the planet. And the purpose of these cities was to preserve and protect humanity. How could we even be here? Why were we here? Why did I feel so normal? Why was Kevin acting so normal?

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Citizen Scientist #13 🏳️‍⚧️👩‍🔬 @pillowarden.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

(In the context of a fictional story) It doesn't matter if the science in your, or any, story is real, as long as the story sticks to the rule/s set forth by the author. That is one part, of many, what makes for a good sci-fi story. #sci-fi #writing #Consistency

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Sarah Drasner @sarahedo.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Yes, I’m angry, watching the concept of women rebranded to weakness. And people forgetting that they benefit from the hard work of queer people and immigrants. I’m not saying we pick every fight with these sycophantic weirdos, but sometimes they need a reminder of who we are.

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zeu @zeu.dev · 13/01/2025

i think dev teams would be better served using a forum system over a chat system like discord/slack when talking daily, making it easier to understand what topics are happening and to look up knowledge that's organically given via conversations

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

My stories are written in a framework where everyone is considered of equal worth and value and treated equitably. Individual identity is a consistent theme. Initially, the timeline reflects our current culture, stressing the chosen name and reflexive pronouns of the character. #writingcommunity 1/8

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

When a friend gave me a rune reading, telling me I had to write a book, I acknowledged the message, tucked it into my subconscious and continued on living my life, which, like everyone's, has been affected by the general insanity happening all around us. #writing #nudgestories #whyIwrite 1/9

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

This account is going to focus on #writing the #nudgestories, how they came about in the way they did, the focus and even the weird and convoluted process we go through. And how we're converting a WordPress site to a headless version with an accessible front end using Reactjs? #writesky 1/3

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† lucia scarlet 🏰 @lucia.red · 24/12/2024

the only logical follow-up to React Server Components is client-side PHP

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Have you ever wondered what would a solstice holiday celebration look like if it were held 150 years in our future and underneath the surface of the Earth? nudgestories.com/story/waitin... #nudgestories #writing #shortstories #holidaystories #writingcommunity #amwriting #writesky #yule

nudgestories.com

Waiting on the Sun

Brandon attends a Yule Celebration and learns a little more about Alexandra’s and Kevin’s unique relationship.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

nudgestories.com

Waiting on the Sun

Brandon attends a Yule Celebration and learns a little more about Alexandra’s and Kevin’s unique relationship.

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Alexandra Hanlon @alexhanlon.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Twitter refuge trying something new. Hi! 👋 About three years ago, a bunch of stories started downloading into my head and I've been trying to get them out and do them justice.

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