iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Doing my own research about how "doing your own research" as a concept has become so corrupted by numbnuts that I don't know if we can ever dig ourselves out of this information-illiterate hole. Throw out the entire internet and start over. #writing #infolit #research

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Definitely both -- preferably within the same story! But I'll take it either way. 😊

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

And they're basically saying in that good-bye email "hey if you have all your writing stuff stored on our servers, good luck getting that back while thousands of other folks scramble to do the same." #nano

Excerpt from email announcing the closing of National Novel Writing Month. This excerpt says that although the organization realizes many people will want to get their writing information from the website, it may be prone to crashing with so much traffic at one time because of "chronic underinvestment in technology" by the NaNoWriMo organization.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

As of a few seconds ago, their website is still up, including the donation page. They do say they'll be shutting that down slowly and that they've cancelled all recurring donations, but I'll be very curious as to how smoothly this goes.

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Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 31/03/2025

#AutismAcceptanceMonth starts tomorrow. Please don't give to Autism Speaks; their $$ rarely supports autistic people/families, and their 'awareness' work portrays autistic people as burdens, not humans. From @autisticadvocacy.org, a good org to support instead. autisticadvocacy.org/considerthef...

autisticadvocacy.org

Before You Donate to Autism Speaks, Consider the Facts

Very little money donated to Autism Speaks goes toward helping autistic people and families.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Fun fact: I sent a Doctor Who spec script to the BBC 12 years ago and they rejected it because I'm not British and then I got Pete Davidson (the celery one) to autograph it at DragonCon's 50th DW anniversary celebration. He wrote "sorry!" on it. ... I think it might be time to try again. 😁 #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

I've been in a major writer's block since the start of the year (I WONDER WHY) and every time I complain about it to my partner he quotes Finding Forrester and his Sean Connery is so startlingly accurate it's starting to jar something loose in there. #writing #ptkfgs

Sean Connery in Finding Forrester telling Rob Brown to punch the keys. They are sitting across from each other at a desk full of books and a lamp.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Working on a poetry month presentation for April and I just have to show y'all this banger from a local elementary school student in the '80s that makes me feel so seen I might have maybe cried when I found it. #writing #poetry

A poem typed out: You know it's pretty hard being a joke/I mean how would you feel/ if you were processed so many times/ and put into books/ and then after you go through all that/ everyone laughs at you./ I don't really know why they're laughing./ I don't look that funny/ and I'm a terrible joke/ I don't know if I can take it./ After one person reads me it spreads/ and people keep talking and talking/ about me. I never did like/ people talking about me./ Lisa Melton Flat Creek School

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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

If you are a neurodivergent reporter, I cannot stress the importance of blocking at least 30 minutes between meetings, phone calls or Zoom interviews to go to the bathroom, review research, eat food, stretch and generally give your brain time to rest and transition in between focused conversations.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Me: I gotta go poke around in the woods this weekend. My partner: For a story or for yourself? Me: Yes.

Closeup of a pine tree trunk with a National Parks Services marker nailed to it

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Trying to follow my own advice to not get antsy waiting on a potential source to get back to me by researching spooky stuff for another client. #writing #journalism #research #podcasts

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

💯Where can I sign up for both parts of this (both Auntie and Aunt-ee)?

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Philip Eil @phileil.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Me, working on my little articles and book projects in February 2025:

A dog in a tie happily typing on a laptop while intense military combat takes place behind them.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

The safest place to learn how to become weird is books. #BookSky #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

This is the part of reporting-based writing that is both the most agonizing and the most transcendent. It's what keeps me at it. #writing #journalism

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Support trans reporting support trans reporting support trans reporting support trans reporting! (Also stick to the Washington Post while you're at it.) Support trans reporting support trans reporting support trans reporting support trans reporting support trans reporting support trans reporting

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Christina Areizaga Barbieri, Ph.D. @cabarbieri.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I'm awkward at this part of my job so please let me mention that I would love to research and write cool evidence-based stuff for your podcast or publication. parasocialinvestigations [at] gmail [dot] com I will emerge from the info ether just for you #writing #podcasts #research #freelance

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 30/09/2024

@theferocity.bsky.social Really needed to hear this at this exact moment! Thanks for the psychic inspiration!

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 26/09/2024

"Babe, you should start a crime writing group called Prose & Cons." I -- #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 24/09/2024

"Her last note is 'penis joke,' so she's definitely writing it all down." IT'S CALLED BACKGROUND COLOR, MA'AM #writing #reporting #interviews

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 17/09/2024

Freelancer self-care is organizing all my recent notebook scrawls into progress spreadsheets to make it easier to move forward than when I was trying to decipher "poison flower? Uncle Tom?? ANTARTICA!!" #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 12/09/2024

Got a rejection letter that said my short story was in the "top 3%" of submissions and I don't know if that was true or just a nicety but it did make it go down smoother. #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 11/09/2024

If I don't at least pretend I'm going to write every day I never get anything done. I do give myself a few days to a week of a break after I've completed a big section (& if I completed a work best believe I'm taking the whole next month off because this shit is DIFFICULT). #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

I asked my bio prof uncle about controversies in his field & he said, "I don't know who cares, but [extremely niche disagreement about a factor of science I'd never heard of before]." I care!! Pls send me your science controversies for me to write about & get other people to care! #science #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 02/09/2024

@erinmorgenstern.bsky.social Hi Ms. Morgenstern, I'm a freelance journalist working on a pitch about how NaNoWriMo's administration decisions over the past year have fractured their community. Would love to interview you about your experience if possible. Thanks and have a good one!

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 02/09/2024

I stg each and every one of these has a different purpose & I rotate through them like the tool wheel in Animal Crossing. #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 29/08/2024

Who thought it was a good idea to not record the time management webinar that, let's be honest, none of us in the target audience had a 100% chance of actually viewing in the moment?

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 28/08/2024

Major #writing update: finished a chapter!! My brain is doing victory laps while my body is gonna go do some chair yoga because my shoulders have crept up to my earlobes for the last three days.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 27/08/2024

In that breathless stage of tension where I've finished my giant research document, I've hit send, and now I'm crossing my fingers that I heard my client spell out their email address properly. No pingback so far. *knocks on fake wood desk* I'm gonna go take a walk. #research #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 23/08/2024

My favorite part of #journalism is when my bullshit meter pings and it ends up being right. My least favorite part is when this means I'll be spending the weekend combing through a Terms of Service with a highlighter. (...I'm lying, I love that part too.)

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 22/08/2024

So glad I'm not the only one who uses this system! #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 21/08/2024

@socialistdogmom.bsky.social Hey Molly! Love your work & new show! If you are taking pitches, I want to nominate Lee Atwater, a Weird Lil Guy instrumental in the "Southern Strategy" that paved the way for the current alt right. I'm a podcast researcher & would love to write about him for WLG!

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 21/08/2024

ABIS IS BACK, BAY-BEE! This month is kicking my ass but I'm still writing and here is my total hours written so far: 17 I'm behind (heh) in my butt-in-seat literal time, but I HAVE written at least a bit every day so far, and that's what I'm really here for. #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 05/08/2024

ABIS (August Butt In Seat) numbers for today: 8:30-9:30 a.m., 60 minutes. Finished a major scene! #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 04/08/2024

ABIS (August Butt In Seat) number for today: 5:40-6:20 p.m. 40 minutes. Was hoping to do long but hey, I'll take it. #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 04/08/2024

Experiencing fiction while I'm writing my own is so inspiring! Currently re-reading George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series. He is so good at making his characters human & centering the story around that. Grand Ideas are still there but as tone & goals rather than foreground. Love it #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 03/08/2024

ABIS (August Butt In Seat) notes for today: wrote on my novel 12:30-1:50 p.m., 80 minutes. Yay! #writing In totally unrelated & surely not dangerous news, my friend gave me a free PS4 (she bought a 5) & Red Dead Redemption II is on sale for $30 & oh oops I just tamed a horse. ...uh oh.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 02/08/2024

August Butt In Seat (ABIS! I'm here all month, y'all) count 8/2/24: 6:50-7:30 a.m., 40 mins. Writing a full hour before getting ready for work is hard. Will make up the time this weekend. #writing

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 01/08/2024

Doing an August writing challenge and using you SkyWriters to keep me accountable. No word count but I do have a butt-in-chair hour goal for August: 31 hours in 31 days. Updating here each day so it's public and embarrassing if I fail. #writing 8/1/24: 6:50-7:30 a.m., 40 mins

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Orcspiration @orcspiration.bsky.social · 31/07/2024

YOUR ENEMIES LAMENT YOUR VERY EXISTENCE. DO YOU NEED TO ASK FOR HELP?

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 30/07/2024

Just had a very interesting interview with a park ranger about firefly sex. How's YOUR week going? #science #writing

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Get To Know Nature @gettoknownature.bsky.social · 27/07/2024

Making stuff is hard. It’s always helpful to hear that somebody likes it!

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 17/07/2024

Hey y'all. I'm still reporting on #NaNoWriMoSucks and the fallout of the National Novel Writing Month scandal, so please let me know if you'd like to talk with me about it. Will accommodate your privacy needs, of course.

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ParaSocial Investigations @psinvestigations.bsky.social · 15/07/2024

Many thanks to Patches the cat, who let me interview their human over the weekend. Enforced much needed cuteness breaks during a discussion of a heavy topic.

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