From the Twitterverse

NOTE: I don't know what the future holds for Twitter, but, despite how h3llish it's been for others, and I know, there have been many cr@ppy and horrific moments for me too, the platform has been a boon for my writing life, and in more recent years, my artwork. I met many individuals, coalitions, organizations, advocacy groups, and publishing industry pros I admire and respect. I also learned about and was able to support Black and brown creators and small businesses. I learned to online network more, how to be self-confident, and trust in my voice. Yes, a social media platform did that for me. 

Since I don't know what will happen, I'll be posting handfuls of some favorite tweets. 

Below are some posts from when I was in my MFA graduate program (links are still active):

This is my 2nd #PaulAuster - "Mr. Vertigo" is devilishly fun and feels like #RayBradbury on speed. #requiredreading #gradwork

1:37 PM · Feb 4, 2014

Opinion: I am a beneficiary of chain migration -

#immigration - This article written by a fellow #MFA alum! 

http://tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2018/01/19/opinion-am-beneficiary-chain-migration/1034370001/ (via @andrewjskerritt)

11:36 PM · Jan 19, 2018

D@mn, I found my #MFA #thesis! #furry

https://utampa.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.11868/77/browse?type=author&value=Welsh%2C+Carmen+K.+Jr.

9:53 PM · Aug 28, 2019

Why This #Poet Says There Is No 'Single Story Spun On A Single Tongue' - Poet Dr. #EricaDawson was the #director of my #MFA program when I graduated!! She was on the #PBSNewshour this Monday!! Sweeeeeet😍🤩💖 #StarstruckandProud #BlackWomen

pbs.org

Why this poet says there is no 'single story spun on a single tongue'

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-this-poet-says-there-is-no-single-story-spun-on-a-single-tongue?fbclid=IwAR1whxwpylvMCHvRZYzAWkmJZz1oiXw77Fm2QU6xynXpUIBvl4PLWXzwZ24

2:17 AM · Feb 16, 2019

Year of Champions: Thanks to #TinaIsaacs, local #writers know they are never alone - THIS IS ONE OF MY FRIENDS FROM MY #MFA #WRITING PROGRAM!! #Malaysia 

Read more at https://star2.com/topics/yearender-2017/2017/12/30/year-of-champions-thanks-to-tina-isaacs-local-writers-know-they-are-never-alone/#ZD3S2v1t7BvWlc58.99

https://star2.com/topics/yearender-2017/2017/12/30/year-of-champions-thanks-to-tina-isaacs-local-writers-know-they-are-never-alone/

9:35 PM · Jan 1, 2018

IG Is A Mess

When I created my DeviantArt page, it was to serve as an online portfolio to my work and scope of creative vision. It took me years of deliberation since I knew several years ago, the platform for global artists was experiencing some ugliness in terms of bullying and other social ills. 

Well, dA finally came under new management, new guidelines, and bylaws. An overhaul of the site was made, and when a young family friend and a friend from grad school were both encouraging me to use DeviantArt, I felt now was the time. 

I opened the Instagram account firstly to give my mother's paintings a platform and because, at the time, she was actively trying to sell her art. She even had art openings in our home prior to COVID. My mom was never patient with most social media, her only accepted and tolerated one being WhatsApp. Soon, she convinced me to delete her Insta account. She just didn't want to deal with anything else online. So I looked over Instagram and realized I needed something far more mutable to DeviantArt's steadfastness. 

Also known as IG, I think I unfortunately got into Instagram when it was already bought out by Facebook, and I can already see the ill effects with that takeover. However, I needed to overlook these since my main objective was to use IG's slideshow feature to make one of my comic stories a visual reality. I also created my own art-progression videos (I may go back to those, but the platform doesn't inspire too much trust).

Insta is now making it more difficult to post images vertically because of their feature-cropping. My own cellphones  now have excellent filters and a crop-feature known as Scan. lso do a new feature known as 'Extract Text' I now use for my captions and Alt Text. IG tried to force its users to make their version of TikTok videos. But for months, I kept using my own videos that I then uploaded. After a while, Insta migrated all self-made videos to their Reels section, and in the meantime, they were cropping uploaded images poorly. 

I figured out on the occasion I did my comic pages vertically that the Instagram platform cropped it so badly I would have to take the photo with the page's background. But when it's horizontal, the cropping isn't so much. However, I'm not being paranoid as other creatives such as the cartoonists and artists I follow on IG complained about the same thing. Even friends who tried to promote their books were going through the same. Now IG seems to be forcing us into some other feature. It's making me want to use the Share feature to also migrate to a previous social media platform, Tumblr. 

We shall wait and see.

I Won July Camp NaNo 2019

I WON CAMP NANOWRIMO.

I needed to complete another story project, so for this July Camp NaNo, I decided to work on two stories simultaneously: a continuation of the April Camp NaNo story project and the start and hopefully completion of the second story.

I set my sights on 9,000 words, just as I did for April, and made it to 9,099 words!
Now to work on revising and editing both projects. During July Camp, I also added more to my online world-building encyclopedic blog.

I also did a video series of coloring a sketch on some of the characters and uploading to Instagram. Though I kept tight notes on the videos, they still ended up out of sequence. I'm really exhausted that I did this to myself. But... I won and that means I beat my record from last time. While being distracted with other projects such as the world-builder blog and art-process videos.

And no, I'm not posting to YouTube. It's already been suggested. I have my reasons. I don't need to be on so many social media platforms. I work in several genres and need to get my projects and acts together, and, right now, I use events such as NaNoWriMo and Inktober to get those ideas off the ground. I mean what I say. Social media is work in and of itself, and right now, I'm at a tolerable level.

Thank you. And as always, when I have something new posted or upcoming assignment, I will let you know the details, my Dear Readers.

Sunday rant about Facebook's dysfunction

So sick of how segregating and silencing many of these FB groups are.

The Sailor Moon Fan group I just left wouldn't allow me to post a Sailor Moon Tumblr post (& I credited it).

This is the same reason I left that Women's Writer, Editor, and Agent group.

They allowed other postings but when I posted articles about Black and Brown women in the publishing industry, the moderator wouldn't allow it.

A comic book and collector's fan group wouldn't allow my posting about the death of a recent legend in comics who happened or be Black.

And the Science Fiction writer's group I left wanted to silence minority voices and tell us politics weren't allowed in scifi. Since when has science fiction NOT been political?

And don't get me started on the amount of Christian and Black History groups I had to leave because of that exclusivity!

Friends and family, if there's a group you believe you should add me to, please PLEASE do me and yourself the favor of checking how INCLUSIVE the FB group is. Because Facebook is such a dysfunctional corporate enterprise, this platform often reflects that. Thank you and enjoy your Sunday.