(MicroBlogVember was a month-long [November] blog challenge where each day had its own prompt prompt. 2023's slate was organized by Noel B.)

• 1 - Trick or Treat!
• 2 - backup of a backup
• 3 - Jared, 19
• 4 - roleplaying games
• 5 - What the fuck are the upstairs neighbors doing
• 6 - green thumbs
• 7 - best places to cry in public
• 8 - that's not a real place
• 9 - book club
• 10 - trespassing
• 11 - unlikely teacher
• 12 - fidget toys
• 13 - i do not dream of labor
• 14 - retirement home for millennials
• 15 - i do not get poetry
• 16 - what's for dinner
• 17 - juggling
• 18 - cartoon animals
• 19 - doctors hate her!!
• 20 - witch weather
• 21 - fuck computers
• 22 - what's in a name
• 23 - gifts
• 24 - there was an app for that
• 25 - Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood
• 26 - you're turning into your mother
• 27 - 'tis the season
• 28 - a new holiday for a new world
• 29 - ghosts
• 30 - thank

Postmortem

I had a good time... I think. Leave it to my ADHD brain to have a relatively easy time writing thirty (30) different, small things rather than one (1) big thing.

I wasn't keeping actual track, but my first post - trick or treat, where I basically wrote about how I hated NaNoWriMo on the day when writers are expected to start doing NaNoWriMo - seemed to be the one that resonated with the most people by far. Number two was probably I do not dream of labor. Considering the demographic of cohost, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the posts about how burning yourself out for the sake of capitalistic ideals sucks did a bit better than the others. They were also in the first half of the month, before people got sick of the whole thing.

Others that were longer essays - that's not a real place, Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood, a new holiday for a new world - didn't really land well at all. I think the latter two lack a core thesis and are more rambly, which I did somewhat intentionally as a form of ADHD unmasking. For that reason, I'm not particularly surprised they didn't resonate.

Also unpopular were my more creative posts - best places to cry in public, book club - and posts where I was more openly vulnerable about myself and my life - What the fuck are the upstairs neighbors doing, retirement home for millennials, what's for dinner, thank, and what's in a name. Not entirely unexpected either (I suppose nobody likes to see trauma-dumping), but that last one stings a bit because I assumed the feeling of being saddled with an identity you don't quite understand yet are expected to somehow simultaneously exhibit and reject would resonate with people.

Somehow, I didn't only do MicroBlogVember during the month either; I found time for some other effortful posts. "Even your 'average' JRPG combat system wants you to actually think about what you're doing" seemed to resonate with people, but it was also a post explicitly piggybacking off a friend's and I don't think I said anything that people didn't already implicitly know. I reviewed an indie game and got a comment from the developer, which felt a bit bizarre.

On the whole... a decent month. It helped me be a bit more okay with randomly posting things instead of going weeks/months not saying anything because I feel like I need to have A Big Post lined up, and here's hoping that feeling continues.

#writing