Quirkyalone

Quantify Your Self-Reflection with 750words.com

Mar 14, 2011 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Solitude

My sister tipped me off to a neat tool for self-reflection that you quirkyalones might enjoy. It’s called 750words.com and it’s a site that celeverly encourages you to post 750 words a day. Inspired by The Artist’s Way, the founder wanted to create a site to help people write three “morning pages.” There are 250 words per page, thus 750 as the magic number.

The site provides nifty statistics on your writing, allowing you to track words typed per minute, amount of time it takes to reach 750 words, and how much you use “I,” “we,” or “them” in your entries. There are also bar charts that supposedly reveal your mood at the time of writing, but these are pretty suspect.

I can’t help butI feel suspicious of an online diary site where I post my innermost thoughts. Isn’t this a gold mine beyond belief for researchers, marketers, or anyone who wants to use my own thoughts against me? Sometimes the Internet feels like one big “cross-your-fingers” exercise where you hope everything you disclose doesn’t come back to haunt you. That’s my caveat, your call on the cost-benefit analysis of this nifty service.

Quirkyalone Media Empire About to Expand: Want to Join Us?

Jan 28, 2009 - Written by Sasha Cagen  |  Filed under: Uncategorized

I’m hard at work on what I think will be a very exciting direction for quirkyalone.net. The plan is to transform Quirkyalone into a group blog, even verging on magazine, with a number of bloggers posting on topics relevant to our lives. Whether it’s how to spot another quirkyalone on an online dating site or pop songs that won’t make you want to kill yourself because you’re single, you’ll be able to read about it here!

I’ve gotten a phenomenal response from talented writers and bloggers, and I’m sorting through the responses now. I’m also working with a developer and a designer on a new site design. I wanted to share a few more thoughts on what this site could use. Each blogger will contribute once a week on a given day. If any of these calls sparks your interest, write me at info AT quirkyalone.net, following the guidelines outlined in my previous call-for-bloggers post.

* Boy bloggers – The quirkyalone world is upside down. We need affirmative action for men. If you’re a guy who is just as insightful and writerly as women quirkyalones (ooooh, that’s a hard standard to meet!), I want to hear from you. We need at least one or two men providing the male QA perspective so we don’t get too biased and myopic in our thinking.

* Friendship and community – We are more connected and disconnected than ever before. It’s both a Bowling Alone and Facebook world. I would love for someone to focus on the community angle–how do we stay connected and create community, regardless of whether we are in a relationship? Topics might include friendship break-ups, co-housing, roommates, and more. Let me know what you would focus on.

* Dear quirkyalone – Advice! An advice column! How fun would that be? If you are constantly advising your friends and can write with wit, insight, and aplomb, then let me know and share some samples of your responses to someone’s plight. Please include questions and answers.