Day 140: 5 Minute Freewrite: Thursday - Prompt: First African in Space

Please welcome our new freewriters
@nikkimariel
@jyezie
@maslowmission

Please forgive me if you are new and I haven't mentioned you yet - I am a bit behind.

You might or might not know that there is a silver piece with the Steem symbol in the making. Last years was sold out in no time. Here, you get to vote on this year's design.
Cast your vote here

People always want to steal - so always be careful. If you are familiar with the Grumpy Cat saga.....
be careful and do not click any links one fake Grumpy Cat comments. They are fakes sent from multiple hacked accounts. If you see one DO NOT CLICK! LEARN MORE. It will direct you to steemil.com not steemit.com and take over your account changing all the keys.

Almost all modern browsers will show the link somewhere if you hover over it. The other key thing is a reputable site (steemit included) will use HTTPS if you need to log in to something, spoofs won't have that because you need to go through a certification authority to get that.

Prompt: First African in Space

this prompt was suggested by @Keangaroo
tomorrow, I will publish the backstory

• Set your timer for 5 minutes
• Start writing
• Use the hashtag #freewrite
• Publish your piece (include a link to this post if you wish)

Copy and paste your URL into the comment section of the prompt post.

• Or, if you don't want to publish your freewrite, just copy and paste as a comment under the prompt post.

If you don't know what a freewrite is, here is a link to the introduction post.

Here is @snooks excellent tutorial on how to join our freewrite adventure

And @improv's input:

Two things I do a little differently. I just type "timer" into google and it pops up a 5-minute timer. I also type directly into steemit. I also rarely use a photo, don't I? So that's three things.

Please read, comment and vote (if you have voting power) on each others freewrites as much as you can. Especially if you are new to the platform, you will be surprised how many friendships are formed by reading and commenting on each other's work!

Contests by our Fellow Freewriters

• Our freewriting friend @hartfloe is hosting a very particular writing contest. Only 1111 characters allowed!!! Join here

• @f3nix is still giving away memberships to @steembasicincome. Check out his profile for your chance to win.

• Our funny, talented, intelligent, attractive, modest writing friend @felt.buzz ( 🤪 😂 😍 who is a great friend) is hosting a writing contest on zappl!! If you don't know what that is, here is your chance to learn another application to the blockchain. Details here

• @conradt is hosting a Caption This Contest #captionthis. Find the daily picture to caption on his profile.

• @fireawaymarmot has a very special contest. Listen to his music and then, write your story!! How cool is that!!! Go to his profile for the latest prompt.

• @improv is the master of puns! Enter his Punday contest here

• The Constrained Writing Contest by our fellow freewriter @svashta is on! Check his blog for the latest contest. Click here to join

• If you like a picture to be the prompt, check out the #365daysofwriting challenge hosted by @mydivathings. Every day, a new picture to entice you weave a story.

Contests Galore

• @moneyinfant posts a daily update of writing contests!! Go to his profile and start winning :)

• Another compilation of all kinds of contests by @artz. A new one comes out every Monday! Check the profile.

Voting

Remember to check your voting power. Do not vote for a while if you are under 90!
https://www.steemnow.com/ or use https://steemworld.org/

Here is an excellent article explaining how to maximize your vote by @taskmaster4450. It helps you to grow to vote wisely!! And a more recent one

And here is a counter opinion on voting by our freewriter @improv

This post is talking about using your vote for maximum curation. Thank you, Asher @abh12345 Read the post here

Bandwidth Problems

I know that many of you are very new to the platform and your wallets are pretty empty. Believe me, we all started there!! Here is an excellent article which explains what bandwidth is and why you might have a hard time logging in some days - or posting. Thank you @jrswab for this explanation

There are many contests on Steemit. From art to music to writing and everything in between. Enter as many as you can!! And take advantage of the free money people give away I listed in the money section below.

Can one of the newer Steemians please let us know if this is still a problem?

Great Opportunity

This is a great opportunity for those of you who are more serious about your writing and are ready to take it to the next place. The Isle of Write just announced their new project. SBD can be won and you can even make it into a print edition. Read the details here.
An update on how to enter your work.

Writing help

• A free app: Grammarly. A lot of us are not native English speakers and I am finding it a helpful app. It will underline spelling and grammar mistakes. Just remember that is is not always right -especially if you use complex sentence structures. Here is the link

• Remember The Most Dangerous Writing App. You set the time - 5 min - and start typing. Don’t stop!!! It will destroy what you wrote if you stop for more than 3 seconds - and backspace does not count as writing on the app. If you are prone to stop and think - this app forces you to keep going. You can make corrections after the 5 minutes are over.

• A timer. Egg timer is a free tool you can use on your desktop to set a time. This is useful for our freewrites or if you want to work in blocks of time and then take a break. Here is the link

• Our fellow freewriter @arbitrarykitten has a business here on Steemit. Several editors are offering to edit and format your post for a small fee. Check out their intro post

• Our discord channel Isle of Write has workshop rooms for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry where some of the experienced writers might be able to give some tips. Join with this link https://discord.gg/zfXNRnK

• If you are ready to get serious about improving your understanding of the English language check out @majes.tytyty blog. He has lots of useful information to understand words and their roots better. If you have questions or need help, leave a comment on his blog.

• If you know of other helpful tools or people, please share with us!

Money

There are several people who offer SBD for free on this platform! How great is that!!

Here are a few
@scrooger has a great "help the minnows" project. It is so easy!! Register by leaving a comment for an upvote - or invest into buying a lifetime upvote. A minnow support project brought to you by @scrooger
@fisheggs - follow this account and you get upvotes at random times.
@sydesjokes - he rewards his followers with SBD for any kind of interaction with him- comment, vote, resteem.
@craigcryptoking- he does a giveaway a few times a week. Usually, they involve commenting and/or beer.
@danielsaori - he does a comment contest. A new challenge every week.
@rexusmo - I think a few of you have started to leave links to your post. Every day, he has a cheering up post. You leave a link to a post you are proud off and you might get a reward. Keep trying!!

Steemit Tools

This is the most comprehensive list of applications on this blockchain I have seen. I highly recommend that you bookmark it!! I also will include it in the growing resource section in the future. Steemit Tools

Staying Legal

This is an excellent article by @dmcamera on how to use images legally. A must read!!

Discord

Remember, we have our own room in the Isle of Write Discord! Join us now!!!

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics

If you like this and want more people to come out and play - resteem!

Also, I would love it if you all check out each others #freewrite and spread some love :)

Join us for the daily 5 - Minute Freewrite. Check my profile for a new prompt every day.

All images are my own unless otherwise cited.

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