Life in progress


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS July 21/18

It’s Friday! And time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’m late again, sorry about that. Too much on my mind, as evidenced by the fact that I’ve been walking into rooms with no idea why a lot more lately. Luckily, there’s coffee to combat some of it. Here’s your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “organ.” Talk about an organ or base your post on the theme of them … or one. Have fun!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here to this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use our SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!

 

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!


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322. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Thursday, July 19th, 5:00 6:00pm
Zoey (and Whitley)

 

Zoey sits at the window. Whitley takes the seat beside her.

Whitley: Hey, are you a twin?

Zoey: Errr … no. Why?

Whitley: Oh, because I thought I recognized you.

Zoey: Wwwhy would you think you’d seen my twin before but not me?

Whitley: Because she doesn’t look like you.

Zoey: Ooookay.

 

Next stop: Friday, July 20th, 6:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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THE MAGICIAN’S CURSE is FREE & BookBub!!

There will be a couple of other posts on this subject over the next few days, but this one is for my regular readers, just to explain what kind of crazy (and exciting!) week it’s been for me. To explain why The Magician’s Curse is free for the rest of the month and maybe a bit beyond. I never really wanted it to be free, but I figured it was my best chance …

You see, I decided, just on a whim, to submit The Magician’s Curse to *BookBub as a Featured Deal. Total long shot, as they receive hundreds of submissions a day. It’s like winning the lottery.  …  AND I WON!! On July 24th, an e-mail will go out to roughly 870,000(!!!) subscribers to let them know my book exists and that it’s free!!!

This is HUGE for me (said Captain Obvious), so it was important that I get the second book in the series ready to go. And that’s what I’ve been doing for the past week.

So what this all comes down to is that the e-book copy of The Magician’s Curse is free!! (Click here to see the sexy new universal link I created for it.)

If you haven’t read it yet, now is the time to get it. It will go back up to full price after the BookBub Feature, but it may stay on sale for a while longer if another submission comes through for me of a similar type, but exclusively through KOBO.

 

And finally, my other exciting news: the second book in The Great Dagmaru series is available for pre-order! My darling friend, Belinda Borradaile, (click on her name and follow her amazing FB page) really outdid herself with the new cover. Isn’t it gorgeous?

The Magician’s Blood is at the special low pre-order price of $2.99 until its release on August 10th. After that, the price will go up to $4.99, so be sure to pick it up early! (Click here.)

Here’s the blurb:

Herman Anderson is in love. Thrilled to travel across Canada with her boyfriend as his assistant onstage, she returns to her hometown—the first stop on the Great Dagmaru magic tour. Anticipating a reunion with her brother, instead she finds her family has moved without a trace.

Stephen Dagmar’s career as a stage magician is taking off. With Herman by his side, his only concern is her father’s dislike for him. But as Herman’s father makes a prediction and resolves to come between them, Stephen’s family curse returns to haunt him.

Darkness descends as the reality of the Dagmar’s incubus bloodline surfaces for the first time in over a generation. Can Herman and Stephen’s relationship survive this new trial? Will Herman survive at all?

A sinful tale of beauty and romance, love and determination, The Magician’s Blood will chill you and leave you breathless for more.

*18+ Contains explicit scenes.

This one is NOT a Young Adult book, as many readers seemed to think The Magician’s Curse was meant to be. So be forewarned.

Just a quick note about BookBub, in case you want to subscribe: I mentioned BookBub in another post here. Once you subscribe, you let them know what your favourite genres are and then they send you e-mails on a daily basis to alert you when there’s a sale on. You can also follow your favourite authors, so you’ll know right away when there’s a new release … your favourite authors like me … (click here if I’m not being obvious enough). 😉

Obviously, I won’t be sleeping much until this Tuesday and probably beyond. Knowing that I can expect (re: BookBub’s average download count for my genre) 22,600 copies of my book to fly off the virtual shelf tends to come with a prerequisite hourly SQUEE!!

Watch for The Magician’s Curse to hit the top of the charts on Tuesday, July 24th, and hopefully The Magician’s Blood will too!

SQUEE!!

*Here’s an excellent article to show you what BookBub does for unknown skilled authors: It Isn’t Amazon Publishers Should Fear, It’s BookBub


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321. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Wednesday, July 18th, 5:00pm
CeeGee (and Rachael)

 

CeeGee sits at the window on the phone. Rachael takes the seat beside her.

CeeGee: Hi, yeah, I’m returning your call?

CeeGee pauses to listen.

CeeGee: You’re sure? It’s cancer?

CeeGee pauses to listen.

CeeGee: (smiles) That’s wonderful! Okay, I’ll see you later.

CeeGee hangs up and notices Rachael staring at her.

CeeGee: That was my astrological advisor.

Rachael: (laughs) Oh! I thought someone was sick!

CeeGee: She is. She’s got cancer.

Rachael stares, mouth agape.

CeeGee: She thought it was flesh-eating disease.

Rachael: (rolls her eyes) Well that’s better.

CeeGee: I thought so.

 

Next stop: Thursday, July 19th, 5:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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One-Liner Wednesday – Thought of the day

Is it Wednesday already?

Click to look at it close up. An incredible picture (rare for me) of a snail on a flower.


If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely new badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!


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320. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Tuesday, July 17th, 5:00pm
Kyra (and Bruce)

 

Kyra sits at the window. Bruce takes the seat beside her.

Kyra: That’s a nice plant you’ve got there.

Bruce: (hugs his plant) She’s my friend.

Kyra: Aww, that’s nice. Does she have a name?

Bruce: (smiles) Dinner.

Kyra: You’re going to eat your friend?

Bruce: (looks horrified) NO! That’s her name.

Kyra: That’s a weird name.

Bruce: It’s her karma. Her name was broccoli when I got her.

Kyra: Ahh …

Bruce: That’s nothing. I used to have a friend named Godzilla.

Kyra: A lizard?

Bruce: A grasshopper.

Kyra: Did you have a chihuahua named Werewolf too?

Bruce: (frowns, confused) I don’t get you.

Kyra: Never mind.

 

Next stop: Wednesday, July 18th, 5:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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319. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Monday, July 16th, 5:00 5:30pm
Andrea (and Justin)

 

Andrea sits at the window. Justin takes the seat beside her.

Justin: Jeez. I can’t believe the bus was late again!

Andrea: Oh yeah? Is it late?

Justin: Yeah, it’s happening a lot lately.

Andrea: Hey, you wanna go out for a drink or something?

Justin: Can’t. I’m going to meet my girlfriend. She works in a dungeon.

Andrea: (sits up straight) Seriously? You can, like, get a job in a dungeon?

Justin: Yep.

Andrea: Can you take me there?

Justin: Sure. You have to be a certain kind of person to be able to work in a place like that. It’s all like S&M and all that.

Andrea: I’m way ahead of it already. Just ask my ex … Well, you could if he hadn’t left town.

Justin: He into the whole whips and leather and stuff?

Andrea: (shakes head) Eddie was more the bitey type.

 

Next stop: Tuesday, July 17th, 5:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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318. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Note: Strong language.

Sunday, July 15th, 11:00am
Andrea and Lacey

 

Andrea: Ugh. I’m covered in mosquito bites.

Lacey: I thought you liked blood-suckers.

Andrea: Fuck off. Speaking of blood-suckers, it’s been, like, a week since I saw my Eddie.

Lacey: How’d it go last time you saw him?

Andrea: (cocks head) We talked a bit. Then he said he had to run. I think we hit it off okay.

Lacey: I think you should just forget about him. Find someone nice.

Andrea: What do I want “nice” for? It doesn’t matter – they start off nice but then I find out they were dicks all along. Might as well go for someone I know is badass in the first place. Save some time.

Lacey: You’ve got a point.

 

Next stop: Monday, July 16th, 5:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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317. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Saturday, July 14th, 8:00 9:00pm
Hillary and Villem (and Drommen)

 

Hillary sits at the window, almost passed out, with her hand in Villem’s lap. Drommen boards the bus.

Drommen: (as he approaches) What the hell are you doing?

Villem: Nothin’ man. Just havin’ a little fun.

Drommen: Go have fun at the back of the bus.

Villem hesitates and Drommen draws back his fist. Villem moves and Drommen sits.

Hillary: Whatchu do that for?

Drommen: Because I care about you. You’re coming with me this time. No arguments.

Hillary: You gonna take care of me?

Drommen: Yes. Either me or my sister. Where are your parents?

Hillary: Don’t have none. ‘S just me.

Drommen: (puts his arm around her and helps her up) Not anymore.

 

Next stop: Sunday, July 15th, 11:00am

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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#SoCS – How?

How am I supposed to do this? I’m asking myself that a lot lately. Between the advertising methods I need to learn, affiliate codes and links and landing pages … GDPR? Don’t even get me started. I need a privacy policy now just to have a newsletter … have you actually read one of those things? (A privacy policy, not a newsletter.) They’re pages of mumbo jumbo. But I have to get all this done soon because … I can’t say. Just know that there’s a big announcement coming  very soon. Maybe tomorrow.

I wonder if Shakespeare had to deal with all this stuff.

Thou’st are not compliant

Fie upon your dogg’d insistence!

Mine eyes cast daggers on thy curs’d GDPR!

Yeah, I doubt it. And no, Shakespeare I am most definitely not.

This short, sweet, archaic post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link and join in today! https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-14-18/