Life in progress

Monthly Archives: February 2024


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 10, 2024

It’s Friday! And that means I’m here with your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’m quite proud of myself so far with keeping up on the blogging. I hope it will last. Here’s this week’s prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “heavy/light/dark.” Use “light” and/or its opposites. Bonus points if you use all three. Enjoy!

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 beautiful 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!!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

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 particular 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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What Day is it Anyway? February 8, 2024

Yep. It’s back.

Actually, I needed a What Day is it Anyway? yesterday.

I made such a bonehead move.

On Tuesday, I had to get up at 5am to start my son Alex’s tube feeding so I could make it out the door for a dentist appointment by 10.

Yesterday, I forgot to turn off the alarm, so it rang again at 5.

And I trusted it.

I dragged myself into a sitting position, put on my robe and slippers, and trudged down the stairs to get Alex’s feed started.

It was only when I was pulling the containers of formula out of the case when I thought …

What am I doing?

Am I going somewhere today? Is Alex?

Noooo!

So I put the formula back and trudged back up the stairs.

On my way back to bed, I checked on Alex. He woke up.

“What time is it?” he asked in sign language.

“It’s 5:00,” I replied.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know,” I said with a shake of my head. “Go back to sleep. I’ll explain later.”

I trudged back to my room, took off my robe and slippers, and went back to bed.

When I told Alex what happened yesterday, he laughed and laughed.

Bonehead Mom.


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One-Liner Wednesday – So that happened…

Today (Monday), I was stopped at a light behind an SUV on which someone had written names in the dust on the back window. Of the seven names (including “MOM”), three of them were names of the characters in the book I’m writing: Blake, Mason, and Dexter.

What are the odds?

(Checks to make sure my OneDrive isn’t compromised.)

(Adds the other three names to my character list. haha!)

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 badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com

Available now! Click the image!


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Announcing a new Valentine’s story!

Available on Kindle and Kobo today!

NOTE: This story was originally written for the “Love and Other Kerfuffles” anthology, published by The New Romance Cafe in 2023.

Un-Valentine’s Week is a short story about Amy, who’s quitting her job at a resort in a tropical paradise, and Taylor, the guy who crashes a week-long celebration made especially for single ladies. Hilarity ensues! 

You can get Un-Valentine’s Week one of two ways. You can buy it on KINDLE or KOBO for 99¢ or you can read it for free on Ream! 

Join my Grand Entrance tier using promo code GRANDENTRANCE and get the first two months free.

Thanks so much. I hope you enjoy my story. 🙂


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Trying not to flounder

By definition, trying not to flounder means struggling not to struggle. Far too much to wrap my insufficiently caffeinated brain around.

If I were to say I flounder with one thing in life consistently, it’s getting up in the morning.

I actually shocked myself one day not too long ago—I’m going to say it’s been a few weeks now—when I woke up and realized there was something I needed to do, and I sat up and put my slippers on without even thinking about it.

That never happens!

Okay, it happens once.

But you get what I mean.

Is that how early risers do it every day?

Seriously, I want to know.

My dear friend Dar is the founder of a new February prompt called Floundering February! Here’s the link. Check it out and join in. It’s fun!


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Still so stoked!

Still so stoked – try to say that five times fast.

Anyway, I wrote a post last week (it feels like a year ago) about being stoked about something, and it ended in a cliffhanger.

Well, my friends, I’m about to rescue you from the cliff!

The thing I’ve been putting lots of energy into …

The best new thing to come around since sliced bread …

The thing I can’t wait for you to see …

…

…

(this is a drumroll, by the way)

…

Is …

My Ream account!

*waits for applause*

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Wait, someone in the back is asking what a Ream account is.

Now someone in the front is too … only a couple of people know what Ream is?

No problem. I can explain.

Ream is a platform much like Patreon, only it was built specifically for authors and readers, and IT IS AMAZING!

On Ream, you can just go and read some of my stories, like Off the top of my head where I’m adding a story, poem, or scene weekly to create a compilation. So far, they’re all things that were previously published on my fiction blog, but I’ll add stories you’ve never read before to it. You don’t even need to sign up! Click the link and see!

If you do sign up for Ream (it’s easy, painless, and free!) you can follow me for free and get emails when I update something, plus you can read Pixy and All Good Stories and other stuff I publish there in the future. Did I mention it’s free?

Okay, so my Ream page isn’t very pretty right now, but I’m still working out the kinks and trying to figure out what I’m going to do with it. It’s early days.

But I’m in talks with a lovely lady named Anna who runs a business that helps authors with branding and banners and all things to make their social media accounts look pretty.  It’s going to cost money, though, so that’s where my next point comes in.

I also have paid tiers.

The first one is only $3.00, and I’ve titled it “Eternal Gratitude.” But that, while huge, is not all you get when you join. It’s perfect for the reader who doesn’t read romance. I plan to publish my short stories that were included in the Transmundane Press anthologies plus—get this—I’ll even dust off the first novel I ever wrote, which only a handful of people have read, and publish it to this tier! Plus any other non-romance stories I write in the future.

The second tier is $4.99 (but right now it’s free—there are coupons! Keep reading!). It’s my “Grand Entrance” tier and it’s exactly what it sounds like. The very first productive tier where you can join me and read my steamy romance stories, both past and future. You’ll see I’m limiting the number of people who can sign up for this because once it’s archived, it’s going to continue to be my inner community. No matter what anyone is offered in higher priced tiers in the future (excluding physical goods), if you sign up for this one, you’ll get it all and never pay more than $4.99.

But again, I’m still working this out.

So to reward those who take the 14 spots left (as of the writing of this post) for putting up with me while I sort things out, you can use the promo code GRANDENTRANCE to get the first 2 months free, or 4MONTHS50 to get the first 4 months at half price.

Go check out the tier here to see what the benefits (aside from putting up with me) are. Warning: steamy romance!

And that’s what has me so stoked.

It’s going to be so much fun! Ream is a place not only to read stories, but to connect with authors and other readers and start discussions on what you love (or hate!) about characters and settings and what resonates with you. It’s a place to feel included in the storytelling community.

Check out Ream now!

Thank you so much!


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#SoCS – Watch this

Watch this.

It’s me, writing a SoCS post on a Saturday morning. On one cup of coffee (it’s not enough).

I’ve spent the last half an hour looking for the last time I participated in my own prompt—barring Just Jot it January and the occasional post, I think it’s going on three years.

Here’s what I wrote in April 2021 in one of my last posts:

“I’ve been paralyzed every time I’ve thought about writing something. It’s not fear, exactly, but it kind of is. Anxiety, maybe? I dunno. Maybe I’m just totally out of practice.”

And as far as blogging goes, that hasn’t changed. Until now, when I’m still running on momentum from January.

So I’m going to try to be here more often.

I wrote six (6!) posts last year that weren’t One-Liner Wednesdays or Friday prompts.

I need to remedy that.

Just watch me.

 

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This determined post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt here and join in!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 3, 2024

Hey! It’s our first regular Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt of the year. Thanks so much again to everyone who participated in Just Jot it January. It was great! Here’s this week’s prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “watch.” Use it as a noun or a verb, use it any way you’d like. 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 beautiful 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!!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

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 particular 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!


by 24 Comments

Just Jot it January 2024 – We did it!

Woohoo! We made it through January 2024!

I was amazed that I actually managed to post a response to every prompt this year. Yay for organizers! Mine are proving to be a lifesaver, or certainly a stress-saver.

So? How did you do? Did you post every day in January? Did you at least jot something somewhere? Let me know in the comments, or write your own “I did it! #JusJoJan24 Edition” post, even if you only posted once, and link it back here.

Congrats to everyone who joined in! Here’s your annual participant badge.

Happy February, everyone!