Life in progress

Author Archives: Linda G. Hill


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 16/19

Hi there! It’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! Another dismal week in regards to getting Alex to school every day. We’ve managed three. Here’s to getting him to school all four days next week (because Monday’s a holiday)! Here’s your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “yawn.” Write about the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word “yawn,” when you sit down to write your post. 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 pretty 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!!

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.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 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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One-Liner Wednesday – Good or bad?

Nothing saves water better than a water heater that turns off after five minutes when you’re in the shower.

(Motivational poster made for free at canva.com.)


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Just a nice story

Every once in a while, something happens that restores my faith in humanity a bit. At times like these I kind of kick myself for being so cynical in the first place. So yeah, there’s a lesson here somewhere. And it includes believing a little in serendipity, too.

To start at the beginning, I had my best friend, John, and his kids over for dinner on Saturday night. (Salmon on the barbecue with rice, corn, brussels, and a lovely lemon and dill sauce, if you’re wondering.) After dinner, John was chatting on his cell phone to his other son. Then the three of them left.

About half an hour later, John called me from his son’s phone to say he’d lost his mobile and would I look for it. I searched the house, I went outside to look in the snow bank, nothing. He couldn’t find it at his place either. We tried calling it but the automated voice came on to say the “customer you’re calling is unavailable.” John came over with a flashlight to see if I’d missed it. It was nowhere to be found.

He tried again the next morning, thinking maybe he’d find it in the daylight. The only thing he could think of was that he’d dropped it on the sidewalk and someone had come along and picked it up. He was about to leave to go home and get himself some breakfast, but I invited him to stay. I usually work during breakfast, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to eat together since he was already there.

We were just cleaning off the table after our toast when there was a knock at the door. This is where the serendipity comes in, because I never answer my door on a Sunday morning. It’s usually Jehovah’s witnesses, and I don’t like standing with the front door open chatting about religion in my pajamas, especially when the air outside is sub-zero. But John, being far braver than I, opened the door.

To find two ladies who had been walking up the street, knocking on doors, to find the owner of the phone they’d found in the middle of the street the night before. Where it could easily have been run over.

The first thing he did after turning the SIM card back on was put the message on his lock screen: “If found, please call …” and my home number.

Because you never know. Someone kind and considerate might find it again next time. At least I’ve got to believe they will.


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#SoCS – Awkwardly

Verily, I say I really get myself into some messes. Like, I don’t think about what my own Saturday posts are going to look like. If you’re looking at this post and thinking, “Why the hell would I hire an editor who starts a sentence with an adverb … especially one like ‘verily,'” know that the prompt made me do it!

Yes, it’s my prompt.

I blame it on lack of coffee.

So, would you look at that! It’s Saturday already! The plan at this point is to take Alex to a movie today–either “The Kid Who Would Be King” or “A Dog’s Way Home.” I’m waiting for Alex to decide. I don’t particularly want to see either of them, but you do these sorts of things for your kids. Especially when they let you sleep in ’til 9:30. Aside from when they woke you up just to tell you they’re awake. It was still dark. I have no idea what time it was, but I told him to leave me alone and go downstairs, which he did.

Maybe he’ll sleep through the movie. I might too. We’ll have popcorn, so we’ll be sure to look “into it.”

At the moment I’m dying for my second cup of coffee. The dog is curled up in a ball on the loveseat beside me

and the kid is watching something that’s got him screaming and clapping. His laptop is turned the other way, so I don’t know what it is.

And me? I’m sitting here typing out whatever emerges from my under-caffeinated brain.

Awkwardly.

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/

This thirsty post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find all the other awesome posts in the comment section, and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/02/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-9-19/


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 9/19

Welcome to your Friday reminder for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! I’m writing this on Thursday night–hopefully by the time you read it, Alex will be back at school and I’ll be happily sipping my third cup of coffee and dreaming up new and fascinating ways to torture the characters in my next novel. Here’s your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ends with -ly.” Start your post with any adverb that ends in “-ly.” Bonus points if you end with an adverb too. 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 pretty 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!!

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.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 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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Day 2

Day 2 is much like Day 1, Day 1 being yesterday, the day of ice.

Except Day 2 doesn’t involve ice falling from the sky. Now, ice is on the ground. Still keeping Alex from going to school.

Alex, who is at the moment gleefully jumping up and down in unison with the contestants on “The Price is Right.” Screaming as if he was just called up onto the stage.

We took down the Christmas tree yesterday. It didn’t help. Cross superstition off the list of causes for this year’s luck.

In other news, my mother has been diagnosed with hypo delirium. She may recover. Good news, though: her lungs are better. So the pneumonia is gone.

Yet, I am stuck at home. Unable to visit the hospital. Unable to escape the screams, joyful as they are.


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One-Liner Wednesday – In Sync

Scenario:

My best friend, John, is standing at the front door waiting to drive my eldest son to work. Eldest son is putting his boots on. Second son is watching TV, reading aloud everything he sees, as he does.

Second son: Spongebob. Ninja Turtles. Reboot.

John and I almost at the same time: That’s what your brother is doing.

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!

#1linerWeds badge by Cheryl, at https://dreamingreality646941880.wordpress.com/

 


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The Road to Blogging

… is paved with good intentions.

It seems no matter how good my intentions this year, nothing seems to work out.

Case in point: today I spent a good two hours solid looking for a song they’ve been playing often on the radio to use for Bee’s Love Is In Da Blog prompt. I had the lyrics in my head, but stupidly, I decided to look for the name of the song–on Youtube, no less–rather than just Google the lyrics I had. By the end of the two hours, I couldn’t even remember the lyrics because I’d listened to so many songs that weren’t the one I was searching for.

So I put the radio on.

All day.

They didn’t play it.

Unless of course they did when I was visiting my mother in the hospital. Yes, she’s still there. I hoped to track down her doctor to find out the results of the CT scan she had done on her lungs on Sunday, to perhaps see why she’s getting worse instead of better.

No luck finding the doctor.

They told me to come back tomorrow morning.

Which isn’t likely going to happen.

Because we’re expecting freezing rain for 17 hours straight. Which means Alex won’t be going to school again. But hey, maybe instead of talking to the doctor and doing the work I was supposed to do, I can take down the Christmas tree.

That’s probably responsible for all the awesome luck I’m having this year.

Because superstition.

And if that doesn’t work and I don’t show up with the One-Liner Wednesday prompt, you’ll know the ice took down my power lines.

…

The road to blogging IS paved with good intentions, after all.


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The Magician’s Blood by L G Hill #Review #The GreatDagmaru #Paranormal #Romance #Book2o

A lovely review of The Magician’s Blood! Thanks so much, Lisa. 🙂
Note: Comments here are turned off. Please visit the original post.

Wrongsideofforty's avatarWrong side of forty

Synopsis

Embrace a realm of family secrets…

Herman Anderson, assistant to The Great Dagmaru, returns to her hometown—the first stop on their magic tour. Her family has moved without a trace.

Stephen Dagmar, a powerful stage magician, sets out to live his dream … until Herman’s father makes a prediction and resolves to come between them.

Darkness descends when the reality of the Dagmar’s incubus bloodline surfaces for the first time in over a generation.

And the consequences may be deadly.

A Gothic tale of beauty and intrigue, this sequel to the award-winning novel “The Magician’s Curse” will chill you and leave you breathless for more.

Escape into the twists and turns of this extraordinary romance.

*18+ Contains explicit scenes.

My Review

My first read of 2019 and boy was it a good one!

This is the second in The Great Dagmaru series.

The first book, The Magician’s Curse was…

View original post 272 more words


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The Blogging Habit

I always find it difficult after a month-long stretch of blogging to stop posting every day. I don’t know if it’s the momentum or just the fact that I love to write, to get my thoughts out there, or if it’s the sense of community that I miss.

Last time I felt this way, I just kind of stuttered to a stop. I had days at the end of last year when my daily views barely made double digits. I’d like to endeavor not to let that happen again this year. Then again, when you don’t get out much, it’s hard to find things to talk about.

I’ve gotta get out more, too.

In the meantime, Bee has a great prompt going on this month called “Love Is In Da Blog,” to celebrate the month of February: the month of love. She’s doing a musical theme this year, and it looks like fun! You can check her post for today, including tomorrow’s prompt, here: https://thebeewritesdownloads.wordpress.com/2019/02/03/love-is-in-da-blog-a-kitsch-love-song-prompt-post-for-february-4th/

In other news, you might have figured by the lack of jumping up and down with glee on my part that neither my book nor my series won the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Choice Award this year. But that’s okay. The Magician’s Blood came in third out of six entries, and The Great Dagmaru (the series) came in third out of five. It was an honour to be nominated at all out of the hundreds of books the Guild reviews every year. And I’m that much more grateful that The Magician’s Curse won in 2017.

Congratulations to all the 2018 winners! 🙂

And there you have my compulsion to blog satisfied for today.

I have to say, it feels weird not to finish off a post with a badge and a link.

…

Okay, here’s Bee’s again. Don’t forget to visit her! https://thebeewritesdownloads.wordpress.com/2019/02/03/love-is-in-da-blog-a-kitsch-love-song-prompt-post-for-february-4th/