Life in progress

Category Archives: advice


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One-Liner Wednesday – No such thing

My May calendar page—why there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

Photo: The bottom left-hand corner of my wall calendar features a cartoon of a professor-type bear with a piece of chalk his hand and the quote: “The fool wonders; the wise man asks.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli

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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One-Liner Wednesday – Parenting

My April calendar page.

Photo: The bottom left-hand corner of my wall calendar features a cartoon of a little boy bear with a blue butterfly on his hand and the quote: “Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.” ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

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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One-Liner Wednesday – Responsibility

My March calendar page.

Photo: The bottom left-hand corner of my wall calendar features a cartoon of a little girl with her hands on her hips and the quote: “If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.” ~ Abigail Van Buren (aka Dear Abby)

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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#JusJoJan the 23rd/23 – Broad strokes

The prompt word for January 23rd is “paintbrush.” Thanks go to Paula for the colourful prompt!

When we paint our woes with broad brushstrokes, we don’t really convey everything we’re living.

Ugh, I have so much to do!

It tells a story, but the behind-the-scenes to-do list is not anyone has time to hear about. They have their own to-dos.

Ack! Everything hurts!

It might not be accurate, but it conveys the message better than an inventory of all our aches and pains. And just about everyone can agree that aches and pains are all-consuming when we have them.

But when we paint our accomplishments and happiness, it’s usually more defined.

When was the last time anyone said to you Everything is wonderful! And when they did, could you relate? If not, ask yourself why not?

Because there’s almost always something we didn’t get around to doing. There’s almost always a discomfort or pain somewhere.

But if you take the reverse, when there’s so much to do, isn’t there something you’ve accomplished somewhere along the way?

When everything hurts, is there not usually something that doesn’t?

We let the negative keep us from painting our happiness in broad brushstrokes, but the positive rarely gets in the way of the broad strokes of our woes.

Let’s change that. Right now.

Repeat after me:

Everything is wonderful!

And let’s do that every day.

 ***

This hopefully uplifting post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Paula! Please be sure to check out Paula’s blog here!

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/23/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-23rd-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 17th/23 – Hyphens

Our prompt word of the day today is “hyphenated.” Thanks today go to Sally for the great prompt!

As an editor, I spend most of my days fixing hyphens or looking up hyphens … did you know hyphenated words (and non-hyphenated words) are in the dictionary? If you’re ever not sure, have a look.

A lot of the time it depends how you’re using the words. You and someone else can walk side by side beside side-by-side windows, for instance.

Ah, I love the English language.

Much easier than trying to figure out French.

No matter how much they told me to allons-y at school.

 ***

This hyphenateful post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Sally! Please be sure to check out Sally’s blog here!

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/17/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-17th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#SoCS – Loudness

I love loud music. I always have. I remember doing everything in my power as a teenager to simulate quadraphonics. My parents had one of those stereos that was a piece of furniture–a turntable, radio and 8-track built into a cabinet. It allowed an extra pair of speakers to be plugged into it, so I’d do that, then arrange them around the level of my waist somewhere when I was laying on my back on the floor with my head as close to the middle of the stereo as possible and I’d be surrounded by sound.

What sound, you ask? If you’ve never listened to the album “Equinox” by Styx with a pair of headphones, you need to do that. ASAP. Or, better yet, find a stereo that’s a piece of furniture with a turntable(!!!) and do what I did. There’s nothing that can compare to vinyl. NOTHING!

Okay, there is one thing. And it’s actually even better. And louder. A live concert. I luuurve concerts.

Lately, they’re the only time I get to listen to loud music anymore, because I never get time alone in my house. I made a new year’s resolution to spend a weekend alone in my house, ohhh … three years ago. (I checked on my blog because everything is on my blog. Except it feels longer than that. Like, two years longer than that. It still hasn’t happened.)

I attribute the lack of loud music to my sleep apnea.

How is that, you ask?

Well, let me tell you.

When I listen to loud music, I sing loud. It used to be that even if I couldn’t do so in my house, I could listen and sing in the car. Except I haven’t had a stereo in my car (that plays CDs or anything else) since the end of 2015 when I traded in my minivan for a 2000 Toyota.

Singing, I believe, strengthened the muscles in my throat. Since they’ve gone to the dogs, I stop breathing when I sleep on my back.

So yeah.

Rock on, dudes.

With headphones!!

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

This rocking post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link to find all the other loud posts in the comments, and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/12/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-14-19/


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#SoCS – Celebrate the little things

The thing about anniversaries is, if you think about them too much, you’ll realize how much time has passed and not only that, how old you’re getting. A milestone is just that–a marker to indicate how many miles you’ve gone. And a reminder of the toll they’ve taken on you.

But it’s not all necessarily bad. (Keep in mind I’m typing as I think, so this could easily go wonky on me.) With the miles come experience. Experience is golden in that if you let it, it provides an excellent teacher. On the other hand, if you let it, experience can provide you with bitterness. Because, let’s face it, not all experiences are positive, and not everyone can find the good in a negative experience. It could be said that some have no positives … unless you really REALLY dig deep.

My question is, if we celebrate a little every day the little things that happen, no matter how small or positive or even negative, does it make the bigger celebrations less like milestones? Yeah, probably not. (See my “wonky” disclaimer above.)

Little things I’m celebrating today?

I’ve been clumsy. I almost dropped Alex’s $750 feeding pump (but didn’t!), and somehow I managed to get butter in the dog biscuit box and dog biscuit crumbs on my toast. Honestly? Not as good as marmalade.

The positive in this? I get to tell you about it. And hopefully in the telling there won’t be a third thing. …who am I kidding? There’s always a third thing. But it likely won’t be falling down the stairs and throwing my laptop over my shoulder in the process (the last majorly clumsy thing I did), because I learned to pay attention to what I’m doing when I come down the stairs.

Something to celebrate!

Me and my buddy Winston, taken five minutes ago. I really need to go on a celery diet.

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

This wonky post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday, which is officially celebrating its fifth anniversary today! Click the link to find all the other participants’ posts in the comments, and join in. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/03/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-2-19/


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My Final Random Jot of #JusJoJan 2019

Aaaand, it’s a wrap! The year that was January 2019 is but hours away from its completion here in my corner of the world. Will February be better? I damned well hope so. Having said that, my mother is still in the hospital with pneumonia. I believe it’s going to take her a while to recover from this. I just spoke to her on the phone: she can hardly breathe.

I’m not sure I have a favorite part of this month, other than you all here. All of you who helped me make Just Jot it January a success for the fifth year in a row. I appreciate everyone who linked up to the prompt, even once. And of course a special thanks goes to all of you who helped choose this year’s prompts! I couldn’t have done it without you. 🙂

I had a lot to be grateful for last year. Career-wise, I had my July Bookbub Featured Deal that had me give away 25K copies of The Magician’s Curse. I signed up for it thinking I’d have no chance whatsoever getting it. Bookbub deals are like the lottery. I was flabbergasted when I got the acceptance email!

However, it could have been a disaster: if there’s one piece of advice I’d give anyone submitting for a deal, it’s to make sure it’s not your only book, especially if you’re giving it away. Had The Magician’s Blood not been ready to publish, I’d never have made my money back. Bookbub deals are expensive! But so very worth it.

One other piece of advice for anyone thinking of having thousands of strangers read your book? When it’s free, some will pick it up and read and review it even though it’s not a genre they enjoy. Not everyone is nice, unfortunately, so make sure you’re wearing your thickest of skins when you read what people have to say. Having said that, I do appreciate (almost) all my reviews! Even the negative ones. The exception being from those who didn’t even read the whole thing before giving it one star.

I’m grateful that everyone in my family survived 2018, all of them healthy except that little bit at the end. And even that was temporary.

And that’s pretty much it.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the participation badge and an opportunity to leave links in the comments. More details about that in tomorrow’s post.

Until then, stay warm if you’re in the northern hemisphere and cool if you’re Down Under.

Cheers!

It’s never too late to participate in Just Jot it January! Click the following link to find out how, and see all the other participants’ links in the comment section. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/31/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-31st/


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Blogging – #JusJoJan Jot #3

I started this blog in July of 2012 with one post and absolutely no idea what I was doing. That post has one view, which was me accidentally logging myself out and looking at it. It didn’t matter, really, what I wrote: no one was ever going to see it anyway. I was no one. I’d tried Googling my own name and found nothing.

Then, in January of 2013, I decided to try again. I looked around WordPress and followed a few people, some of whom followed me back. I commented on a couple of blogs but really got nothing in return until I found HarsH ReaLiTy, a blog hosted by Jason Cushman, AKA Opinionated Man. I followed his lead, had a post reblogged by him, and that was it. I’d arrived.

Since then, I’ve done everything I can to help out others with their quest to get their blogs noticed. I suppose in a way it helps me to fill the desire to be of assistance, but more than that, it allows me to share with other people the joy that the communities here can bring. Blogging is different from other social media in that we can connect on WordPress on a deeper level than with the sound byte that exists on Facebook, Twitter, and other such places where scrolling makes it far too easy to ignore lengthy text. Original text.

I’ve made real friends here. People I care about and who I know genuinely care about me. I feel more comfortable meeting bloggers in person than anyone I might encounter on other social media sites because I feel I can get to know bloggers better.

So yeah, blogging has changed my life. I feel connected to the world in a way I never would have.

And I can find myself on Google now, too.

This post is part of Just Jot it January! Click the following link to see how you, too, can join in and find an amazing community of bloggers! https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/02/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-3rd/

 


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Buy Indie Books!

Create your own awesome design at canva.com for free!

 

This Black Friday, as traditional publishers are throwing millions of dollars into advertising, a lot of us indie authors are finding ourselves swept under the proverbial rug.

So to give us all a boost, I’d like to propose that if you’re a self-published, independent author, drop a link (Amazon only, please) and a sentence or two about one of your novels in the comments here, especially if it’s on sale today.

And if you’re a reader and you love to escape into the magical world of books, consider buying indie! Find the links (mine included) in the comments.

And don’t forget to please share this post!

Thank you, from the bottom of my little writer’s heart. ❤