Life in progress


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One-Liner Wednesday – We speak the same language. I think.

Conversation between my best friend and I:

John: Hey, have I told you what happened since the last time I talked to you?

Me: No … I haven’t talked to you since the last time I talked to you …


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!

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


25 Comments

#SoCS – Posts

Posts, of the blogging kind, can be very difficult to come up with. What do you talk about that hasn’t already been talked about? It’s really why I came up with this prompt (SoCS) in the first place. Because I wanted to be able to write … whatever. And the best way I’ve found to do that is to write by the seat of my pants, whatever comes to mind.

But there are times when I have just way too much going on in my head. I need to be relaxed when I write, not have a storm of accumulating cotton balls floating around between my ears. That’s really what it feels like. They accumulate and then they clog the path to output until I’m ready to explode. Yet nothing that comes out makes any sense. Can you tell I’m kinda there already? Haha.

Distractions don’t help either.

Nor do the little gems I want to publish that I want even more to save for something like One-Liner Wednesday (I have two lined up already), or to keep for a post when I have time to sit down and really do a good job on it. As opposed to what I’m doing here.

Hey! They put tartar sauce on my Filet-O-Fish tonight!

See what I mean?

I think it’s a matter of practice, too. (Not putting tartar sauce on a sandwich–I’m back to talking about posts again. Keep up! Hahahaha. Yeah, good luck with that.) When I post a lot, say during a prompt month like January (Just Jot It) and April (A-Z), I have no problems coming up with something to write. Blogging depends on momentum. Or at least the ease of it does. In my experience at least.

How about you?

This post about posts is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find all the other posts, and join in yourself! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2018/06/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-9-18/


28 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 9/18

Hey there! It’s Friday, which means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’ve been really itching to write something new lately. That’s a good thing because I have a couple of stories to submit for upcoming anthologies. No idea what to do yet, though. Maybe I’ll get inspired by this weekend’s prompt. Here it is:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “start with a noun.” Start your post with a noun, and write about whatever it is. Have fun!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at 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 new 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. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on 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 simply a single word to get your 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 everyone’s! 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 right 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!


36 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Bird Dog

For some reason, Winston likes to sit on my shoulder. You can’t see it here, but his front paws are up there too.

I think he thinks he’s a budgie.


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!

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


21 Comments

#SoCS – My Own Worst Enemy

I admit it: I wasn’t thinking straight when I came up with today’s SoCS prompt. If I had, I’d have realized that because my real favourite word isn’t fit for a family-friendly blog, I’d have to come up with another “favourite” word that wasn’t really my favourite. If I’m nothing else, I’m honest. However, the real reason I wanted to use this prompt was to see what other people’s favourite words are.

The question comes from my memory of watching “Inside the Actors Studio.” (The lack of an apostrophe is something I’d never noticed before. My editor’s brain has given me new insight–love it when that happens.) I remember thinking that if they asked me the same ten questions they ask the guests on the show, my favourite word would be the same as my favourite curse word. And I also remember thinking that if I answered the question honestly, I’d blush. I loved watching that show – I’m amazed to find upon researching it that it’s still running. Twenty-two seasons and counting.

I found this from the show:

I have so many second-favourite words, I can’t pinpoint one. Phenomena, because it reminds me of the “Me na me na” song from the Muppets; moist, because it’s the underdog of all words for some strange reason; coffee, by association; magic, because of what it represents to me; there are so many!!

But my favourite word of all …

Nope. Not telling.

This evasive post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find all the participants’ posts in the comments and join in with one of your own! https://lindaghill.com/2018/06/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-2-18/


19 Comments

The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – June 1, 2018

Hello, colouring fans, and welcome to The Escapist Coloring Club prompt!  To join the club, all you have to do is post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. This is a month-long prompt, which means you have all of June to link back here.

I had another successful month of escapism: I completed the May page of my colouring calendar. Most of the pages in this calendar are challenging, and this one was no exception.

Here it is before I started. So many leaves again!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

The finished product.

 

I have a picture that’s centred better, but this one is the clearest. The entire thing, apart from the structures, is a mirror image of itself from side to side. Can you find the one place I messed up with the colours?

I look forward to seeing all of your amazing projects in the coming month!

Please find the “rules” below.

1. This prompt is designed for relaxation. As such, I encourage you to take your time to link your own post here, BUT, when you comment, please click the “Notify me of new comments via email” button. That way you’ll receive a notification when someone else links their project and you won’t miss anything. As with all the prompts, the more you visit others, the more your community of like-minded people grows.

2. Ping back! It’s important so that I and other people can come and read your post. To execute a pingback, just copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into the body of your post. 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.

3. There will be a prompt on the first of every month. I will try to post the prompt here on my blog at 9:30am -5 GMT. The prompt will simply be photos of my own colouring project. If you would like to host this prompt on your blog on another week during the month, either once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, please e-mail me at hilllindagmaru at gmail dot com and we’ll get you set up. All I ask is that you have an active blog and that you regularly reply to comments and visit other blogs.

4. Feel free to use The Escapist Coloring Club badge in your post.

5. Have fun!


57 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 2/18

It’s Friday … Friday … Friday … again and time now for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Did that come across as an echo? I’m wondering how to write an echo … echo … co … o … Better? Anyway, here’s your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “your favourite word.” What’s your favourite word? Write about it, base your post on it, or just write about the concept of having one. Enjoy!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at 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 new 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. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on 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 simply a single word to get your 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 everyone’s! 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 right 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!


25 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Precognition or Coincidence?

What are the odds I’d come across this picture now, after forty-seven years–and what are the odds of giving him yellow hair and orange skin in 1971?

Obviously I was practicing my signature for when I became a famous artist. Haha.

If I’d known then what I know now, I’d have given him smaller hands.


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!

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


22 Comments

#SoCS – Grilled Cheese

I had no idea, honestly, what I was going to write for today’s prompt. Here in Canada we don’t call the thing we cook on outside “The Grill” as much as we call it just a plain old barbeque. (I spell it that way because in this household with all the sign language going on, we fingerspell it “BBQ” for Alex.) (And anyway, it’s English, damnit.) Nine times out of ten if you read the cooking instructions on Canadian food packaging, it will say “In the Frying Pan,” or “On the Barbeque” rather than “On the Grill.” Holy Hell, where am I with this post?

Oh yeah. So we do grill vegetables but we do it on the barbeque, so my idea for this prompt wasn’t to talk about cooking on “The Grill.” My idea was nothing, really, except the word “grill.”

But then my son Chris came out to the kitchen and asked me to make his grilled cheese sandwich. He has one at 11:30am every day. It’s his schedule, which can’t be deviated from. When he said it I was, like, “duh!” There’s my prompt.

When I first discovered grilled cheese sandwiches back as a teenager, I think, I was told they were made by buttering both sides of the bread. And I actually did it for a while, before I figured out I only really needed to butter the outside. What a mess! (This, by the way, is something I’ve never told anyone. You’re the first to know!) Of course grilled cheese sandwiches have nothing to do with a grill of any kind, and I have no idea why they’re called that.

I do hope my kids realize after I’m gone how much of their history (and mine) is recorded here in this blog. They stand to learn so much about their mother and where they came from before they were born. But they never read it.

I should write a memoir one day. I wish my parents had.

Happy long weekend to all my friends in the US!

This strangely reflective post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find all the other entries and join us with your own today! https://lindaghill.com/2018/05/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-26-18/


50 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS May 26/18

Welcome to the Friday reminder for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Well, the weather’s getting hot here, so I guess we’ve had our three hours of spring. At least that’s what it feels like. Can’t never make a Canadian happy, I tell ye. Here’s your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “grill.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at 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 new 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. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on 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 simply a single word to get your 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 everyone’s! 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 right 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!