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Category Archives: Blogging


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#JusJoJan Daily Prompt – January 29th, 2018

So it’s Monday again. Back to work and back to Just Jot it January. One of these things is likely way more awesomely fun than the other. Here’s your awesomely fun prompt:

Your prompt for January 29th, 2018, brought to you by my new friend Jill, is “Fantastic.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Jill at her blog, “J-Dubs Grin and Bear It,” to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link:  https://jilywily.wordpress.com/

Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post the daily prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5), every day except for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness (SoCS) prompt–you’ll find that one on Friday morning at 9:30am. That daily post (i.e. this one) will be where you leave your link for others to find in the comment section. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday.

3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will appear at the top.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. The prompts are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of the day. You can link any kind of jot back here. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link or close to your pingback.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

To find the full list of daily prompts from now until the end of the month, click this link: https://lindaghill.com/2017/12/27/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2018-rules/ and scroll down to the bottom of the post.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 28th – Knight

I’d like a knight in shining armor.

My knight would wash my floors, my clothes, and my dishes, cook my meals, and look after my children.

My knight would not whisk me away to a far-off castle … My knight would send me on a vacation, alone, just me and a book or twelve.

My knight would be a maid. A really rich maid. Kind of a maid in reverse. Yeah.

This wistful post is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “knight,” provided by Leta! Thank you so much, Leta! You can find her JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan Daily Prompt – January 28th, 2018

Hi, hi. We’re back with your Just Jot it January prompt for Sunday January 28th. So hard to believe the month is almost over, isn’t it? Time certainly does fly when you’re having fun blogging. Here’s your new prompt:

Your prompt for January 28th, 2018, brought to you by author Leta Hawk, is “Knight.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Leta at her blog, “Hawk’s Happenings,” to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link:  https://letaphawk.wordpress.com/

Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post the daily prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5), every day except for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness (SoCS) prompt–you’ll find that one on Friday morning at 9:30am. That daily post (i.e. this one) will be where you leave your link for others to find in the comment section. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday.

3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will appear at the top.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. The prompts are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of the day. You can link any kind of jot back here. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link or close to your pingback.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

To find the full list of daily prompts from now until the end of the month, click this link: https://lindaghill.com/2017/12/27/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2018-rules/ and scroll down to the bottom of the post.


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#SoCS & #JusJoJan 2018, the 27th – Movement

I’ve always wished I was a better dancer. It’s not that I’m uncoordinated–I figure skated for eight years, until I was 16 (though I fell a lot, once cutting myself badly enough with my skate blade to have dozens of stiches), I have a brown belt in Shotokan karate … which I haven’t practiced in ten years or so, and I haven’t broken anything. Yet.

Oh, except for my ribs, but they may have only been cracked. I had this Chevy Blazer, you see. It was back when carburetors were a thing, and I flooded the engine on a regular basis. I got good at taking the lid off the filter and sticking a screwdriver in the top of the carburetor to hold the choke open while I started the engine. One day, I was coming out of my doctor’s office and I flooded the engine. So I climbed out with my trusty screwdriver, opened the hood, and stood, as I usually did, on the front bumper of the truck (it was very high) to do my thing. Got it started okay, but when I went to retrieve the screwdriver, my feet slipped off the bumper and down I went on the hood latch. I basically impaled myself. I managed to get down and rolled around on the ground, screaming, until a nice man helped me up and back into the doctor’s office.

I learned a lesson that day. Which was, obviously, be careful not to stand over the hood latch.

So anyway, I can’t dance. At least not well. Which has absolutely nothing to do with breaking my ribs, but there you go. That’s what Stream of Consciousness Saturday is all about … tangents. Hey, I could have called it Tangent Tuesday instead! Feel free to use that.

 

This totally tangential post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot it January. Click the link to find all the other awesome posts in the comment section! https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/26/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-27th-2018/


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 26th – Address

Huge news in the world of e-publishing today. In a direct address to Amazon’s domination of the e-book market in the US, Rakuten, the company that owns Kobo, has partnered with Wal-Mart to distribute e-books, audiobooks, and physical books online.

What does that mean for self-published authors? The possibilities are vast. Not only will we have a wider audience to discover our books, perhaps Amazon will be forced to relax their hold over exclusivity. Kobo already offers the same lending service as Kindle Unlimited in certain countries, without demanding the same extent of loyalty. What we need is to see authors finally tell Amazon, with all their unfair practices, to stick it where the sun don’t shine and go wide–sell with as many retailers as they can.

Amazon has had us by the short and curlies for too long. It’s time to take back our choices. Thank you, Rakuten.

See the article here: https://kobowritinglife.com/2018/01/26/kobo-announces-partnership-with-walmart/ and the original one here: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/25/walmart-and-rakuten-partner-on-grocery-delivery-in-japan-kobo-e-books-and-audiobooks-in-u-s/

This post is is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “address,” provided by John Holton! Thank you so much, John! You can find his JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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The Friday Reminder for #SoCS & #JusJoJan Daily Prompt, Jan. 27th, 2018

Hello! It’s the final Friday of January 2018 and time for the Daily Just Jot it January Prompt for SATURDAY, JANUARY 27th and your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. For those of you joining SoCS for the first time, it’s a little different than the other prompts in that it’s not always a whole word. Much may be left up to your discretion: this week is no exception. Having said that, if you’re joining in from JusJoJan, don’t want to write stream of consciousness style, no worries. It’s up to you! If you do want to try it, please check out the rules below. It’s fun! Here’s your Saturday prompt:

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: movement. However, don’t use the word “movement.” Choose some sort of movement, and base your post on that. 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 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!!

You can also use the Just Jot it January badge!

Here are the rules for SoCS:

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!


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#JusJoJan Daily Prompt – January 26th, 2018

Hey there. I’m here with your Just Jot it January prompt for Friday, January 26th. It’s been a busy day for me, trying to catch up on work. Just in time for the weekend! Yay! Don’t forget, this is Friday’s prompt. Saturday’s prompt will show up here on Friday morning as the Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS) prompt – don’t get them confused!

Your prompt for January 26th, 2018, brought to you by my fellow old-commercial enthusiast, John Holton, is “Address.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit John at his blog, “The Sound of One Hand Typing,” to read his post and say hi! Here’s his link:  https://thesoundofonehandtyping.wordpress.com/

Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post the daily prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5), every day except for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness (SoCS) prompt–you’ll find that one on Friday morning at 9:30am. That daily post (i.e. this one) will be where you leave your link for others to find in the comment section. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday.

3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will appear at the top.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. The prompts are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of the day. You can link any kind of jot back here. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link or close to your pingback.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

To find the full list of daily prompts from now until the end of the month, click this link: https://lindaghill.com/2017/12/27/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2018-rules/ and scroll down to the bottom of the post.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 25th – Prediction

You know who I wish could make a decent prediction? The weather man. Just imagine never getting caught without an umbrella when you need one. Or a coat. Or a toothbrush for when you’re unexpectedly served something full of garlic. … oh wait. Wrong kind of prediction.

But seriously. It would be cool if the weather man could positively predict what you’re going to end up eating on any given day, wouldn’t it? You’d never have to stress over another grocery list.

Man, am I tired. Can you tell?

This silly post is is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “prediction,” provided by Dar! Thank you so much, Dar! You can find her last JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan Daily Prompt – January 25th, 2018

It’s Thursday, and I’m here with your Just Jot it January prompt once again. Alex finally went back to school today after a four day weekend courtesy of the weather. I’m waiting for him to go to school on a Monday – it’s been a while. Anyhoo, here’s your prompt:

Your prompt for January 25th, 2018, brought to you by my dear friend Dar, is “Prediction.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Dar at her blog, “Darswords” to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link: https://darsword.wordpress.com/

Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post the daily prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5), every day except for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness (SoCS) prompt–you’ll find that one on Friday morning at 9:30am. That daily post (i.e. this one) will be where you leave your link for others to find in the comment section. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday.

3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will appear at the top.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. The prompts are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of the day. You can link any kind of jot back here. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link or close to your pingback.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

To find the full list of daily prompts from now until the end of the month, click this link: https://lindaghill.com/2017/12/27/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2018-rules/ and scroll down to the bottom of the post.


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Note to me – Just Jot it January 2019

This year’s Just Jot it January marks the fifth anniversary of the event. Five years! So hard to believe. Every year it’s been more of a success than the last, but I can’t help but wonder if it can be improved.

At the very least, I’d like to do something about my lack of organization at the start of every new year. Which is why I’m writing myself a note here to remind myself of the plans I inevitably skip over because of time constraints. You see, every December I go back to the Just Jot it January from the year before and just do what I did then. Because it’s easier.

Here’s what I propose to do differently in January 2019 (should I be granted another year of blogging):

1. Collect prompts from other bloggers once a week instead of once at the beginning of the month. This will reduce the number of people who have good intentions (much like New Year’s resolutions) to carry on with the challenge but drop out before it’s time for their own word to come up. Or suggest a word and then forget why they suggested it.

2. Run a contest for a new badge. My mad Paint skillz were fun to look at, but five years of a stick figure sitting in front of a flaming screen is enough, methinks. Suggestions on when I should run the contest are welcome (which is why I’m doing this publicly rather than privately). December makes the most sense, but it’s less than ideal given that so many people are so very busy.

3. Suspend the Friday Reminder for SoCS for the month and post it as a daily prompt, the same as the rest of the JusJoJan prompts, including adding it to the list ahead of time, along with all the other prompt words for the week. This will, I hope, cut down on the confusion of having two prompts show up on my blog on one day.

If you have any suggestions on other ways to improve the entire process, I’m all ears. Or, well, eyes since I’ll be reading your comment, not listening to it. You know what I mean.