Life in progress

Category Archives: Life


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Random Update on My Week

Day 5 is almost in the bag and we’re all still alive.

It’s been an interesting week. I managed to write and submit a new short story to my publisher (I can’t believe I can actually say “my publisher”!) yesterday. Transmundane Press’s next release will be an anthology themed on dreams. I’m happy with what I’ve written–hope they will be too. Wish me luck.

Speaking of luck, it’s lucky St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. If you’re interested in reading the stories that have kept me busy editing for the last three weeks, you can download the e-book, Shamrocks, Shillelaghs & Shenanigans for free at your favourite e-book retailer. C’mon. With a cover like this, I know you’re curious:

You can find all the links at the bottom of this post.

In other news, as I was driving the other day, annoyed that it was taking so long to get to my destination, I started to wonder if I’m getting spoiled by fiction. Okay, I know that doesn’t make much sense on the surface, but hear me out.

When I write scenes, if I want my characters to go from one exciting scenario to the next, I just put them there. Because let’s face it, most of the time traveling is boring. There’s a reason kids ask “are we there yet?” I spend so much time in the world of fiction, whether I’m reading it, writing it, or editing it, that it has become more the norm than what’s normal.

I really need to get out more, don’t you think?

Anyhoo, that’s my short update. Back to work.

Here are the links to the FREE book of sexy short stories.

Enjoy!

Amazon US

Amazon Canada

Amazon Australia

Smashwords

Apple

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

 


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One-Liner Wednesday – Report

Day Two of March Break has come to a successful conclusion: we are all still alive.

In other news, is it spring yet?

Asking for a friend.

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 very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion

 


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#SoCS – Sofa, so good

Well, I was going to get loads of work done today. Work on my own novel, on the short story I’m writing to submit to the upcoming anthology by Transmundane Press, work on my editing website, and on the introduction I need to write for the St. Patrick’s Day anthology I edited. And what have I done so far? Your guess is as good as mine, but it wasn’t any of the above.

Thing is, I have been working all day. I must have, because I didn’t play a single computer game. I did do a final proofreading run-through on the St. Patty’s anthology. And my butt is square from sitting on the sofa all day, so I must have been on the laptop.

I do keep getting up to grab myself something from the fridge in hopes that when I get back, I’ll get something done. But it’s like there’s so much to do I’m not sure where to start, so I end up doing things like chatting on Facebook (I have to–it’s anthology work), or scrolling through the, like, 50 tabs I have open to see what’s new. Social media is my downfall. I admit it.

What else have I done today? I avoided wine. That’s gotta count for something, especially since Alex is on a rare weekend at his dad’s. I know, I say I “avoided” wine like it’s flying through the air, aiming at me. It’s not true. It’s actually tucked into a wine rack in the basement. All two dozen bottles … Mmm, wine.

BUT, I can still get some work done tonight, can’t I? It’s only … 11:06pm. Oh damn, the clocks go forward. It may as well be after midnight. Where does the time go?!? Alex will be home before I know it, and I won’t have any work done!! May as well give up and drink wine.

Oh look! There’s a bottle now! Better catch it.

This crazy post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt post here and read all the contributing blogs! https://lindaghill.com/2018/03/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-10-18/


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One-Liner Wednesday – Misunderstandings

When your best friend spends five minutes explaining that it will take four people to put the cat on the back of the pickup truck and one person to bolt it down, and for five minutes you’re totally confused, only to figure out that he said “cap,” not “cat.”

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 very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion

 


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#SoCS – Hoping it’ll be fine

My eldest son, who lives in the basement, is my constant source of support when his brother acts up. Which is a wonderful thing, or will be until–as he pointed out yesterday–it isn’t. I can’t and don’t expect him to live here forever.  Yesterday as I was battling with Alex over one of his regular behavioral issues, my son said point blank that if I don’t stop giving in to Alex, he’s going to walk all over me when my support moves out.

So this morning I decided to battle it out alone. I got yelled at and punched (he’s seventeen, but only the size of a ten year old; his little knuckles are bony, damn it!), but I managed to get him to calm down and behave himself. I have to do this. Otherwise, I won’t be fine.

This short and far from sweet post is brought to you by a frazzled Linda, in conjunction with Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Join in the fun and read all the other posts! You can find everything you need here: https://lindaghill.com/2018/03/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-3-18/


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#SoCS – Doors we don’t go through

As the last door I went through that wasn’t mine was my son’s school door, it got me to thinking about my own school. I refer to it as mine loosely, for two reasons. One is I haven’t taken a course in almost a year–I’ve either been too busy making money to afford one, or too broke to afford one. There has to be a solution there somewhere … Save the money? Yeah. But I keep spending it on stupid things like hydro and gas.

The other reason I hesitate to call it my school is I’ll probably never walk through the front door of it. According to Google maps, it’s about 4,600km (2,858 miles) away, which is apparently a 42-hour drive. That’s one hell of a commute every day … or every four days if I don’t sleep. It really looks like a lovely place though. https://www.sfu.ca/ Lovely enough that I’ll try to visit one day.

Weird that we now have the technology and means to go anywhere in the world, but we rarely do. I imagine if I cut off my Internet and saved the money instead to fly around the world, I’d get out a lot more. But then, how would I know where to go without the Internet to show me the great places I could visit? Sure, I could go to restaurants and use their Internet, but that would result in spending my money again. Especially if I have to drag the kids along so they could get their Internet fixes. Yeah, bad idea.

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to read all the other entries, which you’ll find in the comments, and join in yourself. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2018/02/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-24-18/


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One-Liner Wednesday – The Perfect Toy

My best friend, John, found the perfect toy for Winston, my beagle-bassett cross.

Toy bottles of wine, just like Mommy loves (though Mommy’s wine isn’t a toy … don’t touch Mommy’s wine!!)

With a picture of a Winston-like dog, with Winston’s name

Winston loves his wine!! (And Mommy loves hers too.)

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 very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion

 


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One-Liner Wednesday – My Existential Fridge

As you probably know if you’ve been around my blog for a while, I have letter fridge magnets. I was taking something out of the fridge the other day, and one of the letters fell off the freezer door and landed on my forearm. I paused to think, then I laughed.

Because I was hungry. Don’t judge me!!

The letter was “Y.”

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 very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion

 


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#SoCS – Tail Tale

I’ve been asked to and even been tempted to write stories from the perspective of an animal in past. But I just can’t. (Disclaimer: I have a feeling I HAVE done it before, years ago–so many I can no longer remember–but I couldn’t tell you where that writing is.) The point is, I can’t do it anymore. Here’s why.

What if … This is what goes through my mind when I look at my dog and really contemplate what might be going through his head. What if he’s a past human, trapped in the body of a dog for the span of this lifetime? What if he really understands everything I’m doing and saying and he’s judging me?

I know this sounds paranoid, but it’s where my writer’s mind goes. My overactive imagination, if you will. So there it is. I’m afraid that if I start writing from his perspective, I’ll somehow disappear into a void of imagined conversation between the dog and the cat that will end up with me hiding in my room with the door closed, begging for forgiveness and mercy as they scratch and whine, trying to get in. Except of course it’s only because they’re hungry, my logical mind will tell myself.

But what if …?

 

This somewhat creepy post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link to find more posts in the comment section and add yours! https://lindaghill.com/2018/02/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-10-18/


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#LOVEISINDABLOG2018 – Devotion

I was both surprised and happy to find that my friend Bee is hosting her February prompt, Love Is In Da Blog again this year! If you’re looking for prompts, check out her blog here!

When I think about the word “devotion,” my mind immediately goes to single-minded love and romance. But then, Merriam-Webster dictionary actually states this:

obsolete : the object of one’s devotion

Who knew this definition was obsolete?

Yet it’s true, the term is much broader than that. I’m devoted to my kids–all three of them. I’m devoted to my friends, both offline and on. I’m devoted to my writing, my career in editing, and my blog. I’m devoted to caring for my dog … the cat slightly less, because perhaps he’s less devoted to me. That, and he’s not my cat. He’s my son’s and will move with him if he ever moves out.

Which begs the question is it possible to be devoted to someone (or something) that’s not devoted back? Absolutely. That can get rather frustrating, though, in a “but why are you leaving me” sort of way. In the case of the kids, that’s usually inevitable.

Do we throw the word devotion around too liberally? Perhaps. Makes you think about what you’re truly devoted to though, doesn’t it?

Be sure to check out Bee’s prompt a the following link, and join in today! https://beehalton.com/abc-of-love-prompt-5-devotion-loveisindablog2018/writing/blog-events/love-is-in-da-blog/love-is-in-da-blog-2018