Life in progress

Category Archives: Random


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#JusJoJan the 22nd/23 – It’s writin’ season

The prompt word for January 22nd is “seasonal.” Thanks go to Kaye for the wonderful prompt!

I’m starting to realize, rather belatedly, that my writing is largely seasonal.

I try to do NaNoWriMo every fall, so that’s when I write the bulk of my novels. Also during the spring and summer NaNo camps, though I’ve never attempted 50,000 words during one of those.

Blogging daily has become a January thing.

I used to do it every day, but then a career or two happened, and I seem to run out of either time or steam by the time I get around to doing much else.

Seems whatever I do, though, I can usually do it in my pajamas.

Hibernation season is all year round.

P.S. My neck is a bit better today. 🙂

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

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/22/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-22nd-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 20th/23 – Ain’t phantom pain

The prompt word for January 20th was “phantom.” Thanks, Tuba, for the fun prompt!

I’m a day late with this one, in part because I’ve had a stunningly busy couple of days, and in part because of a crippling stiff neck.

It plagued me all day yesterday, but it was better this morning. Now it’s back, probably due to the fact that I’m stressed over not getting everything done.

It’s a circle.

The circle of life.

Is a pain in the neck. Apparently.

But really, I can pretty much count on some kind of ailment showing up when I’m busy.

Grrr…

See what I did up there, though?

Now I don’t have to write a separate SoCS post.

Sneaky me.

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This sneaky yet agonizing post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Tuba and SoCS! Please be sure to check out Tuba’s blog here!

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/20/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-20th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 19th/23 – The complaint department

The prompt word of the day today is “complaint.” Thanks, John for the interesting prompt!

It’s inherent: as a mom, you’re the complaint department.

And if you’re a single mom, you don’t even have an employee (dad) to take over when the complaints pile up.

Because we all know being a mom is a thankless job, most of the time.

It doesn’t pay very well, either. Especially when the cuddles dry up and the customers no longer fit on your lap.

Wow. That simile got weird fast, didn’t it?

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This short, sweet, and odd post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and John! Please be sure to check out John’s blog here!

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/19/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-19th-2023/ It’s fun!


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SoCS & #JusJoJan the 14th – Once upon a time

Once upon a time … You’d think this would be easy for me, wouldn’t you?

I tell stories all the time.

And yet, every single time I write one, I ask myself, Is this autobiographical? Am I writing about me?

I don’t want to write about me when I write fiction, so I try to steer away from it.

But I think it’s a common thing for writers to wonder. How else can we write aside from relaying what we’ve observed about the world? And how much of those things, those experiences, has seeped in to make us who we are?

GAH!

I didn’t want to get philosophical with this.

Who came up with this prompt anyway?!?

Oh.

I did.

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This cozy post is brought to you by SoCS and Just Jot it January. Click the link to see how you, too, can join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/13/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2023-daily-prompt-jan-14th/

 

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


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#JusJoJan the 12th/23 – Important question of the day

Our prompt word of the day today is “donut.” Thank you so much, Liz Husebye Hartmann for your fun suggestion!

Okay, today for me is going to be a true jot.

Ready?

I have an important question:

Is a Bundt cake really just a huge donut?

Discuss.

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This jotty post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Liz Husebye Hartmann! Thanks again, Liz Husebye Hartmann, for your yummy prompt. Please be sure to check out Liz Husebye Hartmann’s blog here!

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/12/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-12th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 10th/23 – My dear Periwinkle

First, I want to say thank you to Maggie for her wonderful prompt of the day, the word “periwinkle.”

I’ve never had a periwinkle plant.

Nor do I believe I’ve ever owned a piece of clothing in the colour periwinkle.

But I’ve always wanted to write a story about a character named Periwinkle.

Periwinkle would be a man of medium stature and medium age.

He would wear wire-rimmed glasses … or a monocle.

And he would have a posh British accent.

Periwinkle would often wear brown woolen suits and speak with his forefingers linked behind his back.

He would be polite, to the point, and smile infrequently.

At home in his quaint English cottage, he would have a collection of frogs in all shapes, sizes, and made from all different materials. But his pride and joy would be the ones he stuffed himself.

Yes, dear Periwinkle would wish he’d been a taxidermist. But not of large animals, but rather, small things. Like frogs, and mice, and even crickets. Thus, the need for a monocle. But I digress.

Periwinkle would have had only one love, a girl named Daisy, in his third year of school, when he was eight. But during a science experiment, he would have managed somehow to turn her into a frog.

Which would be where his obsession with frogs comes from.

Periwinkle would be a fascinating character.

So says I.

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This post that somehow got away from me is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Maggie! Thanks so much again, Maggie, for the amazing prompt. Please be sure to check out her blog here.

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/10/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-10th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 6th/23 – Endurance

Today’s prompt, “endurance,” was chosen by Destiny. Thanks so much for the awesome word, Destiny!

Okay, so I’ve got a slew of planners now to keep me on track this year. A SLEW, I tell you!

The most recent one is an hourly one that goes from 6am to 11pm. I would have liked it to go later, but hey, maybe it will entice me to go to bed before 2am, eh?

Like, the day is finished at 11. My planner says so!

All this means is I’m not just organizing my time, I’m micro-organizing my time. Like the CEO of the company I am.

Can’t wait to go golfing! That’s what CEOs do, right?

Anyway …

We’ll see how much endurance I have for this.

Because it’s only 9 days into the year. 356 to go.

I feel like I’ve just begun a marathon.

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This tiring post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Destiny! Please be sure to check out her blog.

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/09/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-9th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 8th/23 – Friendship

I’d like to say thanks so much to Jezzie G. for his awesome prompt of the day, “friendship.”

I read somewhere once that I’m a typical Aquarius in that I’m able to remain friends with people even if I don’t talk to them for years. And for the most part, it’s been true. I can easily pick up where I left off.

Take my best friend, for instance. Okay, so he’s an Aquarius too—his birthday is the day after mine—but we didn’t talk to each other for, like, ten years at a time. We drifted apart after high school and met up for dinner about ten years later, then there were another two ten-year or so gaps when we both kinda fell off the face of the earth, then he moved to a house around the corner from me about ten years ago and we’ve seen each other regularly ever since.

Except with COVID. He came over for breakfast yesterday for the first time in almost three years. Breakfasts together were a daily habit when he first moved here.

But aside from that, he’s one of my only friends … Until I get together with someone else I haven’t seen for ten years, I guess.

Is that weird?

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This friendly type post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Jezzie G.! Thanks again, Jez, for the great prompt. Please be sure to check out his blog.

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/08/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-8th-2023/ It’s fun!


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SoCS & #JusJoJan the 7th – The Box

Thinking outside the box isn’t easy when you can’t get out of the box. I know this, because at times, I think of my house as my box that I rarely leave anymore.

Is that why cats get into boxes? So they feel protected and don’t have to think about what’s outside?

I’ll have to ask a cat someday.

But I mean sure, we have movies, TV, books, the internet—they all help us to escape the box and think outside of it. They’re not the same as actually living it, though.

I fear sometimes that I’m getting far too comfortable in my box. C’mon, though. I live in my PJs! Who wouldn’t be comfortable?

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This cozy post is brought to you by SoCS and Just Jot it January. Click the link to see how you, too, can join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/06/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2023-daily-prompt-jan-7th/

 

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


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#JusJoJan the 6th/23 – Sweet spot

Thanks so much to Ritu for her delectable prompt of the day, the word “sweet.”

I’m going to write about how busy I am—yes, again—because A) it’s what’s on my mind, and B) if I start talking about sweets … Let’s just say there’s an unopened tin of Quality Street chocolates upstairs and I’m trying to not tempt myself into opening it until I’ve completely digested my holiday dinners.

On point “A,” I’m discovering (today—this is an observation I’m just making today) that if I’m only a little bit busy, meaning I’ve got nothing currently on my plate to get done on a deadline, I get less done of what I need to do and more procrastinating done than if I was busier.

It’s the mindset of Oh, I can get that done in five minutes! I can play a game or scroll through my Facebook feed first … what do you mean it’s four o’clock already?!?

It’s as destructive a mindset as, say, opening a tin of chocolates and eating all the orange ones … *slaps self*

My point is, there’s got to be some kind of sweet spot where I’m busy enough to convince my brain that yes, I have to get some work done today, and no, it’s not okay to waste an entire day doing nothing, or on the other face of the coin, being so busy I just want to crawl under the bed with the cat and go to sleep instead of digging in and getting it done.

And if there’s no sweet spot, how do I create one?

The answer is, of course, discipline. Not chasing after that shiny bit of string (apparently I’m easily influenced by the cat) like Facebook when I could be getting the few things that need to be accomplished done first.

Writing everything down in a planner is helping. Being able to see my to-dos without having to remember them (or conveniently forget them) works well as long as there aren’t too many gaps in my schedule.

Maybe I need to find a way to concentrate all my tasks into a set time. Like, say, 9 to noon and 1-5, and then take my scrolling time after those hours.

Now there’s a concept.

I’ll have to contemplate that over some chocolate.

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This proactive post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Ritu! Thanks so much again, Ritu, for the sweet prompt. Please be sure to check out her blog.

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/06/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-6th-2023/ It’s fun!