Life in progress

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#JusJoJan 16/20 – An Experience, or What I Managed to Do In 18 Hours Without Even Leaving My House

It’s Thursday, January 16th, and Dan Antion gave us our prompt word, “experience,” today. Thank you, Dan! You can find his Just Jot it January post here. Go visit him and say hi, and give him a follow if you haven’t already!

It all started between 5 and 6pm yesterday. I was sitting in my living room, getting colder and colder.

I made tea: I was still cold.

Checked the thermostat: the room was at the temperature the boiler is set to keep it at. I was still cold.

So I tried rolling my sleeves down: still cold.

Checked the radiator. Cold.

Went back to the thermostat: one degree below what it’s supposed to be.

Oh oh, the boiler’s not working. Turned it off and on again. Didn’t help.

So I called my water-heater rental company, with whom I have insurance on my boiler. They’d send someone out between 7 and 11am … at least 13 hours with no heat. Great. But hey, it was only -4 outside last night. Could have been worse, right?

So there I am, sitting on the couch in my living room with my sleeves rolled down, trying to figure out where I was going to come up with more blankets when I realized I was warm.

The boiler was working.

Yay!

So I called the water-heater company back to let them know. We decided it would be a good idea to get it checked out anyway, but the guy would come between 10am and 2pm the next day (today) instead. Fantastic. I wouldn’t have to potentially get out of bed and dressed and answer the door before coffee.

Moving on to today. 11am. Get a call from the water-heater company technician to say he’d be here in 15-20 minutes. Excellent. I put Winston in his crate and wait for the guy to arrive. Ten minutes after the call, there’s a knock on the door.

Technician guy: Hi. Am I at the right house?

Me: Er, yeah, I guess so.

He comes in and I take him down to the basement and start to explain what’s going on.

Technician guy: I was told I was here for a water heater.

Me: No … I called for the boiler.

Technician guy: *shrugs* Okay, I can deal with that.

He starts fiddling around with my boiler and looking at the owner’s manual. Meanwhile, Winston is barking upstairs.

Technician guy: Are you sure I’m not here for the water heater? Is the boiler what the (Local Housing Rental Company(let’s call it LHRC)) said I was here for?

Me: LHRC doesn’t own this house, I do.

Confused Technician guy: *frowns* Well this is weird. I was told to come to this address for a water heater.

Me: That’s not what I said when I called the water-heater company last night.

Wrong Technician guy: *over the sound of Winston’s barking* I’m not from the water-heater company. I’m from the gas company.

Me: Just a minute. I’m going to see what the dog’s barking at.

There’s someone at the door. I open it to find a guy in a water-heater company uniform.

New Technician guy: Hi, are you Linda? I called fifteen minutes ago …

Wrong Technician guy: *emerging from basement: to New Technician guy* Oh hi. Fancy seeing you here.

On his way out the door, Wrong Technician guy thanked me for the tour of my basement.

Turned out it was a loose wire in my boiler.

And quite the experience without ever leaving my house.

I have heat.

 

This true story is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/16/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-16th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

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#JusJoJan 14/20 – Publishing

I’d like to start by saying thank you to Ritu for her prompt word, “publish.” Thank you, Ritu! You can find her Just Jot it January post here. Go visit her and say hi, and give her a follow if you haven’t already!

Now that I’ve decided to take this publishing gig seriously–I plan to publish at least six books this year–I’m considering what to do about creating my own imprint. Mostly so I have a single name to publish under, particularly if I decide to change genres and go with a pen name, but also so I have a name for a company, should I make enough money to register it. Don’t laugh–I have my editing business that I can put in there too.

It means I’ll need a logo … and a name. I have a couple ideas for the latter, which is actually amazing since I can’t come up with a title for five out of the six books I want to publish.

What do you call a romantic comedy series that centers around an Irish pub that has male strippers every Saturday night? And no, I can’t call it anything that will get me booted off Amazon for being too racy. Considering the premise, the writing is actually quite tame. I need titles that will reflect that too.

The sixth book, my passion project, is Book 3 of my PNR series, The Great Dagmaru. It’s a killer story that turned out to be quite difficult to write. Heartbreaking, but hopeful. The plan is to start releasing the romcom series in March, and get one book out every ten weeks, with Book 3 – “The Magician’s Soul” published by summer. I think I can, I think I can …

But back to the publishing business itself.

I’ve toyed with the idea of publishing other authors, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that kind of investment. Especially not when I’m having this much fun writing my own books. I have a thousand ideas but only 365 days in a year. Does 2020 have 366? I’ll have to factor that in if it does.

Still not enough?

I’m determined.

And inspired.

I’m interested to know whether any of my readers out there have set up their own publishing companies to deal with their own books. It seems like a lot of work at the beginning, but it might end up making my life easier in the long run.

Thoughts?

 

This anecdotal post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/14/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-14th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#JusJoJan 12/20 – Subscription

First, I’d like to say a warm thank you to Willow for her prompt word of the day, “subscribe.” Thank you, Willow! You can find her Just Jot it January post here. Go visit her and say hi, and give her a follow if you haven’t already!

I don’t really subscribe to this seemingly lackadaisical approach to daily blogging of mine. What was my excuse today?

I was productive at my job!

Unfortunately, that meant, for the most part, staying off of social media. For me, that means avoiding the 100 or so tabs I have open in Firefox, which means staying off Firefox.

And guess what? My blog is open in one of those 100 tabs.

Okay, a few of those 100 tabs.

On to the subject of subscriptions. I have one that’s not online–a magazine I have physically delivered to my physical mail box.

It is MACLEAN’S Magazine, and I could probably subscribe to it online exclusively, but there’s still a part of me that enjoys receiving the actual paper publication.

I worked in their office, once upon a time, long, long ago. It was through an agency, so I didn’t work for them, but I was there for a few weeks while someone was on vacation.

On reception, answering phones and as the first face anyone encountered when they entered the enormous glass lobby of the building, that was me. Little ol’ me.

And when I wasn’t busy?

I was, of course, reading MACLEAN’S Magazine at the reception desk. I think it took me an entire week to get through one issue, though. I was that busy.

 

This anecdotal post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/13/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-13th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#JusJoJan 12/20 – The Gravity

Hey there! We had a guest-prompter today, and I’d like to say thank you to her! Today’s prompt came to you courtesy of Zhenzhen with her word, “gravity.” Thank you, Zhenzhen! You can find her Just Jot it January post here. Go visit her and say hi, and follow her while you’re there!

I can’t believe it. I was so busy today, I forgot to post. I did manage to jot quite a few things out today, and the gravity of those things were such that they couldn’t be avoided.

And still I didn’t get as much accomplished as I’d hoped.

But I was totally gobsmacked when I realized I hadn’t written this post yet.

The fact that I’m really not saying much is testament to that fact: I’m writing off the top of my head.

Sans gravity. The words are just floating away …

 

This utterly apologetic post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/12/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-12th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#SoCS & #JusJoJan 11/20 – Books

Looking around for a book to find a quote for this post (it was actually “Looking around for”), the first book I came across was the dictionary. Figuring I didn’t have much of a chance of opening it to a random page and actually finding a sentence, I kept going. The book I finally settled on, which was actually the next one I found, was Transcendent, a book I have a short story in.

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t read all the stories in it yet. But I will! It’ll take a while though. It’s a hefty volume!

There are so many ways to read a book these days. I’m quite taken with audiobooks, now that I’ve finally discovered them. But there’s nothing quite like reading a physical book. I might be more enamored of ebooks if I didn’t spend all day staring at a screen … although I do still read them.

It’s beginning to sound like reading a good old fashioned book will be the only thing to do tomorrow. The wind is gusting and the freezing rain is due to start any time, if it’s not already doing it now. I’m in my PJs–I ain’t going out there to check. Anyway, we might lose our power, so if I don’t show up tomorrow, you’ll know why. I have the entire week’s prompts scheduled already, except for Wednesday and Saturday, so you’ll be good for a few days at least.

Wish us luck, as I wish everyone who lives in this wet, frozen part of the world the same.

 

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

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday, and

 

Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/10/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2020-daily-prompt-jan-11th/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#JusJoJan 10/20 – My dogs

As always, to start off, I’d like to say thank you to our guest-prompter! Today it’s Di with her word, “dogs.” You can find her Just Jot it January post here. Go visit her and say hi, and follow her while you’re there!

Being the grammar and word nerd I am, I had to look up the word “dogs” as they relate to feet. Did you know the expression comes from 1913, from the rhyming slang for “dog’s meat”? No? Me neither. I’m assuming it’s Cockney, but I could be wrong.

This is an excellent site for looking up where words come from: https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dogs If you’re anything like me, you’ll be fascinated.

On real dogs, I’m terribly glad my kids are no longer afraid of them. Most of them, I should say. They’ll still give a dog walking on the sidewalk with its owner a wide berth, but at least they won’t run into traffic, screaming, if a dog comes near.

It was kinda touch and go when I brought this guy home

Winston

He’s quite a bit bigger than a shoe now, but I imagine it was his smallness that convinced the kids to allow him in the house.

I wish, sometimes, they could stay puppies. It’s almost as hard as having your kids grow up.

 

This doggedly not-on-point post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/10/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-10th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#JusJoJan 9/20 – Num-num-num

First off, thank you to Maggie for our prompt word, “scrumptious,” today! You can find her Just Jot it January post here. Go have a read, say hi, and give her a follow!

There’s always loads of scrumptious food at my house over the holiday season. From Halloween all the way up to the end of the year, for that matter. If I were to draw a graph of my weight over the period of a year, I’m sure the line would go up steadily from the first of November and peak around now.

And it’s the same thing every year: buckle down as soon as the warmer weather comes and it’s safe to drive every day, and get out for walks to shed some of the weight.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I need someone to ration me–to feed me the way I feed the dog. He would eat all day every day if he could. I’m sure of it. He’ll do anything for his tastebuds. Or his stomach, since I’m sure the garbage he gets into does nothing for the former.

I love my tastebuds, but I curse them sometimes. Think how skinny we’d all be if food tasted like tissues …

I’m not convinced that dogs don’t eat tissues because they want their poop to be gift-wrapped when we have to pick it up.

This post moved a bit out of the realm of scrumptious, didn’t it?

 

This less than yummy post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/09/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-9th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#JusJoJan 7/20 – Toss it into the Mix

Much appreciation to John Holton for our prompt word today! You can find his Just Jot it January post here. Check it out, say hi, and go ahead and follow him!

I really need to apologize for not showing up for my own prompts in a timely manner.

I’m doing a paid edit on someone’s novel and I’m on a deadline, so that has to take precedence over everything else. In a close second are the writing of my own book, the editing of two of my other books, my blog, the kids, the animals, the housework, the groceries, exchanging Christmas gifts that don’t fit, paying bills, dealing with everything that Alex being in the school play next week entails, and appeasing my mother who will perish if she doesn’t get a pack of cigarettes soon.

Is it any wonder that I just got distracted by the cat who’s laying beside me on the couch snoring?

Better than Facebook, I suppose.

Oh hell, why not just toss that into the mix too. It’s always good for a few lost hours.

 

This sorry post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/07/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-7th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#JusJoJan 6/20 – Possibilities

Thanks so much to Jill for the prompt word today! You can find her own Just Jot it January post here! Check it out, say hi, and give her a follow!

Ah, possibilities. As much as the idea that all the possibilities out there can give us hope, and they often do for me, too many of them can stop us dead in our tracks.

I’m pretty decisive, but my son Alex is terrible at making decisions. Even when he’s only faced with two. I don’t know if it comes from making the wrong one at some point in his life–I don’t know where it comes from. But his indecision, faced with possibilities, has often led to him deciding to be punished rather than doing one of two things he’d actually enjoy doing. He gets punished because he’ll make a “final” decision that I’ll say okay to, and then he’ll immediately change his mind and when I put my foot down, he’ll have a tantrum.

I love having kids. They can be such a joy. But on the other hand …

 

This post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/06/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-6th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here


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#JusJoJan 5/20 – Goals and Intentions

First off, thanks again to Faye Therborne for the prompt! You can find her last post here! Go say hi!

Warning: Rambling ahead.

I’ve figured out that Goals x Intentions = Results, at least most of the time. But where does procrastination fit into the equation? Does it come before Intentions, making them negative, resulting in zero Results? Or does it come after Intentions, i.e. Goals x Intentions + Procrastination = Fewer Results? (I added Procrastination since it’s already negative, in the grand scheme of things.)

I suppose where it comes in depends on how much procrastination one commits oneself to.

Which is an interesting statement in and of itself, I realize now that I’ve written it. If I commit myself to procrastinate, isn’t that an intention? But that would be essentially deciding to fail at my goals. So why have them at all?

In case I lost you with the math (which, I admit, probably doesn’t make any sense anyway), I’ll put it another way. Goals are useless without intentions to back them up. For instance, if my goal is to win a million dollars but I have no intention of buying a lottery ticket, chances are I’m not going to magically win a million bucks. If I do follow through with my intention, I may get results. But if I procrastinate so long that I don’t get to the store in time to get my ticket, I’m back to square one, which is NOT a million dollars richer.

But hey, I’m probably preaching to the choir on the procrastination thing, am I right?

It’s an age-old question: why do we sabotage our goals with procrastination. Are strong, solid intentions enough to stave it off? Sometimes.

Definitely worth pondering.

This rambling post is brought to you by Just Jot it January! Click the following link and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/05/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-5th-2020/

Love quickens beneath the moonlight …

Get your free copy of The Magician’s Sire: A Paranormal Romance → Click here