I always find it difficult after a month-long stretch of blogging to stop posting every day. I don’t know if it’s the momentum or just the fact that I love to write, to get my thoughts out there, or if it’s the sense of community that I miss.
Last time I felt this way, I just kind of stuttered to a stop. I had days at the end of last year when my daily views barely made double digits. I’d like to endeavor not to let that happen again this year. Then again, when you don’t get out much, it’s hard to find things to talk about.
In other news, you might have figured by the lack of jumping up and down with glee on my part that neither my book nor my series won the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Choice Award this year. But that’s okay. The Magician’s Blood came in third out of six entries, and The Great Dagmaru (the series) came in third out of five. It was an honour to be nominated at all out of the hundreds of books the Guild reviews every year. And I’m that much more grateful that The Magician’s Curse won in 2017.
Congratulations to all the 2018 winners! 🙂
And there you have my compulsion to blog satisfied for today.
I have to say, it feels weird not to finish off a post with a badge and a link.
Yes, I can affirm that today has been a challenging one with the child who is no longer a child but acts like one. I can state that unequivocally.
But is that the way the word “affirm” is really supposed to be used? An affirmation–the word affirmative–means yes. So to state something negative (like saying it’s been a bad day), would be a confirmation, wouldn’t it? Because, like, pros and cons. So is there such a thing as a proffirmation?
Gah! That makes my brain hurt.
Or is it a proclamation? Which would be the opposite of a conclamation. Haha.
I like making up words.
I do like affirming that I CAN do stuff. There are days when that’s easier than others. I can sometimes wake up in the morning and, for no apparent reason, feel like I can do anything.
Then there are days when I just want to throw in the towel because I can’t seem to do anything right.
And I have no idea why either of those things happen.
Except when I get a negative comment or review on my work and then I spend five minutes saying fuck it, I can’t write. What made me think I ever could?
I’m glad it only lasts five minutes. Most of the time.
So yeah, I’m hoping Alex will be able to go to school for a full week next week. I’m sure his behaviours are at least in part due to the fact that he’s getting bored staying home. I think he’s only been to school seven days so far this year.
But with this crazy weather …
Last week it was cold enough the balls off a snowman (the snowballs–get yer mind outta the gutter), and tomorrow we’re supposed to get freezing rain. Monday? Rain.
This very late, very random, very made-up post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to see how you, too, can join in the fun. And read the other participants’ posts while you’re there! You’ll find all the links in the comments. https://lindaghill.com/2019/02/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2-19/
We made it through January! A big pat on the back and congratulations to all of you who posted and linked every day for Just Jot it January. It’s not easy for everyone to post every day, so if you fall into that category, well done!
And if you just linked once in a while, or even once, or if you went into the comments and read posts of other participants, I appreciate that too.
To celebrate our accomplishment, no matter how big or small, I’ve made a participant’s badge. Please feel free to take it and post it on your blog. If you’d like to write a post to congratulate yourself and others for completing the challenge, feel free to link back here.
I’d also like to offer this as an opportunity to drop a link to one of your JusJoJan posts into the comments below. I encourage everyone to visit at least one blogger who you might not have read before.
Most of all, let’s keep this community going! Keep in touch, visit one another. Have fun!
Welcome to The Escapist Coloring Club prompt! If you’d like 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 February to link back here.
I’d like to get my mid-month reminders going again, mostly so I can link back to those who have completed their projects by then. Because I didn’t do it in January, here’s a post from each of the wonderful colourers who linked up last month:
As for me, I actually completed a colouring project last month! *pats self on back
My new calendar isn’t nearly as detailed as the last one. It’s almost as though they knew I was struggling. Haha!
Here’s what it looked like before I started.
And here are bits of the finished product.
And here’s the entire thing.
I look forward to seeing all of your wonderful 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.
Hello! We’re back with your regularly scheduled Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! It feels like ages since December’s last prompt, doesn’t it?
Today’s prompt is a bit different, as it doesn’t come from me. It was a suggestion by M. Oniker during Just Jot it January. She actually has a blog dedicated to SoCS posts! You can find her last post here. Drop by and say hi! Here’s your prompt for today:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “affirm.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here to 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 pretty 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!!
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. I will post the prompt here on my blog every 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 will simply be a single word to get you 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 all of them! 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 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.
Aaaand, it’s a wrap! The year that was January 2019 is but hours away from its completion here in my corner of the world. Will February be better? I damned well hope so. Having said that, my mother is still in the hospital with pneumonia. I believe it’s going to take her a while to recover from this. I just spoke to her on the phone: she can hardly breathe.
I’m not sure I have a favorite part of this month, other than you all here. All of you who helped me make Just Jot it January a success for the fifth year in a row. I appreciate everyone who linked up to the prompt, even once. And of course a special thanks goes to all of you who helped choose this year’s prompts! I couldn’t have done it without you. 🙂
I had a lot to be grateful for last year. Career-wise, I had my July Bookbub Featured Deal that had me give away 25K copies of The Magician’s Curse. I signed up for it thinking I’d have no chance whatsoever getting it. Bookbub deals are like the lottery. I was flabbergasted when I got the acceptance email!
However, it could have been a disaster: if there’s one piece of advice I’d give anyone submitting for a deal, it’s to make sure it’s not your only book, especially if you’re giving it away. Had The Magician’s Blood not been ready to publish, I’d never have made my money back. Bookbub deals are expensive! But so very worth it.
One other piece of advice for anyone thinking of having thousands of strangers read your book? When it’s free, some will pick it up and read and review it even though it’s not a genre they enjoy. Not everyone is nice, unfortunately, so make sure you’re wearing your thickest of skins when you read what people have to say. Having said that, I do appreciate (almost) all my reviews! Even the negative ones. The exception being from those who didn’t even read the whole thing before giving it one star.
I’m grateful that everyone in my family survived 2018, all of them healthy except that little bit at the end. And even that was temporary.
And that’s pretty much it.
I’ll be back tomorrow with the participation badge and an opportunity to leave links in the comments. More details about that in tomorrow’s post.
Until then, stay warm if you’re in the northern hemisphere and cool if you’re Down Under.
This is it! The final day of Just Jot it January 2019! It’s been a bit of a hectic month for me, but I pulled it off, at least getting the prompts out there and jotting every day. More about all that later.
If you’d like one last look at the “Rules” post, you can find it HERE.
Your prompt for JusJoJan 2019, January 31st is “your favorite thing/part/blog post of last year or last month.” Talk about what you did or discovered that gave you happiness and/or success. Have fun!
Here are the rules:
1. Please be sure to link back to THIS POST for January 31st, 2019.
2. 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!
3. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules. To ping back, 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! Note: The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section.
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 will appear every day that’s neither a Wednesday nor a Saturday–Saturday’s JusJoJan prompt will be Stream of Consciousness Saturday. You’ll find the list of prompts below. Remember, you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you. NOTE: Please state either in your title or very early on in your post if it’s NSFW.
7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.
I have three dogs. One is a good sized mixed breed who is getting on in years (13). The other two are small breeds who are about two years old. All of the dogs I’ve had through out my life have always stayed (adequate shelter provided) and enjoyed being outside.
With the addition of the two younger dogs, so began a new experience with small breeds who are not as tough when it comes to outside weather elements. With these two I had to invest in a metal crate so that they could be brought into the house during the cold winter months. They aren’t the best trained dogs, but they do alright.
So this morning I let them out for about an hour. They started running to the door and when I went outside they decided to come in. I put them into their crate and they proceeded to…
When you realize that you said and heard many one-liners in the last week and you should have written at least one down because you’re gettin’ old and forgetful.
Here’s a random picture of summer, so I can remember what grass looks like.
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.
2a. Since today is Wednesday, I challenge you to make your JusJoJan post a one-liner. If you don’t care to, or if you’ve already written your post, no problem. Remember, with One-Liner Wednesday you can write anything – it’s only a prompt to write one line, not necessarily to keep to the same theme as mine. The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
(i) Make it one sentence.
(ii) Make it either funny or inspirational.
(iii) Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
(iv) Enjoy yourself!
(v) Use our One-Liner Wednesday badge.
#1linerWeds badge by Cheryl, at dreamingreality646941880.wordpress.com/
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 theday. 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.
Synopsis
lindaghill.com 