Life in progress


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS March 12/16

It’s Friday again, and time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! It’s the last day of school before March Break today, so that means I’ll be on the job. One of the kids–the high maintenance one–is going to his dad’s though, so it’s holiday time! Or half-holiday time at least. Anyway, on with the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “ball.”  Play with it! Have fun!

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 Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use the 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!!

SoCS badge 2015

Here are the rules:

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.

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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The Social Repercussions of Writing vs Speaking

It started with an appointment. My son’s behavioral specialist was to go his school to talk to the teacher to observe him on Tuesday, and then come to see me today. On Tuesday afternoon I received a note from the teacher to say the specialist had canceled due to the flu. I, therefore, assumed she wouldn’t be coming here either. Sure enough, I received a phone call this morning from the behavioral specialist’s office. What happened during that phone call is what’s has me… worried? I wouldn’t go that far: thoughtful, perhaps, ever since.

The nice lady who called me only wanted to let me know my appointment was canceled and would be rescheduled. In order to seem, I don’t know, friendly, or sociable, I felt the need to explain that I already knew the behavioral specialist was sick, since she’d canceled Tuesday’s appointment. But even while I was explaining this, my inner editor was screaming at me, “This is not important to the plot! She doesn’t need to know! She’s probably got a dozen more phone calls to make – let her go!” It’s this conciseness with which I feel the need to write, that makes me wonder what it’s doing to me socially.

And isn’t that true for all of us, to some degree? Whether we’re trying to take shortcuts in speech (how many times have you heard someone utter “lol” out loud? Do you do it?) or cutting ourselves short, as I feel I should have done this morning, it has to be affecting the way we socialize. Writing has become the norm, and speech secondary. We spent far fewer hours with pen and keyboard even twenty years ago, unless it was part of our job, versus talking on the phone or in person. Now our lives are largely lived with the written word.

Writing has always been, in a practical way, different from speech. Drafting a formal letter, whether the recipient is a business associate or a lover, is done with care. Choosing the right words is essential to get the point across. With this in mind, are we bloggers actually better at speaking? Has the practice of finding the correct way to say things, and the editing that goes into many of our posts, improved our skills of communication across the board? And have Facebook and Twitter minimalized our speech to the bare necessities?

I have to wonder how we are evolving. And really, that’s what it is. An evolution of mankind who, at one time walked miles to convey a message, now looks no further than his pocket. We’re not quite to the point that our hands get more use than our tongues, but will we, one day, end up with wrists that bend in odd ways, and mouths that are used only to consume food? But I’m getting ahead of myself (and everyone else).

How we socialize with one another–how we communicate–cannot not be affected by what we spend three quarters of our time doing in order to communicate. Small talk is how we connect with one another. It’s how we discover our shared sentiments. It’s what we do on Facebook and Twitter, but without the human interaction–or at the very least it’s human interaction with a machine as a buffer. Will there come a day when we save our small talk only for such situations as taking pictures of our food on social media, and keep our direct interaction as a form of necessity? I think you really have only to look around a restaurant, or peer into people’s kitchens at dinner time these days for the answer.


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Repeat after me – Wooohooo!

Ms. Sassy has almost reached her goal!!
Comments here are closed. Please click on the original post to comment.

Yashodhara Sirur's avatarSass and Sauce

When I had only just started blogging, and I had something like 30 followers,  I came across Wes’s blog – Nearly Wes. I loved it so so much and right then I decided to put this on my bucket list – “To garner 125 followers on WordPress”, because that was the number Wes was on. I’m pretty sure he’s moved waaaay ahead now, but the 125 has stuck with me and still remains my goal.

Today I realised I am just 25 followers away from getting a check on my bucket list. Yes, I have one hundred WordPress followers 🙂 Woohoo! Yippee! Yay!

And who knows I might wake up tomorrow and find 25 “New Follower” notifications. Fingers crossed so bad that they are now entangled 😛

PS: Another reason to say Yay – Just 9 days to go for my engagement partyyyy!

PPS: In case you need another…

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One-Liner Wednesday – I’ve found my calling!

Good news are on their way!
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I’ve found my calling: fortune cookie editor! My motto will be, “Making your Chinese food grammatically tastier, one line at a time.”

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com


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Anyone who would like to try it out, 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 ping back, 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.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back 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. Make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our new, very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!


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I’m reduced to acronyms!

Warning: exclamation marks and acronyms ahead. I’ve been holding this rant in for a while.

I don’t understand why or how it can be so difficult to get magnetic letters for my fridge. They’re the kind of thing you just take for granted, aren’t they? They’ve been around forever. They’re everywhere. Right?

Except they’re not! Toys ‘r’ Us has none for sale in store nor online, and haven’t since Christmas. I can’t find ones to match mine anywhere on Amazon, and the only ones I have been able to find are at Indigo Books, online, for a whopping price of $24.99. Yes, you read that right. Twenty five bucks for 40 pieces of cheap molded plastic with cheap little magnets glued to them!

It’s highway robbery! And this is what I’m reduced to!!

CAM01369WTF?!


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Last Day for His Revenge Kindle Edition ay $0.99 #RRBC #ASMSG

Hurry! Get John Howell’s gripping thriller for a special sale price today!

John W. Howell's avatarFiction Favorites

His Revenge front final

This is the last day for the $0.99 His Revenge sale.

US Kindle

UK Kindle

Thank you all for your support during this promotional time.

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The Beast Emergeth

I came across a dragon in a big pile of dirty snow as I walked across the parking lot of Boston Pizza. I had to take the picture. Do you see it?

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How about now?

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Just in case, here it is with the contrast fixed:

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click for a sharper image

Pretty cool, eh?

Well Here it is!

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Look! It’s a new book of poetry!! Please go and check out Judy’s labour of love and while you’re there, join in the celebration! 😀

Judy E Martin's avatarEdwina's Episodes

I am very thrilled and delighted to show you my beautiful, shiny new book! Chris at The Story Reading Ape has done an absolutely brilliant job of designing the perfect cover for it too.  He was so helpful and accommodating to me, despite my inexperience in these matters and problems with my e-mail!

At the moment, it is available at CreateSpace, but by tomorrow, it should be available on Kindle and shortly afterward Amazon.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I had been encouraged to publish a collection of my poems, and now I have finally done it! I do love to rhyme things and this book is pretty much a compilation of some of my favourites! I have even included some of the raunchier ones to add a little extra spice!

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This gallery contains 6 photos


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#SoCS – Excuses

Mmmm… this is a lovely cup of coffee. So warm and fragrant on a cold winter morning. I sit here with my puppy at my elbow, licking his front paw and the kid on his laptop, grinding his teeth as he’s done since he began to grow teeth… it’s one of those habits that you do when you’re concentrating on something else. Like sticking your tongue out. Apparently when I concentrate the corners of my mouth turn down and I look miserable. I’m not doing it now because I’m thinking about it.

It’s weird, the things we do without thinking about them. I’m guilty of sticking my tongue out when I’m concentrating on a physical activity. My “misery” look is reserved for when I’m doing something on my lap, like writing, reading, or knitting. I think once in a while about picking up knitting again. I used to do it when I watched TV – it was something to do with my hands that I didn’t have to look at. I’ve always been a multi-tasker I suppose, even before it was a well-used phrase. I have to wonder if that is the reason, in part, why I have to get up and walk away once in a while from my intense concentration on my writing. Or maybe that’s just an excuse to snack…

I admit it. I graze. I know I shouldn’t, and there have been times when I’ve been able to stop for months on end. But I always seem to fall back into the pattern of eating when I’m bored, or when I’m procrastinating.

I have a busy day ahead of me. One kid wants to go to a movie and the other wants to go for a ride on the city bus. The latter wanted to go to the mall for something. Earlier in the week I thought it was a good idea, but now I can’t remember what it was we needed to get. I really should write lists more often. Having a cell phone with me all the time is like carrying around a notepad and a pen – I really have no excuse.

I wondered what I should title this post. Now I know.

SoCS badge 2015

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find the guidelines and join in today. https://lindaghill.com/2016/03/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-516/ It’s all that!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS March 5/16

Hi there! I’m so glad you’re reading this, because it’s Friday, and that means it’s time to find out what Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt will be! I have an appointment this morning, and am in a bit of a hurry. So I’ll just get on with the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “this and that.”  Talk about this, talk about that, talk about this and that, but here’s the catch: make either “this” or “that” the first word of your post. Bonus points if you can end with “this” or “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 Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use the 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!!

SoCS badge 2015

Here are the rules:

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.

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!