Our prompt word for January 27th is “amenities.” Thanks so much, Kim, for the neat prompt!
I’ve been having issues with one of my amenities today. Specifically, my internet. Which is part of the reason I’m posting this so late. My reason for yesterday’s late posting? I forgot to hit the publish button.
But I digress.
I learned something new today!
As I often do when I’m looking for inspiration for a post, I opened the dictionary. (I’m such a nerd.)
And I found this in Merriam-Webster:
usually amenities: something (such as a conventional social gesture) that promotes smoothness or pleasantness in social relationships
<maintaining social amenities>
Who knew?
Now that I know, it explains a few things for me.
I come to my blog and to most of the social media sites I visit to be social. To have nice conversations with nice people.
Which, I’ve realized, is why I feel icky when I use social media (or my blog) to try to sell my books.
Sure, they tell you when you advertise that you’re giving the consumer something they need (like my books), or something that will make you happy (definitely my books), but I can’t help but feel that it’s unsmooth and unpleasant to talk about buying my books (which you absolutely want to do) with people who are just trying to have a nice conversation with me.
So perhaps the subliminal approach is best.
Because the truth is, I’m excited about my books. Especially when I have a new release coming out soon. And although it might seem to lack social amenities to talk about my books, I’m sure there are people out there who are excited for me.
Right?
Yeah, no. Totally unsmooth.
***
This totally subliminal post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Kim! Please be sure to check out Kim’s blog here!
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.
***
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!
Our prompt word of the day today is “hyphenated.” Thanks today go to Sally for the great prompt!
As an editor, I spend most of my days fixing hyphens or looking up hyphens … did you know hyphenated words (and non-hyphenated words) are in the dictionary? If you’re ever not sure, have a look.
A lot of the time it depends how you’re using the words. You and someone else can walk side by side beside side-by-side windows, for instance.
Ah, I love the English language.
Much easier than trying to figure out French.
No matter how much they told me to allons-y at school.
***
This hyphenateful post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Sally! Please be sure to check out Sally’s blog here!
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?
I just wrote in my planner “Got distracted by Facebook/went to the pantry for nuts,” and now I’m convinced I’m actually a squirrel.
Picture courtesy of Canva
Photo: Cute red squirrel with a white belly and a fluffy black tail eating a peanut in its shell.
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.
Here are the simple JusJoJan Rules:
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 prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. 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.
2 a) 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 lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!
5. Have fun!
Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com
3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. 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: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.
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. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.
7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.
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