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Tag Archives: inspiration


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 20/16

It’s Friday today and time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s a lazy Friday, isn’t it? I’m lazy. I can hardly keep my eyes open. Here’s this week’s lazy prompt; I know if you’re lazy like me you’ll appreciate it:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “contraction.”  Make the first word of your post a contraction. For extra points make the last word one too. 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 Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 13/16

Today is Friday and time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s a long weekend here in Ontario, Canada, so that means it’s a looong weekend for me with the kids home. Wish me luck! Here’s this week’s prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “tire.”  Use it with a prefix and/or and suffix or use it as is. 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!


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One-Liner Wednesday – A Disco?

So on Sunday I walked into a restaurant and was greeted by the hostess, as you are. She glanced out the window and saw that there was an ambulance, lights flashing, at the seniors home across the street.

“Oh look at that,” she said. “An ambulance. It looks like a disco over there.”

I stared at her, a little flabbergasted, with a remark on the tip of my tongue that went something like, I doubt it does to the person the ambulance is there for. But I said nothing. Because once in a while, we all say something totally stupid.

 

Hey! Don’t forget the badge contest for One-Liner Wednesday! (Which, by the way, this post is NOT a good example of. In fact it’s a great example of how you can break the rules!) For details on the contest and to get your name (and/or your blog’s address) mentioned numerous times every week, click the link! https://lindaghill.com/2016/02/08/one-liner-wednesday-badge-call-for-submissions/ The contest closes Sunday and voting for the best badge starts Monday. Don’t delay – start designing now!

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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. Have fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday Badge – Call for submissions!

I began One-Liner Wednesday on March 19th, 2014. It wasn’t until the summer of the same year that I turned it into a prompt.

My very first One-Liner Wednesday, before I made it a prompt.

Until now, One-Liner Wednesday has not had a badge to identify it. I intend to change that, but I need your help! Yes, once again I’m calling on all artists, photographers, and badge-makers to submit the best of your art thing to be voted upon for our new visual.

The guidelines for entry into the contest are as follows:

1. The design can be anything you want it to be but it must include either “One-Liner Wednesday” and your name and/or the name of your website.

2. Any pictures (art or photo) must be your own.

3. All entries will be posted here on my blog on Monday, February 15th, 2016, along with a poll that will close the next day, on Tuesday the 16th. I would ask that each of the entrants make a blog post on their own website with their artwork so that I can post links for voters to check them out, and that they link their post back HERE in the comment section no later than Sunday, February 14th. All links included here will be added to the voting list.

4. The winner’s badge will be available for anyone who participates in One-Liner Wednesday to post permanently on their website as a widget and/or to embed in each weekly One-Liner Wednesday post.

5. One entry per person. The contest is open to anyone with a blog, WordPress or otherwise (see #3 for entry requirements).

6, Poll results will not be available while the poll is open. If there is a tie, I will choose the winner myself.

7. If I’ve missed anything, or if you have any questions please ask in the comment section below.

8. Have fun!

So that’s it. Get out your paintbrushes and coloured pencils, your cameras, or whatever you generally art with and art away!


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#SoCS – Fingers and Puppy Update

Fingers. How could we live without them? I’ve spent more time wagging mine at the puppy in the last couple of months since we got him than I think I have in the last ten years at my kids. Then there’s Alex. He’s Deaf, so there’s not much communicating going on if he doesn’t have his fingers for sign language.  Back when he was at the hospital half the time I had to ask them to put his IVs in his feet, so he could still communicate. They couldn’t leave his hands unwrapped (with bandages) or he picked them off. What’s kind of amusing is that I can swear as much as I want to (or feel I need to) in front of Alex without guilt, but I don’t dare give anyone the finger.

Fingers hold rings, but I still haven’t found mine. I probably lost it in the parking lot of the grocery store. Fat chance anyone would turn it in, but I’ve asked a couple of times anyway. There’s a Dollar Store there too. Maybe I should ask in there. One can always hope.

Funny thing about fingers – I’ve been touch-typing since I was a little girl. I learned on an old Underwood with keys you could get your fingers stuck between and letters that got stuck together if you typed too fast. But I’ve never been able to play the piano. It must be a different part of the brain.  …then again, you have no idea how many typos I make in the process of typing a single sentence. It’s silly… glad I can watch the screen as I type.

The puppy finally got his cone off his head today. It’s been twelve days since his surgery. He’s looking very handsome without it. Pictures to come. Later. For now, with the cone.

 

Winston - Feb. 4/16

Winston – Feb. 4/16

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click here to join in today!

SoCS badge 2015


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 6/16

Well, according to my calendar it’s Friday, so that means it’s time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It seems strange to me that the days and weeks seem to run together like paint on an uneven palette this time of year. Perhaps it’s because there’s so much time between holidays and thus, so much time to wait for something to look forward to. But enough of waxing philosophic, here’s this week’s prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “finger.”  Use it any way you’d like. 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 Queen’s Inn – Kingston, Ontario, Canada

A couple of weekends ago it was my pleasure to stay in one of the oldest operating inns in Canada, The Queen’s Inn, in Kingston, Ontario.

It’s a comfortable hotel with friendly staff and, considering there’s a sports bar downstairs and I was there on a Friday and Saturday night, it was very quiet.  Despite the fact that they provide WiFi, the place hasn’t lost much of its ambiance from back in the 1800s when it was built. As you can see, drywall, in my room at least, isn’t necessarily a consideration.

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After dinner, I went outside to take a picture. My windows are on the second floor with the light on.

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In the morning I had Coppers Pub downstairs to myself for the complimentary breakfast, so I wasn’t at all self-conscious about taking pictures.

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While I was sitting in the pub, I wrote in my notebook:

I love these old buildings. They send my writer’s imagination into orbit, much like I want to believe the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel did for Stephen King. The feet that have walked these floors and gazed upon these walls – people with a million different thoughts in the their heads even as they looked but barely saw, astounds me. Humans stopped here for the night with their horses stabled nearby – weary souls traveling through came here, refugees from the cold as far back as 1839. The place has so much history, and I can only imagine…

I love staying in Kingston, so it fits well with The Bee’s Love Is In Da Blog prompt for today, “write about places you love.”

If you’d like to read about my most memorable and amusing, (and spooky) visit to Kingston to date, you can find the post here.

To visit the Queen’s Inn website, click here.

Thanks to The Bee for the prompt!


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One-Liner Wednesday – You know that feeling?

You know that feeling when you’re trying to come up with something to write before a 2am deadline but you just can’t think of a damned thing and just the trying feels like this?

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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. Have fun!


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Just Jot It January 31st – Clumsy

I admit to feeling clumsy in the way I go about organizing these prompts of mine. The pingbacks mixed in with the comments are haphazard and I can imagine they’re more difficult to find than they should be. So hopefully sometime within the next month I’ll have time to search for a better way of doing things. It would be awesome if I could set up my page like they do at the Daily Post – I like that idea better than having an offsite compilation with someone like Linky Tools or Mr. Linky. I have what is probably an irrational fear of leaving my email address on a site I don’t know. Anyway, I’ll start with the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt and go from there.

Speaking of clumsy, I’m also thinking about getting a real artist to design a new JusJoJan badge for next year. I’m starting to realize that maybe my mad Paint skillz aren’t up to snuff. And I’m getting tired of looking at the stick-figure blogger with a burning screen. If enough people insist, maybe I’ll give you all a choice when January 2017 rolls around to use the new one or keep the retro one.

Ha! Whoever thought I’d ever make it to “retro”? Not me.

 

The “Clumsy” prompt is brought to you by Judy at Edwina’s Episodes. Please head on over and have a read, and tell her I said hi!

JJJ 2016

To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 31st post here!


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Just Jot It January 30th – An- #SoCS

What if all the answers to all the questions in the world were given to us? Wouldn’t life be boring? There would be no disease, no questioning why we exist. Would there be no war? I imagine there would be no need for it, since we’d know how to sustain our peoples, our boundaries, grow all the food we’d need… and still I think life would be chaotic.

People would be so bored they would defy the logical answers. Like, what if I jump off this cliff with a bungee cord wrapped around my throat? Okay, bad example. How about, what if I jump off this cliff without first measuring my bungee cord? There is already no end to the number of risk-takers in this world. Nor is there a measurable number of stupid people. You just have to watch AFV to see a handful every week.

Having all the answers, I can only therefore deduce, would not limit the number of deaths in the world. It would only kill off the stupid people. That’s my final answer.

And how about anticipation? If we had the answer to every question in the world, we’d know how everything was going to turn out. It’d be like having precognition. (Except for the stupid people, because they’d just ignore it.) Having precognition would end hope. The end of hope would be the end of happiness.

So there you have it. If we had all the answers we’d be a population of smart, (because all the stupid people popped off after doing something stupid) miserable, yet safe and healthy people with nothing to look forward to.

Think of that next time you wish you knew the answer.

The “An-” prompt is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click here to join in, and leave your link for everyone to see!

SoCS badge 2015

JJJ 2016

To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here. Join in today! It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 23rd post here at this post.

Note: If you combine SoCS and JusJoJan in one post, make sure you ping back to both this post and the Friday Reminder post.