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Daily Prompt – JusJoJan the 20th, 2025

Hi! It’s time for our twentieth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, we have a prompt gifted to us by the incomparable Kim. Thank you, Kim! Please be sure to visit Kim’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 20th, 2025 is “antipodean.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

If you’d like to see what I have so far on your prompt list and what’s to come, you can find the list HERE.

Here are the rules:

1. Please be sure to put your link in the comments on THIS POST for Monday, January 20th, 2025.

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.

4. 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.

5. Tag your post JusJoJan25 and/or #JusJoJan25.

6. 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!

7. 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 as they come in, which means I’ll be updating this post. Remember, you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you. NOTE: If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

8. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

9. Have fun!


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JusJoJan25 the 19th – Why do you ask?

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “why,” comes to us from Willow. Check out her blog here!

Ninety percent of the phone calls I get are from people trying to sell something, convince me of something, or machines that just hang up.

And it’s frustrating.

Most of the time, if I don’t recognize the number on the screen, I pick up and say nothing. If a human says “Hello?” I’ll speak, but otherwise I listen until the caller (or machine) hangs up. Apparently (though to be honest I haven’t fact checked this), if there’s no response, they won’t call you back. And if I just let it ring, the answering service will pick up.

But then there are the ones who actually get through.

Like the machines that start talking immediately, telling you your bank account has been compromised without actually telling you which bank you deal with. I just hang up on those.

But the humans that get through? Especially the ones who know my name? Ugh.

“Is this Linda Hill?”

“Why are you asking?”

“I’m with so-and-so company and I’m calling to blah blah blah…”

“I’m not interested, thank you.”

“But this thing you can’t live without—”

“I’m not interested.”

“But—”

*click*

I’m sure they’re paid to not take no for an answer. But it’s not up to me to reward them for putting themselves in the position of being abused by their employers, knowing they’ll be abused by the people they’re calling.

I figure I’m at least saving them some time by hanging up on them.

How do you handle sales calls?

This ranty post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Willow for the prompt!


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Daily Prompt – JusJoJan the 19th, 2025

Hi there! I’m back with our nineteenth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, our prompt comes to us from the wonderful Willow. Thank you, Willow! Please be sure to visit Willow’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 19th, 2025 is “why.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

If you’d like to see what I have so far on your prompt list and what’s to come, you can find the list HERE.

Here are the rules:

1. Please be sure to put your link in the comments on THIS POST for Sunday, January 19th, 2025.

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.

4. 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.

5. Tag your post JusJoJan25 and/or #JusJoJan25.

6. 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!

7. 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 as they come in, which means I’ll be updating this post. Remember, you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you. NOTE: If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

8. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

9. Have fun!


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Prompt Me Part 2 of 2 – #JusJoJan 2025

Second half of the month – January 19 – 31, 2025

I’m looking for prompt words for Just Jot it January! This is your chance to inspire other people and have your blog linked to the Daily Prompt post.

I’ve decided to do this in two parts again this year—Jan. 2-17, and Jan 19-31. I only need 10 prompt words today, so if you miss getting your word in on this post, you’ll have to wait for another chance next year. Something different this year (thanks to Joanne Corey for the idea!): if I don’t get prompts for every day from you all, I may leave the prompt as a free for all/choose your own. We’ll see what happens!

Read the rules carefully! I need 10 single words to use in the Just Jot It January challenge, for January 19th through to the 31st. This is how you can be included:

  • I’m looking for a single word, plus a link to your blog, plus the name you wish me to use when I post your prompt (your name or the name you blog by). So for example, mine would be “antidisestablishmentarianism lindaghill.com Linda”
  • If you write more than what I’m asking for in your comment, for example, “My word is antidisestablishmentarianism, and my link is (this) and my name is (my given name or the name I blog by),” I’ll tell you to try again. Same thing if you try to slip in two prompts, even in two different comments—I’ll only accept the first. If I get the same word twice, I’ll only accept the first person who got to it. If you’re the second, I’ll let you know so you can try again. And please, remember this is a relatively G-rated blog, so nothing too risque.
  • The first 10 comments on this post that include a single word (plus link and name) will be the prompts for the second half of January.
  • These prompts will go up on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 2am EST. I’ll take care of One-Liner Wednesday and Stream of Consciousness Saturday myself.
  • I’ll link back to the blog of whomever gives me a prompt on the day I use it.
  • Make sure you get your comment in early. You don’t want to miss out!
  • Please don’t bother entering a prompt if your blog is inactive or if it exists only to sell things. If you haven’t posted in over a month and you’re only looking for clicks, your prompt word will be rejected. If, on the other hand, you’re planning to use JusJoJan to inspire you to get back into the swing of things, let me know immediately in a second comment — NOT the one you give your prompt word in. Remember, that’s ONE word plus your link and your name only. If I can’t find a reasonable number of posts written in the last month that aren’t trying to sell a product, your prompt word will be rejected.
  • Be positive!! I’ve found over the years that prompt words that are negative in nature don’t get as much participation as more positive words. I don’t want to limit you, but please keep in mind that if your word is on the controversial, sadder, or angrier side, your prompt may not get as many responses.
  • If you provide a prompt, I encourage you to join in as much as possible throughout the month.
  • Only one prompt per person for the month. Though to be fair, if there aren’t enough slots filled, I may stick your prompt in towards the end of the month if you had one in the first round.
  • NOTE: Please count the number of correctly formatted comments ahead of yours. If there are already 10, save yours for next year!

Please see the “Rules” post for a complete list of the prompt words. I’ll populate it as the words come in. Here’s the link in case you missed it.

Okay. Are you ready? Aaaaand … prompt! One word, one link, one name!


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JusJoJan25 the 17th – News and announcements

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and there’s no prompt word! Today is a free-for-all, whatever-you-want-to-write day. Find the post to link your post to here!

First, my most pressing news.

My laptop is fixed! For the time being.

I took it to Best Buy and found out the noise coming from it can’t be the hard drive because its an SSD and there are no moving parts inside.

Then I got the bad news—the fan, which is making the noise—can’t be replaced.

So the nice Geek (of Geek Squad fame) took my dear laptop to the back, took it apart, and blew air on the fan to clean the dust out.

And voila! No more horrible noise! For now at least.

I did some research on SSD hard drives though, and it seems when they die, it’s really hard to get data off of them. So I’m going to back up my stuff religiously from now on!

In announcements:

First off, I want to give everyone a heads-up that the second “Prompt Me” post is coming tomorrow, Saturday January 18th, at 10am EST. So make sure you get here early if you want to provide a prompt for one of the remaining ten (yes! only ten!) slots.

I’ll give first dibs to people who didn’t get in with their prompt word in the first half of the month, so if I’ve already used your word this year, please wait until it’s been at least 24 hours before you come back with a second one.

And finally, in book news, Rocked: A Romantic Comedy is free!

I’ll leave it that way through my birthday next week, then the price will go back up to $4.99. So if you don’t already have it, get it now!

Get it at the following retailers:

 
 
And that’s it for this premier free-for-all no-prompt prompt post.
 
Cheers with morning coffee!

This exciting post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!


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The Friday Reminder for #SoCS & #JusJoJan 2025 Daily Prompt for Jan. 18th

It’s Friday! And I’m here with our combination Daily 2025 Just Jot it January Prompt and Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. This one is for SATURDAY, JANUARY 18th. It snowed here! Finally! Not much, but still.

For those of you joining SoCS for the first time, it’s a little different than the other prompts in that it’s not always a whole or single word. If you’re joining in from JusJoJan and don’t want to write stream of consciousness style, no worries. It’s up to you. If you do want to try it, please check out the rules below. It’s fun! Here’s your Saturday prompt:

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 18th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “pack/peck/pick/pock/puck.” Use one or use ’em all for bonus points—it’s up to you! 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 post. Anyone can join in!

To make your post more visible, use our 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!!

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

You can also use the Just Jot it January badge! To find the rules for Just Jot it January, click here.

Here are the rules for SoCS:

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. 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 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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Daily Prompt – JusJoJan the 17th, 2025

Well hello there! It’s time for our seventeenth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, we’re trying something a little different. Basically, there is no prompt. It’s a free-for-all, and all this post is here for is to give you a place to link back to.

So go ahead and jot! And …

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 17th, 2025 is whatever you want it to be. Have fun!

If you’d like to see what I have so far on your prompt list and what’s to come, you can find the list HERE.

Here are the rules:

1. Please be sure to put your link in the comments on THIS POST for Friday, January 17th, 2025.

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.

4. 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.

5. Tag your post JusJoJan25 and/or #JusJoJan25.

6. 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!

7. 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 as they come in, which means I’ll be updating this post. Remember, you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you. NOTE: If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

8. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

9. Have fun!


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JusJoJan25 the 16th – Personalities

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “personality,” comes to us from Astrid. Check out her blog here!

In a way, I’m jealous of authors who can plot and plan a novel or an entire series before they start writing. I haven’t published a full-length novel in a year because I’ve been busy writing three of them in a continuing series, and I’m afraid to release the first one in case the details in the third one require a change at the beginning of the overall story.

All this because I’m a discovery writer, or a “pantser,” as we often call writers who write by the seat of their pants. I love being a pantser—finding out what’s going to happen in my story and to my characters as I write is both fun and fascinating.

Many times for me, an entire book will start with a single personality. And often, that personality will come to me from listening to a character’s voice and seeing them in my head.

It’s basically how I wrote my “Second Seat on the Right” series. Click for a random episode.

Because my stories are character-driven, personality is essential to pin down. Personality can often help me to decide what situations to put them in.

In Creamed, my latest release for instance, Tom comes to town and inadvertently steals Mary’s business at the Christmas market where they both have booths. If not for Tom’s strong feelings on the subject of fairness (he hates unfairness), the story might have gone a completely different way.

In other words, the personalities of characters have a lot to do with conflict and its resolution, and therefore, plot.

And that’s my lecture story structure for the day. Not sure how I came to this point, but here we are.

(Seriously, I didn’t plot this post ahead of time. 😏)

This wandering post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Astrid for the prompt!


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Daily Prompt – JusJoJan the 16th, 2025

Would you look at that! We’re halfway through January with our sixteenth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, our prompt comes to us from the amazing Astrid. Thank you, Astrid! Please be sure to visit Astrid’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 16th, 2025 is “personality.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

If you’d like to see what I have so far on your prompt list and what’s to come, you can find the list HERE.

Here are the rules:

1. Please be sure to put your link in the comments on THIS POST for Thursday, January 16th, 2025.

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.

4. 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.

5. Tag your post JusJoJan25 and/or #JusJoJan25.

6. 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!

7. 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 as they come in, which means I’ll be updating this post. Remember, you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you. NOTE: If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

8. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

9. Have fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday & #JusJoJan25 the 15th – Be colourful

Life is short. Be colourful.

Photo: The multi-coloured Christmas lights wrapped around the top rail of my deck in my back yard that I’m seriously considering leaving there because they’re pretty.

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 JusJoJan25 and/or #JusJoJan25.

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.

8. Have fun!