One of my favourite things about WordPress is the way networking works. Sometimes I go looking for other bloggers according to interests (tag search in the Reader is a wonderful tool!), once in a while I’ll discover someone through an article shared on FaceBook, and I can’t count how many people I’ve met through HarsH ReaLiTy. (Have you checked out Jason’s new site yet? If not, you should! Click here!) Often I stumble across another because of an interesting comment they’ve left on a blog we both follow.
And then there are the prompts. I’ve met countless bloggers through the A-Z April Challenge, a few through The Daily Post, and many through my own prompts, which is something I find amazing.
I can’t remember where I met you all, though some I do. Do you remember how you first found me? Or did I find you first? And how long has it been?
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.
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!!
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.
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!
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.
Welcome! It’s Friday, and at Life in progress that means it’s time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! Tomorrow is a special day for me here at WordPress – it’s my third unofficial WP anniversary, so I’ve decided to let the prompt reflect that in my usual roundabout way. The SoCS prompt will also be tomorrow’s Just Jot It January prompt word (if you can call it a word… I suppose you can), so if you want to use it for your JusJoJan post, go right ahead, and if you want to combine the two challenges you can do that too! On with the prompt:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “an-” Use it as a word or find a word that starts with the letters “an” and make it your post’s theme. 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!!
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.
It’s odd that even though I love to write, sometimes it seems such a chore. I think back to a video* I watched again just recently of John Cleese, standing in front of an audience, talking about creativity. He stresses the importance of needing to be free of stress (haha. my bad) in order to be creative. He says that we have to be able to play – to play with ideas at least – and that means not being bogged down by the multitude of things we MUST do. Because let’s face it, as adults play is often at the bottom of our list of things to do.
Like just now, a perfect example: I was happily writing away when I heard a noise from the kitchen. The puppy was chewing on the table. Being a responsible adult who doesn’t want teeth marks in my table, I had to get up and leave my writing. It never ends!
Winston
…the constantly wiggly
…unless he’s sleeping
So Mr. Cleese, quite rightly suggests that there must me a time and a place to be creative. Only I rarely get it. And that really cuts into my enjoyment of writing.
So I come back to the beginning, don’t I? It’s not really odd.
And then even when I do get a moment to myself, and a space to myself, according to Mr. Cleese (and my own experience) it takes time to wind down. Speaking of wind, the dog just farted. For a small pup he can cause a big stink! Where was I? Oh yeah. Getting in the mood. There are times that I’m in the mood to write even when I’m stressed. An idea will pop into my head, or just a mood will overcome me and I can’t not write.
Being a writer is such a strange thing!
The “odd/even” prompt is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click here to join in, and leave your link for everyone to see!
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.
*Google “John Cleese on creativity” to find it on Youtube.
Look at that! It’s Friday again and time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! The SoCS prompt will also be tomorrow’s Just Jot It January prompt word, so if you want to use it for your JusJoJan post, go right ahead, and if you want to combine the two challenges you can do that too! I meant to post this earlier but it seems there’s no end to my to-do list, so here I am. And here’s the prompt:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “odd/even.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you’d like! 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!!
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.
What should I write about? Should it be about the puppy, who is now ripping my front door mat to shreds? (Not conducive to writing a SoCS post at all.) Or should I write about the fact that by the time this post is published I’ll be firmly ensconced in a hotel room, dreaming the night away? Yes, it’s my first night of sleep since November 29th. I’m looking forward to it.
Should I write about… how nice it is not to have to listen to the TV when I’m sitting in the living room with my Deaf son while he’s watching whatever he likes? I’m surprised when the sound is on – that’s how often it happens. He’s really the only one who watches it.
Ah, there are endless possibilities when the prompt is so open. It’s almost overwhelming, isn’t it? I sincerely hope that doesn’t sound conceited. I know I’m the one who came up with the prompt, but honestly I never have much of an idea what I’m going to write until I sit down to do it. Any more than you do. Hey, there’s a question – do you like the completely open-ended prompts like “what”? or do you prefer when it’s a more concrete one? Personally I enjoy the balance between the two.
Anyway, my ex is on his way to watch the kids for the weekend. Unless his mom told him about the puppy (hi Lucie!) he has no idea he’s looking after an extra soul this weekend. Surprise!! Hehe. Word.
The “what” prompt is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click here to join in, and leave your link for everyone to see!
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 16th 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.
Friday’s here and so’s your prompt for tomorrow’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday! The SoCS prompt will also be tomorrow’s Just Jot It January prompt word, so if you want to use it for your JusJoJan post, go right ahead, and if you want to combine the two challenges you can do that too! It turns out that last week’s prompt was a little confusing, so I’ve decided this week’s will be more of a typical SoCS challenge. Here it is:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “what.” Start your post with the word “What.” Bonus points if the final word of your post starts with a “w.” 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!!
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.
It’s come to my attention after a full week of eight hour days spent reading and commenting on and tweeting all (I think I got them all) of the posts that are linked back here and still being a day behind that I’m not going to be able to keep it up. For some strange reason, my kids are trying to scrape me off the laptop and my glue is getting weaker by the hour. I’ve been trying to read your posts before replying to my own comments, so if your kindly left comment has gone unanswered, that’s why.
From here on in I’m going to do my best to get to everyone at least once every two days. On the odd day I may “like” but not comment. If this happens, it doesn’t mean I didn’t read your post! Chances are I enjoyed it immensely but am just short on time.
I’d like to take this opportunity to once again say thank you to the overwhelming response to Just Jot It January and SoCS. You guys are awesome, and I really do love reading all the posts! So keep visiting each other, keep up the community spirit and keep on jotting. 😀
lindaghill.com 