Life in progress


42 Comments

Daily Prompt – JusJoJan the 3rd, 2022

Welcome back to the daily prompt! It’s January 3rd, so here’s the 3rd prompt for Just Jot it January 2022, and it’s brought to us by Janet. Thank you so much, Janet! Please be sure to visit her blog to read her post and say hello. And follow her while you’re there, if you’re not already.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 3rd, 2020, is “abundance.” Use the word “abundance” any way you’d like. Enjoy!

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

Here are the rules:

1. Please be sure to link back to THIS POST for January 3rd, 2022.

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 JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

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!


32 Comments

Daily Prompt – JusJoJan the 2nd, 2022

Welcome to the daily prompt! Today we have the 2nd prompt for Just Jot it January 2022, and it’s brought to us by Dan. Thank you so much, Dan! Please be sure to visit his blog to read his post and say hello. And follow him while you’re there, if you’re not already following him.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 2nd, 2020, is “gobbledygook.” Use the word “gobbledygook” any way you’d like. Have fun!

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

Here are the rules:

1. Please be sure to link back to THIS POST for January 2nd, 2022.

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 JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

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!


35 Comments

Prompt Me Part 1 – #JusJoJan 2022

Two weeks – January 2 – 14, 2022

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 this year—Jan. 2-14, and Jan 16-31. I only need 10 prompt words today, so if you miss getting your word in on this post, you’ll have another chance on Friday, January 14th.

Read the rules carefully! They’re a bit different this year. I need 10 single words to use in the Just Jot It January challenge, for January 2nd through to the 14th. 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 ignore it. 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 first two weeks 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.
  • I observed a few years ago that many of our prompt words were negative in nature. I found they didn’t do as well as the more positive words. I don’t want to limit you, but please keep in mind that if your word is on the sadder or angrier side, your prompt may not get as much participation.
  • 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. If you get in this time, don’t try again next time.
  • NOTE: Please count the number of correctly formatted comments ahead of yours. If there are already 10, save yours for January 14th!

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: https://lindaghill.com/2021/12/31/just-jot-it-january-2022-the-rules/

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

NOTE: Comments are now closed. Thanks to all who added their prompts to the cause! If you want to participate in the next round, be sure to watch out for the Prompt Me Part 2 post on January 14th.


85 Comments

Just Jot it January 2022 – The Rules!

Welcome, one and all to the eighth annual Just Jot it January challenge!

Just Jot it January, AKA JusJoJan, is a challenge to write a post every day of the month of January. To start the year off with a a blogging bang, and to meet others in the blogging community. It’s fun!

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). 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.

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. 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.

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

8. Have fun!

I’ll fill in the prompts as I have them, along with a link to the blog of the person who supplied the prompt if it wasn’t me:

January 1 – SoCS – “resolve”

January 2 – Dan https://nofacilities.com/ – “gobbledygook”

January 3 – Janet https://scr4pl80.wordpress.com/ – “abundance”

January 4 – Sadje https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/ – “generosity”

January 5 – One-Liner Wednesday

January 6 – Pamela https://butterflysand.com/ – “anticipation”

January 7 – Liz https://valleyofthetrolls.blog/ – “tempest”

January 8 – SoCS – “In the…”

January 9 – Astrid https://astridetal.com/ – “unicorn”

January 10 – Ritu Bhathal http://www.butismileanyway.com/ – “chocolate”

January 11 – Willow https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/ – “cosmopolitan”

January 12 – One-Liner Wednesday

January 13 – John http://thesoundofonehandtyping.com/ – “protocol”

January 14 – Maggie https://fromcavewalls.wordpress.com/ – “freckled”

January 15 – SoCS – rainy day

January 16 – Lauren https://lssattitudeofgratitude.wordpress.com – “ridiculous”

January 17 – theindieshe https://indishe.wordpress.com/ – “joy”

January 18 – JoAnna https://joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com/ – “cycle”

January 19 – One-Liner Wednesday

January 20 – Di https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/ – “looking”

January 21 – Fandango https://fivedotoh.com – “mission”

January 22 – SoCS

January 23 – Wendy https://waffle-with-wendy.blogspot.com/ – “surviving”

January 24 – J-Dub https://jilywily.wordpress.com/ – “unbelievable”

January 25 – Scarlet https://elan-creations.me/ – “journal”

January 26 – One-Liner Wednesday

January 27 – Kim https://inkonapage.com/ – “understanding”

January 28 – Lakshmi Bhat https://mukhamani.wordpress.com/ – “abscission”

January 29 – SoCS

January 30 – Jenny https://jennyyoung27.wordpress.com/blogs/ – “prepare”

January 31 – Susan https://dontcursethenurse.wordpress.com/ – “facetious”


21 Comments

Just Jot it January 2021 – We did it!

It’s the 8th annual “PHEW!” post! We made it through another January!

Some days were tougher than others for me, and honestly there were nights when I was still sitting at the computer past midnight with no idea what I was going to write for my scheduled 2:00am prompt post. But I got through all the story suggestions, which I’m quite chuffed about. And, with a bit of polishing up, I think I might have a few short stories to put into an anthology, so there’s a bonus!

So, how did you do? Did you post every day in January? Let me know in the comments, or write your own “I did it! #JusJoJan21 Edition” post and link it back here.

Congrats to everyone who joined in! Here’s your annual participant badge. 😀


8 Comments

The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – January 1, 2021

It’s here! The new year! And even better news than that (okay, maybe not), I’m here with your Escapist Coloring Club prompt. If you’d like to join the club, all you have to do is post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. This is a month-long prompt, which means you have all of January to link back here.

I got my calendar page coloured early this month. Here’s the before:

And here are closeups of the parts of the finished product: (Click for a closer look.)

And here’s the whole thing:

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in December!

I look forward to seeing your new projects throughout the coming month.

Please find the “rules” below.

1. This prompt is designed for relaxation. As such, I encourage you to take your time to link your own post here, BUT, when you comment, please click the “Notify me of new comments via email” button. That way you’ll receive a notification when someone else links their project and you won’t miss anything. As with all the prompts, the more you visit others, the more your community of like-minded people grows.

2. Ping back! It’s important so that I and other people can come and read your post. To execute a pingback, just copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into the body of your post. 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.

3. There will be a prompt on the first of every month. I will try to post the prompt here on my blog at 9:30am -5 GMT. The prompt will simply be photos of my own colouring project. If you would like to host this prompt on your blog on another week during the month, either once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, please e-mail me at hilllindagmaru at gmail dot com and we’ll get you set up. All I ask is that you have an active blog and that you regularly reply to comments and visit other blogs.

4. Feel free to use The Escapist Coloring Club badge in your post.

5. Have fun!


25 Comments

Just Jot it January 2021 – The Rules!

Hey there! Welcome to the 8th annual Just Jot it January challenge! This year is going to be far simpler than the last couple of years. One prompt per day, link to that post, that’s it. Details below.

But why should you participate in this challenge? To keep the ol’ fingers warm and meet up with an awesome blogging community, that’s why! Just Jot it January, AKA JusJoJan, is a challenge to write a post every day of the month of January. We’ve grown from a handful of participants in 2014 to close to fifty for the past couple of years. Let’s see if we can make it to sixty this year!

Here are the 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.

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.

8. Have fun!


8 Comments

The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – December 1, 2020

The first of December is here! And you know what that means–so is your Escapist Coloring Club prompt. If you’d like to join the club, all you have to do is post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. This is a month-long prompt, which means you have all of December to link back here.

I’m honestly surprised I got my calendar page coloured this month. Here’s the before:

And here are closeups of the parts of the finished product: (Click for a closer look.)

And here’s the whole thing:

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in November!

I look forward to seeing your new projects throughout the coming month.

Please find the “rules” below.

1. This prompt is designed for relaxation. As such, I encourage you to take your time to link your own post here, BUT, when you comment, please click the “Notify me of new comments via email” button. That way you’ll receive a notification when someone else links their project and you won’t miss anything. As with all the prompts, the more you visit others, the more your community of like-minded people grows.

2. Ping back! It’s important so that I and other people can come and read your post. To execute a pingback, just copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into the body of your post. 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.

3. There will be a prompt on the first of every month. I will try to post the prompt here on my blog at 9:30am -5 GMT. The prompt will simply be photos of my own colouring project. If you would like to host this prompt on your blog on another week during the month, either once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, please e-mail me at hilllindagmaru at gmail dot com and we’ll get you set up. All I ask is that you have an active blog and that you regularly reply to comments and visit other blogs.

4. Feel free to use The Escapist Coloring Club badge in your post.

5. Have fun!


9 Comments

The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – November 1, 2020

Hey there! It’s the first of November, and I’m here with your Escapist Coloring Club prompt. If you’d like to join the club, all you have to do is post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. This is a month-long prompt, which means you have all of November to link back here.

I didn’t think I’d enjoy doing this month’s calendar page as much as I ended up enjoying it. Here’s the before:

And here are closeups of the parts of the finished product: (Click for a closer look.)

And here’s the whole thing:

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in October!

I look forward to seeing your new projects throughout the coming month.

(Sorry I didn’t link everyone’s projects this month. I’m getting totally stressed out over this stupid new editor that I’m finally having to use. It’s seriously killing me.)

Please find the “rules” below.

1. This prompt is designed for relaxation. As such, I encourage you to take your time to link your own post here, BUT, when you comment, please click the “Notify me of new comments via email” button. That way you’ll receive a notification when someone else links their project and you won’t miss anything. As with all the prompts, the more you visit others, the more your community of like-minded people grows.

2. Ping back! It’s important so that I and other people can come and read your post. To execute a pingback, just copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into the body of your post. 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.

3. There will be a prompt on the first of every month. I will try to post the prompt here on my blog at 9:30am -5 GMT. The prompt will simply be photos of my own colouring project. If you would like to host this prompt on your blog on another week during the month, either once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, please e-mail me at hilllindagmaru at gmail dot com and we’ll get you set up. All I ask is that you have an active blog and that you regularly reply to comments and visit other blogs.

4. Feel free to use The Escapist Coloring Club badge in your post.

5. Have fun!


16 Comments

The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – October 1, 2020

October 1st just kinda zoomed by on me, so let’s pretend today’s the first of the month, k? So it’s October, and I’m here with your Escapist Coloring Club prompt. If you’d like to join the club, all you have to do is post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. This is a month-long prompt, which means you have all of October to link back here.

I finished my colouring my calendar page, early again this month. Here’s how it started with no colour:

And here are closeups of the parts of the finished product: (Click for a closer look.)

And here’s the whole thing:

Last month was all coloured in marker, so I did this one entirely in pencil. It’s slightly brighter than this in real life, but it still looks pretty good I think. Next month I’ll be back to doing the combination of markers and pencil.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in September! Here are all the projects from last month, in case you missed any:

Barbara at Teleportingweena

Janet at Janet’s Smiles

Beth at Pilgrimage Studio

Jenna at revivedwriter

Kim at Words on a Page

Colline at Colline’s Blog

I look forward to seeing your new projects throughout the coming month!

Please find the “rules” below.

1. This prompt is designed for relaxation. As such, I encourage you to take your time to link your own post here, BUT, when you comment, please click the “Notify me of new comments via email” button. That way you’ll receive a notification when someone else links their project and you won’t miss anything. As with all the prompts, the more you visit others, the more your community of like-minded people grows.

2. Ping back! It’s important so that I and other people can come and read your post. To execute a pingback, just copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into the body of your post. 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.

3. There will be a prompt on the first of every month. I will try to post the prompt here on my blog at 9:30am -5 GMT. The prompt will simply be photos of my own colouring project. If you would like to host this prompt on your blog on another week during the month, either once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, please e-mail me at hilllindagmaru at gmail dot com and we’ll get you set up. All I ask is that you have an active blog and that you regularly reply to comments and visit other blogs.

4. Feel free to use The Escapist Coloring Club badge in your post.

5. Have fun!