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The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – March 1, 2018

Welcome to the third edition of the Escapist Coloring Club prompt! For this prompt, I encourage you to post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. That’s all there is to joining the club.

My reaction when I first saw the February page of my calendar was an overwhelmed “that’s a lot of leaves.” But I knew I was in for a challenge with most of the months when I bought the thing, so I sat down and started. I coloured the leaves first, to get them out of the way.

Here are a few more bits I’m happy to have managed, despite how tiny they were. The entire thing is done in marker, apart from the trunk. They really need to make a lighter brown marker!

The camera shows everything I missed, but I think that’s what puts the beauty in something done by hand.

That’s it for me this month. Let’s see what you’ve got!

Here are the “rules.”

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 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!

 


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#LOVEISINDABLOG2018 – Devotion

I was both surprised and happy to find that my friend Bee is hosting her February prompt, Love Is In Da Blog again this year! If you’re looking for prompts, check out her blog here!

When I think about the word “devotion,” my mind immediately goes to single-minded love and romance. But then, Merriam-Webster dictionary actually states this:

obsolete : the object of one’s devotion

Who knew this definition was obsolete?

Yet it’s true, the term is much broader than that. I’m devoted to my kids–all three of them. I’m devoted to my friends, both offline and on. I’m devoted to my writing, my career in editing, and my blog. I’m devoted to caring for my dog … the cat slightly less, because perhaps he’s less devoted to me. That, and he’s not my cat. He’s my son’s and will move with him if he ever moves out.

Which begs the question is it possible to be devoted to someone (or something) that’s not devoted back? Absolutely. That can get rather frustrating, though, in a “but why are you leaving me” sort of way. In the case of the kids, that’s usually inevitable.

Do we throw the word devotion around too liberally? Perhaps. Makes you think about what you’re truly devoted to though, doesn’t it?

Be sure to check out Bee’s prompt a the following link, and join in today! https://beehalton.com/abc-of-love-prompt-5-devotion-loveisindablog2018/writing/blog-events/love-is-in-da-blog/love-is-in-da-blog-2018


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The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – February 1, 2018

It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since our first Escapist Coloring Club prompt! For this prompt, I encourage you to post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share. That’s all you have to do to join the club.

You might recognize part of my project for this month. I took a closeup of some of the flowers in this, my January 2018 calendar picture, for the Coloring Club badge. I started it before I took the first photo of it, so it’s partially completed in my “before” picture.

 

Click to enlarge, to find the hidden items

It was fun deciding which colours to use for all the leaves. I didn’t have very many shades of markers to choose from, so I ended up with a combination of markers and pencils. All from the dollar store. The final picture isn’t very good, but if you look really closely, you’ll see I coloured the word “January” too.

I’m looking forward to February’s colouring and to seeing all of your amazing projects!

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 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!


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Congratulations! Just Jot It January 2018 edition

January 31st is almost at an end here at my house, so I feel I can safely say Just Jot it January 2018 is in the bag. We did it!

Huge congratulations to all of you who managed to post every day. It’s quite the feat! And even if you jotted something down every day but didn’t post it, you still completed the challenge; JusJoJan is all about the writing, not necessarily the blogging.

I’d like to give a special shout out to our kind providers of the Daily Prompts. Your help was much appreciated! All titles are clickable links. Check out any you missed!

Drama, by Ritu – January 1st
Boisterous, by Dan – January 2nd
Passionate, by Rosemary – January 4th
Memories, by Cage (no post) – January 5th
Indelible, by Ruth – January 7th
Pants, by pensitivity – January 8th
Coffee, by Barbara – January 9th
Humiliation, by Jim – January 11th
Aggravate, by Fandango – January 12th
Ultimatum, by Itinerary Planner – January 14th
Justice, by Barb – January 15th
Contemplation, by Cheryl – January 16th
Revolt, by Sandra (no post) – January 18th
Darkness, by Kerry – January 19th
Silence, by Willow – January 21st
Liberty, by Jill – January 22nd
Colour, by Supernatural Snark – January 23rd
Prediction, by Dar – January 25th
Address, by John – January 26th
Knight, by Leta – January 28th
Fantastic, by Jill – January 29th
Scrumptious, by Judy – January 30th

To say thanks to everyone who participated, here’s your official participation badge to put on your blog. Feel free to take it, even if you only joined in once during the month.

And don’t forget, if you’re looking for a weekly prompt, Stream of Consciousness Saturday and One-Liner Wednesday run all year long.

See you again next year for Just Jot it January!


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 26th – Address

Huge news in the world of e-publishing today. In a direct address to Amazon’s domination of the e-book market in the US, Rakuten, the company that owns Kobo, has partnered with Wal-Mart to distribute e-books, audiobooks, and physical books online.

What does that mean for self-published authors? The possibilities are vast. Not only will we have a wider audience to discover our books, perhaps Amazon will be forced to relax their hold over exclusivity. Kobo already offers the same lending service as Kindle Unlimited in certain countries, without demanding the same extent of loyalty. What we need is to see authors finally tell Amazon, with all their unfair practices, to stick it where the sun don’t shine and go wide–sell with as many retailers as they can.

Amazon has had us by the short and curlies for too long. It’s time to take back our choices. Thank you, Rakuten.

See the article here: https://kobowritinglife.com/2018/01/26/kobo-announces-partnership-with-walmart/ and the original one here: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/25/walmart-and-rakuten-partner-on-grocery-delivery-in-japan-kobo-e-books-and-audiobooks-in-u-s/

This post is is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “address,” provided by John Holton! Thank you so much, John! You can find his JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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One-Liner Wednesday & #JusJoJan Daily Prompt – January 24, 2018

It doesn’t take much to impress me.

In photo: fridge magnets spelling “Mom” with an 8 for an “o” and the inverse below, spelling “Wow” using the same 8. Mind blown.

Also, it was just a migraine, not a stroke. I’m healthy has a …. healthy person who gets migraines.

Here are the general rules to follow for Just Jot it January:

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 the daily prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5), every day except for Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness (SoCS) prompt–you’ll find that one on Friday morning at 9:30am. That daily post (i.e. this one) will be where you leave your link for others to find in the comment section. There will be a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday.

2a. Since today is Wednesday, I challenge you to make your JusJoJan post a one-liner. If you don’t care to, or if you’ve already written your post, no problem. Remember, with One-Liner Wednesday you can write anything – it’s only a prompt to write one line, not necessarily to keep to the same theme as mine. The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

(i) Make it one sentence.

(ii) Make it either funny or inspirational.

(iii) Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

(iv) Enjoy yourself!

(v) Use our One-Liner Wednesday badge.

3. As long as your blog is on WordPress, you’ll be able to link via pingback. To execute a pingback, 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! If you’re participating from another blogging host, just drop a link into the comment section. Note: The newest pingbacks and comments will appear at the top.

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 are here both to remind you and to inspire you to write. However, you don’t have to use the prompt word of the day. You can link any kind of jot back here. Note: If it’s 18+ content, please say so in a comment with your link or close to your pingback.

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

8. Have fun!

To find the full list of daily prompts from now until the end of the month, click this link: https://lindaghill.com/2017/12/27/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2018-rules/ and scroll down to the bottom of the post.

 


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 22nd – Liberty

People take such liberties these days, don’t they? Yeah, I know I sound like I’m going into a “back in my day” rant, but it really does seem to me that the meaning of “free speech” has somehow gotten skewed. Free speech means that one is free to say whatever they want, yeah. We have the legal right to speak, as long as it’s not to falsely malign or spread hate. But it’s a legal right, not a moral one.

Used to be that people were polite. Then again, it used to be that people spoke face to face, or at least over the phone. These kids with their technology, they hide behind their screens in their dark little basement rooms and say whatever they want and damn the consequences. It ain’t right, I tell ya! It just ain’t right.

Such liberties.

This old-folk rant, courtesy of my birthday, is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “liberty,” provided by Capt Jill! Thank you so much, Jill! She hadn’t posted for the prompt yet at the publishing of this post, but you can find her blog by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 21st – Silence

Ah, silence. It’s something I experience very little of during the day. I’m very quiet most of the time, but there’s always something going on in the next room, cars going by outside, and all the other noise that generally goes on in the background, in a house in a suburban neighbourhood.

Quiet–mainly the lack of motors–is why I love the country. Birds chirping I can handle. Leaves rustling in the breeze and waves lapping the shore are like music to my ears.

I don’t need complete silence. I need nature. Yeah.

This post is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “silence,” provided by Willow! Thank you so much, Willow! You can find Willow’s JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 19th – Darkness

I totally dropped the ball on this prompt, and for that I must apologize to Kerry, our very gracious provider of the word of the day for the 19th. You can visit her awesome JusJoJan post here: https://kkherheadache.wordpress.com/2018/01/19/its-all-around-me-jusjojan/ Definitely worth the visit.

My only defense for being so late is I tried. Yet as hard as I tried, I spent most of the day paralyzed with fear that I would get another migraine. I had a headache all morning and well into the afternoon until finally I broke down and took an Advil. The pharmacist told me not to while I’m on a daily dose of ASA, unless I really needed it.

It’s only been since I took the Ibuprofen that I’ve begun to relax, to go back to normal. To calm myself enough to sit in front of the screen and type. Even now though, I’m sitting in darkness with my eyes closed, touch typing and feeling my way through this post.

I hope tomorrow all the anxiety will begin to fade.

I’ve taken all my tests now–ECG, CT scan, ultrasound on my neck, and a fasting blood test–and I have an appointment with the stroke specialist on Tuesday morning. Hopefully I’ll get my driving privileges back and I’ll be able to do my own grocery shopping. In the meantime, I’m making every moment count.

This post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and the prompt of the day; you can find it here: https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/19/jusjojan-daily-prompt-january-19th-2018/ Please visit and check out all the other posts, which you’ll find in the comments!

 


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 18th – Revolt

It seems my brain has revolted against me. I hope the following post makes sense – I’m not entirely sure I’m over it.

It started last night while I was driving to a coffee shop, to work on a short story I plan to submit to a new anthology. I began getting blank spots in my vision–the “s” was missing at the end of the word “McDonald’s,” for instance–which I know is an indication that a migraine is coming. Migraines like this, for me, usually come without pain, so I figured I’d be fine to continue on my way as long as I picked up some Advil. I stopped at the dollar store and walked around for a bit to see if the blind spots would clear, but they only got worse. Yet by the time I found the Advil and got to the checkout, it had completely cleared up. So off I went.

I got something to drink, took my Advil, and sat down to work. I began to get a mild headache, so I held off on writing for a while. Once I felt fine, I got out my notebook, put the pen to the paper, and couldn’t remember what I was going to write. Hmmm… I thought about it for a few seconds and then remembered the word I wanted was “snooze.” I got the S-N-O-O on the page and couldn’t for the life of me envision what the next letter was supposed to be. I was relieved about ten seconds later when I got it. Off to the next sentence.

I vaguely recalled I wanted to write, “I’ve never been much of a dreamer.” It took me a few tries, but I finally got the sentence written on the page. I thought it was a bit weird that I wasn’t able to concentrate, but I wasn’t too concerned. Yet. Seems my letter of the day yesterday was “v.” It was all I really managed. This is what I wrote:

Snoove

“I give have been a dreamer.”

I realized this when I reread it about ten minutes later. I also realized I had to get to the hospital.

Fast forward to 3:10am: I walked home (thank goodness I only live 15 minutes from the hospital–I’m not allowed to drive) with a diagnosis that it may have actually been a migraine, but it could also have been a mini-stroke. The doctor at the emergency said that though I didn’t have any other symptoms, I should treat it like a stroke as a precaution. I’m going for a CT scan and an ultrasound this afternoon (don’t believe what they tell you about wait times that kill people in Canada!) and after I get a blood test, I have to go to a stroke specialist to get an all clear.

Now I’m going to try to get some sleep. Three hours and twenty minutes with 31 minutes awake/restless in between (thanks, Fitbit) wasn’t enough.

This dramatic post is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “revolt,” provided by Sandra! Thank you so much, Sandra! She hasn’t written a JusJoJan post yet, but I’ll link her blog again here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.