So hard to believe, but there’s only a week to go ’til the last day of January. Then after a slightly elongated February we’ll be looking forward to spring, and looking to the weatherman to find out if we’ll have an early one or a late one. I think for many of us in North America, our mild December has made this month (or at least the winter so far) seem much shorter, don’t you?
The fact that there’s only a week left of January means we’re almost finished Just Jot It January too! If you’ve made it this far without missing a post, congratulations! If you’ve at least written a name and number down on a post-it note, good for you! You’ve jotted something every day. 😀
But we can’t stop here. We’ve got to keep going! Whether you’re compelled by the enjoyment of jotting out a post every day, or you’re simply on a roll and the momentum is carrying you, it doesn’t matter. JusJoJan is an exercise to remind ourselves that we can write something every day. We’re all writers after all, every one of us who has a blog. And yes, I’m talking to those who have art and photo blogs too – the titles and tags have got to come from somewhere, right?
So whatever your motivation, keep that compulsion going. We’re gonna do this! 😀
The “Compelled” prompt is brought to you by Willow at Willowdot21. Please stop by her blog to have a read and say hi!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 24th post here!
If you Google the word “climate,” the results are primarily about climate change. And why not? It’s a relevant concern these days. Most of us just have to look out the window to see it’s real. But I’m tired, and I understand far less about its causes and effects than the experts out there, so I’ll leave it to them (or to you, if there are any experts reading this) to explain, and talk instead about the other meaning of the word.
Mood. Ambiance.
I can’t stand fluorescent lighting. Give me a warm yellow glow, whether from a candle or an incandescent bulb any day (or night, as the case may be). Especially when I’m in my own room.
In the evening, when all the kids and pets are tucked safely into bed I go up to my own with my book and my ounce of Bailey’s (until my Christmas bottle runs out… that’s a hint for anyone planning to buy me a birthday present) and I enjoy them both in my incandescent light for about 15 minutes before I lay down and go to sleep. I can’t relax without winding down from my day.
Do you have a nighttime ritual?
The “Climate” prompt is brought to you by Joanne at Top of JC’s Mind. If you don’t already follow her, please check out her blog!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 19th post here!
It hasn’t been often in my life that I’ve felt elegant. I don’t have a job that requires any level of it, and I never really have. I used to dress nicely when I worked in an office, particularly when I was the receptionist. I’ve enjoyed going out to parties, dances, and bars, (in my younger years) but those days are gone.
But I do appreciate elegance. And so I write about it. The characters in my novels are far more elegant than I can ever dream to be. It’s just one of the many things I compensate for using my imagination. They say those who can’t do, teach. I suppose it could be said that I teach the population of my stories what I can do in theory but not practice in real life. Or maybe they teach me.
The “Elegance” prompt is brought to you by Kelli at Forty, c’est Fantastique!. Please go and say hi and follow her if you don’t already!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 18th post here!
I’ve been sitting here for a while pondering the things I collect. I can’t come up with a single collection I possess that doesn’t have a specific use. By that I mean I don’t collect knick-knacks, the major reason being that I hate dusting.
I have a record collection, a CD collection, and a DVD collection. Soon, I’m sure, there will be a Blue Ray collection as well, but so far I only have two of those. The kids have more. I have a jewelry collection that I haven’t added to in at least five years, mostly because I rarely wear any of it. I used to collect coffee mugs, but last time I moved I ended up throwing a lot of them out; I didn’t use them. I collect words – books are probably my biggest vice.
It’s a bit of a conundrum, isn’t it? They say there’s so much benefit in downsizing and getting rid of things we don’t need, and yet there’s a need to collect things that we don’t use. There’s a comfort in it.
What do you collect? Tell me in the comments or jot your own post and link it back here.
The “Collection” prompt is brought to you by Deborah at Container Chronicles. If you don’t already follow her, please check out her blog!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 17th post here!
I used to love playing follow-the-leader when I was little. My favourite part was getting the chance to be the leader, although I never insisted. I always waited my turn.
When I was a young adult I landed a job on a dude ranch, taking out trail rides. I loved horses; riding was my passion in life. Yet my first few experiences guiding a bunch of strangers on an equal number of 1,000 pound animals they couldn’t necessarily control, whilst on my own 1,000 pound animal, practically sitting backwards in the saddle so I could watch the aforementioned strangers was a bit nerve-wracking; for $2 an hour, how could I go wrong? Seriously, it was my favourite job to date. But I digress.
All my life I’ve been able to take or leave the role of leader. In most cases, unless I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m happy to take over if no one else wants to. Except when it comes to my kids. With them, it’s my way or the highway, and I don’t mean the kids directly. I’m talking about anyone who looks after them.
I’ve been disappointed by more doctors than I can mention, the most recent being the one who was filling in for our family doctor the day we went for our flu shots. I had mine done; when Alex’s turn came he said no, he didn’t want a needle. I offered to hold him down while they did it but they refused. It had something to do with the fact that he’s 15 years old… that he’s only 60 lbs and has the mentality of a six year old seemed to escape them. But whatever. It was decided we’d try in a few weeks since he was going for surgery (dental) and would be under a general anesthesia anyway. Only when I got there, the anesthesiologist refused to administer it. That was before Christmas.
Last week our family doctor’s office called me to follow up and make sure Alex had his shot. They were obviously expecting a “yes” and didn’t quite know what to say when I told them no, and then explained exactly what had to happen – I wanted another appointment and I needed them to insist he have the vaccination next time. After all, with his heart issues, the flu could kill him. The doctor’s secretary said she’d get back to me in a couple of days. She didn’t. In the meantime I made an appointment to see his pediatrician. Between us we came up with a plan. We’ll try the nasal spray vaccination at the pharmacy but if he puts up too much of a fuss I’ll bring it with me to the pediatrician’s office and they’ll hold him down. The entire process has taken two months so far.
As a “leader” in my family’s care, I am less than pleased. It won’t happen again next year. I’m not waiting my turn to be the leader anymore.
The “Leadership” prompt is brought to you by Tessa at Always A Writer. Please check out her blog and say hi!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 15th post here!
After he died and everyone around her was keening in grief, she was keen to keen, but she wasn’t really feeling it.
This post is part of the Tuesday Use It In A Sentence prompt. It’s being hosted by My Loving Wife over at A Word Adventure this week. Click on the link to read the rules and join in. It’s fun!
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. 😀
First, I have to say I’m ecstatic over the response this year to Just Jot It January. I’m amazed at how many bloggers are joining in and I’m grateful to each and every one of you. Thank you!
Yesterday, however, has taught me that if there’s any chance I’m going to make it to all your posts to read and hopefully comment, I’m going to need some help from you. Originally I expected to be able to link all the ping backs that ended up on the Rules post back to whatever I posted on the current day. I spent the better part of yesterday doing just that; I wasn’t expecting such a great turnout! So here’s what you can do:
If you write your post ahead of midnight (or if you’re in another time zone, before mine is published at 2am my local time) and you ping back to the Rules post, please also drop a link to your post in the comments section of my daily post. If my daily post has been published, please link back to that. The reason behind this is that as the month goes on, the links will get buried in Rules post (last year’s Rules had 317 comments with less than half the number of people participating as there are this year). Eventually, no one will visit the Rules post since everyone will know the Rules off by heart. Therefore, your link won’t get any attention except from me.
So from now on, PLEASE either ping back directly to my current post (today’s is here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/01/02/just-jot-it-january-2nd-pausepaws-socs/ ) or drop a comment and your link in my current post so other people can find you. And check back often so you can see who else is posting. This is your community! Be good to one another! 😀
Again, thanks to everyone participating for making this year’s Just Jot It January an unprecedented success!
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 WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back either to my daily JusJoJan post or here, to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it. To ping back, just copy the URL from this post or the daily post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and come back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section.
3. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.
4. 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!
5. This year there are prompts for every day that’s neither a Wednesday nor a Saturday. You’ll find the list below. You can, but you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you.
6. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge in your post so that others can find your post more easily.
7. Have fun!
My Prompts (you can use them too)
Jan 1 – Persnickety (Sirius Bizinus)
Jan 2 – (SoCS – pause/paws)
Jan 3 – Frozen (Helen Espinosa)
Jan 4 – Dachshund (morgaine620)
Jan 5 – 2016 (Fiona)
Jan 6 – (Cloud -TanGental)
Jan 7 – Robust (summerstommy2)
Jan 8 – Honorable (Corner of Confessions)
Jan 9 – (SoCS – title)
Jan 10 – Sane (John W. Howell)
Jan 11 – Effortless (Dan Antion)
Jan 12 – Skulls (Dean)
Jan 13 – (Sacrifice – mewhoami)
Jan 14 – Motivation (Aaron)
Jan 15 – Leadership (Tessa)
Jan 16 – (SoCS – start your post with “What”)
Jan 17 – Collection (Deborah)
Jan 18 – Elegance (jetgirlcos)
Jan 19 – Climate (Joanne Corey)
Jan 20 – (Surreptitiously – KG)
Jan 21 – Mittens (Candy)
Jan 22 – Felicity (Fun Simplicity)
Jan 23 – (SoCS – odd/even)
Jan 24 – Compelled (willowdot21)
Jan 25 – Prestidigitation (quiall)
Jan 26 – Oneness (writersdream9)
Jan 27 – (Mendaciloquent – Coralee)
Jan 28 – Serendipity (jan)
Jan 29 – Ghost (ghostmmnc)
Jan 30 – (SoCS – “an” as a word or at the beginning of a word)
Jan 31 – Clumsy (Judy Martin)
I was incensed to discover that none of the stores in the town I moved to sell the Lotus incense I love to have in my house. So for the last six years I’ve been tempted to order it straight from the manufacturer in India. It really is wonderful stuff. To, or not to? I think I just might.
lindaghill.com 