Life in progress

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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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The Magician’s Curse (Book 1) – Linda G Hill #BookReview

A lovely review by the even lovelier Ritu! Click on the original post link to read, and please say hello while you’re there! ❤


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#SoCS – Volition

Gah! Why do I struggle so much to write something positive these days? To write something – anything – of my own volition? I swear, if it wasn’t for these prompts, I might not write at all for weeks on end. Which is strange, really, because when I start, it’s natural. It just goes. Before I go off on a tangent, I want to say thank you. To all of you who help me keep going with my prompts. Because though they may originate here, if it wasn’t for all of you reading and participating in them, I’d have no motivation to keep it up some weeks. Thank you. 🙂

I’m not going to get this posted on Saturday, but I’m happy I at least started it with a minute or two to spare. I’ve spent the day working and occasionally tending to my son Chris’s needs.  And talking to my mother on the phone about half a dozen times, allaying her fears that there really is nothing to worry about when she finds a note in her room that she wrote about something she was trying to remember to do three years ago. I swear sometimes it would be best to go through her room when she’s not there and empty it of every scrap of paper once a week. She’s always been a worrier. Now she finds something to worry about and with her dementia, she can discover it for the first time ten times in the space of an hour.

I actually tried not giving birth to an only child, as I am, so that only one child would be stuck looking after me as I age. As it turns out, my eldest will likely be stuck with both me and his two disabled brothers. Life just isn’t fair.

Gah! Why do I struggle so much to write something positive these days? (Yes, I copied that.)

So I was at the hospital with Alex the other day, and I was amazed at how many people I recognized from when he was there for the first eight months of his life. Not only that, there were so many of those people who recognized me. I must have made an impression. Or Alex did. He was admitted for a night after vomiting as he came out of anaesthesia and they were afraid that he may have aspirated. He spent the night with the nurses at the desk, apparently, hanging out and flirting. He didn’t want to leave the hospital when it was time to go. I remember one time he was in ICU after having a second surgery in the space of two days. He’d had sleep apnea and the first surgery wasn’t as successful as they’d hoped. Even after all that, he managed to wrap every nurse in the ICU around his little finger. I’ve never seen so many nurses drop what they were doing (in the bloody ICU!) to wave goodbye to him as they wheeled him on a stretcher out the door and back up to the ward where he would spend another few days recovering.

He gets it from his dad, I’m sure. I’m simply not that charming.

But soon we won’t have that particular hospital to go to anymore. It’s a children’s hospital, and Alex will turn seventeen in five weeks. I fear the adult hospital may not be as good.

Gah!

Alex’s first day of school, Sept. 5, 2017.

 

Check out the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt at the following link and read all the other posts. And join in too, if you’d like. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2017/09/15/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1617/


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WE HAVE A WINNER! 2017-2018 SoCS Badge Contest

First, I’d like to give a special mention to our out-going Stream of Consciousness Saturday badge by Mr. John Holton. As it turned out, he has the distinct honour of coming in last-place this year, perfectly balancing out his spectacular win for the 2016-2017 badge. Thank you John, for providing us with a lovely design. Let’s everyone applaud John!

John Holton 2016-2017

It was a close race this year, with one badge pulling out in front during the final hours of yesterday’s voting. Let’s start with the runners-up.

Almost tied for fourth place were Ruth’s “Zoomburst Flower” and Scott’s “Rushing Stream.”

In third, we had Judy with her last-minute entry, “Sunrise.”

In second …

…

…

was JoAnna’s “Sparkly Stream,” which means our winner with 38% of the votes goes to J-Dubs with “A River with Red Flowers”!!

Congratulations to all the contestants on your amazing efforts. Thank you for making this years’ Stream of Consciousness Saturday badge contest a success!

And huge congratulations to J-Dubs for the winning design!


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We Have a Winner! 2017-18 One-Liner Wednesday Badge

It was a pretty tight race there for a while, but we have a clear winner for this year’s One-Liner Wednesday badge – no intervention by yours truly was needed.

Before I announce the winner, let’s take one more opportunity to appreciate the retiring badge by Wes. Wes’s badge served us well for over a year. With poignant quotes and a lovely backdrop, this wonderful badge will be missed.

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

Thanks, Wes, where ever you are!

Now for our runners-up:

In a tie for last place, we have Prompt Tree by Lisa and I’m Up Here! by Maggie .

In fourth, it’s Black and White by Allan.

A close third was had with Yellow Badge by Matt

I hope all of you, as well as our second place contestant will try again next time. It’s been fun, hasn’t it? 😀

For a while it was neck and neck. I thought our second place winner was going to take the prize, but first place came from behind and ended up taking a big lead.

So. In second place…

Are you ready?

In second place we have…

Drumroll please…

Birds Flying by JoAnna which means our winner is Dan Antion with his Birds on a Wire!

Congratulations Dan!

And thank you once again to all the contestants! Your participation is greatly appreciated, as is your hard work. I hope you’ll all give yourselves a pat on the back.

Onwards and upwards!

 


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#SoCS – Appreciative of the #atozchallenge

To find the prompt and participate in SoCS, click the picture. It’s fun!

Any of my fellow WordPress bloggers who are participating in the A to Z Challenge and haven’t heard yet, you can post your links to the new WordPress “A to Z” blog here: https://atozchallenge.wordpress.com They’re doing a daily post for each letter, so it’ll be as easy as a pingback to record your post and find readers. You’ll find the one for the letter “A” at the top of this post if you click on the letter. 😀

Now that that’s out of the way, my first thesaurus word for the challenge is “appreciative.” And I am, for so many things. First and foremost on my blog are all my readers and those who join in on my prompts week after week, as well as those of you who have done it once or twice. I’ve made so many friends here on WordPress and really, it was a surprise to me that there is such an amazing community here. When I started my blog I had no idea what I was doing. I thought I might find a couple of people who would read what I wrote and that would be it. It wasn’t until I discovered the interaction in the comments, and that discovery I still thank Jason at HARSH REALITY for, for showing me how great it can be to get to know people, that I knew there was so much more to this place than meets the eye.

And prompts like A to Z help expand our horizons. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who share the same passion as we do – writing, communicating, and sharing our work. The possibilities are endless. All we need do is tap into it. How can we not appreciate something like that?

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If you’re stopping by my blog for the first time or you haven’t picked it up yet, please check out my A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette “All Good Stories.” It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.

“Delightful, Light-hearted tale with great twists!” ~ Lori Carleson, 5 stars, Amazon review

“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars

Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories

 


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Just Jot It Jan 31 – Detritus

As the month fades finally out like the remnants of a song, I look forward to the days and weeks ahead. For me they will be filled with busyness and a reprieve from the stress of having to be here every day. I won’t lie – I’ve struggled this month. I filled my schedule too full and I paid for it. I have eroded myself to the point that I’m lacking sleep. Ironic as it is, I’m up until 1am trying late into the night to come up with inspiration, yet I’m more inspired when I sleep regularly.

I’ll still be around on Wednesdays, Fridays (for the prompt) and Saturdays, but I’ll have to take some time for myself. And hey, maybe I’ll actually find something interesting to say one of these days soon. Oh, and I’ll also be back with the participation badge. Thanks so much to everyone who joined in this month!

Good night, all. 🙂

compromise

 

Thanks very much to Lorraine for our final Just Jot It January prompt, “detritus.” You can read her post for the prompt here:  https://myfrillyfreudianslip.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/jusjojan-detritus31-01-17/ Tell her I sent you!

The Just Jot It January prompt post for today is here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/31/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-31st17/ Be sure to check out all the posts!


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#SoCS – First to last

2016. My first thought out of all the things to say about it has, for months, been about how shitty it’s been. Yet personally, I’ve had a lot of things to be grateful for.

I released my first book, making me officially an author. And I had a short story accepted in an anthology, making me an accepted author.

I began taking editing courses and so far I’m doing exceptionally well.

I managed to tick off four of the nine things on my 2016 bucket list. Admittedly, one of them was teach the dog sign language, but that’s something, right?

I made a couple of new friends online.

I kept all the friends I have.

And most of all, I lived. And so did everyone in my immediate family.  (Pray I’m not jinxing anything – there are still 8 hours to go.)

I’m also very grateful for this blog and this community. I’ve lived years without the feeling of connection and they were lonely years indeed. Since I came here to WordPress I’ve felt nothing but accepted, appreciated, and part of a larger entity than ever before. Thank you, my friends.

Thank you to everyone who has commented, liked, and read my posts this year, and thanks to all who have participated in my prompts. I can’t imagine life without you.

Cheers to 2017!

socsbadge2016-17

The Stream of Consciousness Saturday rules and all the other posts can be found here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/12/30/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-3116/


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My First Book Shout Out – All Good Stories by Linda G. Hill

Thanks so much to Sally Cronin for giving my novelette a shout-out! Please check out her post! 😀
Note: Comments here are closed.


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Just Jot It January 2016 Participant Badge and All-Round Pat on the Back

We did it! Just Jot It January 2016 was an unprecedented success and I owe it all to everyone who participated. It was wonderful meeting and getting to know some great bloggers who I hope to keep up with from now on and I enjoyed reading all the posts (so far – if I haven’t read your post, I’ll certainly try). The daily prompts were loads of fun, as was the opportunity to link to different blogs, though maybe I’ll do that a little differently next year. I’m thinking about holding the “competition” once a week so more people have the chance to get their prompt in, particularly those who start later in the month.

Based on this year’s excellent turnout, I may ask for help next year. I’m not sure exactly what “help” will entail yet; if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Perhaps I’ll do guest bloggers.

So this is it! Congratulations to those who linked every day in January, and thanks to all, whether you participated 31 times or once.

Here’s your badge!

JJJ Part 2016

P.S. Anyone who’s looking for a new daily prompt for February, look no more! Our friend The Bee is hosting “Love Is In Da Blog” again this year. You can find the exciting new rules here: https://justfoolingaroundwithbee.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/introducing-love-is-in-da-blog-2016/
Enjoy!!