Life in progress

Tag Archives: WordPress


by 37 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS April 16/16

It’s Friday! And time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. The pingbacks still aren’t working here on WordPress. This means we’ll still have to do things a bit differently. Remember, if you don’t add your link to the comments below, the other participants (and I) might not see your prompt. Please continue to include a link to here in your post though, in case they magically come back: at this stage I’m wondering if it will take a little prestidigitation. The instructions to create a pingback are still listed below. What I can still do, is potentially help you out if you’re participating in the A to Z Challenge. Here’ your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “no.”  Try to think of a specific number, as “no.” is often used as an abbreviation for “number,” and write about it. Or, use it as a word. 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!!

SoCS badge 2015

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.

8. Have fun!


by 10 Comments

Quick update on the Pingback issue

I just talked to someone at WordPress support, and they said the problem only seems to be affecting custom sites. That means, if you have .wordpress in your site’s address, you shouldn’t be affected. If you pay for your site and you don’t have a .wordpress.com site, and your pingbacks don’t work, please let support know.

Proof that they’re doing something: I got a pingback tonight. Problem was, it was from Margret’s post here:

Fortune Cookie

but the link pinged back to here:

https://lindaghill.com/2013/04/21/how-comments-can-hurt/ – a post of mine from three years ago.

Weird. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

Have a good night all!


by 8 Comments

Experiencing Problems With Pingbacks On Your WordPress Blog? Then Please Read This.

It’s more widespread than I thought. Please check first if your posts allow pingbacks before you complain to WordPress. Here’s how:

image3

Thank you to Chris, The Story Reading Ape, for the visual:  https://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2016/04/13/experiencing-problems-with-pingbacks-on-your-wordpress-blog-then-please-read-this/
If you’ve checked the above settings and your pingbacks still aren’t working, please let WordPress know.
Remember – it might only be your incoming pingbacks. If you’re expecting some, like I do with my prompts, you’ll know. If you’re not expecting any, ask a friend to try linking to one of your posts to see if you get a notification. If I get time later, I’ll help you. Please let me know in the comments.
Got all that? Great! Please click on the original post to read Hugh’s thoughts on the matter!


by 27 Comments

Kindness – #AtoZ Challenge

Though my son, Alex, observes much more than most of us in the family do, there’s at least a quarter, if not half, of what the rest of us perceive that he misses, being Deaf. While we hear things that go on around us without having to see them, (right now there’s a car going by with a rattling trailer on the back, and my other son, Chris, is coughing upstairs in his room) Alex’s world is quiet. He only knows what is in front of his face. I know this, because I often accidentally sneak up on the poor kid and scare him out of his erps.

I think of him in his own little world, not knowing what’s going on around him, and I find it natural that we end up calling him, “Your Majesty.” He’s self-centered in a way that makes sense. And yet he still finds a way to be in tune.

That he has compassion, even though I’m not able to explain to him what compassion means, tells me that teaching by example goes so much further than speaking. Openness begets openness, caring begets caring, and love begets love. This, unfortunately, can also be said for close-mindedness, rejection, and hate. To me, it speaks in volumes about how we all need to behave around our children.

Kindness is as often shown in gestures as it is in words. We can express kind words to one another without meaning them, but the sincerity of a smile cannot be faked. Nor can the act of opening a door, or handing back a lost item that a person doesn’t know he or she has dropped. I’m happy to have not only been able to demonstrate these qualities to my son, but I’m grateful to have been able to expose him to other people who have as well.

alex valentine

My A to Z theme concerns the joys and challenges of being the hearing mother of my Deaf son, Alex. To learn more about his beginnings in life, click here to go to my first A to Z entry.


by 35 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Good News!

I can write a novel on the fridge now!

I got new letters! 2 packs of 72 each at Toys R Us in the US! I can write a whole novel on the fridge now!!

Well, as long as the whole thing is punctuated with exclamation marks (aka upside-down “i”s).

__________________________________________________________________

NOTE: Pingbacks are not working this week. If you’d like to participate in the prompt, please manually enter the link to your post in the comments below. Thanks for your patience.

Anyone who would like to participate, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our new, very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

 


by 45 Comments

Pingbacks

I contacted WordPress support yesterday to find out what was going on with the pingbacks. All the Happiness Engineer was able to tell me is that it’s just me. Everyone else’s are working. Mine are, in fact, not working in either direction – I pinged back to Dale’s site yesterday for the photo challenge and he never received my link.

So it seems WordPress doesn’t like me; your guess is as good as mine as to why. At the moment I’m still waiting for a developer to get back to me. I’m not holding my breath that it will happen before 2am when I post my next prompt, so if you plan to participate in One-Liner Wednesday tomorrow, I’m afraid you’ll have to manually enter your link in my comment section, so I and everyone else will see your post.

Apologies for the inconvenience. Hopefully this will get sorted out before Saturday and SoCS rolls around again.


by 20 Comments

#SoCS – Half

I don’t know why I keep buying books. It’s a compulsion. If I spent just half my time reading all the novels I have on shelves, Kindle, and Kobo, I’m sure it would still take me a year to get through them. And don’t even get me started on my to-be-read list of books that I haven’t bought yet.

As it is lately, I seem to be spending half my time on the computer, whether the laptop or working on my novels. I haven’t done a lot of real writing lately, which is why I’m trying to post every day on my fiction blog. …where I don’t have even near half of the traffic I get here. I wonder why that is? I suppose if you click my gravatar it brings you here, rather than there. Have you clicked your gravatar lately? Where does it go? Actually, your gravatar is only half of it. When you click your picture it should take you to a site where you have all your information, and your blogs lined up in a neat clickable row. If you click your name (we’re talking about in the comments section of any given post where you’ve commented, now), it should take you to your main site. It’s frustrating when I want to find someone’s blog but their information isn’t available.

I’m half of a mind to complain to WordPress about the pingbacks not working, but complaining never seems to do anything. I wonder if their own Daily Post blog is suffering, since it relies on the same idea of pingbacks. Anyway, if it’s not fixed half-way between now and Wednesday, I’ll go through the process of bitching about it.

That’s at least half of what I can come up with at the moment. The other half would be forcing it. Happy weekend, all, and don’t forget to manually add your link to the prompt post this week!

SoCS badge 2015

This post is part of SoCS. Click here and join us today! https://lindaghill.com/2016/04/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-916/


by 15 Comments

Pingbacks are NOT Working Today #SoCS

An important announcement for everyone participating in Stream of Consciousness Saturday: There are no pingbacks! I have no idea what’s going on with WordPress – I’ve checked my account settings, and nothing has changed. I should be receiving your pingbacks, but I’m not.

If you’ve already written a SoCS post, please come back and enter your link in my comments here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/04/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-916/

If you plan to write a SoCS post, please make sure to comment on the above linked post, and include the link to your post in your comment.

Thanks for your cooperation. And no thanks to WordPress for the latest glitch. :/


by 38 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS April 9/16

Edit: Pingbacks are not working today! (Saturday, April 9/16) Please manually include your SoCS post link in the comments below.

Well, all is back to normal after your unfortunate scare of last Friday. Sorry, but I couldn’t resist. 😀 The internet won’t tell me when April Fools Day will fall on a Friday again, but I believe you’re safe for at least another five years. Just time enough for you to forget… 😉 Anywho, it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt! I’m going to do my bit again to potentially help you out if you’re participating in the A to Z Challenge. Here’ your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “ha.”  Use it as a word, or find a word that starts with those two letters. 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!!

SoCS badge 2015

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.

8. Have fun!


by 44 Comments

Deaf vs deaf – #AtoZ Challenge

My A to Z theme concerns the joys and challenges of being the hearing mother of my Deaf son, Alex.

By now, if you’ve been following my A to Z posts, you might have noticed that sometimes I capitalize the word, “deaf,” and sometimes I don’t. It’s not as random as it might at first seem.

Being “deaf” with a small “d” refers to a physical condition. People who go deaf as they age will probably always be “deaf” as opposed to “Deaf.” “Deaf” with a capital “D” refers to someone who is part of the Deaf community. Those born into families who are already part of the community are considered “Deaf” from birth. Think of it like being born English, or African, and you’ll get the picture. Alex was born (or became shortly after birth) deaf. It wasn’t until he learned American Sign Language as his first language that he could be considered Deaf.

As his mother, again I was faced with a huge decision in regards to his deafness. He had an MRI to assess the extent and cause of his hearing loss, and it was determined that he would qualify for a cochlear implant*, which would allow him to hear, somewhat. It wouldn’t have cost me anything – he was deaf enough. I hadn’t realized that there was a chance I would have to pay for it. But that wasn’t my main concern anyway.

By the time he had his MRI, I had started taking formal American Sign Language classes at the Canadian Hearing Society in Ottawa, and he’d already started learning ASL. The Deaf community is tight-knit, with a culture that is unique to them. They tend to protect their culture with a fierceness that equals that of any other culture worldwide, and with reason. It is often misunderstood, as are the Deaf. I’ll get into that discussion on another day, however. My own focus was, of course, on my son, and I needed to decide whether or not he would be Deaf, or remain deaf.

It may seem like an obvious decision at first. I could have had my little hard-of-hearing child to myself, with his cochlear implant, and his tiny fingers that we still weren’t sure would ever be able to sign properly because of his low muscle tone. This last was related to both his Noonan Syndrome and the fact that he had spent eight months in a hospital bed instead of learning to play. Excellent reasoning to have a hearing child.

However, he’d been tube-fed from birth (and still is). On the surface this was completely unrelated, until an occupational therapist explained to me that, because he never learned to suck as an infant, the muscles in his mouth hadn’t developed properly. He would never learn to speak. His dad and I were still undecided when we went to see the surgeon who would perform the operation for the cochlear implant. We felt that it was important to know all the details involved in the procedure, so we could make an informed decision. The moment I heard the words, “five-hour operation,” and “drill a hole in his skull,” I threw up my hands and accepted that I would have a Deaf son. He’d been through enough.

To learn more about Alex’s beginnings in life, click here to go to my letter “A” post.

To learn more about cochlear implants, click here.