Life in progress

Tag Archives: writing prompt


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#SoCS – Excuses

Mmmm… this is a lovely cup of coffee. So warm and fragrant on a cold winter morning. I sit here with my puppy at my elbow, licking his front paw and the kid on his laptop, grinding his teeth as he’s done since he began to grow teeth… it’s one of those habits that you do when you’re concentrating on something else. Like sticking your tongue out. Apparently when I concentrate the corners of my mouth turn down and I look miserable. I’m not doing it now because I’m thinking about it.

It’s weird, the things we do without thinking about them. I’m guilty of sticking my tongue out when I’m concentrating on a physical activity. My “misery” look is reserved for when I’m doing something on my lap, like writing, reading, or knitting. I think once in a while about picking up knitting again. I used to do it when I watched TV – it was something to do with my hands that I didn’t have to look at. I’ve always been a multi-tasker I suppose, even before it was a well-used phrase. I have to wonder if that is the reason, in part, why I have to get up and walk away once in a while from my intense concentration on my writing. Or maybe that’s just an excuse to snack…

I admit it. I graze. I know I shouldn’t, and there have been times when I’ve been able to stop for months on end. But I always seem to fall back into the pattern of eating when I’m bored, or when I’m procrastinating.

I have a busy day ahead of me. One kid wants to go to a movie and the other wants to go for a ride on the city bus. The latter wanted to go to the mall for something. Earlier in the week I thought it was a good idea, but now I can’t remember what it was we needed to get. I really should write lists more often. Having a cell phone with me all the time is like carrying around a notepad and a pen – I really have no excuse.

I wondered what I should title this post. Now I know.

SoCS badge 2015

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find the guidelines and join in today. https://lindaghill.com/2016/03/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-516/ It’s all that!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS March 5/16

Hi there! I’m so glad you’re reading this, because it’s Friday, and that means it’s time to find out what Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt will be! I have an appointment this morning, and am in a bit of a hurry. So I’ll just get on with the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “this and that.”  Talk about this, talk about that, talk about this and that, but here’s the catch: make either “this” or “that” the first word of your post. Bonus points if you can end with “this” or “that.” 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 56 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – A deal that makes no sense

In Wal-Mart the other day, I was looking at printer ink when I came across an HP printer for $39.97 – almost $2 less than the cost of the ink that comes with it. I was tempted to buy two.

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

____________________________________________________________________

Anyone who would like to try it out, 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. 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!


by 23 Comments

#SoCS – Playing with my food

As a child I was always told, “Don’t say you don’t like it if you haven’t tried it.” I have to say, I was more open to trying strange foods back then than I am now. But then again who knows if I’d have put a bug in my mouth and munched on it when I was a kid… I certainly won’t do it now.

Back then I did eat quite a few things that I still enjoy, that most people find weird. Pickled herring, blood pudding, and sour pickled onions to name a few. One thing I’ve only recently had the opportunity to eat again because of Japanese sushi, that I haven’t had since I was a child is eel. My parent’s best friends, Dot and Bob, lived next door to us all my life growing up. Bob worked in downtown Toronto for the city and he knew a lot of different shop owners. One such place he used to frequent had fresh eels. And I’m talking really fresh… he brought them home live. I remember playing with them in the kitchen sink at his house. One time in particular, when Dot (who hated them) and I were alone, one jumped out of the sink and was writhing around on the kitchen floor. She screamed for me and I, four years old at the time, had the job of picking it up and putting it back in the sink. It’s no wonder I’m not afraid of snakes. And no, I didn’t get in trouble for playing with my food.

I haven’t seen a live one since, but I do still enjoy the flavour. If you’re looking for it in a sushi place, the Japanese word is unagi.  Now I have a craving for sushi…

SoCS badge 2015

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click here https://lindaghill.com/2016/02/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2716/ and join in all the delicious fun today!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 27/16

Friday’s here and so is your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s been a tough day for coffee already, and it’s only 8:30. First, I turned on the coffee maker and realized 5 minutes later I’d forgotten to prepare the coffee last night. Then I made it and the filter collapsed. So now I’m waiting for my McDonald’s breakfast to be delivered. Yes, they deliver when your best friend has a car and he got off work early too.

Oh, and by the way, this is the closest we’re going to get to the two year anniversary of SoCS! I started it on March 1st, 2014. Congrats to all of those who’ve been with me since the beginning! Anyway, on with the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “food.”  Make food the theme of your post. 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 31 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Life, Interrupted

 

“We’ve got all the time in the wo…” she said as the meteor hit.

CAM01326lots of time!

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

____________________________________________________________________

Anyone who would like to try it out, 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. 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!


by 11 Comments

#tuesdayuseitinasentence – Quell

It’s not easy to quell the enthusiasm and curiosity of a puppy. Who would want to?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Winston, 16 weeks old

Tuesday Use It In A Sentence is brought to you this week by My Loving Wife. Click here and find out how to join in today!


by 27 Comments

#LoIsInDaBlog And Song Lyric Sunday – Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley

This week for Song Lyric Sunday and Love is in Da Blog, Bee wanted us to write about a song I loved as a child. The Purple People Eater is certainly a childish song. But it’s fun! Having said that, it kind of confuddles the editor in me now for its misleading title. Is the Purple People Eater one-eyed, one-horned, flying monster that’s purple and eats people? Or does it only eat purple people? You’ll have to read the lyrics to find out.

The Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley

Well I saw the thing comin’ out of the sky
It had the one long horn, one big eye
I commenced to shakin’ and I said “ooh-eee”
It looks like a purple eater to me

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
(One-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater)
A one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (One eye?)

Well he came down to earth and he lit in a tree
I said Mr. Purple People Eater, don’t eat me
I heard him say in a voice so gruff
I wouldn’t eat you cuz you’re so tough

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned flyin’ purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (One horn?)

I said Mr. Purple People Eater, what’s your line
He said it’s eatin’ purple people and it sure is fine
But that’s not the reason that I came to land
I wanna get a job in a rock and roll band

Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin’ purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin’ purple people eater
(We wear short shorts)
Flyin’ purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me

And then he swung from the tree and he lit on the ground
He started to rock, really rockin’ around
It was a crazy ditty with a swingin’ tune
Sing a boop boop aboopa lopa lum bam boom

Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin’ purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin’ purple people eater
I like short shorts
Flyin’ little people eater
Sure looks strange to me (Purple People?)

And then he went on his way, and then what do ya know
I saw him last night on a TV show
He was blowing it out, a’really knockin’ em dead
Playin’ rock and roll music through the horn in his head

(clarinet solo)

Read more: Sheb Wooley – The Purple People Eater Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Song Lyric Sunday is brought to you by the fabulous Helen, at This Thing Called Life One Word At A Time. Click the link and join in today!

And what’s even better is today Song Lyric Sunday is in conjunction with Love Is In Da Blog, by the beautiful Bee , at Just Fooling Around with Bee. You can join in with her prompts all month long!

Love Is In Da Blog

 


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Like, #SoCS

Can’t you just stop?!

That’s what I wanted to say to a teenager today as I walked past her. She was recounting some story or another to two of her friends and I swear, this is what her speech was like:

So he was like, “what?” like I don’t, like, know and it was like, “haven’t you ever like, liked someone before?” and he was like, “no,” and so I like…

and on and on it went. I seriously almost stopped to ask her if she could utter three sentences without saying the word “like” once. But I didn’t in case doing so caused her to have, like, a seizure or something.

It’s similar (see what I did there?) to listening to a hockey player give an interview.

And uh, I did my best out there, and uh, I think we played a great game, and uh…

Makes you wonder if they teach it in hockey school. Luckily they don’t hesitate to shoot the puck the way they pause between clauses.

And then there’s those who can’t seem to help dropping the f-bomb (I really hate that phrase – f-bomb) between every third and fourth word. Yeah, I won’t – don’t need to – write an example. Do I? Nah. We’ve all heard it. It can get very uncomfortable too, depending on who you’re with. Chances are there’s no point asking the f-‘ing person to stop – they’ll probably do it all the more because what are they doing it for in the first place other than to get attention?

I suppose we all have our speech patterns though. I think I see mine when I write, which makes me more aware of them. I catch my characters sounding like me… I wish they wouldn’t.

 SoCS badge 2015

This, like, post is brought to you by, like, Stream of, like, Consciousness Saturday. You can, like, click here to join in. Do it, like, now, okay?


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 20/16

It’s Friday today and time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s a lazy Friday, isn’t it? I’m lazy. I can hardly keep my eyes open. Here’s this week’s lazy prompt; I know if you’re lazy like me you’ll appreciate it:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “contraction.”  Make the first word of your post a contraction. For extra points make the last word one too. 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!