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Tag Archives: writing


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What Makes You Buy a Book?

As a subtitle to this post, I should write, “And What Turns You Off?”

The reason I ask: I’ve been told by the experts that I should be “spamming” my friends on my blog, and on all other social media, in order to entice everyone to buy my new novelette, All Good Stories. I told the experts, but I don’t want to do that to my precious blogland friends! but the experts were insistent. “Choose between your friends and your success!” they said. Chanted, really. It was like a waking nightmare until I thought, why don’t I just ask my friends what they think?

So, friends, let’s start with what convinces you to hit that “Buy It Now” button when you’re considering the purchase of the book.

Initially, for me, the cover has a lot to do with it. We do, in fact, judge a book by its cover. The artwork has to be attractive AND hint at what might be inside. It has to make me ask questions. Like, why the parrot? But it’s not only the front! The back (or the blurb in the case of an ebook) is a crucial part of my decision. It not only has to make me want to read the book, it has to be free of errors and give me a hint, through its voice, of what I can expect on the inside.

Reviews and recommendations come next. Even if they’re not jumping off the page to say “This was the best thing ever!” there has to be some consistency to them. For example, “This made me laugh!” and “I chuckled when I read this!”

But then there are those authors who keep on and on and on. Some of us can ignore it, turning it into white noise. I especially tend to disregard an ad if I’ve already bought the All Good Stories book. Then again, seeing “Buy it today!” or “Pre-order now, only 99 cents!” really seems to get under other people’s skin. There has to be a balance! Am I right?

What do you think? What’s most important to you? And would you spend .99¢ to shut me up? (Please see the link at the top right-hand corner of this page.) 😀


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#SoCS – Expectations

Whew! It’s been a busy day. Now, back to real life. I still need to post something to my fiction blog… Do you read my fiction blog? I’ve posted something every day this year so far. There have been days when I’ve felt like giving up and just skipping it, but I’m stubborn. When I get something in my mind that I’m going to do, I do my damnedest to stick to it. I expect far more from myself than I do anyone else.

In fact I live by the adage, Never expect anything of anyone, and you’ll never be disappointed. I find it fun to do things for people without expecting a thank you, and it’s allowed me, with practice, to find ways to do things for people and have them not even realize that I’ve done it. It’s gratifying. And it all started for me with that adage.

Life is so much simpler, so much less stressful when there are no expectations. Expectations live in the future. I strive to live in the moment. Here, where I am right now there is just me and my surroundings. Nothing is in my way when I am still. I can choose a clear path when I am concentrating on where I am, rather than where I should be. Being in the future before I arrive blinds me to where I am. Does that make sense?

Anyway, before I go I just wanted to say thank you to the four (so far) participants in the SoCS Badge Contest with their amazing entries. If you haven’t seen them yet, go here https://lindaghill.com/2016/08/04/its-the-3rd-annual-socs-badge-design-contest/ and look in the comment section for the links. And don’t forget if you plan to enter, do it soon!

SoCS badge 2015

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday, which you can find here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/08/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-616/ and The Daily Post, where the word of the day is stubborn.


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Aug. 6/16

Hello, and welcome to your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Well, this will likely be the last week we’ll use our beloved 2015-2016 SoCS badge. I’ll be sorry to see it go, but I have great hopes we’ll have something new that’s just as beautiful to display on our posts this time next week! Anyway, here is your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “ex.” Find a word that includes “ex” and base your post on it. 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. 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.

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!


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One-Liner Wednesday – It was The Beginning of the End

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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.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

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 very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com

#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS July 30/16

Hey there! It’s Friday and time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Just a quick heads-up this week to let you know our SoCS badge is almost a year old! That means it will soon be time for a new design. I’ll write a post with more of the details for our annual design contest next week. In the meantime, here’s your prompt for tomorrow:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “art.” Write a post regarding “art,” be it an object or a name. Note: I’m not asking you to draw something, but if you’d like to, we’d love to see that too! 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. 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.

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!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS July 23/16

Today is Friday! Welcome to your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Things are sure heating up in these parts. We’re expecting a high temperature here in my part of Southern Ontario of 40C. That’s 104F, for those of you down south. How’s the weather where you are? I bet it’s pretty warm. Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere of course… Now, where was I? Oh yes! The heat must be getting to me. Here is your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “second.” Use it any way you’d like. 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. 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.

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!


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

Friday? Did someone say it’s Friday? Of course it is, and that means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I feel an obligation to let you all know that I’m realizing I can’t keep up with post-reading. The stress is beginning to affect my health, which means everything and everyone around me is suffering. I’m happy to continue with my prompts, and when I find I have time, I’ll be by to read what you’ve written, but I must stop pretending that I have the energy to promise I’ll get there eventually. To be perfectly honest, I miss reading all the responses every week, so what I can promise is that I’ll try. I hope you can understand, and please, until I get my time/sanity back, visit each other! The success of this prompt depends on the community it builds. 🙂 Now, your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “if/then.” Begin your post with the word “If.” For bonus points, end your post with a phrase containing the word “then.” 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!


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#SoCS – Unconcentrated randomness

For some reason my powers of concentration are failing me at the moment. Maybe it’s because I’m in a dorm room (rented out for the summer as a motel set-up) in Kingston and I’m in room 1106. Why is the number significant, you ask? It’s because I was originally in room 1105, but when I turned the lock on the door, a woman poked her head out and asked me what I was doing. Yes, they gave me the key for an occupied room. It’s funny, because every single time I enter a hotel room I wonder if there’s someone in there (when I enter it for the first time that is). And finally, it happened. So I went back to the front desk with the woman in tow and they apologized profusely. The woman was totally shaken up though, and I can’t say I blame her. I’m sitting here wondering if someone is going to walk into my room. Before you ask, no, there’s no chain, nor is there any other kind of device that’s only accessible from the inside. It’s just the lock on the knob. The woman is going to complain to the manager on Monday. She’s here for the month. Any bets that she’ll find other accommodations?

But today hasn’t been all bad. Despite the rain…

I got an email this afternoon to inform me that a short story I wrote has been accepted into an anthology. 😀 I won’t say what it is yet – I want to wait until the contract is signed. So I’ll be self-published and traditionally published! I’m looking forward to working with the editor on it. And an editor I don’t have to pay – imagine that!

There’s something comforting to me, strangely enough, about sitting alone in a hotel room. The quiet is profound right now. I think it must have something to do with the fact that I know I won’t be disturbed. Barring the possibility of a fire alarm of course. At least here in Canada there’s not much chance of an earthquake. When I was in Japan I was constantly aware that my room could begin to sway at any given moment. The literature in the rooms all said something to the effect of “Don’t panic, get under the desk (there is always a desk) and wait for further instructions.” I could easily imagine not being able to understand them. Ah, but we could get a tornado here…

I should probably concentrate on writing my novel, eh? Yeah.

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the rules to join in  here and then do it! It’s fun!!

SoCS badge 2015


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

Hello, hello. ‘Tis Friday, hence the Friday reminder and prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. The media these days has been the bane of my existence, the fly in my free-flowing ointment, the keeper of my concentrative (is that a word?) efforts. So, without further ado, nor attempts to carry forth additional ornamentation, here is your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “concentration.” Use it any way you see fit. 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!


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Totally Random and Somewhat Amusing

If it’s not one thing… I’m sure at some point or another I’ve started a post like this before. In fact if I have, it’ll probably show up in the “see also” previews below this post. And the truth is, I hate being negative. So I’ll just get this over and done with. It’s really not that bad. In fact it probably hasn’t even been worth all this intro to it.

You know I had a bug bite the other day that made my hand swell? Well, that’s better. Now I have a sore on the very tip of my “d” finger. Why do I refer to my finger as my “d” finger? It only hurts when I type. No idea what the problem is. Can’t see anything except a painful blister. Yeah, wasn’t worth the intro.

In other news:

I used a sprint (set a timer for 10 minutes and just typed until the buzzer went off) to kick-start my novel writing. I got less than 400 words written in that 10 minutes, but it got me back into my story. I managed to write another 1,600 words today. The moral of the story is, sprints work when you’re stuck. It’s kind of like stream of consciousness that no one will ever read.

Every time I see “Cookie Policy” on a website I think about my own cookie policy – don’t buy them if I don’t want to gain weight. And definitely not if I go to the store hungry.

How is it that people think by writing f*ck instead of fuck no one will be offended? Is an asterisk any less offensive than a “u” just because it looks like a pretty flower? Okay, maybe it is.

Getting back to not wanting to write about miserable things, I’m actually a funny person most of the time. You can tell by my humorous fiction over at my fiction blog. Oh, and the novelette I’ll be (hopefully) publishing next week! It’s a light, romantic comedy that you’ll be able to read over a lunchtime or two. On sale soon for just $0.99 at Amazon and Kobo. Watch out for my celebratory post when the details are finalized!

It’s hard to be funny when you’re under pressure to be though, isn’t it? Waaay back when my SoCS prompt was fairly new, I made the prompt for the week “funny.” We all found it difficult to write about anything that was laugh-out-loud funny, so most of us wrote about something peculiar instead.

Knock, knock! Hang on, that one doesn’t work very well in a post. Why did the chicken cross the road?