Life in progress

Tag Archives: writing


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Why Beef? #SoCS

I’m not sure what I was hoping for when I made “beef” the word of the week in my prompt. Was I looking for recipes? Perhaps. A bunch of rants on what people had complaints or “beefs” about? Maybe. A throwing up of hands from the vegetarians who follow me? Diatribes from people who can’t seem to put on weight? That might be fun. I actually wanted to wait until I had my own post written before I read anyone else’s, so that’s what I’ve done.

I rarely air my own “beefs” in public. Or even in private for that matter. When people or situations (but mostly people) get on my nerves I normally first try to determine why they’re getting on my nerves. Is it just me? Is there a reason behind it? It’s not until I’m pretty sure they (the people or the situations) are really out to get me that I’ll go off on my own little rant.

There are words that get my goat. And phrases too. Most of the phrases are made up of bad grammar, but words like “portion,” OH OH and when someone describes a certain aspect of a problem as a “piece” it really pisses me off. Inside. Because I don’t actually say anything.

I suppose it’s possible that I just have a problem with words that start with a “p.” Whatever. I just have to keep reminding myself, in the words of the great Bart Simpson, “Don’t have a cow!” Or a beef.

This strange and wondrous post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Please join in! Click here to find out how.

SoCS badge 2015


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Oct 23/15

Friday is here, and time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. How is everybody today? I have a birthday boy on my hands, so it’s going to be a busy one for me. Alex is fifteen years old! So hard to fathom. Anyway, here’s your SoCS prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “beef.”  Use it any way you’d like. 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 29 Comments

The WordPress Stat Nobody Talks About

…or at least I’ve never seen anyone talk about it. I think of it as something like “tax free” day – the day the government tells you that they’ve collected every cent you’ve earned so far but the rest of the money you make in the year is yours. At that point you can sit back and not worry about losing anything. How in the actual heck does this relate to WordPress stats? Let me tell you.

If you’ve been blogging for more than a year, there comes a point if your second calendar year is better than your first that you hit the total number of views you had the year before. For instance, in my first year I had one view. I surpassed that number in January of my second year. My third year, however, was a little more difficult since in the second I had over 14,000 views. I didn’t get to my “tax free” point in my third year until June. Why in the actual heck am I talking about this now? Let me tell you.

In about 300 views I’m going to reach the same number of total views as I had last (my third) year. After that I’ll be able to sit back, put my feet up, drink a glass of wine and not bother writing another thing on my blog because I know from here on in I’m coastin’. Just soakin’ up the glory…

I’m kidding. Of course I’m still going to post. 😀

Have you been blogging for more than a year? Have you hit your “tax free” day yet? Let me know in the comments!


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Tuesday Use It In A Sentence – Overrun

My lawn sparkles when it’s overrun with fireflies. It’s one of my favourite things about summer.

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Here are the prompt rules:

  1. Make a sentence with the word of the week. Leave it as just a sentence or write a post to go with it.
  2. Try to do it on Tuesday.
  3. Include the hashtag #tuesdayuseitinasentence.
  4. Post it on Twitter and/or Facebook (if you have a public site) and/or Pinterest and/or WordPress and/or any other social media site you belong to.
  5. Participate as many times as you’d like. You can write a different sentence for each platform, but please keep it to one sentence per post.
  6. I will be trolling Twitter for the hashtag, so watch my Twitter feed in the sidebar for retweets. Make sure to connect on Twitter with other participants!
  7. If you post your sentence here on WordPress or on any other site where there’s a clickable link, include the link in the comment section for this week.
  8. Google #tuesdayuseitinasentence to find other participants! The more you connect, the bigger it gets and the more views and followers you’ll have.
  9. Have fun!

 

What are you waiting for? Make up a sentence and join in!


by 48 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Oct 17/15

Friday’s back again and that means it’s time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. The weather’s finally getting crisp and there’s frost on the pumpkins some mornings. Are you almost ready for Hallowe’en? Nah, me neither. 😛 Here’s your prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “still.”  Use any definition of the word in 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 18 Comments

Tuesday Use It In A Sentence – Dispose

How does one dispose of one’s thoughts? If only brain-bleach was a thing.

________________________________________________________________

 

Here are the prompt rules:

  1. Make a sentence with the word of the week. Leave it as just a sentence or write a post to go with it.
  2. Try to do it on Tuesday.
  3. Include the hashtag #tuesdayuseitinasentence.
  4. Post it on Twitter and/or Facebook (if you have a public site) and/or Pinterest and/or WordPress and/or any other social media site you belong to.
  5. Participate as many times as you’d like. You can write a different sentence for each platform, but please keep it to one sentence per post.
  6. I will be trolling Twitter for the hashtag, so watch my Twitter feed in the sidebar for retweets. Make sure to connect on Twitter with other participants!
  7. If you post your sentence here on WordPress or on any other site where there’s a clickable link, include the link in the comment section for this week.
  8. Google #tuesdayuseitinasentence to find other participants! The more you connect, the bigger it gets and the more views and followers you’ll have.
  9. Have fun!

If you have any suggestions on how to make this a better prompt (i.e. rules I haven’t thought of, making it easier to follow) please let me know in the comments.

What are you waiting for? Make up a sentence and join in!


by 43 Comments

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Oct 10/15

Hi! It’s Friday and time for the  Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I have a busy day today, with no less than three appointments: One for my mum, one for me, and one for wine. Yes, wine actually called me up and asked me to make an appointment. It’s that important! Anyway, on with the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “ing.”  The first word of your post must end in the letters “ing.” Extra points if the final word of the post does 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.

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 36 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Think Positive

If every best-case scenario we imagined inevitably came true, what positive thoughts we’d have!

 

Fall 2013

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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. Have fun!


by 10 Comments

New Prompt! Tuesday Use It In A Sentence – Demonstrate

Yes, I’ve decided to launch another prompt. This one isn’t just for the blog, in fact I urge you to do it on Twitter, if you have one, or Facebook, or here on WordPress or Blogger or whatever you use. The one thing that will connect us is this: #tuesdayuseitinasentence. I’m doing this as an experiment of sorts, to see how well a hashtag can drum up views and connections between platforms, so please bear with me as I figure this out as I go along.

This is how you can join in:

Write a sentence using the word of the week. Make it as creative as you can. You can add to it, for instance this week’s word is “demonstrate,” but you can use “demonstration” in your sentence. In other words, the word of the week is flexible. So you can do something like this:

“In a grand display of explosive writing, she demonstrated the most brilliant sentence of her life.”

OR:

“My entire life is a demonstration of tact mixed with tired tension and tepid to torrid tales.”

OR, you can add a picture:

“Me, demonstrating how I feel when I get a new book from Amazon in the mail:”

Kermit gif

OR you can even make up your own definition:

“Demonstrate: a mythical monster who is not gay. Demonstrate.”

Note: This post with multiple sentences is for demonstration purposes only. Please stick to one sentence per post.

So here are the rules:

  1. Make a sentence with the word of the week.
  2. Try to do it on Tuesday.
  3. Include the hashtag #tuesdayuseitinasentence somewhere in the post.
  4. Post it on Twitter and/or Facebook (if you have a public site) and/or Pinterest and/or WordPress and/or any other social media site you belong to.
  5. Participate as many times as you’d like. You can write a different sentence for each platform, but please keep it to one sentence per post.
  6. I will be trolling Twitter for the hashtag, so watch my Twitter feed in the sidebar for retweets. Make sure to connect on Twitter with other participants!
  7. If you post your sentence here on WordPress or on any other site where there’s a clickable link, include the link in the comment section for this week.
  8. Google #tuesdayuseitinasentence to find other participants! The more you connect, the bigger it gets and the more views and followers you’ll have.
  9. Have fun!

If you have any suggestions on how to make this a better prompt (i.e. rules I haven’t thought of, making it easier to follow) please let me know in the comments.

What are you waiting for? Make up a sentence and join in!


by 60 Comments

A Strange Experience

I don’t want to call it an out-of-body experience because I didn’t feel like I’d floated out of myself, nor was I looking at myself from a distance. What happened was, I was sitting in the small audience of fifty people at the writer’s Masterclass last weekend, and had finally gathered the courage to ask a question. I was shaking in my boots. (Not literally: I was a bit nervous and I was wearing running shoes.) About half way through my question, I noticed I could hear myself as other people might. I actually remember thinking to myself as I spoke that I could hear my voice, and I had time to wonder in amazement that I didn’t stutter or screw up what I was saying as I was saying it. It was kind of surreal. Like mentally multitasking.

Has this happened to you? If so, what were the circumstances?