Life in progress

Tag Archives: writing


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My To-Do List w/o Aug 10-16, 2015

Because I just know everyone out there in WordPressLand is interested in my to-do list for the next week, I’m posting it publicly. You see, I have a partial week off. Which means the kids are with their dad for a week, but I still have to drive my mother here and there, and I still have my basement troll (aka my eldest son) and his cats dwelling in my dungeon. During this time I hope to accomplish the following:

  1. Finish editing my novel.
  2. Write the remainder of my Second Seat series for my fiction blog – only 21 days left to go and I’ll have published one entry every day for an entire year!
  3. Annihilate all of the fruit flies in my house, if not the world.
  4. Pitch an article to at least three different publications for my Interview with a Magician. (Yes, I italicized it to make it look as awesome as it’s gonna be.)
  5. Write some fiction, poetry, and articles to sell, to raise money for my upcoming trip to Tokyo!! (Yes, I’m going again in November. The tickets are booked because I won the lottery to get the concert tickets I wanted!!!!!)
  6. (And this may be the hardest of all,) get away from the computer and get some exercise.
  7. (And this may be the hardest thing to avoid, but I have to be realistic,) procrastinate.
  8. Remind everyone that there’s a contest going on for which we have one (fantastic) entry so far. It’s for the new SoCS badge in case you missed the memo. Don’t make me break out the pom-poms. And for pity’s sake don’t make me enter it myself. You’ll rue the day you have to look at any more of my mad paint skillz.

 

So there you have it, WordPressLand. Can I do it? I think I can. Wish me luck.


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SoCS – The Build-Up before the Fall

I can’t be the only one this happens to: I’ll have something–an event–to look forward to and I’m so enthusiastic about it that I can’t wait. I look forward to this one thing so much that I’ll begin to imagine what it’ll be like. How much fun it will be. And then the day comes when it’s actually going to happen…

And I don’t feel like going.

I’ve been thinking about what this phenomenon must be caused by, and the only thing I can come up with is that I’m afraid whatever it is won’t measure up to my expectations. That I’ve built the event up so much in my mind that nothing can possibly match it. And the longer I wait for it, the more I don’t want to do it, because I’ve had so long to envision what it’s going to be like that I’ve basically already done it in my head.

Enthusiasm is such a fickle thing, isn’t it? It’s like when I get an idea for a story in my head that I just HAVE to get down on paper. It’s gonna be great! But if I don’t get to writing it almost immediately, it becomes, ehh, whatever.

There should be an opposite for enthusiasm. You’re either enthused or unenthused… but unenthusiastic isn’t quite the right word, in my mind. Disenthusiastic, on the other hand, comes closer. Un-, to me, means I never was. Dis-, to me, means I was and then I wasn’t.

Do you ever write a word so many times that it stops making sense anymore? Or just doesn’t look right. I’m getting that now…

This late entry is part of SoCS, which in this case stands for Stream of Consciousness Sunday. Feel free to use it occasionally. You can find the rules here: https://lindaghill.com/2015/08/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-815/

Happy Sunday, all.

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

P.S. Don’t forget the new badge contest! You can find it here: https://lindaghill.com/2015/08/06/get-out-your-crayons-kids-its-time-for-the-2nd-annual-socs-badge-contest/ Let’s have some enthusiasm! Go, artists and photographers, Go!


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS August 8/15

Friday’s here, and once again it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. There aren’t a lot of new things going on in my life – I’ve been busy but oddly content. All in all I’d have to say it’s been a nice week. On with the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “enthuse.”  Add a prefix or suffix to it or leave it as it is and go to town with it! 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!! And don’t forget, there’s a contest for a new badge. Click here to enter! https://lindaghill.com/2015/08/06/get-out-your-crayons-kids-its-time-for-the-2nd-annual-socs-badge-contest/

socs-badge

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions

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 38 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Either I’m really short…

Guess where I was yesterday.

CAM00758

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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 the tag #1lineWed for more exposure.

Have fun!


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SoCS – Ever Ready

The word “ready” has been tiptoeing around my head all day. Doing a ballet, actually. Unfortunately the pirouettes caused me to have to pop a couple of Tylenols, but I had them at the ready. So that was okay.

“Ready,” I’ve decided, should be an emotion. It’s an abstract sort of thing – ready isn’t something you can touch. It’s not something you can do. It’s the cusp of doing something… the edge of an action. When you’re teetering you may take the plunge before you’re ready just to find that you were ready after all. The opposite can be disastrous.

A machine can be ready but it still takes a human being (most of the time) to make it do what it’s ready for. Is the human ready? What decides us if we’re ready? Desperation, definitely. It’s a gathering of the emotions, isn’t it? Sometimes the gathering is slow – a culmination of years of want, of desire, of need. Sometimes the choice comes upon us suddenly, as in “it’s now or never!” Regardless, we take logic into account (sometimes), but in the end, “ready” is a feeling.

So next time you ask someone how they feel, give them the option: are you sad? happy? scared? content? ready?

And yeah, they’ll probably look at you with their eyebrows scrunched up in the middle and say, “Ready for what?” To which you may reply, “It was just something I read somewhere.”

This tired example of stream of consciousness writing is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/07/31/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-115/ Be sure to join in next week!

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions


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The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS August 1/15

Hello! It’s Friday. And that means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. I’ve had yet another incredibly busy week and that was with one of the kids at camp; next week will, I’m sure, prove to be even more chaotic with all of them home. But hey! we do what we gotta, right? So are you ready for this week’s SoCS prompt? Here it is:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “ready.”  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

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions

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 34 Comments

One-Liner Wednesday – Just one?

Name one indulgence you never want to give up.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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 the tag #1lineWed for more exposure.

Have fun!


by 34 Comments

There are Two Morals to this Story

It all started last night – two fruit flies sat on the edge of a ledge in my kitchen. Side by side. So close that I could kill them both with one slap. I wound up for the hit (they were big fruit flies, okay?) and I… missed. The fruit flies that is. What I hit was the fruit fly trap (that’s not working). It fell off the shelf knocking a wine glass into the sink where it broke. Damnit! I thought. I smashed a wine glass for nothing.

But that’s not where it ended.

This morning I was getting Alex ready for camp. He followed me into the kitchen and started complaining that his foot hurt. I didn’t get a chance to look at it; someone knocked at the door. While I dealt with that, Alex began to scream. He didn’t come out of the kitchen and the man at the door (the postman) is Deaf, so I ignored Alex and finished up with the postman. When I got back into the kitchen there was blood everywhere. It took me a while to figure out where it was coming from – turns out there was a cut–a hole actually–on the bottom of his foot. Yes, the fruit flies strike again.

So while I was discussing with Alex whether or not he would go to camp, Chris, my Autistic son came downstairs and began to insist I take Alex out of the house. He had plans to spend time in the living room (rather than the computer room where he locks himself whenever his little brother is home). When Chris has plans, they’re not easily changed. He ranted. He yelled. He swore. He threatened. He banged doors and hit walls. And then he went for a walk. Luckily by the time he came back he’d calmed himself – he even apologised and gave me a hug. I still couldn’t help imagine what might have happened if he’d been hit by a car or something while he was out. It’s the writer in me… and I’ve always had a bit of a morbid imagination. Anyway, I could just see it.

Officer: What happened, Ma’am?

Me: Well you see, it all began with an attempted murder… of two fruit flies.

The morals of the story? Karma’s truly a bitch. And never underestimate the significance of a fruit fly.


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Three Years Later, My First Post

Twice now I’ve been nominated for the First Post Challenge. The first time by the lovely and talented Joey (you can find her challenge post here) and the second by the lovely and talented Willow (you can find her challenge post here) Yes, they’re both lovely and talented. You should get to know them if you don’t already! Thank you both so much, my lovely and talented friends, for thinking of me. 😀

I thought since today is my official 3rd Anniversary of Blogging (as opposed to my unofficial one, when I actually started writing posts on a regular basis) I’d choose this as the day to accept the challenge.

The rules are:
Copy-paste, link, pingback, etc. your first post.

Identify the post: introduction, story, poem.

Explain why it was your first post.

Nominate five other bloggers.

My first post, written July 26th, 2012:

Whatever am I doing here?

It’s a question that is asked by everyone once in a while, by some more often than others: what in the world am I doing here? And oh how we struggle with the answer!

My answer for the moment is, I am here to write, to please myself.

How about you?

That’s it. Short and sweet.

It was obviously an introduction post; more to introduce me to blogging than to introduce bloggers to me. I had no idea what I was doing, nor did I have any clue what I would eventually get out of WordPress. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement of epic proportions. I do remember being told once upon a time that if I wanted to be a published author I had to get out of my room and onto social media. This blog was the first thing I ever put my real name on. It was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever made in terms of being online. Now I’m very happy I took the plunge.

So now how do I choose five blogs among the hundreds I adore, and whose first posts I’d love to read? How about the last five people to comment on my blog? That works for me. 😀

They would be my dear friends:

Jeanne Owens

John W. Howell

Glazed

Hope Floats

and Dale Cooper

Of course anyone else reading this who would like to participate, please go right ahead. It’s on me!

So there we go! Here’s to another three years of glorious blogging. Cheers!


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SoCS – Division

It’s been a busy day. So busy, in fact, that I’m getting this post in just under the wire. My attention has been widely divided today between sick family members (nothing life threatening though) and needy ones. Alex was, as usual, the most needy. I went on a nice bus ride with him today between thunderstorms which he hates so much he has to hide under my arm when he sees lightning outside. And then Chris wanted to go and see Antman, which I didn’t even know existed until he told me he wanted to go to it. While he was at the movies I devised a way to sit for a couple of hours to work on my editing.

To devise… the present tense of the word must be division, mustn’t it? Or is it devision. Spell check doesn’t like that one. But yeah, to have to devised a plan has to be to have made a devision. Or a division.

Do you ever look at a word for so long that it no longer makes any sense? When it happens to me, I tend to canoodle new words into my vocabulary. I’m not even sure I just used the word “canoodle” correctly, but it sounds good and this is stream of consciousness writing and I’m not allowed to go back and edit it…

*waves goodbye to my last paragraph as it drifts off into the wavy sea of internet land*

Bed is good. I think I’ll go there.

Alex

Alex

This post is brought to you by the letters V, I, and S, and SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/07/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-2515/

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions