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JusJoJan26 Day 26: Eavesdropper

/ Liz H-H / 5 Comments

January 22: EAVESDROPPER. Many Thanks to Angela for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

It started in his ears, a soft buzzing that originated from the high booth next to him. They’d come in from the cold, two women with long coats unzipping with such zest that he missed their initial conversation, after their loud greeting to the waitress, Margo, who seemed to always be working, at this particular breakfast and lunch café.

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JusJoJan26 Day 12: Chewy

/ Liz H-H / 5 Comments

Today’s my day to offer up a prompt for Linda’s Just Jot it January. That prompt is CHEWY.

Instead of writing a story, I’m doin’ a thing. Sitting comfortably in my favorite coffee shop with a decaf Cafe Miel, with a strip of Bison & Beef Pemmican (additional flavors of ground sumac berries & maple syrup).

Best jerky I’ve ever had, a nice shot of salty with sweet. Chewy, yes, but not dry and leathery like the grocery store variety. Great afternoon boost as we launch into another…um…eventful week.

The sun is shining, getting a nice melt down. And note the sign on the wall. Let’s honor our beautiful, inclusive country. Most of us here have ancestry that relied on Lady Liberty’s promise. Let’s renew that.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2026)

To read others’ responses or join in yourself, please visit https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/12/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-12th-2026/

JusJoJan26 Day 9: Celebrate

/ Liz H-H / 4 Comments

January 9 – “Celebrate”. Many Thanks to Wendy for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

(Part 3 of 3, continued from Stumble…)

Winter softened into Spring, Summer strolled by with bare shoulders and snapping flip flops, finally trading off the lazy slap of summer fun for the aromatic crunch of boots on fallen leaves. Squirrel Bird Woman was still feeding her charges, and it turned out that she had classes in many of the same buildings I haunted, as I grinded through my graduate coursework and final thesis. Not that I followed her around; we just walked many of the same campus paths. As my graduate program progressed, so did the number and mileage of walks I took.

Her range of feeding the animals was more extensive than Joe and I had realized. Piles of seeds were spread every quarter of a mile on the grass beside the sidewalks. She made her rounds early mornings and afternoons now, somehow refilling her buckets in between. Like me, she must have lived in one of the tiny apartments near campus. I knew better than to interrupt her efforts with words, but she did offer up a smile now and again. Progress.

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JusJoJan26 Day 6: Intentional

/ Liz H-H / 1 Comment

January 6 – “Intentional”. Many Thanks to Dan for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

(Part 1 of 3)

We knew she’d pass this way at just this time, a bucket full of seed for the birds in one hand and weighed down by an overstuffed backpack. Once she’d made sure the wildlife—well, CITY wildlife—were fed, she’d stop by our near-campus coffee shop for a small black coffee, which she took outdoors to watch the birds and squirrels scratch through what she’d left for them. She’d sit on the hard bench in the campus greenspace, tiny woman with a tight smile, pull a crust of bread out of the side pocket of her Goodwill wool jacket, and join them in their feast.

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FlashNano Day 26: “Write a story that includes a celebrity.”

/ Liz H-H / 15 Comments

You know the routine, and I’m so sad this is the last year Nancy Stohlman is hosting it! So here’s a holiday story to help you digest the holiday weekend (A little corny, but I know nothing about celebrity life, so…)

Janie was an up-and-coming starlet, a nice girl, but a little naïve. Her latest movie had just come out, and though she had a small part, the critics mostly liked her, said she was one to watch. She had a certain je ne sais quoi (noted by an early fan, and grabbed up from her socials and integrated into her marketing and promotions sites). And it did fit. But she had plans of her own for growing a solid, positive public image.

Being polite, never losing her temper or trashing others, remembering where she came from, avoiding situations that might lead to accusations of excess—all of these things came naturally to her. But celebrity can breed jealousy, can breed contempt, and even she was unable to avoid the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

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FlashNano Day 21: “We are longing…”

/ Liz H-H / 1 Comment
purple violets on a black background

A contemplative piece, part true, part fantasy, from the place where dreams slumber? Day 21 of a flash a day in the month of November. Inspiring prompts generously offered by Nancy Stohlman.

We Are Longing

The city street is deserted, trolleys on the next block down stopped, their electric hum silent in this liminal moment just before sunrise. A cat strolls liquid over cobblestones and around the edges of the shop doors, slipping away after having surveyed the trash cans and finding nothing to its liking. We sit on our black railed balcony on the third floor and drink in the desires of those who have not yet shaken the dreams from their blankets.

We are early risers and we are longing.

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