FIVE SENTENCE FICTION - Human

Besides being involved with the second romance novel I’ve been asked to submit a short story for an anthology which will be out next year. One of the topics for this anthology is HIV/AIDS, so I’m using Lillie’s prompt of HUMAN this week to write the following as one of my contributions, so I would truly love to hear your comments this week.

FEELING A LITTLE HUMAN

H enry had always enjoyed the life style he had chosen to live for as long as he can remember.

U nwearied he was in his efforts to help anyone less fortunate suffering with AIDS; he uses each free hour of each day to renew a sense of purpose in his life by helping his fellow man, without any desire to become rich or gain any fame.

M any people continuously admired Henry’s undying efforts, but unfortunately not one of them wanted to become involved for they’ve always been only interested in themselves.  

A ll around him people struggled to eke out a living, not asking for much, but only to survive for another day.  

N ow to be a little like Henry it doesn’t take much; just a little time to act kindly to someone else so they can feel, even for a brief moment that they’re somewhat HUMAN.

 

 

 

STATUS UPDATE # 14

It’s been four days since I last wrote an update. Well here’s up I’ve been up to since then.

On Friday, aside from personal errands and having lunch at the senior center [guess I’m that old], I spent the entire day marketing my 99cent promotion on KINDLE which ended on Saturday at 11 PM [PT].

I now have three flash fiction submissions accepted for an anthology which is due out next year. And given their length, I’ve been asked to submit some more. It’s a great a way to get some additional exposure.

On Saturday, my OH and I watched “Monsters University” on a DVD from NetFlix. Yes we both still enjoy watching animation films.

As far as my writing is concerned on

Saturday 11/23 I wrote seven pages with approximately 2,300 words.
Sunday 11/24 I wrote six pages with approximately 1,600 words.
Monday 11/25 I wrote two chapters, consisting of nine pages and four pages with approximately 2,900 and 1,100 words respectively.

Given I’ve written 20 chapters, 136 pages and approximately 39,700 since the beginning of November, while I fear the steam has run out for my ability to write at the same rate anymore, I’ll still endeavor to reach 50,000 words by the end of this month.

My Total Count Now Stands AT:
Chapters = 34
Pages = 234
Words = 68,367

STATUS UPDATE # 13

I did so much to do a post here yesterday to report my activities and status report, which is the same for Wednesday regarding that day’s activities.  However I’ve been swamped with promoting my 99cent promotion on KINDLE for “I Kissed a Ghost” which ends this Saturday @ 11 PM [PT] [GMT/UT].

On Wednesday, as you read from my post I “got interviewed” by Nicky Wells on her award winning blog site which meant promoting it on Twitter and elsewhere.

I did some more promoting of my Five Sentence Fiction endeavor for the prompt of “LETTERS” which dedicated to OUR VETERANS for which I’m getting quite a few personal message, with each needing to be personally answered.

And I had to spend a few hours taking care of personal matters.

On Thursday, I had been more of the same. And in addition I wrote my response to this week’s prompt of “PIECES” from Lillie McFerrin.

Some good news, I’d been invited to write a short story for an anthology which is due to come out next year. I first submitted my idea for one of the topics of the anthology, and it got accepted. Once I received this acceptance I did a rewrite of my FSF response so it would be appropriate for use on the topic of AIDS/HIV, and submitted it. I’m HAPPY to report my submission got accepted, albeit she actually wanted to have a short story. [But isn’t Flash Fiction a short story ]which has a great deal of “brevity”]

As far as my status is concerned:

On Wednesday I wrote nine pages with about 2,650 words. On Thursday I wrote five pages consisting of approximately 1,350 words. I originally had planned for Chapter 30 to be a few pages longer, however I saw an opportunity to have a chapter break where I left off with my writing   

My Total Count Now Stands AT:

Chapters = 30

Pages = 208

Words = 60,400

I’m using the NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month guidelines; which requires an author to write a minimum of 50,000 words in a month as my motivation. And as of yesterday, I’ve written approximately 32,800 words, making the target figure quite attainable.

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION - Pieces

Every Thursday Lillie McFerrin [http://www.lilliemcferrin.com] presents her readers another prompt for which we’re asked to simply write a Five Sentence Fiction. This week the word she’s given us to use is “PIECES.”

Wisdom Out of the PIECES

P eter didn’t know what to expect when he first heard the news of the approaching storm.

I nstead of paying attention to the precautions being transmitted over the radio and television, he decided to matters into his own hands and headstrong wherever his two feet would take him.

E ver sure he’s doing the right thing; he kept on ignoring all the warnings he heard from everyone around him. 

CE rtainly wisdom would eventually take over; but when?

S hattered PIECES of his life is all that he could find now, after the storm had passed, leaving him with the wisdom he didn’t possess before.

 

I would appreciate hearing your comments.

 

STATUS UPDATE # 12

I’m going to be brief about yesterday.

A good part of the part I’d been busy promoting the 99cents promotion I’ve got running for “I Kissed a Ghost” which ends this Saturday at

[UK] 11:00 PM [GMT/UT]

[US] 11:00 PM [PST]

 

I also did some promoting of my Five Sentence Fiction endeavor for the prompt of “LETTERS” which dedicated to OUR VETERANS.

And most important I kept my one chapter a day commitment by writing an additional seven pages with approximately 2,040 words

My Total Count Now Stands AT:

Chapters = 28

Pages = 194

Words = 56,402

TODAY I'M THE FEATURED GUEST HERE.

Reblogged from Romance That Rocks Your World!:

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Welcome to CentreStage!
Today, it's my great pleasure to welcome the wholly unique Robin Leigh Morgan to my blog. Robin has put together an interview to tell you all a little more about herself... and an anniversary promotion that she is running for the next three days. Read on to find out more! Robin, the stage is yours....
Let’s begin by you telling us a little about yourself?

Read more… 947 more words

Today I feel truly honored as I'm the featured guest of the award winning blog belonging Nicky Wells, author of "The Rock Star Romance Trilogy." I'd love to hear all of your questions/comments here as well as my own blog.

STATUS UPDATE # 11

Despite the face I’d been busy during the morning and afternoon yesterday, as well as having to attend a four hour community after dinner, I still managed to write my chapter for the day consisting of seven pages and approximately 2,000 words.
I’ve also received several wonderful comments for my latest “Five Sentence Fiction” for the word “LETTERS,” and if you haven’t done so already, I’d like to invite you to read it now and hopefully decide to leave me a comment.

My Total Count Now Stands At:
Chapters = 27    Pages = 187    Words = 54,360

STATUS REPORT # 10

For this past Friday and Saturday I’d once again failed to write the chapter a day I’d promised myself to write for the month of November. It isn’t that I didn’t want to; I got side-tracked interacting with people regarding the post I’d made this Thursday [Nov 14th] for my Five Sentence Fiction endeavor regarding the word “LETTERS,” which has made quite an impact on those who’ve read it. And given this, I spent several hours working the social media letting people know about this.

On these two days I also had to prepare for the marketing of my $.99 cent celebratory promotion for the KINDLE edition of “I Kissed a Ghost” [see my previous blog entry.] I’d love for everyone to consider getting a copy during this promotion which ends this Saturday, November 23th at 11:00 PM [UT/GMT for the UK and PT for the US]

The good side of all this social media interaction, yesterday my Klout score had gone up 1.09 points to my new high Klout.com score of 63 [63.24]. It’s about 6:00 AM [ET], my new Klout score hasn’t been determined yet, however I see a strong possibility of it hitting 64 today.

Well yesterday, it had been more of the same for most of the day; that is until the later portion of the day when it became time go out for dinner [we chose OutBack Steakhouse] to celebrate my OH’s birthday.

Anyway, to make a long story short when we got home I was determined to write my chapter for the day, which I did. Although it only contains seven pages and about 2,250 words, this chapter which is part of a back flash, is chockfull of emotions, which I found to be quite difficult to write since I wanted to make the future readers of this Contemporary romance novel will feel the same emotions as my character.

Right now my Total Manuscript Count stands at:
Chapters = 26 
Pages = 180
Words = 52,358

STATUS UPDATE # 9 / A TIME TO CELEBRATE

I so much wanted to do some writing the past two days, however the best laid plans of mice and men oft times go astray.

After laying out the skeleton of what I wanted to write in my next chapter an idea came to my mind, and I've been busy carrying it out.

What idea came to my mind?

I said to myself that since my OH is having a birthday and we’re having our 20th anniversary I decided TO CELEBRATE these two wonderful occasions my having a $.99 PROMOTION for the KINDLE version of my first YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance novel entitled “I Kissed a Ghost”

The promotion runs from:

[US] http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CRQ9SC6
Sunday, November 17, 2013 12:00 AM [PST] until Saturday November 23, 2013 11:00 PM [PST] 
  
[UK] http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CRQ9SC6
Sunday, November 17, 2013 12:00 AM [GMT/UT] until Saturday November 23, 2013 11:00 PM [GMT/UT]

Please feel free to pass this information on to your friends or family, and of course, I'd love for you to consider getting a copy for yourself, your daughter or any other young girl member of your family.

THANKS for kind support and being one of my followers on this blog.

STATUS UPDATE # 8

My prediction came true again concerning my inability to keep to my commitment to write a chapter a day. Monday had been the last day for my OH to be with me for the entire day, so we spent the day getting our hair cut and dyed. Yes, we both dye our hair; how else will we be able to look a little younger than we are. After taking care of our hair we went to have some Baked Eggplant Parmesan, fried is out due to our diets.

Tuesday became a day in which I spent a great deal going through the hundreds of emails I hadn’t had a chance to read. I also had to take care of the backlog of posts needing to be approved as well as the requests to join the three LinkedIn groups I own.  If this wasn’t enough I also had to deal all the requests to follow on Twitter, the requests to become my friend on FaceBook, as well the confirmations of the friend request I made; each of these had to be answered individually.

Yesterday, Wednesday, had a day full of prior commitments, from my monthly meeting of the retiree club for the union I once belong to [9 AM to 4 PM including the time using public transportation] and an important community meeting [6:30 PM to 10 PM]; I wound up with no time to write a single word.

Luckily a sense of normalcy has begun to return today. I cleaned up all of my emails and items related to my presence on the internet. I then responded to Lillie McFerrin’s prompt word of “LETTERS” to this week Five Sentence Fiction.  Of course I had to watch two episodes of Season Three of StarTrek: Enterprise streaming on NetFlix to catch up with the entertainment I’ve missed during this same period of time.

As the final hours of Thursday approached I finally sat down and wrote my one chapter daily commitment, this one consisted of five pages and approximately 1,100 words.

My Total Manuscript Count now stands at:

Chapters = 25
Pages = 172
Words = 50,096

 

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION - Letters

It’s Thursday again and Lillie McFerrin [http/www.lilliemcferrin.com] has once again present us with another prompt word, which we’re to use in endeavoring to write a Five Sentence Flash Fiction. The prompt word for this week is “LETTERS.”

This week I decided to be a little more poignant especially since we’ve just celebrated Veteran’s Day here in the US. I’ve also been successful in using the acrostic format which is starting to be my “TradeMark.”

SADNESS IS CONTAGIOUS
LE slie sat in the den of her home crying.
T he tears which came flowing over her cheeks weren’t ones of sadness, they were ones of the bittersweet remembrances she got as she read the LETTERS which her then future husband had sent her during his first assignment in the Middle East.
TE resa, Leslie’s daughter, sat by her mother’s side trying to console her, but to no avail.
R eluctantly Teresa started to read the LETTERS herself to see the reason for her mother’s dismay.
S adness became infectious because these LETTERS allowed her to get to know the father she never knew, as she fell victim to the words in the LETTERS as well.

Your comments would be appreciated,

Robin Leigh Morgan is the author of "I Kissed a Ghost," a MG/YA Paranormal Romance Novel

STATUS UPDATE # 7

As I wrote on Friday, with my OH home for this week my ability to write a chapter a day would be almost impossible and I’ve been correct again. From Friday until Saturday I only wrote about three pages. However, today, with the change of weather we stayed home and I had a wonderful marathon session of writing for about six hours writing nine pages for a total of twelve and approximately 3,825 words for the chapter I’ve just finished.

Chapter 24 is the longest I’ve written so far and it’s also one of the most important ones.  It is in this chapter that Jessica tells Emily, the head nurse on Bill’s ward and alumnus of the high school they went to, how Bill and she met.

In this chapter we hear about Jessica’s first experiences with Bill’s innate ability to read her thoughts, and the warm, secure feeling she gets every time he embraces her. 

Not only has this chapter been the longest and one of the most important ones, it has also been the most difficult.  After I’d finished my first draft I noticed it had been nearly pure dialogue without a trace of a narrative. I had also written it in the first person which I found somewhat hard to follow as I read through the entire chapter. This meant a total rewrite consisting of changing the POV, adding a narrative, allowing us to hear Jessica’s thoughts on what’s happening, as well as a change in the dialogue itself.

Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day so I’ve got OH home for one more day before things will return to their former crazy normalcy.

My Total Manuscript Count now stands at:

Chapters = 24

Pages = 167
Words = 48,955

STATUS UPDATE # 6

As I predicted, with my OH home for this week my ability to write a chapter a day would be almost impossible.  Luckily we had a slight change in our schedule.  We went up to the mall in Stamford CT on Wednesday instead of yesterday as planned; and with the rainy day we had yesterday [Thursday] I stood home doing my writing, while my OH had gotten an earlier appointment with the foot doctor than originally planned.

Yesterday, I got to write one chapter. However, before I copied and pasted it into the actual manuscript, I read it one more time and realized I actually could split this chapter into two.  The end result is I got two chapters, both with six pages; the first one had about 1,725 words and the second one had about 1,650 words.

My Total Manuscript Count now stands at:

Chapters = 23
Pages = 155
Words = 45,117

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION - Dancing

It’s Thursday and once again Lillie McFerrin  [http://www.lilliemcferrin.com] has offered up another one of her prompts for her Five Sentence Fiction blog.

This week she’s chosen to give the word “DANCING” as the word to base your endeavors. Hopefully you’ll enjoy my endeavor where once again I’m using an acrostic format.  I await your comments so I can respond.

 

ONE DANCE WAS ALL IT TOOK

DA NCING has always been the favorite pastime for Michael and Charlene ever since they met at their high school prom.

N  early fifty years ago there, they sat, two wallflowers staring at each other while everyone danced.  

C  ursing themselves that no one had come over to ask for a dance all night simply because no one would have thought they had the ability.

IN secure, Michael finally got up the nerve and timidly turned to ask Charlene for a dance, which she nervously accepted.

G  racefully they started to dance to the amazement of everyone there; their dance card now filled for the rest of the night, and their lives.  

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION - Erased

I should have done this by last Friday; however I became totally engrossed in my endeavor to complete the manuscript for my second romance novel by the end of November. In the last six days I’ve written eight chapters containing forty-nine pages and approximate 14,150 words; making the total my manuscript to be 21 chapters, 143 pages and 41,750 words.

With my OH home since yesterday and not scheduled to return to work until this coming Tuesday. This means I’ll be out and about each day, losing the time I might have been able to devote to my current writing endeavor. Anyway, sitting down at my computer to check my emails I realized I almost forgot about my response to Lillie McFerrin’s – “Five Sentence Flash Fiction” prompt for this week of “ERASED”

The Dream Continues

E d had always dreamt of becoming an astronaut as long as he could remember.
R ealization of this came true when he reached his twenty-ninth birthday.
A las, being the show-off he is, he couldn’t resist the offer to finally jump out of an airplane to get the feeling like a bird soaring through the sky, being held up solely by the air below his body.
S uddenly the air died and disappeared causing him to go blank for a moment, a moment in which he couldn’t find the ripcord.
ED now, his dream being forever ERASED from the world of possibilities, can only sit in his wheelchair to watch the spacecraft he should have been on takeoff; yet he still dreams of becoming the astronaut of his youth, but this time he’d be piloting is spacecraft from the seat of his wheelchair.

STATUS UPDATE # 5

Today’s Tuesday, and it’s Election Day. My OH has a day off before beginning a “three day holiday.” We decided to stay home the entire day today resting.  While I went over to the senior center to have my lunch my OH stood home and had a frozen entrée.  After lunch we met at the community center to vote, and while there my OH bought two chicken dinners from a community group raising funds for their programs for the children in the community.  The two dinners turned out to be quite tasty, and for desert we had also bought two pieces of a sugar-free cake at a cake sale which was also being held there.

So as far as my writing is concerned for today, I had a SPECTACULAR day.  In fact, today I wrote two entire chapters.  The first consisted of six pages with approximately 1,800 words, the second consisted of eleven pages with approximately 3,325 words; making today’s total of two chapters, seventeen pages and approximately 5,125 words.

Given I’ll have my OH home with me until this coming Monday, Veteran’s Day, which is another day off for my OH; I doubt if I’ll have any time to do any writing, or to read and answer all the email I usually do. But such is life when you’re married; you’ve got to set your priorities each day.

My Total Manuscript Count now stands at:

Chapters = 21
Pages = 143
Words = 41,735

STATUS UPDATE # 4

Monday has come and gone and my OH, with the Election Day holiday from work today and Veteran's Day next Monday, has taken a few additional days off to have a decent week away from work and we can spend entire days together.

Hopefully with my OH home I still will be able to keep to my goal of writing at least one chapter a day for my current romance manuscript. I know I might have a stuff time going through and responding to my emails the way I usually do.

Anyway, yesterday I once again met my minimum writing goal of one chapter. This one consisted of six pages and contained approximately 1,670 words. Remember, these are 6"x9" formated pages, the same kind of page you usually see in books this size.

My Total Manuscript Count now stands at:
Chapters = 19
Pages = 126
Words = Approximately 36,600

STATUS UPDATE # 3

It’s Sunday night, and about 11:15 PM. It had been a late this morning, I remained in bed while my OH got dressed to go out to get our copy of the New York Times.  I ate no breakfast so I could be free to indulge myself at the Indian buffet we go to once a month.  After all, today they celebrate Dewali, the joyful festival of light [if I’m not mistaken], and I knew from past experience today’s buffet would quite extension, with additional hot/cold items, several desserts [which they usually don’t have].

Returning home and having over indulged “slightly” at the buffet, I knew I needed to take a nap. With nap time over, I caught up with all of my emails.  I so much wanted to watch to tribute episode for Marcia Wallace on “The Simpson” however I didn’t know it would be shown at 7:30 PM.  The good thing is our cable provider has a free On Demand for Fox’s Sunday night lineup.

Yes my OH and I love watching Fox’s Animation. However after “The Simpsons” I decided I needed to keep to the commitment I made concerning the writing of my current romance endeavor, which is to write a chapter a day.

Well today, I’ve succeeded in doing it for a third time. The chapter I wrote to day has eight pages with about 2,350 words.

The Total Manuscript Count now stands at:

Chapters = 18

Pages = 120

Words = Approximately 34,925

STATUS UPDATE # 2

I woke up somewhat early this morning, still half asleep, the first thing I did was to check my email where I found an interview where I did a few weeks had finally gone live. I immediately reblogged this interview onto two of my blog sites, then to begin spreading the word about it.

Being still tired about 45 minutes later I found myself needing to go back to asleep.  By the time I finally got up again it was almost noon, and luckily for me, my OH had already done the laundry.  With my OH out for a few hours to do some banking, run some errands, pick up a prescription me, and eventually return with some food around 4:30 PM.  Having such a late lunch is a good thing for me; heavens know I could lose a few pounds.

Anyway by the time my OH arrived home, I had already typed about three pages, finished checking my email and did some more posting about my interview on the internet.

After consuming my much need sustenance I returned to my writing until around 6:00 PM.  I had started the day out only wanting to type a single chapter however as the chapter began to form on the pages on my computer screen I noticed that instead of only one chapter today, I’d be better off creating two; making the split where there’s a shift/time change where I would have only typed three centered asterisks before continuing the chapter.

The end result today for my writing efforts today resulted in my having written two chapters, consisting of nine pages and approximately 2,500 words.

Manuscript Count now stands at:

Chapters = 17

Pages = 112

Words = Approximately 32,600

 

HERE's MY MOST RECENT INTERVIEW

I want to tell everyone about one of the best, if not THE BEST, interview I ever had. I wait reading your comments. I'll respond to them as soon as I can.

Reblogged from Cathy Brockman Romances:

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Hello everyone! Welcome back to our lair!!
November is the beginning of our Holiday season and the muses and I would like to start celebrating.  We are always looking for something to celebrate, so this makes it easier.  In honor of Thanksgiving, we would like to say we are thankful to all our guest this year and all our wonderful readers that have joined us to meet them!

Read more… 1,405 more words

STATUS UPDATE # 1

As I stated yesterday I would be providing regular updates on the writing of my second romance novel.

Help today I've done considrably than I had first anticipated. To start with the entire morning got spent going to an orthopedist regarding the trigger finger I had in the pinky of my left hand.  It's an annoying condition where the first joint first sticks then quickly snaps into the correct position.  The treatment a quick injection of Cortizone right into the base of the tendon for the finger involved in the palm after the area has been sanitized with an iodined [?] solution and then numbed by using a spray which "freezes" the area.

Anyway, by the time I got home and ate my lunch it was already 1:00 PM [ET] when I began to write.  And by around 4:00 PM I had completed another chapter consisting of five single-spaced 6"x9" formatted pages with about 1,400 words.

Manuscript Count now stands at:
Chapters = 15
Pages = 103
Words = Approximately  30,050