Well if finishing the writing of my Flash Fiction anthology and beginning the self-editing process; or writing my YA Urban Fantasy as well as my adult Contemporary isn’t enough, I’ve discovered I love to write Haikus, and I’m now searching the internet to find blogs, websites, etc. where I can respond to a prompt or another Haiku by writing one of my own. So with this new genre to write in I’ve decided to compile an anthology consisting of about 400 Haikus. As of the writing of this report, I’m already written 31 of them, or 7.75% of my desired target. Not bad considering I’m doing it for only a week.
As for my other going projects, I’ve done another round of self-editing of His Darkest Secret by searching for what I call “demon” words. When I search for “NOT” I found 40 which could form a contraction with the preceding word. Each time I found one which did I quickly gazed at the surrounding for possible additional editing. The total word count got reduced to approximately 76,775. Then I moved to the word “THAT”, when I began I had 375 of them, now halfway through the manuscript, I’m down to 185 of them, increasing the word count by 275 to a total of 77,050. Each time I eliminated one “THAT” I also mentioned to tighten up what I’d written around the sentence it appeared in.
I really wanted to write more, however, the cat my OH and I have owned for almost 19 years, died at age of about 20 as he slept on Sunday. We’re having him cremated on Tuesday with his ashes being buried on Wednesday.
Hopefully, I writing this week will help me deal with his loss; and this coming weekend we’ll look in getting another cat from a nearby shelter.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
WEEKLY STATUS REPORT # 15
Hopefully this coming week will allow be to finally allow me to get back to writing much more than I’ve done for the past few weeks.
As you know if you’ve been following these Weekly Status Reports you’ll know I’m quite involved with the groups on LinkedIn and that recently I became a Manager of my third LinkedIn group [Writer’s Hangout] We’re getting almost 500 requests a week to join so far, and I’ve just got a handle on reviewing each request in addition, to the other seven groups I handle. And with everything finally setting into place, normalcy has finally returned
On Thursday, I got back to work on my YA Urban Fantasy novella, The Secret of the Well, and discovered the error which had led me to believe a character all of a sudden became missing. With this resolved I finished writing the chapter I left in the middle, and then wrote another, brief but important, chapter bring the total for this week to six more pages and about 1,600 more words. This brings the stats for this endeavor to 16 Chapters, 63 pages with approximately 19,450 words; which in essence means I’ve completed just over 55% of what I’ve planned to write.
Friday I wrote another Flash Fiction response to Lillie McFerrin’s prompt word for the week of “FENCED,” which brings me to the final item I’ve planned to write for my Flash Fiction anthology. It also brings me to the task of my self-editing the manuscript, and formatting the appearance of each of the full paged-size pages [6” x 9”]. Hopefully, by the end of next month, I’ll be finished with this phase self-publishing and formatting. I’ve also got to finalize getting the cover designed.
As you know if you’ve been following these Weekly Status Reports you’ll know I’m quite involved with the groups on LinkedIn and that recently I became a Manager of my third LinkedIn group [Writer’s Hangout] We’re getting almost 500 requests a week to join so far, and I’ve just got a handle on reviewing each request in addition, to the other seven groups I handle. And with everything finally setting into place, normalcy has finally returned
On Thursday, I got back to work on my YA Urban Fantasy novella, The Secret of the Well, and discovered the error which had led me to believe a character all of a sudden became missing. With this resolved I finished writing the chapter I left in the middle, and then wrote another, brief but important, chapter bring the total for this week to six more pages and about 1,600 more words. This brings the stats for this endeavor to 16 Chapters, 63 pages with approximately 19,450 words; which in essence means I’ve completed just over 55% of what I’ve planned to write.
Friday I wrote another Flash Fiction response to Lillie McFerrin’s prompt word for the week of “FENCED,” which brings me to the final item I’ve planned to write for my Flash Fiction anthology. It also brings me to the task of my self-editing the manuscript, and formatting the appearance of each of the full paged-size pages [6” x 9”]. Hopefully, by the end of next month, I’ll be finished with this phase self-publishing and formatting. I’ve also got to finalize getting the cover designed.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
FIVE SENTENCE FICTION - Fenced
This week Lillie McFerrin gave her readers the prompt word of "FENCED." And after thinking about how I should approach I read a news item on the internet which gave me the inspiration as what I should write about.
THE TIMES HAVE CHANGED
Frank has always wanted to own property on which to build to his dream home with his two hands, for his wife and five children.
ENdora, his wife, had always stood by her husband through good times and bad, supporting his dream for the betterment of their family.
Construction took Frank ten long years working after work and on most weekends.
Eventually the last nail got nailed and the entire family had moved in.
Despite how wonderful the surroundings had been when he started, Frank now had to replace a huge fence around his creation, merely to protect it and his family.
Monday, June 16, 2014
WEEKLY STATUS REPORT # 14
Despite my sincere desire to get some real progress made on my projects, things didn't go as planned.
Last Sunday my OH and I spent most of the day at a community street fair near where we lived, so naturally after walking around for over four hours one does tend to get tired.
Monday I spent most of the day cleaning up over 500 emails which had accumulated since Saturday night. Which included replying to items on Twitter, FaceBook friends, and Linkedin connections. Tuesday meant being involved being involved with community events, etc. This is not to mentioned the work I need to do at least twice each day in regards to the LinkedIn groups I Own, Manage, and Moderate.
Wednesday the entire day 10 - 5 my OH accompanied me to the annual luncheon from my union's retirees club. Thursday I wrote about three pages/800 words for my YA Urban Fantasy, The Secret of the Well, when I realized a character I had might have disappeared somehow. Friday I wrote another Flash Fiction, and after double checking my count I now need to write only one more to reach my goal of 100 Flash Fictions for my anthology. The weekend got taken up with a movie, and shopping at a giant mall about 45 minutes away. So naturally my progress on my writing projects slowed down to a crawl, with emails, etc piling up. And today Monday, I succeeded in clearing up over 90% of all my backlogs. And once I've finished the remaining 10%, I'm going to double my commitment in getting progress resumed in everything I've got to do.
THANKS for your patience, and have a GREAT WEEK in whatever you do. !!! :-) :-) :-)
Last Sunday my OH and I spent most of the day at a community street fair near where we lived, so naturally after walking around for over four hours one does tend to get tired.
Monday I spent most of the day cleaning up over 500 emails which had accumulated since Saturday night. Which included replying to items on Twitter, FaceBook friends, and Linkedin connections. Tuesday meant being involved being involved with community events, etc. This is not to mentioned the work I need to do at least twice each day in regards to the LinkedIn groups I Own, Manage, and Moderate.
Wednesday the entire day 10 - 5 my OH accompanied me to the annual luncheon from my union's retirees club. Thursday I wrote about three pages/800 words for my YA Urban Fantasy, The Secret of the Well, when I realized a character I had might have disappeared somehow. Friday I wrote another Flash Fiction, and after double checking my count I now need to write only one more to reach my goal of 100 Flash Fictions for my anthology. The weekend got taken up with a movie, and shopping at a giant mall about 45 minutes away. So naturally my progress on my writing projects slowed down to a crawl, with emails, etc piling up. And today Monday, I succeeded in clearing up over 90% of all my backlogs. And once I've finished the remaining 10%, I'm going to double my commitment in getting progress resumed in everything I've got to do.
THANKS for your patience, and have a GREAT WEEK in whatever you do. !!! :-) :-) :-)
Friday, June 13, 2014
FIVE SENTENCE FICTION - Wishes
Given
the prompt word Lillie has given us this week of “WISHES,” if feel as it’s a
good opportunity to offer another UNEDITED SNIPPET from my W.I.P, an adult
Contemporary with a paranormal element running through parts of the storyline
entitled “His Darkest Secret.”
In
this snippet, it’s Friday, and Jessica has been married to Warren for only five
days. She has just returned home from work and as she at the front door with
the keys in her hand she begins to quickly think of Bill, her relationship with
him and the child they had produced, as well as other items. She then begins about Warren came into her
life, answering her silent prayers.
MY
PRAYERS HAVE BEEN FULFILLED
Who
knew my prayers would be answered the night Warren showed up at my front door
as I ate dinner with a letter stating I’m ready to use his services as an
architect from Bill. Who knew anyone else, but me, would be
receiving a letter from Bill; much in the same manner I’ve received several
from him, with each letter coming when some important or special event which
would be happening shortly in my life.
I
wish I could tell someone this story, but who’d believe me, especially the way
our lives have crossed so many times even before we knew each other. Yes, who’d believe me, because at times I
can’t even believe it myself, and I’d lived through them.
I
can’t stay here thinking about the pass, I need to go inside and get on with
the wonderful life I now have with Warren and our three children.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
WEEKLY STATUS REPORT # 13
Sorry for not posting anything for over
two weeks.
But what can I say? Things just happened !!!
But what can I say? Things just happened !!!
Sunday. May 18th I decided to
rest.
Monday, May 19th I found time to write my last Weekly Status Report.
Monday 19th – Wednesday 21st – My OH came down with a cold and I had to play nursemaid, which not only took me away from reading MOST of emails, but reduced my ability to sit down and think what I should write next.
Thursday 22nd – Saturday 24th – I came down with my OH’s cold. But I did manage to write my Five Sentence Fiction for the prompt word of “ANCHOR” on the 23rd. I also manage to struggle to finish editing the word “had” for His Darkest Secret. In the end I wound up deleting the word over 200 times; either I formed a contraction with the preceding word or simply deleting it to improve the flow of the sentence. While there I edited the surrounding sentences, which increase the word count by about 450 [including the 200+ “HADs” I deleted. Right now the counts for this endeavor now stand at; 40 Chapters, 258 pages with about 76,800 words.
Next came the Memorial Day Weekend – My OH and I simply kept each other company. Tuesday we went to check on my OH’s city pension, and found out to guarantee health insurance should I die first, my OH has to work an additional three months. [If the spouse who had the primary family health insurances dies first, the other one loses it. If the other spouse also worked for the city, that spouse needs to have been employed 10 years to continue the health insurance]
Wednesday I finally got caught with ALL of my emails so my various folders were essentially blank. I went to GoodReads and decided to active the add friends option. Today I also took care of a lot of some long delayed personal matters.
With the addition of one more item this week for my Flash Fiction anthology on Thursady, I only need two more to reach my goal of a hundred flash fictions written. I then can bring the self-editing process which I’m not in a rush to do, since this will be the next item I’m going to self-publish, and I still need the funds to do it [This will be the least expensive to accomplish since I’ve basically got the cover design already handled except for a minor detail.] And I took care of more personal matters.
Friday, May 30th I decided to rest most of the day, but when I check my email address for Yahoo I saw over 350 items from GoodReads that I’m now friends with. By the time I got around to begin to send THANK YOUs for becoming my friend on GoodReads the figure had grown to over 400. Adding to the chaos here, being the glutton for punishment I am, I become a Manager for another Linked In group “Writer’s Hangout” where amongst other things, I created the automated messaging for new members.
I really wanted to post this on Monday yesterday; however I received the official news regarding the Flash Fiction I wrote which got accepted for the premiere issue of The Greenwich Village Literary Review e-zine. The e-zine has now gone live and my submission is now officially published in it. The item I wrote is on page 61 … you can scroll down on the left once you get to the site.
Monday, May 19th I found time to write my last Weekly Status Report.
Monday 19th – Wednesday 21st – My OH came down with a cold and I had to play nursemaid, which not only took me away from reading MOST of emails, but reduced my ability to sit down and think what I should write next.
Thursday 22nd – Saturday 24th – I came down with my OH’s cold. But I did manage to write my Five Sentence Fiction for the prompt word of “ANCHOR” on the 23rd. I also manage to struggle to finish editing the word “had” for His Darkest Secret. In the end I wound up deleting the word over 200 times; either I formed a contraction with the preceding word or simply deleting it to improve the flow of the sentence. While there I edited the surrounding sentences, which increase the word count by about 450 [including the 200+ “HADs” I deleted. Right now the counts for this endeavor now stand at; 40 Chapters, 258 pages with about 76,800 words.
Next came the Memorial Day Weekend – My OH and I simply kept each other company. Tuesday we went to check on my OH’s city pension, and found out to guarantee health insurance should I die first, my OH has to work an additional three months. [If the spouse who had the primary family health insurances dies first, the other one loses it. If the other spouse also worked for the city, that spouse needs to have been employed 10 years to continue the health insurance]
Wednesday I finally got caught with ALL of my emails so my various folders were essentially blank. I went to GoodReads and decided to active the add friends option. Today I also took care of a lot of some long delayed personal matters.
With the addition of one more item this week for my Flash Fiction anthology on Thursady, I only need two more to reach my goal of a hundred flash fictions written. I then can bring the self-editing process which I’m not in a rush to do, since this will be the next item I’m going to self-publish, and I still need the funds to do it [This will be the least expensive to accomplish since I’ve basically got the cover design already handled except for a minor detail.] And I took care of more personal matters.
Friday, May 30th I decided to rest most of the day, but when I check my email address for Yahoo I saw over 350 items from GoodReads that I’m now friends with. By the time I got around to begin to send THANK YOUs for becoming my friend on GoodReads the figure had grown to over 400. Adding to the chaos here, being the glutton for punishment I am, I become a Manager for another Linked In group “Writer’s Hangout” where amongst other things, I created the automated messaging for new members.
I really wanted to post this on Monday yesterday; however I received the official news regarding the Flash Fiction I wrote which got accepted for the premiere issue of The Greenwich Village Literary Review e-zine. The e-zine has now gone live and my submission is now officially published in it. The item I wrote is on page 61 … you can scroll down on the left once you get to the site.
http://tinyurl.com/pvkxyu7
Needless to say this meant my having to spread the word about this exciting event on Twitter and all my other sites.
Saturday, May 31th – My OH and I went out to take of family matters which been delayed for some time. Caught up to a radio station appearance near one of the places we needed to stop at; and won a pair of movie tickets.
Sunday June 1st, I went back to sending out THANK YOUs to the new friends I’d gained and found although I’d sent out about a third of them [130] on Friday that I’ve gained about that many since - - - making it seem as I made no progress. At the same time I’d received questionnaires for interviews.
June 2nd and June 3rd – I finally responded to the rest of the GoodReads friends I’ve gained making it a total of almost 550. This meant I now needed to answer ALL the responses I received from the THANK YOUs I’d sent out.
June 3rd [Yesterday] – I went with my OH to see the movie. The pair of tickets was only good Monday – Thursday, at only one movie chain, and only to see Blended with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It movie surprised us as it is quite funny [unexpected because of all the “bombs” Adam Sandler has made in the past few years.
After the movie we ate at a nearby IHOP, went home and rested. When I got up and checked my emails I found an additional 20; or so new friends on GoodReads. I quickly responded to them as I didn’t want to experience another backlog here. I’m now close to 4,100 friends on GoodReads - - - the good thing is they cap the number of friends one can have at 5,000. I then answered half of the interview requests I’d received [2].
Well here we are, Thursday, June 5th and as you can see I’ve accomplished a lot, I haven’t made any real progress in any of my writing endeavors. So the first thing I did, is I answered the two brief questionnaires I’ve received, then emailed all four of them making sure I’ve made all of the attachments I needed. It’s a little past 3:00 PM, and I’ve just finished writing this. I’d hope to get a little writing done today, however, I’ve got a community meeting I must attend.
Needless to say this meant my having to spread the word about this exciting event on Twitter and all my other sites.
Saturday, May 31th – My OH and I went out to take of family matters which been delayed for some time. Caught up to a radio station appearance near one of the places we needed to stop at; and won a pair of movie tickets.
Sunday June 1st, I went back to sending out THANK YOUs to the new friends I’d gained and found although I’d sent out about a third of them [130] on Friday that I’ve gained about that many since - - - making it seem as I made no progress. At the same time I’d received questionnaires for interviews.
June 2nd and June 3rd – I finally responded to the rest of the GoodReads friends I’ve gained making it a total of almost 550. This meant I now needed to answer ALL the responses I received from the THANK YOUs I’d sent out.
June 3rd [Yesterday] – I went with my OH to see the movie. The pair of tickets was only good Monday – Thursday, at only one movie chain, and only to see Blended with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It movie surprised us as it is quite funny [unexpected because of all the “bombs” Adam Sandler has made in the past few years.
After the movie we ate at a nearby IHOP, went home and rested. When I got up and checked my emails I found an additional 20; or so new friends on GoodReads. I quickly responded to them as I didn’t want to experience another backlog here. I’m now close to 4,100 friends on GoodReads - - - the good thing is they cap the number of friends one can have at 5,000. I then answered half of the interview requests I’d received [2].
Well here we are, Thursday, June 5th and as you can see I’ve accomplished a lot, I haven’t made any real progress in any of my writing endeavors. So the first thing I did, is I answered the two brief questionnaires I’ve received, then emailed all four of them making sure I’ve made all of the attachments I needed. It’s a little past 3:00 PM, and I’ve just finished writing this. I’d hope to get a little writing done today, however, I’ve got a community meeting I must attend.
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