FIVE SENTENCE FICTION – Sunshine

I’ve been quite amiss lately posting my responses here.  I’ve written my responses, however I got sidetracked with all my other daily tasks I forgot to post them.

My response this week is serving two purposes. First, it’s my response to Lillie’s prompt word of SUNSHINE [this is the first time I’m actually not using the word in my response, but solely as a prompt].  Secondly, I’ll be submitting this for consideration for a fund raising anthology with HIV/AIDS as one of its themes. I’ve already submitted 6 of my FSSs, five with a little tweaking]

This FSF will be the first I’m submitting for the anthology’s second theme, Gay/Lesbian relationships.

As you can tell from all my previous responses is something I usually don’t write.

See my previous post, “FINAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS” for information regarding the anthology I’ve referred to. DEADLINE = March 1, 2014

 A Truly Special Double Wedding

It had been a dreary, cloudy day when  Jack, Jonathan, Chelsea and Blair decided to wed with a dual wedding ceremony.

When the happy couples finally walked down on a pure white linen path under arches of brightly colored balloons, the sun still hadn’t shined.

There, at the makeshift altar at the end those standing in for their parents waited for the couples to arrive on a gorgeous manicured lawn beneath a canopy of trees.

Each couple then said their personally written vows to each other, leaving no one present with a dry eye.

Finally when the happy couples; Jack, the nurse kiss his now lifelong companion Jonathan, the hairdresser; and Chelsea, the construction worker kiss her now lifelong companion Blair, the semi-truck driver the sun broke through the grey skies as two white doves flew silently overhead.

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FINAL CALL FOR SUBMISSION

Laura McComas is still looking for submissions of short stories, flash fiction, etc.  for an Anthology to benefit Different Roads Home, Website: http://www.differentroadshome.org/#sthash.WgIBL692.dpbs

This organization deals with AIDS patients care and support.

 

The theme for all submission should deal with the acceptance of gay or lesbian life styles and or deal with the topic AIDS/HIV.  The deadline for all submissions is March 1, 2014.   Since all funds generated from the sale of the anthology will be donated, there will be no payment for any submission.  This will be a wonderful opportunity to gain exposure for you and your writing endeavors to a whole new audience of potential readers.

If anyone has any submission they’re interested in submitting or has any question, please send them to Laura, email address: McComas825@aol.com with “Anthology Submission” written in the subject line.

Laura McCombs writes under the name of Laurie Sorensen and is the author of several books including “Ravenwood: Night’s Salvation” [available on Amazon]

GAINS ON ANOTHER WRITING ENDEAVOR

As you can see from my previous post I’m definitely keeping my New Years’s resolution about reading books again, as I’ve just posted by 6th review on Amazon. I just need people to start reading them and liking them there.

Anyway, I’ve finally made some gains on putting together my Flash Fiction anthology by adding 4 more items, and right now I estimate I’ll need about 33 to finish it.  There’s been no progress made on my other two writing endeavors, but this I’d say is normal as no one can work on more than one project at a time. Right now I’m averaging about 300 emails a day which include connecting with people on LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter. 

Even though I need to make some progress on my writing endeavors each day I feel to just rest a good part of the day.

BOOK REVIEW – “Christmas Cracker”

CHRISTMAS CRACKER   By   R.L. Cherry

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Cracker-R-L-Cherry-ebook/dp/B008LY2N8Y

Heather and Jonathan were quite well financially yet you could never associate their relationship as one of those belonging to the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. This became quite evident when Morgana [Morg to her friends] who work as a P.I. had to come to Heather’s aid, protecting her from Jonathan.  Needless to say Heather now consider Morg as one of her best friends, not so much for a friend, but for some protection.

Heather wants to repay Morg for everything she has done for her, and invites Morg to come with her to England to spend Christmas these in a “castle,” but has alterative motive for doing it. Morg reluctantly agrees.

Heather became a P.I. in part due to real love of Sherlock Holmes, and now being in his homeland little did she know that she would soon become involved with solving a series of events, seemingly unconnected to all those involved in the story. Morg must now become a female Holmes, and using all of her Sherlockian reasoning to completely resolve which had happened, making sure to explain how all the events of the past few days had indeed been connect.

I’m a lover of Sherlock Holmes. I’ve seen all the movies with Basil Rathbone, I’ve seen with BBC television series [1954-1955] with Ronald Howard on NetFlix, as well as the entire series with Jeremy Brett, and the first two seasons with Benedict Cumberbatch playing Holmes.  Given this I’d surmised what had been going on regard the key event for the same reasons Morg gives at the end of the novel.  I became surprised as Morg explained everything which had occurred, which for some reason I’d missed detecting as I read the story.  There are numerous twists which come to light at the end of the novel, so much so, that once things had started to be revealed I couldn’t put the damn novel down and go to sleep. [Finally went to bed at around 2:30 AM]

It’s a superb mystery tale which should be a definite read by all lovers of this genre. This is the first time I’ve read anything in this genre and by R.L. Cherry and will probably consider reading some more. To my surprise is a male who has managed to pin down Morg’s characteristics quite successfully.   The only negative thing I found in reading this novel is that at times the writing became a little too passive for me, but this has not distracting me from giving this book 5 STARS.

 

MY PROGRESS IS MOVING ALONG NICELY

As you might remember if you read my last entry I’ve started a new endeavor writing another Contemporary romance, this time it’s a novella with a working title of “It Had All Been a Game.” About 11:30 PM I wrote about an additional 950 words, completing Chapter 1.  As it stands now, I’ve written approximately 3,450 words, which means I’ve already completed about 10% of the length of my planned endeavor; and with any luck I should be able to finish this manuscript by the end of next month [March].

A STOPPAGE HERE and a BIRTH THERE

It’s been almost two-and-a-half months since I’ve written anything for my second romance novel, an adult Contemporary with a paranormal element running through most of the storyline, which has the working title of “His Darkest Secret.”  It has reached a point where I’ve become totally frustrated not being able to think of anything to write to move my manuscript to completion.  I know precisely what to write for the last chapter, a chapter where things are wrapped including the reveal of the dark secret Bill had hidden from Jessica.

With nothing else to do, I decided to clean out some of the old files I have on WORD.  I wound up deleting about 40 items I no longer needed, and moved another 25 into new file folders. And in the process of doing this I found a LONG FORGOTTEN file [from July 2007] consisting of a single page which I’d planned to be another Contemporary romance novel but have never gone back to it.  Since reactivating this file this past Wednesday, I’ve written about 2,500 words [including a rewrite of the single page I had found].  My plan for this endeavor is to have it be a novella with approximately 35,000 words, and right now I’m giving it a working title of “It Had All Been a Game.”

The stats for “His Darkest Secret” are: 34 Chapters with 234 pages and approximately 68,400 words. I’d love to complete this manuscript by mid-summer, if not sooner.  In regards to “It Had All Been a Game,” writing about only 500 words a day, I could be able to complete this endeavor by the middle of May.

 

 

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION – Ache

I’ve been quite busy writing and other endeavors this week, so much so I almost forgot my posting my response to the prompt Lillie McFerrin gave us for this week.  My response this week serves two purposes.  One, it has given me something to respond here with. And two it has given me another opportunity to make my sixth contribution to a fund raising anthology which has HIV/AIDS as one of its themes.

IF I COULD BUT TURN

 BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

“Oh! What fools we’d been in our youth,” said Jennifer.

“We thought we’d made it, being able to buy all the drugs we wanted, and still being able live the life rich people do.”

“We never seem to worry about sharing needles and other drug paraphernalia, nor did we fear catching any disease.”

“But here I sit today, alone, with a huge ACHE in my heart, for I’ve just buried my long suffering soul mate, a victim of the dreaded AIDS virus.”

“Oh, if I could but turn back the hands of time, back to the days of flower children, peace and love; but this time it would be without any of the drugs we had indulged in the first time.  

 

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION – Frozen

I can’t believe last week I’d written out my reply to Lillie’s prompt of SPARKS in WORD as I usually do, and because of everything else I’d been engaged in doing, I totally forgot to post it on my blog and the link on the FSF site.

Anyway, here’s my response to Lillie’s prompt of FROZEN for this week.

FROZEN IN TIME

Frank and his wife loved to travel near and far.

Racing from their home they’d take a trip to a new far flung place of the world every time they could get a week away together from their jobs.

On their late such trip fate stepped in and threw them and the rest of their fellow travelers a tragic blow.

ZEus, the God of sky and thunder caused their plane’s door to open mid-flight when its zenith had been reached.

Now, when rescuers found the plane to their surprise intact on a high mesa; the found all the passengers in their seats, FROZEN in time, when the fateful opening of the plane’s door occurred.

BOOK REVIEW – “SOPHIE’S TURN”

This is the last new book I’ve read this year, and by doing so I keeping up quite well to one of the New Year’s Resolutions I’ve made this year about starting to read books again this year.  This is the review for this book that I posted on Amazon and GoodReads this year on 

January 31, 2014

SOPHIE’S TURN

By Nicki Wells

http://www.amazon.com/Sophies-Turn-Part-Romance-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00961HXC2  

Sophie’s Turn is Nicky Wells’ fictional autobiography of Sophie’s Penhalligan’s love affair with the two men in her life, Dan Hunter and Tim Renfrew. There’s a lot of turmoil in her life as she struggles with whose marriage proposal she should accept. On one hand you’ve got Tim who’s been with Sophie the last two years, on the other you’ve Dan, the super rock star, who Sophie once had a teenage crush on, and now has re-entered her. Two guys each have their own positive qualities Sophie adorns, as well as the negative ones Sophie wishes they didn’t. In the end who does Sophie marry? Is it Tim? Is it Dan? Or could it be neither one, which would leave her all alone and still looking for true love to come her way. I’m not going to say. You’ll need to buy the book for yourself to find out. One thing is certain, once you get pulled into the story, you’ll want to find out how it ends.

BOOK REVIEW – “AND THE WHIPPOORWILL SANG”

This is the third book review I posted a review for. While it’s one of the books I’ve read this year, it’s the last book I read about 6 years away; so I’ve just re-read it and I post the following review on Amazon and GoodReads on

January 23, 2014

AND THE WHIPPOORWILL SANG
By Micki Peluso
http://www.amazon.com/And-Whippoorwill-Sang-Micki-Peluso/dp/097920304X

I’m fortunate to have met Micki Peluso and her charming husband Butch at a book signing at a Barnes & Noble in her hometown where I purchased an autographed copy of “And the Whippoorwill Sang” a few years.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. The book is a roller coaster of emotions, you laugh one moment, the next you sigh and then you cry, and back again. You start off in the emergency room of the hospital the fateful night her daughter got struck by a drunk driver; you’re then flung into the past as Micki and her future husband Butch are planning their elopement. You’re then flung back to present to a crucial point as the family are waiting to hear the next development concerning her daughter. The repetitious nature of flashbacks adds to emotions as one reads this book.

The story is one many families can relate to especially if they’d also suffered through having a family member killed by some drunk driver who didn’t know he/she shouldn’t have been on the road and especially at night.

The book has received an accolade when it got reviewed on Page 5 in the Spring 2008 issue of MADDvocate [official magazine of MADD – Mothers Against Drunk Drivers] by John McEvans – MADD National Victims Services Training Manager

http://www.madd.org/media-center/publications/maddvocate/Spring_2008.pdf

This book is a must read, even for people who don’t usually read memoirs.