Success Saturday: May 30, 2015

This week I experienced the following success events:

01. I completed one 700 plus word romance story and submitted to writing.com contest.

02. I completed one love poem written from the point of view of my grandmother to my grandfather. I submitted it to a writing.com contest.

03. I participated in and finished a weekend challenge on writing.com.

04. I survived the last week in May 2015 without running out of coffee.

05. I survived the month of May 2015 with $10.00 in cash in my purse. This is enough to purchase gas if I should go somewhere this weekend.

06. I woke up early enough every morning to witness the sun rise over Sunrise Mountain.

07. I did not fall asleep at my computer and drool on my key board this month.

08. I posted at least one Facebook status update everyday.

09. I accomplished my daily review goal on writing.com everyday.

10. I went to my doctor's office for my blood tests before I completely ran out of my prescription medication.

Success Saturday: I finished Short Story

I finished a short story today. I have worked on this story all week and today I finally finished it. The final word count is 8,116. The story is a romance crime story. I know there are people out there that think all romances are crimes; however, I am not one of those people. When I started writing the story on Sunday, May 10, I just started writing. I wrote the story letting my subconscious or the characters move the story forward depending on your point of view.

I found out long ago, after much trial and error, that I cannot plan a story. If I am going to write a story and finish it then I just have to write. I begins with the idea for a character, usually a female, and then let the words fall where they may. Now that the story is finished, I have to edit it. I am going to let the editing on this story wait a couple of weeks. While I was writing this story I got a couple of ideas for poems which I can now work on until I start another romance story on next week.

Thursday Thoughts: Thursday Morning Frustration

If today was Friday, I would title this entry Frustration Friday. However, it is Thankful Thursday or Thoughtful Thursday so I cannot use Frustration Friday as the title. I can answer the question "Why are you frustrated?" I am frustrated because I am having difficulty logging onto a website. I have attempted to the website several times this morning and, it will neither accept my password nor will it access the area to send me a link to change my password. I suspect the problem is the website is either very busy or down. However, it does not give a message for either possibility.

I know the best thing for me to do is just let the situation go. I need to put the problem in God's hands and get on with my research, writing and housework. I have a newsletter to Edit at the end of April and I need to do some research on the subject. I am also working on a romance story that seems to be going nowhere. I will not even list how much housework I have. I could even change clothes and go out to the mail box to see if I received any bills or letters.

What am I going to do? I am going to see what type of vegetables I have in the freezer so that I can fix me a semi-balanced meal. I know I have both fish and turkey burger in the freezer, but I need some type of vegetables to go with them. I could make me an omelet with some of the sweet peppers and green onions I have in the refrigerator. This always happens when I am frustrated. The frustration makes me hunger, but I cannot make up my mind what I want to eat.

I think I will post this and then brew another carafe of coffee. Yes, I know I drink too much coffee, but I am a writer. That is no excuse for drinking too much coffee or for writing a ranting rambling blog entry. Today the frustration is the reason for the rambling and the ranting. I wish everyone a joyful, thankful, and thoughtful Thursday.

Monday Motivation: Motivation for the week of March 22 to March 28, 2015

I was away from home most of Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I went to a Naw-Ruz party at the Las Vegas Baha'i Center here in Las Vegas. Then on Sunday I went to a spiritual service at the center. While I was home, I wrote a poem, a 1,000 plus word short story, finished my edition of the writing.com fantasy newsletter, and did a few short story or poem reviews. I also discovered that the best motivation I had was being behind on my writing with a deadline closing in.

This week I have a form poem and a short story to write. The short story has to be between 1,250 and 2,500 words to write. The form poem is a Rispetto, an Italian rhyming poem containing two quatrain stanzas. I am writing a heroic Rispetto, which uses iambic pentameter rather then iambic tetrameter. I started the poem this morning before I took the trash out to the alley. I have to get back to it after I post this entry because I cannot put off writing either the poem or the story.

The story, which is a romance, is due on Saturday, March 28. The deadline for the poem is Sunday, March 29. Since I will be out of the house all evening Saturday and all day Sunday, I have to get those items finished before 4:00 pm on Saturday. On those days I am going to the Baha'i Center for a Free Seminar titled "Exploring the Meaning of Revelation 3:12".

Wednesday Word: Romance

I have written two romance stories in the past two weeks. The first was a flash fiction of about 300 words. The second was still within the flash fiction range, but a little longer. The second story was approximately 625 words. Both stories were too short because there was several things in it that the reviewers did not understand. The next romance story I plan to write needs to be more then 625 but less then 1,500 words.

The first two stories were related. The second story was an extension of the first. I do not plan to make the third story related to the first two; however, I could change my mind when I sit down to write. I usually do not write romance stories, but I decided to attempt to get out of my comfort zone in 2015. Writing romances is a good way to do that.

I think I will make the next one about... well I am not sure what just yet. Perhaps I need to come up with some characters or check a prompt generator for a title, characters, or a plot. When I cannot think of an idea then a prompt generator helps get the creative juices flowing. Maybe I will set the romance on another planet or an earth colony. I can deal with romance in science fiction and fancy, but the romance stories set in the present do not appeal to me. In fact stories set in the present do not appeal to me.

What is a good genre for an April Fools Day story?

Today is April 1, April Fools’ Day, and I have been wondering what genre is good for an April Fools’ Day story. Comedy is the first genre that comes to mind, but it is not the only one to use. Science Fiction, fantasy, and romance would make good genres as well.

I thank romance would make a good genre for an April Fools’ Day story, but then I write bitter love poems; so that may explain the reason I would pick romance for this type of story. In fact, I did write an April Fools’ Story that was also a romance. The story is still on my hard drive; I will have to find it and post it in my writing.com port.

I have two April Fools Day stories to write today. One is a flash fiction, with a deadline of midnight Eastern Time. The other is a short story (1,000 words or less) and its deadline is April 2 at noon Eastern Time. Each of the stories has a prompt because they are entries in two contests on writing.com. I think one of the stories will be a romance, but the other will be either fantasy or science fiction.