I've pasted in my short Unspoken Love

My very short story Unspoken Love seems to have disappeared off my Allromanceebooks. It was in the newsletter section and I guess they don't retain anything that is over two years old. It appeared there on September 20, 2008. This is very short as per their guidelines. I first penned this at a writers conference in 2008 I believe. It won't take you long.


UNSPOKEN LOVE
BY
LARRY HAMMERSLEY
The brown, wooden sign with white letters read Antioch College. Rounded hedges and a circle of bricks stacked two high surrounded the sign. A myriad of flowers flaunting a kaleidoscope of colors, violet, yellow, red, orange, nestled within that stone circle, threatening to break out into the nearby green carpet of grass. A tree donated its protective shade.
A hundred yards away, a four-story brick building stood. It was there that my eyes first feasted upon her. From the doorway she came, her steps short and rapid, a purpose in those gentle strides. Even from this distance, I knew she was beautiful. Beauty. Is it painted lips, perfect wavy blonde hair, and a model’s figure? No. What of her beauty? The closer she approached, the more inadequate words became to describe that beauty. Her smile, a blushing innocence, burst forth in its gentleness as of the sun peaking around the edge of a cloud.
Her eyes glued to mine and she stopped. I did not scan her from head to toe nor did she me. My breath caught, a connection with her affecting all my senses, sight, taste, touch, hearing, smelling seemed sensitive like never before. Brilliant colors flood my eyes, the freshness of the flowers and hedges exciting my taste, the feel of the light wind caressing my skin, the rustling of each leaf distinct from every other leaf distinguished by my ears, the fragrance of each flower recognized in turn by my nose.
She moved with grace, her steps delicate, feminine as she came, stopped, and placed one of her hands on one of the rounded hedges. She gazed at the hedge a few seconds, then at me. My heart melted. I approached her, daring to stand within a few feet of her. I placed my hand on the hedge next to hers, the prickly stems threatening to break my focus on her. She smiled, cocked her head a little and then rested her free hand on mine. I sighed and laid my free hand on hers. So soft, her hand under mine, so warm, her hand on top of mine. The gouging stems became a dim memory.
I gave a head motion toward the flowers and we skirted the circle of bricks, stopping first at purple blossoms, kneeling. She moved her full skirt up slightly, her bare knees resting in the grass. She touched a flower, and I touched the top of her hand. I touched another flower and she touched the top of my hand. The aromatic essence, the fragile petals, the intense violet color channeled through each of our hands, arms, heart and back into our other hands, arms and heart. The touch, smell, sight mixed from heart to heart. Each group of flowers around the brick perimeter kept building, pouring into my heart and I could feel it into her heart too.
I stood up and grasped her hand, helping her to lift from her bended knees. She clasped her hands on mine, facing me. Our hands lifted slightly, then our eyes met, hers piercing to my core. I could see her knowledge of my heart and I watched her take a deep breath, tilting her head up, her face flushing, her lips parting, her eyes moving from one spot to another on my face. I didn’t know what lovely part on her face, or hair to enjoy. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t get enough of the emotional feast for it consumed me. I started to speak, but she raised her forefinger, placed it on my lips, and puckered her mouth, adding to her insistence that I remain silent. A most wonderful enlightenment, building to full force now, swamped me. I knew we belonged together, and would never part.

My short story at Smashwords

I have a short, sweet romance story at Smashwords. It is a story that was workshopped to death at the 2008 writers' conference at Antioch in Yellow Springs. After that it was rejected by an online site. I believed in the story and had it published at Smashwords with the help of Miss Mae. She did the cover and formatted it for me. The link is http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/30971. You can read 40% of it without springing for the ninety-nine cents. The title is Small is Beautiful and is in a college setting. Judy Compton is five foot one and the towering basketball player, Brad Whitherspoon who is six foot five has caught her eye big time. Can she overcome her concern for her shortness and compete with the voluptuous Yvonne Dancing who is the Platinum girl in the marching band?

Queries and rejections

The rejections from agents are rolling in as I expected. Two out of the four I've put out there have already sent their rejections stating it isn't right for their agency. I question this answer as all the agencies have stated they are looking for romance. A Change of Heart is purely romance and nothing else. No word from Pedestal Magazine. My Wild Rose story is now in the right hands. I hate to be negative but I expect a rejection from that one too. I learned via one of the yahoo groups I'm active in that the publisher I sent my SF novel starring Cramer and Mona is having family problems so I'd best not email them to ask the status. November 15 will make four months for that one. I have other possibilities for my novels and will explore those when I receive the negative replies I'm expecting.
One positive thing though is the editor appreciation day at Wild Rose always nets me replies from those editors that worked with me on my accepted stories. I always email Natasha Bacchus via the Wild Rose marketing lady, Lisa and she sends my email on to Ms. Bacchus who is no longer an editor at Wild Rose but worked extensively with me on the story Motorcycle Woman and although Wild Rose rejected it Natasha helped me considerably and that resulted on it being accepted at Red Rose. Well, Ms. Bacchus actually answered my appreciation email and said some really nice things to me. It is the first time I've heard from her and what she said lifted my spirits. We need our spirits lifted in this world of rejections. I thank the ladies from RAMP and Sweetest Romance Authors yahoo groups for their encouragement.
Until next time drop in and comment. Larry

I'm querying

Again, I've been neglecting my posting. I have been posting to friends blogs and sites though. I see I have two followers now. Glad to see that. My subject talks of querying.
I've had the first three chapters of my SF novel, The Higher Mission with Whimsical Publications for three months and two weeks tomorrow and no word. They state a response from one to three months. I'm going to email them today and see what the status is. Also, I've began querying agents about my fifth novel, A Change of Heart, the sweet romance between Leroy and Jody, my Lab Partners characters. I have completed a short romance story entitled Big Is Beautiful and submitted a query to Wild Rose Press but the address they gave bounced. I've emailed Leanne the head editor of the Sweetheart Rose Line where my story belongs but have heard no word on that. I probably should have emailed Lisa at Wild Rose and may do that before the day is out. One more item and I'll end. I submitted a revised short story to The Pedestal Magazine, an online mag that pays very well. The story is entitled Beyond The Fence and is not romance. It is a tale of strangeness. Anybody interested in the contents of any of my submissions I've mentioned here be sure and let me know via comments. Thank you in advance for checking into my blog. I hope someday to have a website. A friend was constructing one for me but I've not heard from her in a long time. Time for another email. Larry

My interview at Miss Mae's site

I know I've been tardy at posting. Shame on me. However, Miss Mae has an interview with me at http://www.missmaesite.com/ so it isn't too late to come on over. Several dear friends have already been there and commented. I've also replied to them.

Previously, I said I submitted two novels to two different places. I decided to pull my recent novel since the site I submitted to dealt only in ebooks. I still want a print version of my novels. The recent novel I wrote and decided to pull is entitled A Change of Heart. I left the submission of my SF novel The Higher Mission at Whimsical and should hear within the next month.

A Change of Heart features Leroy and Jody from my fifties short story Lab Partners only I've cast them into the present. No, it isn't time travel. I prefer to say it is Leroy and Jody's real story. Please keep your thoughts with me on those two novel submissions.

So far on Lab Partners I've had 15 downloads, the most popular of my short romance stories and the first one I had accepted. I'll give you the cover once again. Larry

Two novels submitted

Hello everyone and my one follower. I've submitted my SF novel, The Higher Mission to Whimsical Publications. That story features Joe Cramer, a widower in his fifties, and Mona Watson, a woman in her twenties who is a space explorer herself. They join forces in missions in our solar system. Cramer's top priority is to provide medical care and eventual cure for his ill daughter, Cindy. This is a mixture of adventure and romance. The Higher Mission could be interpreted either as Cramer finally getting the money to pay for the expensive cure his ill daughter, or Cramer being shanghaied for a trip to Sirius, a star 8.6 light years distant. There is no faster than light speed in this novel.

My other novel has been submitted to Romance at Hearts Publishing, a new online and print book publisher. A Change of Heart is about Leroy and Jody, my characters from my most popular short story Lab Partners only casting them in modern times. It is strictly romance, the sweet variety. Leroy and Jody meet in college and the story goes six years to a nice conclusion.

Please keep me in your thoughts as I wait for news.

I must thank my Sweetest Romance Authors for giving me a plug on my mini sequel of The Higher Mission. Janet at Whimsical was at that chat.

Scavenger Hunt and SF story submission

It's been a while since I've posted. I had so many encouraging comments about my short SF story which I posted be segments each week. I have just submitted my science fiction novel which features those characters Cramer and Mona to Whimsical Publishing and we'll see what Janet thinks of it. Keep your fingers crossed for me. My novel I just completed and revised is now ready for submitting. I believe I'll go to Desert Breeze Publishing with it. I'll have to check their formatting guidelines and do some work on that.
SCAVENGER HUNT INFO: Click on this red letter M to go back to the sweetest romance chat room for finishing up the scavenger hunt.

Final Segment of Unscheduled Stroll on Triton

Here is the final offering of my short SF story. This is a shorten version with a segment left out. That segment was a special conversation between Cramer and Mona. It contained some endearing remarks between the two characters and some astronomical observations by Cramer. Did you know there are asteroids locked in Jupiter's orbit, an area known as the Lagrangian Point? That is a stable area forming an equalateral triangle between Jupiter, the sun and the Lagrangian Point. Now you didn't need to know that did you? Time for the final segment.

Cramer groped in the dark, seeking for warmth, fleeing from thirty-eight Kelvins at the end of the hall behind him. A soft hand on a long elastic arm pulled him forward toward a comforting orange light ahead. Yielding, he tried to help that wonderful hand.
“Joe, come out of it.” The familiar voice came from a blurry vision that coalesced like cloudy water losing its fine air bubbles. A lovely face with shiny, long blond hair clarified: Mona. How wonderful she looked in her flight coveralls. Cramer grasped her hand with both of his. Tears flooded his eyes, not from a brush with death, but angry, unforgiving tears at his irresponsible actions.
“How could I be so stupid? A rank amateur wouldn’t even unclip their safety line.” Cramer gritted his teeth at the thought. Mona carefully pulled him to a sitting position.
“Don’t go beating yourself up,” Mona said, her wonderful consoling aura soothing him.
“Look at the years of experience I’ve had on mining ventures in space. You’d think. . .”
“Hush!” Mona placed her forefinger on his lips. When he started to finish his self-condemnation, she placed her palm over his mouth.
“Think about it, Joe. You saved your own life by disconnecting from that line.” Cramer squinted at that statement.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“If you had been attached to that line when the geyser hit you, I know your neck would have snapped or your helmet seal would have broken when the slack was gone.” Mona squeezed Cramer’s arm, a serious look spreading across her face.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Cramer said, wanting to believe her.
“The force of that geyser would be magnified without any atmosphere to buffer the nitrogen blast.” Cramer thought about it. Mona’s logic was flawless. He would have been killed as he remembered how far the nitrogen jet had sent him.
“You’re right but it was pure stupidity that I unhooked myself.”
“No, it wasn’t. Look how many times in the past you’ve done something on the spur of the moment and you, me or somebody has been saved.” Mona cupped Cramer’s face with her hands. He took a deep breath at her touch and reached up and took her hands with his.
“I owe you my life anyway. We’d better finish our job.”
“We’re done. That last batch was very high grade thorium. Witherspoon will be happy with what we’ve got. Let’s prepare for the trip back.”
#
Witherspoon, happy with the high grade thorium, had another mission for them, but Cramer and Mona adamantly refused to let him force another postponement of their wedding. They got by with that since Witherspoon considered they were the best miners, along with Cramer’s old mining partner, Floyd.
Everything fell in place this time. Cramer and his late wife’s daughter, Cindy, stood with Mona, and Floyd stood with Cramer. On the sandy shore of Burr Oak Lake in the wilds of Ohio, they exchanged their vows. It was here that they had first said those wonderful words of “I love you.”

I hope you enjoyed this story. As I said, I've submitted this to an online magazine that pays a hefty per word on acceptance. We'll see what happens in a few weeks. Consider this story and all previous segments copyrighted material. Thanks for those who have followed the story, Laurie, Miss Mae and Anne. Hope others have too. As always I invite any comments you may have. Larry

Fifth segment of my SF story

The snow puffed from under his boot soles as he landed with each long stride. Cramer’s mind link overrode safety protocols but couldn’t block the impending suit failure messages when his time dipped below five minutes. His legs, like lead, surprised him since he expected a sudden failure of heating in his suit. The lithium batteries, when depleted, would lose their power quickly, but under freezing conditions the voltage would plunge to zero like a switch had turned them off. Perhaps his mind played tricks on him, the way sympathy pains hit when listening to somebody describe in graphic detail their medical procedures or ailments. Maybe his mind also fed him images he wanted to see, such as Mona and her approach with the rover. He held onto that image because it was the last one he had as his suit became very cold. He toppled forward into the snow.

I know it was short but you'll have to wait until next Monday for another segment. Thanks for reading. Laurie, I left you a comment on the last segment, a brief answer to your question. Larry

fourth segment of Unscheduled Stroll on Triton

I'm giving you the fourth segment of my short SF story on Sunday night since I'll be super busy tomorrow all day.

He willed the radio’s power to increase to one hundred milliwatts. Before he turned his mental power to switch on the radio, another warning scrolled before his eyes. It read, “Danger! Increasing radio power one hundred fold will shorten suit environmental functioning to 22.5 minutes.”
“Hey. That’s a good trade off. Halving my suit’s time for a hundred fold chance of being heard,” he expressed.
He was glad that mind power overrode safety interlocks. He stood still and centered the virtual cross hairs in his helmet visor on the gleaming steel spike of the cruiser in the distance. Switch-on, he willed. The warning letters dimmed when the radio sent its thirty second burst. After the end of the transmission, a countdown of suit failure began. Cramer didn’t want to know so he willed it off and then began his loping run.
He glimpsed the severed disk of Neptune, a blue blister sitting on Triton’s horizon. Any other time Cramer would have admired that view, the mother planet with the Great Dark Spot. That far plane of Triton’s surface seemingly leading to and touching Neptune displayed the strange mosaic of channels to the practiced eye. The old Voyager flyby in 1989 had first spotted them. The regular icy features defied explanation then and even now could not be understood.
Cramer thought of the mission he and Mona shared on Titan. The people of Sirius had chosen Saturn’s largest moon to build their city under a methane lake. After exploring the old city in its bubble at the bottom of the lake, Cramer had fallen from the rover as he and Mona rode back to the ship. Lost in the ammonia snow, he’d almost perished before Mona and Lila pulled him into the safety and warmth of the ship. His suit had started its precipitous temperature drop on that occasion.

There you have the four installment of my short SF story. Tune in next week for the next segment. Thank you Miss Mae, Laurie and Anne for commenting on my blog as I continue feeding you segments of this short story. Larry

Third segment for Triton stroll

As promised here is the third segment of my SF short story Unscheduled Stroll on Triton.

He got up and despaired as the cruiser appeared as a silver needle. He couldn’t even make out the rover. He started taking big bounding strides, thanks to the light gravity. After half an hour the ship had hardly grown in size. Having one hour of air left was a small problem compared to his suit’s heating system. The thermal battery would only keep the lithium batteries warm enough to operate another forty-five minutes. He was looking at catastrophic failure, and it wouldn’t matter about the remaining fifteen minutes of air. A human body at thirty-eight degrees Kelvin wouldn’t need it, besides, the circulating system would freeze too.
If only Mona knew he was up here instead of at the base of the cliff. There was one slim chance, but it was better than his present course. He switched his suit controls from analog to mind control. Immediately, a warning message scrolled across his liquid crystal panel inside his helmet’s visor.
“I know, I know. My mind control hasn’t attained an acceptable rating to use it for suit vitals. So what else is new?” Cramer muttered.
The tiny Yagi antenna mounted atop his helmet was directional. If he could boost the radio’s power and point toward the ship, there was a chance Mona could pick it up. Carrier wave mode, the best use of power, would alert her to his whereabouts. From this distance, one hundred milliwatts ought to do it. The rover was capable of twenty kilometers per hour and Mona might reach him in time if she jumped in and came straight to him. She could plug the rover’s power source into his suit’s external power port.

There you have the next segment of my story. Enjoy and thanks for coming over to read it. Larry

Unscheduled Stroll on Triton second segment

As was suggested I'm posting the second segment of my SF story here. Cramer and Mona find themselves on Triton, large moon of Neptune, mining for thorium. Here is the next segment and thank you for reading. Well, for some reason it isn't pasting. Let me try again. Ahh, it worked that time. Second time charms.

Triton, the coldest body in the solar system nudged the Kelvin temperature scale to a frigid thirty-eight degrees. Cramer and Mona’s special suits, greedy for power to keep them warm and operate the air circulation system, short changed the radio, allowing it only a starving milliwatt of power. That provided communications for line of sight, perhaps stretching to fifty meters. No matter, Cramer thought, as he tumbled slowly in Triton’s near hard vacuum. Mona, far above him, and out of sight, wouldn’t hear him anyway.
Face down now, he could see the nitrogen/methane snow illuminated by Neptune’s eerie blue light. Slowly, the powdery white plane approached him.
Suddenly, an explosion of white fog erupted directly below him. In half a second it hit him. The nitrogen geyser spurted from the otherwise bland whiteness below. Cramer rode its force upward, much faster than his descent. He tumbled, glimpsing the rover, cruiser and Mona’s suited figure as he cleared the top and sailed in a wide arc. She didn’t see him as he barely cleared the cruiser’s sharp nose and gained height, hurling beyond. Farther he went until finally he descended at a shallow angle.
Cramer worried if his momentum would carry him beyond the plane off the far side cliff. Once he bounced, twice, three times, skidding in the snow. He knew he was close to the edge from the view of distant snowy ridges stretching to the horizon.
Okay tune in next Monday for the third segment. Let me know what you think and if you want a longer segment next time.

Unscheduled stroll on Triton, opening scene

A brief note that I'm half through typing my revisions into my WIP, the novel version of Leroy and Jody from Lab Partners.
As promised I'll give you the opening scene of my short SF story Unscheduled Stroll on Triton. This story although workshopped to death at Antioch last year was still rejected by Pedestal Magazine. Thanks to Anne and Laurie for expressing an interest in seeing this story. I'll paste in the opening scene below including an extra paragraph beyond what you all read on our chat at CTR recently.

This is a mini sequel to my science fiction novel The Higher Mission.
Unscheduled Stroll on Triton
by
Larry Hammersley

Joe Cramer fell toward the snowy surface of Triton, a little over a kilometer below him. He weighed thirteen and a half pounds here on Neptune’s largest moon, so the seventy-five second fall wouldn’t kill him. Mona Watson, his mining partner whom he had hoped to marry soon, wouldn’t be able to rescue him from the base of the butte they’d been mining. Their mining cruiser only carried their equipment and a rover, no space taxi. By the time she lifted off with the cruiser and landed it near the cliff base they’d been mining she’d only find his frozen corpse.
Moments before, he and Mona retrieved the high grade thorium ore from the side of the cliff near the top. Their cruiser and rover were parked on the flat plane above. When their catcher drills storage bags were full, Mona hoisted herself to the top to empty their contents into the rover’s ore compartment, and replace the drill bits. That’s when it happened. Cramer knew better. He’d detached himself from his safety line, intending on repositioning it so he could reach a new spot for drilling. His hand slipped and he drifted downward away from the line’s clip.
The old adage, “Only a fool makes the same mistake twice,” doesn’t apply in space. Make one mistake and no one has time to call you a fool because you’re dead. Oh, he and Mona had taken risks and ended up saving each other’s lives on several occasions but that was different from making a blatant error.
copyright by Larry Hammersley
There you have the opening scene of the story. I'm giving you the shortened version, not the longer version from the workshop. So you won't invest a lot of time reading. I'd appreciate any comments you have whether negative or positive.

WIP second time through

Well, as of today, I've been through my novel the second time. I'll now type in the revisions and see what it looks like. Maybe I'll exceed 71,000 words with the revisions typed in as I developed one of the minor characters a bit more. I made her a nicer person.
A dash of bad news. My planned trip to Nashville, TN to RWA convention is off as the Gaylord Opryland Hotel was flooded recently and RWA relocated their convention to Orlando, Florida, a distance I don't care to drive.
I kept their list of agents and will check on them to see if there is one or more I could query with my WIP, A Change Of Heart.

First draft and running

I'm working my way through the first draft of my novel A Change of Heart. I'm over half way through but will have to go through it again certainly. Another bit of non writing news. I won my age group in the mini marathon (half marathon: 13.1 miles) this past Saturday at Louisville. I have dreamed of some day winning my age group in that race and finall did. Things had to work for it to happen. I had decent conditioning, the nagging injury was toned down and no hot dog runners showed up. My time was one hour fifty-nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds. I wanted to break two hours and really had to cook that last 1.1 miles to do it. I've had six second places in that race and finally won. There were 31 men in the 70+ age group. Larry

First Draft done

My first draft of A Change of Heart is finished. It numbers 70,835 words. Now I begin the process of going through this rough draft. Should I labor for active voice all the way through? What about eliminating the "he said," and "she said," tags? New writers or unpublished writers must do this apparently but seasoned writers, what about them?

WIP first draft almost done

I am now at 70,339 words and have one scene left which is the wedding night scene. No, there won't be anything beyond sweet romance. Jody and Leroy have just finished quoting their wedding vows and the reception is over. I may complete this first draft tomorrow or next day. I don't believe I'll go beyond the wedding night even though there is a hint that Jody and Leroy's jobs may get in the way of their devotion to one another. Jody's career orientation tendencies has already been worked to death and so I probably won't go there again.

WIP report

My new novel featuring Leroy and Jody from my short story Lab Partners is now at 65,697 words and will be completed soon. In two days I will have been working on it for three months. I've written some on it every day since January 6 and continue to do so. Leroy has asked Jody to marry him and she has accepted. This was a long time in coming but how sweet it is. I've not decided how far to carry the story beyond their marriage. Still thinking on that. I don't know how many more words I'll go at this point but present plans are estimated at another 3000 or so words depending on how carried away I get with their marriage vows.

WIP, rejection and winner

First the good news. I won the scavenger hunt last night on the chat at Sweetest Romance Authors. I'll be getting the banner soon and will display it here as well as sending it to Val so she can put it on the website she is constructing me.
The bad news is I suffered another rejection of a short story, numerous reasons given not the least of which I was told I switched POV during the story and didn't know anything about the Witness Protection Program. Honestly, I learned what I could on the internet. One invalid criticism was I didn't identify the bookstores my heroine did her signings at. Well, I did. I went to the trouble of learning exactly where they were in New York City, their addresses. That can be checked out easily. This is seven rejections of contemporary stories now.
My WIP stands at 58,828 words but I don't think it will reach 70,000 words or beyond unless I think of some new twist to put into the story. I'll paste in a cover of Lab Partners since the characters in that story are cast in my WIP.

WIP continues and analytics paste

My story, A Change of Heart is now at 45K+ and has reached a critical point in JOdy and Leroy's saga. JOdy has yelled at Leroy but he was only trying to help because she is ruining her health by working such long hours.


The above is pasted from Google Analytics as per their request. I don't know what it all means but here it is. I'll be able to track traffic to my blog and hopefully there will be some. Well the script above didn't paste. Larry

Links to my ebooks

For my free read Buddy's 12-year Crush click http://www.thewildrosepress.com/buddys-twelve-year-crush-p-1099.htmlFor Lab Partners click http://www.thewildrosepress.com/lab-partners-p-536.html

For End of a String click http://www.thewildrosepress.com/end-of-a-string-p-778.html
Comment on this story. The cover does not represent the story in that there is no woman in a strapless dress nor is there a jukebox in the story. Natalie is appropriately dressed, is an electrical engineering major and very intelligent, and very modest.

For Taking Advantage click http://www.thewildrosepress.com/taking-advantage-p-3538.html
Access to all Wild Rose titles click http://www.thewildrosepress.com/larry-hammersley-m-249.html
For Motorcycle Woman click http://www.redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=484

Progress on WIP

Well, I just lost ten minutes of typing by trying to download an image from my computer. I began my new novel A Change of Heart on January 6, 2010 and have not missed a day of writing since. Here it is Jan. 30. My worst day was 58 words and best day was 1620 words. Wish I had more days like that. Today I penned 945 words. Of course nearly every day I should be doing something else but I'd get no writing done if I adhered to that. I'm worried that this won't be a full novel. I'm at 20402 words now. Leroy and Jody are in their sophomore year second semester and Jody is up to her old tricks at holding Leroy at arm's length despite Leroy doing her a great kindness which you can read about in Lab Partners, the ebook introducing these characters. Will Leroy ever be able to get close to Jody?

More on WIP

I'm continuing on my work in progress with the romance between Leroy and Jody, characters in my short story Lab Partners. I started on January 6 and have been writing every day. I'm beyond 10 K words now. Jody remains standoffish to Leroy and she senses that he's crazy about her. Gretchen, Jody's roommate wants Jody to have romance in her life and she strives to get Jody and Leroy together much to the dismay of Jody of course. A good day I'll write a little over a thousand words but that was offset with a dismal 58 words one day. Well, at least I wrote a paragraph. Thanks again to Anne, Miss Mae and Laurie for commenting below. Larry

Work in Progress

I've just started on a new novel, my fifth. It is entitled A Change of Heart. The characters are the same ones in my online short story Lab Partners. Is it possible to plagerize your own work? I don't know the implications of this so I must check on Wild Rose's contract to see if there is a problem me doing this. By the time I complete this novel Lab Partners will probably be gone from the Wild Rose catalog anyway. Nobody is downloading it any more or at least very few are. Leroy and Jody are my favorite characters. I actually wrote a sequel to Lab Partners but never submitted it.
A Change of Heart is my first attempt at writing from two view points, Leroy and Jody. We'll see how it works out. Please comment and check me out. Larry

The name of the game is REJECTIONS

Since last posting several months ago, I've reaped two more rejections from Wild Rose. The stories are Photo Beauty, a story I had critiqued at Antioch and revised extensively, and a story entitled Runner's High which relates to my knowledge as a runner. The story is purely fictional by the way. I'm not 59 years old and I'm not sweet on a 28 year old woman runner.
Presently, I have a story being considered by Wild Rose, tentative title of Buck's Wake Up Call. I'm waiting on the fate of that one. I've turned in a novel to Whimsical Publications for Janet's consideration. I have my fingers crossed on these two. See next post for a work in progress description. Larry