Will resume writing mid-August

As the title says, I will be resuming Vena Cava on Monday. For all the readers who have been waiting ages for the next chapter, thank you very much for your patience. Too much things are happening in the real world for me lately and it was really difficult putting things up according to schedule. I've been busy with my rehab and wedding plans as I've been fixing my immigration papers here and also my transcripts, completion of requirements, etc... you guys get the picture. For the past few months, I've been like a messenger running to places with stacks of documents. I barely got the time to sit down in front of my computer to continue my stories for God knows how long.

Thank you also for the e-mails I received regarding Fists and Lipsticks. A lot of people have been asking me for a PDF/doc version of F&L2. For this, I would like to announce that yes, I WILL be coming up with a PDF/doc version of Fists and Lipsticks for both Book 1 and Book 2 compatible with the iTouch/iPhone. At this moment, I'm still working on the revisions. F&L is a story comprising over 500,000 words and because I am re-writing some parts, mostly scenes from Book 1, I am taking really long. I am asking everyone to please bear with me with this. Thank you for everyone's patience. For now, you are free to copy-paste the story to your MS Word for your OWN reading pleasure. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE YET IN DOC VERSION.

Thank you everyone. I miss you all!

-Mark

Thanks for everyone's birthday greetings

Hey F&L and VC readers, thank you so much for the birthday greetings and e-Cards. I'm trying my best to respond to every email as much as my hand would permit me to.

Take care everyone.

-Hiro

Still alive

Just dropped by to say that I'm still alive, hehe. I receive everyone's mail and messages via e-mail (although I have yet to check Soompi for messages there - I couldn't access the site via Blackberry for some reason).

For the past weeks I've been very busy not only with my rehab but my make-up classes for the sessions I missed in school. Also, we've been laying out the plans for my wedding. Thank you for all the messages showing support not only to my stories but also to Meia and me. We truly appreciate the kind words and the boost of confidence you give us with your enthusiasm and expression of gratitude in whatever means.

I've been finding time to post the next chapter for Vena Cava. Actually, the chapter's finished many weeks ago, but I decided to change some scenes in the last minute, which would be quite crucial in the plot because it would involve not only one but two new characters. I would post it as soon as I polish the chapter to my liking and when time allows me too.

Again, thanks for all the support. For any messages you need reply for, you can reach me faster via e-mail - hlarucea@hotmail.com

New Rehab "exercise"

My physical therapist gave me a brand new hand and finger dexterity "exercise".

^ Now that's what I call exercise!

Everyone, play this game, seriously. If Fists and Lipsticks fried your brains, this one will eat it! Haha.

Chapter 5 - Sue's Stalker now posted

The long overdue update of Vena Cava - Chapter 5 - Sue's Stalker is now up in Fictionpress.

Will be posting on Soompi later this day.

-------------------------

Copy-pasted note:

A/N: Thank you for reading the latest chapter of Vena Cava. This is way overdue again and I apologize for the delay again. Aside from the faulty internet connection, I actually left for a couple of weeks to visit my mom back in Beijing. Also, I made a couple of changes in the sequence of events. The chapter is also longer now from the previous 20 pages now up to 24. This is not only to compensate for the long update interval but I decided to sprinkle a lot of clues in this chapter. If you are observant, you’ll be able to catch them.

I won’t post when my next update will be. I don’t know why it had become a jinx. Each time I announce my updates, they always get delayed (unlike in F&L). So for Vena Cava, just expect surprise updates.

I just found out today that Vena Cava had been nominated in Fictionpress for Most Creative Plot – Incomplete. The contest is called ‘Some Kind of Romance’ or simply 'SKoW' (pretty cool name for a contest, in my opinion. It reminds me of a movie someway back). Thank you to whomever that person was who nominated my story.

For any questions or inquiries, please e-mail them to me directly at hlarucea@hotmail.com. I usually open my emails via my mobile phone so I get to access it more often that FP & Soompi. If that won’t be possible, you can post here or e-mail Meia. She goes online more often that I do.

God bless you all and I hope you liked he chapter. Any criticism is welcomed, especially constructive ones. Please inform me of any spelling and/or grammar errors I might have missed. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

- Hiro

Still no internet

It's still freezing here where I am.

To worsen things up, my internet connection has not been restored yet (until now). Hence I couldn't go online to upload my new chapters - I am using my mobile phone right now to update this blog.

I apologize for the delay. You know, I think it would be a really good thing if I refrain from posting when I would update from now on. For some funny reason, the world does some weird things to stop me from doing so, hehe.

But to give you some little spoilers, the next chapter's going to have lots of Sen and Sue scenes. As I have said, the title's going to be Sue's Classmate. So, who is Sue's Classmate? Compared to the latest chapter, Chapter 5's going to be quite a run. Also, a big revelation about Sen would be revealed.

Little delay on Chapter 5

I couldn't log-in to Fictionpress and Soompi due to internet connection issues since Friday night (I'm using my mobile phone to update this blog). Due to unavoidable circumstance, there would be a little delay on Chapter 5: Sue's Classmate. But the folks said that they're working double time to resolve the issue. They said connections would be up in a few more hours so stay tuned guys.

I'll upload the chapter right away once connections are stabilized. That would be very soon. Thank you for the patience and sorry for the inconvenience.

-Mark

Vena Cava Chapter 5 - will be out on Sunday

I'll be uploading Chapter 5: Sue's Classmate hopefully this weekend. It's actually done but I'm spacing out the updates to give room for proofreading. I'm trying to bring my old quick update pace back now that my arm is doing pretty well.

I missed writing a lot... and I'm very excited about VC's plot. After revising Chapter 1-3, I also made a rough outline of the plot from beginning to end just like what I did to F&L. My target finishing date would be September or October of 2010. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hehe.

Thank you for reading. Expect more update news exclusively posted here in my blog.

-Mark

Vena Cava Chapter 4 posted

I have posted Vena Cava's Chapter 4: Sue's Stalker in Fictionpress and Soompi. Thank you for reading! And I've revised Chapter 1 - 3 too if you still haven't heard, so feel free to re-read from the start if you want to refreshen the plot on your minds.

Chapter 4 is much lighter compared to the previous 3. But clues are stealthily scattered everywhere. Can you catch all of them? Hehe.

Fictionpress:

http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2665826/1/Vena_Cava

Soompi:

http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=288564

-Mark

It's the most wonderful time of the year

We'd like to take this opportunity
to greet our Fictionpress & Soompi friends a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

God bless you all and your families!

~ Greetings from Hiro L & Meia L

* Hey everyone, how have you all been? I'm very sorry for the lack of replies to your outpouring e-mails and messages, including questions and constructive criticism. But I've read each and every one of them (with my handy-dandy BlackB) and now that my wrist drop isn't killing my hand as much as it did before, I would reply to them as soon as I can.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the support to F&L, most especially for the get-well messages and E-cards you guys sent. I hate being dramatic but yeah, they really mean a lot to me not only as a writer but as a person.

It's been a long time since I last dropped by Soompi. I could say that I did miss the forums a lot. Hehe.

Your "BFF" (Brain-Frying Friend),
Hiro


P.S.
Please do not distribute Fists and Lipsticks 1+2 yet in .doc version. It isn't fully proof-read yet. Please keep my creepy grammar and spelling mistakes exclusive to Fictionpress and Soompi for the mean time, hehe.

I have received several requests for proofreading in Fictionpress. I'd attend to them when I get back to the US on January 2010. Though my hand is pretty functional now after they took off the brace, the holidays kept me moving from place to place; thus, I can't attend to requests yet.

Back to do something I missed

It's good to be back in Boston and except for the brace stuck on my arm for about a month now, I've been doing pretty good as far as my rehab sessions are concerned. In Detroit, I got to meet many oldies (because people who go to rehab are usually old people who suffered from stroke) and I can write again.

It's amazing how I've learned how to write with my left hand too now. That made me remember something that Dr. Young told me - that the body is able to adapt to disabilities by amplifying other parts to compensate for what it is not capable of doing. For example, sightless people do have increased senses just as much as deaf people could read the lips of the persons they talk to.

Proves that there's a genius called 'God' hanging around somewhere.

Anyway, regarding Vena Cava, I'm pretty excited to get back to it as soon as I can. I would be posting new chapters within this month and I am filled with so much inspiration in writing something new this time.

Thanks by the way for all the kind e-mails and reviews you guys sent regarding Fists and Lipsticks. There's so much editing to be done, grammar and spelling errors to be fixed, scene inconsistencies, and also pulling the whole bulk together in a single PDF file for the final manuscript... I still haven't posted my long overdue thank you notes and in-depth analysis of scenes including the answers to the questions previously posted. I still haven't dropped by Soompi yet, but Meia had kept me informed of the PMs you guys sent and it warms my heart to have read all of them.

I've received e-mails regarding the broken YouTube link to the F&L Trailer of combined Book 1 and 2. I already asked Pamie about it and she said that she would be re-uploading it to a site where the audio won't be taken down. Apparently, the Multiply.com video link isn't working anymore too. Also, Pamie and Meia are planning to make a trailer for Vena Cava too and I'm pretty excited about that too. I don't know how they'd do it, but with Pamie's editing talent I think it's gonna be great!

Thank you guys! See you around.

-Mark

DONE!

DONE!

*collapses*

Rehab and wedding plans

My next round of rehab would start on the first week of November and it take longer than the previous sessions. After that, I would be away to plan for my upcoming wedding. It's going to be so busy, so I might not be able to log-in for a while to answer your inquiries and questions regarding F&L.

I wanted to avoid another lengthy hiatus. Because of this, I have decided to upload ALL six pending chapters of F&L before this month ends.

My request, however, is to hold any unofficial distribution of a .doc version after all chapters are posted. I wanted to make final revisions to BOTH book 1 and book 2 before I release the final pdf. Please do not copy-paste Book 2 and share them via file-sharing networks without my permission.

Thank you and God bless everyone,

Hiro

Chapter 59 will be posted soon

I'm doing one last round of checks before uploading Chapter 59. It would be a short "transition chapter". Nevertheless, it would be quite interesting. Chapter 59 will be available within 24 hours.

Thank you for everyone's patience and your overwhelming support.

-hiro

Next rehab session... -#-sigh-#-

My fifth rehab session is up this week and although I've been having a lot of progress as far as my arm's motor skills are concerned, I've been experiencing some recurrence of the numbness. I'm praying that things would work out well pretty soon.

Boys and girls, please take care of your radial nerves.

I've received your inquiries and will be replying to them very soon. For those who can't download Book 1 of F&L, you can go instead to our thread in Soompi or the Fictionpress site. Half of the chapters in the Fictionpress version, however, has not been proof-checked as much as the Soompi version so if you couldn't stand massive grammar and spelling errors I have left uncorrected, I suggest you guys visit our Soompi thread.

Regarding the next chapter, it's actually done. It's some sort of 'transition chapter', but a lot will happen nevertheless. It's quite cool and I can't wait to share it with you guys. I just have to find time to do the [TAG]s and some final spell checks. I'm just not so sure when I could post it. It depends on my arm if it can stand work or not, hehe.

New readers, welcome to F&L and Vena Cava!

Regarding the PM list, you can either ask to be added to the list or better yet FOLLOW us in Soompi by subscribing to either Meia or me. We found out that the subscription feature had been added in the new Soompi so yeah, that would be cool if we use new technology.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

-Mark

No Facebook and Twitter

Again, I'd like to say that I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account. So whoever that "Hiro" is that adds you up in Facebook or Twitter isn't me. Come on guys, I'm not a Hollywood actor. Although I have movie offers coming left and right, I'm not someone worthy of being impersonated.
(Hehe... kidding).

Due to insistent public demand, yes I will be updating F&L very soon. Actually it's done but I'm doing some major revisions to the sequence of the scenes.

The next chapter's going to be very sinful. -#-evil grin-#-

-hiro

Philippine storm

I saw the deluge and massive flood in Manila, Philippines in CNN earlier. I had no idea it was that serious! I'm blessed that my relatives in Makati aren't seriously affected except for the leaking ceiling and ankle-deep flood on adjacent streets.

My Filipina crush Cristine Reyes was affected by the flood too! I wanna fly there to Marikina to personally rescue her, but Richard got in my way so... yeah. Hehe.

Kidding aside, please help by sending your donations via
Philippine National Red Cross - http://www.redcross.org.ph/Site/PNRC/wtd.aspx

RP: PHILIPPINES IN A STATE OF CALAMITY...To all my willing and abled friends and family who live in US & CANADA who wish to help in the rescue and relief operations, you may donate through the American Red Cross. Call 1-800-435-7669. Please pray for everyone affected.

Fourth wave of rehab almost done

I'm glad that I'd be finishing my fourth wave of rehab sessions this week. I could type again (although I prefer using one hand because my right gets strained easily) and I could move my wrist again with careful movements. In fact, I'm trying to type this blog entry with both hands and I'm quite proud of the fact that I could sustain holding my arms forward for more than 10 seconds without straining.

I'm excited to post the few remaining chapters of F&L and Chapter 3 of Vena Cava soon. Thank you everyone for your patience and your kind get-well-soon messages. Thank you for the reviews and constructive crits you've left via Fictionpress and Soompi. I checked Soompi a while ago and wow, some new stuff going on there. I like the new layout and features, although it still kinda confuses me, hehe.

I miss writing badly, both for the newsletter editorials and my personal fictional works. I have the feeling that I'd go into binge-writing when I get back. So many ideas in my head dying to go out in the open to cause an explosion. I like being a writing arsonist.

Hope the hand would permit. Bad nerve. Really bad nerve.

New laptop, lots of re-writing

Crap happens.

My laptop was stolen last week - THE laptop that contains the unedited, remaining chapters of F&L. Some thugs on motorcycles whacked the windows of my car while parked in front of a fastfood stall and got the laptop bag along with my cousin's iPhone and purse containing some IDs and credit cards.

Meaning, I have to REWRITE them. ALL of them. ALL remaining chapters. Crap happens, but at least I didn't break my other arm by getting into an unecessary brawl. Thank god for that at least.

I got a new laptop last Saturday. Pretty cool, but I'm not yet used to Mac.

For those waiting for the next chapter of F&L, I'll have it posted on Sunday or Monday. Rewrite is a good thing. I actually think I improved the story a bit compared to the old one. Starting from scratch gets things going and I'm pretty much getting the hang of using the laptop with just one hand. I type pretty fast now compared to before.

Vena Cava will be up too soon. I may post it with F&L or earlier. I'm just tweaking things up. Good thing I got the chapter saved in my mobile phone.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... HOME!

It's great to be discharged from the hospital today. I'd still be continuing rehab (NOT 'drug' rehab but a rehab for people with broken bones and weak muscles, hehe - people freak out when I send them a message of me being in a 'rehab') but I'll be having it back in Boston. I haven't seen Meia in a long time and I haven't gone online except through my handy-dandy mobile phone. But yeah, going home feels nice. A breath of fresh air, guilt foods, and seeing again crazy friends. Not bad, eh?

My arm still has stitches and screws but I can twitch my fingers now. Doing really better compared to before. For a while, I thought they were going to amputate my arm. There's still swelling and my fingernails are somewhat bluish, but the doctor said that it's perfectly fine and it will go back to how it was before. Again, for readers of F&L and VC who sent their get well messages, thank you so much. The hundreds of emails really warmed my heart and I can't help but go 'wow, there's a God that loves me!' along with all the concerned people.

In line with this, expect an update for F&L soon. I'd go to it once I arrive in Boston. No promises about the exact date of posting though. It's going to be doubly hard doing the [TAG]s with only my left hand working on the mouse and the keys, so thank you so much for your understanding and patience.

-Hiro