Five Minute Friday is designed for Friday writing, specifically five minutes of uninterrupted patter of the fingers representing the thoughts of the heart, soul and mind. Our fearless moderator — with help from her Twitter friends — supplies us with the one word prompt and off we go! When done, we link up at community link at fiveminutefriday.com, then settle in to gently critique and soak in our neighbors’ work. I can’t wait to find new friends this week!

I invite you to join us in reading the wide interpretations and multi-genre presentations of the prompt. Or, better yet, try your hand! It’s five minutes (more or less) with few rules and no obligations. It’s fun (albeit sometimes challenging). It’s networking at its finest.

To help inspire you to join our group, I’ve been including testimonials from writers as outlined in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat, compiled my Susan Shipe. This week, I’ll share some words from Tammy’s heart.

“I am new to FMF, I just recently heard about it and started participating. I usually miss the Twitter party. It’s a bit late for me 🙂 I am so anxious to learn what the word is, I wind up checking my phone when sleep is disrupted.

“I enjoy the challenge of ‘writing on the fly,’ without space for planing. As a planner, this is a great writing exercise for me.

“I have built community through participating. I am often surprised and delighted with how much traffic my FMF posts receive. It is  safe place to practice my craft and sharpen my skills. FMF has given me a place where I no longer feel like a ‘wanna be writer,’ but a writer!”

This week, the Kate came up with LESS as the prompt. The timer is set, so it’s time to GO …

I don’t mean to minimize the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, but in light of our prompt, I was struck with some thoughts. Being a half full type of guy, I found some positives with the pandemic.

Sure, in addition to the heath risks, the economic and social impact of the virus is significant. Closings of schools  and offices, suspending or cancelling sporting events, and limiting mass gatherings are bummers. Trying to figure out what to do for day care for those parents where schools are closed by mandate will be harrowing. Tele-working will present challenges.  Restaurants and small businesses will be impacted beyond belief. Travel plans and spring breaks are in turmoil. But …

All the disruption will give all of us a chance to do less over the next few weeks. Our choices will be limited, which means we should have more time to spend with our families … if we take advantage of it. It could be a time to reconnect with your spouse or kids. It … STOP

… could be an opportunity to catch up on the to do list, perhaps even including the whole family to clean up, spruce up or catch up. It could also be a time to some extra reading or extra study or extra prayer time — again as a family?

My thoughts and prayers go out to all impacted by the pandemic, which probably will be every one of us. I’m concerned … but I’m not worried. Because I also know I am in Good Hands, the Architect who knows the grand plan. Thy will be done.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony. — Mahatma Gandhi