I want to set up a macro which will perform various actions - mostly
simple, like typing this, that or the other into cells, deleting cell
entries, etc. I'm a complete beginner with VBA, so I want to do the
macro by recording, for example:

ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "a"
Range("C7").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "b"
Range("C8").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "c"
Range("C9").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "d"
Range("C10").Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "e"
Range("C11").Select

What I'd like to do after I've recorded it (eg as above) is insert
pauses and make message boxes appear and disappear at various places
and times. Can anybody tell me how?