Making Mistakes

Captain’s Log, Stardate 12.29.04

I had a wonderful word of encouragement from Sharon today. She pointed out that I have a lot of fear-based thinking: If I don’t make the right decision, God won’t bless my writing career. That’s so limiting to God. Plus I’m human, of course I’m going to make mistakes. God’s grace is big enough to cover me. If my heart is earnestly seeking His will, even if I foul up, He forgives and He still blesses.

I am feeling better today about returning to work. Last night, my husband was very honest about how he’d prefer I have a stable job because he can’t guarantee he’ll even have a job at the end of January. Apparently this coming month will make or break his start-up company. I don’t know what I’ll do if work is so bad that I have to quit, despite not having another job lined up. I guess we’ll talk about it then. He has said he doesn’t want me to work for a bad manager, but I don’t know if he realizes how hard it is for me to return to this company.

I’m such a Voyager junkie. I watched the last disc of season 6 last night and I’m craving the next ones from season 7, which I won’t receive from Netflix until tomorrow.

Writing: I wrote about 2 pages yesterday (43-45). Hopefully I can get busy today and write more. I also need to write my Real Life Q&A column for RubyZine January 2005 issue. I think I will write about failure. :) I am also thinking about revising my YA short story “Jenny’s Winterball” and submitting it to some magazine for their December 2005 issue. I should probably get busy on that, finding markets for it. I think it’s too young and phoofy for Brio Magazine or Young Salvationist, probably more geared toward inner-teen age, 10-14.

Diet: doing okay, limiting myself to less than 2000 calories a day (and yes, I’ve been counting as well as I can). I should probably limit myself to 1500 calories but at least I’m not pigging out as much as I was before. I’m even eating healthy things like cottage cheese. :)

Comments

Brainstorm - character occupation

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.23.2009 Hey guys, I could use some help. In my current manuscript, The Year of the Dog , which is a humorous contemporary romance, I have a minor character, Eddie. He’s my heroine’s ex-boyfriend, and they’re on good terms with each other. He’s a bit irresponsible, but not so much so that he’s a complete loser. He’s got a very easy going attitude, he forgets to pay his bills sometimes, he’s friendly and charming. He’s adventurous and fun to be around, but he’s a little forgetful sometimes, and he tends to spend a little outside his income. I need an occupation for him. What would a charming, easy going, slightly irresponsible guy do for a living? He’s not too irresponsible, because otherwise readers will wonder what in the world my heroine saw in him to date him in the first place. She was attracted to his charm, his easy going attitude (her family’s uptight, and he was a nice contrast), and his adventurousness. But his forgetfulness and irresponsibility ...

Lavender hand lotion

Captain's Log, Stardate 11.05.2009 I have to tell you, I LOVE Etsy.com ! Etsy is dedicated to providing a marketplace for people who like to make handmade products and people who appreciate them (and buy them). It has everything from handmade gifts (like my mom’s Bucilla Christmas stockings and ornaments and tree skirts and wall hangings and … well, just click here to see what she has! ) to soaps and lotions and jewelry and knitted items and hand-painted yarn and ... I could surf that website for DAYS. Anyway, lately I’ve been concerned about the lead content in my lotions, especially since I’m using them more now that it’s turned colder and drier here in California. I have to use lotion on my hands everytime after I wash them. So I went onto Etsy and searched for organic hand lotions, and bought this lavender lotion from Lue Cosmetics . What was really nice is that the owner, Jane, sent me a direct message via Etsy right after I made the purchase to ask if I’d received it yet and ...

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th...

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

I got my cover!

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. Eyes of Elisha by Brandilyn Collins Tangerine by Marilynn Griffith I GOT MY COVER!!!! What do you guys think?

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