Skip to main content

Happy Birthday to my husband!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 04.07.2005

Today, on his 39th birthday, my husband is as sick as a dog. He had a high fever this morning and I think he’s been sleeping all day. Poor guy. I’ve been praying he’ll be feeling better soon.

Last night, the San Jose ACFW group met at my house, although two people couldn’t make it. We had so much fun gabbing and talking shop. I made a chocolate trifle that turned out rather well, I thought. As sweet as sin, that’s fur shore.

Writing: Going slowly. I worked on my manuscript some last night after the meeting and got quite a bit done, but not as much as I wanted to. I pray I have the discipline to write more tonight.

Part of me is scared silly. It’s this thought, “Okay, I finished a manuscript. I want to make sure that wasn’t a fluke so I have to finish this second one.” Isn’t that just dumb? Somebody smack me.

My friend Cheryl is a genius at marketing. She’s holding a contest to attract more people to her website. Now I always assumed I’d do stuff like that once I got a contract, but she’s doing this even before she’s published. Isn’t that amazing? Gutsy but also very savvy. She’s taking advantage of this time to build up a base of people who would be interested in reading her work once it’s published (and I have no doubt it will be soon).

I wonder if I should do that. Not just marketing for myself, but also marketing for others--I could do a book give-away contest with books from my writer friends. It would build my reader base and also introduce people to other Christian authors. Hmm, I’ll have to think about that. My friend Steve is working on my website and it’s going slowly, but maybe he can help me set up something temporary so I can do that.

Diet: I pigged out a little last night and a bit today at lunch, but I also ran tonight with the dog. I pushed myself despite feeling tired, I’m glad I did.

Comments

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY NEAL!

Popular Posts

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 ...

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...

ICRS Wednesday

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.13.2007 My plane was leaving Atlanta at 4:45 pm, so I had a few hours to kill before heading over to the airport. I went and took some pictures of the ICRS floor: Here’s the Zondervan booth: On your way down to the conference floor, you have to use four elevators going down to the exhibit hall level. Zondervan made a huge banner for the 2nd elevator, and guess who’s on it with her name even bigger than Karen Kingsbury??? Um, yeah … I kind of took a lot of pictures of MY NAME BIGGER THAN THE SIZE OF MY CAR!!! Update: My husband mentioned that the above might seem like crowing or bragging. I hope it didn't come across that way. I was just awed and excited at what Zondervan has been doing for me, a mere debut author. I feel very blessed in the publisher God has given to me. I chatted a bit with Kay Marshall Strom, who is just the nicest person. I also saw Rachelle Gardner (my macro editor), her friend Vicki Caruana, and Jenn Doucette. We had a lively co...

I GOT A CONTRACT!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.29.2006 I had a wonderfully funny blog post planned for today, but I got sidetracked by some news yesterday! Zondervan has offered me a three-book contract on my Asian chick-lit series ! I’m still stunned by everything that’s happened. The series is actually a 4-book projected Asian chick-lit series about four cousins who fall under the infamous family title "Oldest Single Female Cousin," and their ruthless, wealthy grandma applies pressure on each of them to improve their lack of love interests. I think the first book is tentatively scheduled to be released in August 2007. The blurb on the series is on my website here . Brandilyn Collins posted to the ACFW loop about my writing journey, and Tamara Cooper asked that I share it. And since you all know how much I like to talk , here it is. My writing journey: Like most writers, I have wanted to write since I was very young. (In high school, I wrote a fantasy novel that will never see the light of day ...