I'm free!

Captain's Log, Stardate 05.21.2005

I was supposed to accompany my husband to a youth group outing tonight to see Star Wars III. My husband, the darling man, said I didn't have to go because almost all the kids will be accompanied by their parents tonight. So instead I get to stay home and write.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I hate going to movie theaters. I have very definitive reasons why:

1) I always have to use the bathroom in the middle. No exceptions. For Lord of the Rings, I had to go twice. It doesn't matter if I go 3 times in the half hour before the movie starts, or if I don't drink anything the hour before and inside the theater.

2) Because I have to go to the bathroom, I have to make sure I get a seat at the end of a row, which stinks in terms of viewing the screen. When a theater is packed, like tonight will be, getting an end seat becomes ten times more difficult. Since I get motion sickness easily, I can't sit in the very front row and I need to find that all-important end seat in the rows at the back half of the theater.

3) Even before I tore my ACL, my knee ached when I sat for too long. My knee was always stiff and painful when I got up to use the bathroom, and at the end of the movie. Since the surgery, I haven't gone to a theater to test how bad it is. I can't think that reconstructive surgery would improve things.

My article "Writing Styles: Confessions of a Plotter Who Used to Be a Pantser" appeared in Spirit-Led Writer today. I'm totally stoked. It's the same article that appeared in the ACFW newsletter last month. These article publishing credits are so rare for me because I don't write many articles and don't have the writing experience to say anything unique or credible anyway.

Writing: Finished my suspense proposal, now I just need my friends to finish critting my manuscript so I can send it to my agent. Now I also have time to look over other peoples' writing--I've been meaning to get to Pammer's stuff for WEEKS (sorry about that, Pams), and Squirly just sent me her awesome military ops romance, Ominous Code. Woohoo! I also hope to get more serious on my Hawaii Chicklit. I really want to bust my butt and shoot for a July 1st deadline.

Diet: Had a birthday party today and didn't do too bad. Managed not to stuff myself on appetizers and limited myself to one hamburger. I also went running with the dog, although it was so flippin' hot I thought I'd die before we were halfway. My scale still says I haven't lost any poundage, but I tried on some pants today and can now button a pair of khakis I couldn't button last week.

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I’m done

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.17.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is THE PREACHER’S DAUGHER by Lyn Cote My Monday book giveaway is BLIND DATES CAN BE MURDER by Mindy Starns Clark . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for THE PREACHER’S DAUGHTER and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. I’m done. At the beginning of the year, I made a goal of three books this year. That’s four months per book. I started this manuscript January 15th. I finished in the wee hours of May 17th, so it took me about four months, a day and a few hours. Yay me. I’m going to bed now. Yes, this is the espresso maker on the right, and a professional coffee grinder on the left. By the espresso maker, I mean the one I promised to my long-suffering husband if I got a book contract, as a reward for letting me quit my biotech job and write full-time.

Romantic guys

Captain’s Log, Stardate 10.13.2006 Heroes: I’m a TV junkie, I admit it. I’m hooked on the new series called Heroes. (It’s like X-Men, but before they realized their powers and came together to become the X-Men. And without the funky costumes.) Okay, regardless of the X-Men type storyline, one of the heroines—a high school girl—is talking to a boy she likes, the quarterback of the football team. He’s sweet-talking her and being very flattering. She says he doesn’t really know her very well. He goes into this romantic spiel about how he notices she draws unicorns in the margins of her notes in class, etc. Now here I pause the TiVo and turn to Captain Caffeine. Skeptical Asian wife: “That’s so un-guy-like! How realistic is it for a typical guy to say something eloquent and romantic like that?” Captain Caffeine: “It sounds romantic because he’s the quarterback of the football team.” Confused Asian wife: “What do you mean?” Captain Caffeine: “If he were a computer geek, he would sound like...

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 ...

ICRS Tuesday

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.11.2007 I started the day with a great meeting with Al Hsu , an editor at InterVarsity Press. We discussed Asian Americans—fiction, non-fiction, the church, family. He’s been in publishing for many years and is very wise. We had a great discussion. I also met his wife Ellen, who’s totally nice and is also into card-making! I wandered the floor and happened to meet Robin Jones Gunn. She asked if I’d eaten yet, and since I hadn’t, said to join her for lunch. On the way to lunch, we met Mark Mynheir, and he gave me a copy of his book, got The Void . Isn’t that cool? Robin has so much wisdom. I loved having lunch with her. She gave me such good advice, both professionally and spiritually. I hope I’ll get a chance to have lunch or dinner with her at the ACFW conference in September. I met up with agent Steve Laube, and walked with him to his next meeting, but on the way we were hailed by Cec Murphy and agent Jeff Dunn. Jeff had been the first editor to request...

Ironman

Captain's Log, Stardate 11.12.2008 I realize I’m late in posting this, but I just saw Ironman a couple weeks ago and it was FABULOUS! It was the most entertaining movie I’ve seen in a long time. I even liked it better than Mr. and Mrs. Smith (although that flick is a close second). I think because the acting was great. Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow were fantastic. I especially liked how the Pepper character is an older woman with more maturity than, say, MaryJane in Spiderman . Pepper was strong, intelligent, and relatively cool under fire. And did you guys catch the Easter Egg at the end of the credits??? Awesome!!!

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