Wrestling

Captain's Log, Stardate 05.14.2005

I've been struggling lately with work. I want to write full-time, but at the same time I want to obey God's will and wait for Him. I've been praying for contentment with my job until He sets me free.

In wrestling with my yearning, I realized that it's like when I was single and yearning for a boyfriend. I wanted to wait for God's timing, even though I was tempted to go out and make things happen for myself. It was such a difficult time for me. Here again I'm going through something similar, yearning and waiting and wrestling and struggling and pouting.

Will there always be something in my life I'm yearning for? Is this just a pattern that will repeat itself over and over again? I had convinced myself that once I could write full-time (meaning I would make enough so that we wouldn't be financially strapped), this yearning would stop. But maybe I'd just yearn for something else.

So I've been praying for contentment and patience. Yes, I know that's a dangerous thing to pray for, but I know that's what God wants me to learn. It's just like it was before when I wanted a boyfriend/soulmate/husband--God wanted to teach me contentment and patience. I must not have learned enough, LOL.

In the meantime, I'm working on my suspense proposal again. I can't ever write full-time if I never get another proposal out there, if I never write more and more manuscripts. I'm sifting through critiques some friends made of my manuscript.

I'm so blessed to have friends who look over my stuff for me. They are honest and encouraging at the same time, and I know that they're filled with the Holy Spirit. Their spiritual guidance has influenced me more than anything else. I am so happy to have such wonderful sisters in Christ. They truly are the sisters I never had, and I'll be happy to see them in Nashville at the ACFW conference this year.

Writing: I'd like to get my website moved to a new, ad-free server soon, and to set up a monthly contest for readers. I'm wondering if I could approach authors I know relatively well to ask them to sell me signed copies of their book at their authors' cost. Is that poor writers etiquette?

Diet: I'll go running with the dog right now, and tonight we get free dinner for youth group meeting since most people are at Great America listening to a bunch of Christian music artists performing there today. It is hot as hot as hot today. I might cut the run short.

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No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

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Preorder ONCE UPON A COURTSHIP and get a free ebook every month!

My novella, Lissa and the Spy , will first be released in the multi-author box set Once Upon a Courtship: A Sweet Historical Romance Collection , and if you preorder now, you’ll be able to subscribe to a special Reader Club Newsletter. Every month from now until October 2024, you’ll get a free Historical Romance ebook from one of the authors in the box set. 1) Preorder Once Upon a Courtship 2) Fill out this form with your order number 3) Get the secret link and SUBSCRIBE to the Once Upon a Courtship Reader Club Newsletter 4) Get your first free book The sooner you preorder, the more free books you’ll get! You’ll also be alerted when the Once Upon a Courtship box set is available to read. The newsletter will end October 2024 and you will NOT be automatically subscribed to the authors’ individual newsletters. You can sign up for their newsletters yourself if you wish. Preorder Once Upon a Courtship

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Christmas Historical Romance Sale

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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

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And

"Let Me Hold You" Crossbody Bag Knitting Pattern

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A visit to Zondervan

Whew! After being offline for two weeks, I finished a book, read the Twilight series, and visited my editors at Zondervan! And I have pics! Isn't this nice of them? This was at the front door. This is the lobby area. This is my macro editor, Becky Philpott! This is my senior editor, Sue Brower! This is editorial assistant Bridgette Brooks. On the side, she teaches voice lessons and she gave me a cool pointer about supporting my breath. :) I didn't catch her at her desk, but this is the desk area of my Marketing Director, Alicia Mey! I love her wall. Some of you may know, Zondervan moved its distribution to a centralized location run by their parent company, Harper Collins. So we visited the ghostly warehouse. We thought about throwing a few paper airplanes in the space.

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