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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Poll for the title of my book!

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is The Wedding Caper by Janice Thompson . My Monday book giveaway is Thanks for the Mammogram! AND Reconstructing Natalie , both by Laura Jensen Walker . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on the blog posts above . On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for The Wedding Caper and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Pick my title! The Zondervan Marketing Department is torn about which title would be best for my debut novel. So you guys get to weigh in! Here are your choices: Solo Sushi Sushi for One Single Sushi Solo Sashimi Leave a comment about which you prefer and WHY. I’ll run this poll for a couple weeks to figure out which will be the title for my new book! TMI: Writing: I posted another "Health and the Writer" post at WriterQuotes , and an agent post at my Story Sensei blog . And in case you missed it, my review of The Guy I’m Not Dating by Trish Perry is ...

Mon afghan

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Mansfield Park (BBC 1986)

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. Valley of Betrayal by Tricia Goyer It Happens Every Spring by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer Jane Austen miniseries I love Jane Austen. She’s my favorite classic writer, and I even bought audiobooks of her novels and listen to them again and again. I also love Amazon.com and visit my Gold Box every day (not that I buy that often). One day I had a deal for the entire set of DVDs of miniseries produced by BBC of Jane Austen’s novels. No, I didn’t buy the set—but it made me curious, and so I put the miniseries on my Netflix queue. The miniseries are all rather old. I just finished Mansfield Park . I’m quite divided on it. Costumes: score 4. They were mostly really rather nice, appropriate to the character’s background and income, and not too flamboyant, although there were several places the women’s headgear was just way over the top. Acting: score 4. I l...

Got my books!

Captain's Log, Supplemental Okay, I'm still at the library and Captain Caffeine sent me these pics since I wasn't home when they arrived: MY AUTHOR COPIES ARRIVED! Wow, that's just so cool. And I'm so glad Captain Caffeine sent me pics!

Grace Livingston Hill romances free to read online

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci...

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