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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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.

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 ...

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...

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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