Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.24.2005 I’ve actually gotten a lot done on the novella this week. I’ve been writing during my peak time—midnight and beyond—and wrote a powerful scene last night. My heroine had to face her insecurities about her weight and dieting, and it was both easy and hard to write because I’ve faced the same things. Today, my friend Dineen gave really good insight into the first couple chapters—she said the first chapter was kind of slow and suggested cutting it. When I did (and rewrote chapter two as the new chapter one), everyone I’ve talked to said the new version moves faster and gets the story across better. The new version cut about 1000 words, too. This novella is looking to be longer than I expected, but I still haven’t done extensive rewrites and I already know places I could cut. I’m hoping the novella isn’t longer than 30K. I think I could cut 5K without too much blood and guts. I’m so much more hopeful these past few days. I’ve been w...

I hate taking pictures, but people complained I don't have a photo. So when I went to Arizona for my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary, we all took family pictures and I took a promo shot. Say cheese. Limburger.

Captain’s Log, supplemental I had an interesting quiet time yesterday. In 2 Timothy, Paul charges him to preach the word of God. As I read that verse, I had the feeling that maybe God would want me to do that too, to lift up Christ, writing for secular audience. I don’t know for certain if this is true. I mean, breaking into ABA —and being halfway successful—is so much harder than in CBA. As soon as I got this feeling, I told God, “Dude, if that’s what You want, then it’s all on You. You’re the only one who could make that come about.” So we’ll see. = Writing: I NEED TO FINISH THIS NOVELLA!!! It’s become the bane of my life. The Smaug of my Misty Mountain . The Orcs in my Cirith Ungol. The Sauron of my Middle Earth. (Pammer, aren’t you proud of me?) Actually, I wrote for several hours yesterday, which is tons more than I’ve done the previous weeks. It was great. I can’t say I got a lot of pages done, but then again I’m a slow writer. Diet: I did Taebo to...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.15.2005 Well, it’s my first official day as full-time writer. I spend a great time with God this morning, and I’m expecting a call from Marilyn to help her with some brainstorming. I love this feeling of being available to my writing friends. However, I have been warned by my Romance Diva friend Kristen Painter not to allow people to hijack my writing time, which is like my “work hours.” Sounds like good advice. I am a red-handed robber. Yup, I admit to thievery. At the Moonlight Madness Bazaar at RWA National , I picked up a packet of teas from the Grand Rapids Region chapter table and thought it was one of those freebies. When I got home later, I saw a “3” on the corner of the label and realized it had probably been on sale for $3. So I emailed GRR-RWA to apologize for my mistake and to ask who I can send my $3 to for the tea. The VP of GRR-RWA sent a very gracious email: Don't worry about the three dollars - jus...

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.11.2005 Counting the hours until I'm done with work. Tomorrow is my last day. Yay! On the flip side, I balanced the checkbook today and paid our credit card bill. We pay in full every month, so we're not in debt, but the size of the bill made me stop breathing for a second. Or two. I haven't even paid Marilyn for our RWA hotel bill yet. Several amounts were for clothes for RWA--did I really spend that much to look pretty? No new outfits for ACFW conference, that's for sure. And I just paid for my plane ticket to Nashville . Can we really do this? Can we afford to cut our income in half? I need to stop buying books, even if they are for research and market trends. I need to really see if I can rake in some extra cash doing developmental editing, like Marilyn suggested. (Did I blog about that yet? Marilyn mentioned that I have a good feel for story structure, and I should go freelance as a developmental fic...

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.08.2005 I should have posted this last week Friday when I first heard about it, but I had to leave that night to fly to Arizona for my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary (at which I ate WAY too much decadent, sinfully delicious food). My manuscript BITTER DRAGON is one of the top three Finalists in the Suspense/Mystery/Thriller category of ACFW's Noble Theme contest. It was sent to Jenny Baumgartner at Westbow as the final round judge. The winner will be announced at the ACFW conference in Nashville in September. I'm still not completely taking this in. I'm actually one of the top three. I had been hoping for confirmation from God about my decision to quit work to write full-time. This seems like it. I'm also sad that several of my friends didn't make it, although I know intellectually we couldn't ALL be finalists. Everyone has been so incredibly encouraging. I told my agent about the contest...

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.01.2005 I've been praying about this for a month now, after fasting earlier in July and asking everyone and their dog to pray for me. This decision doesn't come lightly. I discussed it with my husband first, and I had been praying for God to speak to him as well so that we two could be in agreement. My husband said he was open to my quitting for about six months to try writing full-time. Six months will put me at the end of January, which is perfect timing if I want to find another job, since most companies start listing positions at that time. My friend Marilyn talked with me about it, because she made a similar decision a month earlier. She also pointed out that I wasn't quitting to work full-time with absolutely no encouragement to go on. I already have an agent, and I garnered interest in my writing with editors when I went to conferences and when my agent sent my Chicklit out to publishers. The time at RWA Nati...