Odds and ends

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.13.2005

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, the PT kicked my butt.

Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses.

Got a few stem cell articles:

This article discloses an amazing study where scientists were able to coax adult stem cells to change into brain, nerve, heart muscle and pancreatic cells. It was previously thought that only embryonic stem cells could be changed into these types of cell, but if adult stem cells can be used for therapy, there's no need to destroy embryos. This would also eliminate any risk of rejection of the therapy cells.

This article details how researchers are working to both immortalize sperm stem cells and also possibly "push" them back into pluripotent stem cells, which is what embryonic stem cells are. This is great to show that therapies may not need embryonic stem cells.

This is a totally awesome article about a drug that triples the number of umbilical cord stem cells for use in therapy. This could also lead to research on increasing the number of adult stem cells from other parts of the body--like brain, liver, kidney--for use in treating Alzheimer's or stroke victims.

TED DEKKER!!!
Gina Holmes has a cool 3-day interview with Ted Dekker starting today through the 15th! Check out her blog First Novel Journey.

FIRST DRAFT
FirstDraft group is a notification-only email loop that sends daily links to writing website articles. This is a terrific resource for writers to keep honing their craft. I love this group. I've learned so much from the articles.

They have just moved from YahooGroups to GoogleGroups. Membership is free, and you can option to receive individual emails, digest format, or no email and read the posts online.

Writing: I finished revising my suspense manuscript! I feel bad since it took me a lot longer than I thought. I need to get my butt in gear. It's with a few tough critique partners, so hopefully it'll be in great shape for when my agent pitches it at CBA Advance in January.

Next up: Research for my Chicklit/Suspense. I think it'll be really cool. I'm researching things I feel passionate about. That's the important part. That's what'll come through in the writing.

Comments

upwords said…

Camy,

Sorry about the PT. Ted Dekker, huh? I'll be over soon! LOL And First Draft is really informative. Or at least it used to be. I'll have to check in. The stem cell stuff is so interesting. Thanks for posting it. :)

Blessings,
Mary G.

Tue Dec 13, 07:36:00 PM 2005

Unknown said…

TOUGH critique partner? Hmm...dare I take offense to that? LOL

Wed Dec 14, 06:51:00 AM 2005

Dineen A. Miller said…

Way to go, Camy! Glad you finished. Can't wait to read more!

Wed Dec 14, 11:11:00 AM 2005

Brainstorm - character occupation

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.23.2009 Hey guys, I could use some help. In my current manuscript, The Year of the Dog , which is a humorous contemporary romance, I have a minor character, Eddie. He’s my heroine’s ex-boyfriend, and they’re on good terms with each other. He’s a bit irresponsible, but not so much so that he’s a complete loser. He’s got a very easy going attitude, he forgets to pay his bills sometimes, he’s friendly and charming. He’s adventurous and fun to be around, but he’s a little forgetful sometimes, and he tends to spend a little outside his income. I need an occupation for him. What would a charming, easy going, slightly irresponsible guy do for a living? He’s not too irresponsible, because otherwise readers will wonder what in the world my heroine saw in him to date him in the first place. She was attracted to his charm, his easy going attitude (her family’s uptight, and he was a nice contrast), and his adventurousness. But his forgetfulness and irresponsibility ...

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...

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

ICRS Wednesday

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.13.2007 My plane was leaving Atlanta at 4:45 pm, so I had a few hours to kill before heading over to the airport. I went and took some pictures of the ICRS floor: Here’s the Zondervan booth: On your way down to the conference floor, you have to use four elevators going down to the exhibit hall level. Zondervan made a huge banner for the 2nd elevator, and guess who’s on it with her name even bigger than Karen Kingsbury??? Um, yeah … I kind of took a lot of pictures of MY NAME BIGGER THAN THE SIZE OF MY CAR!!! Update: My husband mentioned that the above might seem like crowing or bragging. I hope it didn't come across that way. I was just awed and excited at what Zondervan has been doing for me, a mere debut author. I feel very blessed in the publisher God has given to me. I chatted a bit with Kay Marshall Strom, who is just the nicest person. I also saw Rachelle Gardner (my macro editor), her friend Vicki Caruana, and Jenn Doucette. We had a lively co...

I got my cover!

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. Eyes of Elisha by Brandilyn Collins Tangerine by Marilynn Griffith I GOT MY COVER!!!! What do you guys think?

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