Book reviews

Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.30.2006

Blog book giveaway:
My Thursday book giveaway is THE GUY I'M NOT DATING by Trish Perry.
My Monday book giveaway is the Coffee Cup Bible Study books by Sandra Glahn.
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 GUY I'M NOT DATING and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

Book reviews: I posted a couple book reviews (below) for your viewing pleasure:

BAD HEIRESS DAY by Allie Pleiter
RECONSTRUCTING NATALIE by Laura Jensen Walker
PINK by Marilynn Griffith

And no, I didn’t get paid to say nice things about them.

TMI:

Writing: I posted another synopsis writing tip at my Story Sensei blog. And I’m working on book 2 for Single Sushi. Please pray for me if you get a chance. I feel like the creative well has run dry. Any suggestions?

Diet: I exercised today! It felt really sluggish at first, possibly because it had been 3 days since I last exercised and because my diet has been heavy on the protein all weekend. I noticed when I eat a lot of meat, my body tends to feel kind of heavy.

So maybe that Blood Type Diet is working for me, after all (my blood type is supposed to go light on the beef, pork, and lamb). It probably wouldn’t work for everybody, but it seems to for me.

I am totally loving Power Yoga! And today on Denise Austin, she mentioned doing light stretching at night as a good way to prepare your body for sleep. So all you guys going to ACFW conference in September, let’s do yoga in the hallway at night. :)

Comments

Delia said…

When I eat a lot of meat, I feel the same way; heavy and sluggish. My husband is exactly the opposite. In fact, he once did the Atkins Diet and it worked great for him. Me, ha, I lasted two days on it and couldn't stand the way I felt. I need lots of fruits and veggies. -and breads and pasta and...um...chocolate-

Wed Aug 30, 05:48:00 AM 2006

Domino said…

The well's run dry? Not a chance. Not you.

Sometimes you have to just prime the pump. My suggestion is to do something seriously silly. Walk away from the computer and pantomime a scene for a couple of minutes. Get expressive with your body. Do little boy imitations of Spiderman, if necessary. Then, go sit at the computer and step into character.

Let it flow...

Wed Aug 30, 09:03:00 AM 2006

Anonymous said…

This is going to sound crazy, but I can get the creative juices running again if I force a limit on my writing time. I make a list of all the chores I need to do. Then I set a timer for 15 minutes and can only write during that time. When the dinger goes off, I have to do the first chore on the list. Once it's finished, I set the timer for another 15 minutes. Even if I'm in mid-thought, I stop writing when the dinger goes off. That way I have something to return to when it's my 15 minutes. Plus, I'll do anything to avoid chores. By the end of the day, I have pages pluse a clean apartment.

Another trick I have is to "forbid" myself to write or even think about the story. Then I leave the apartment to walk, to shop, to go for coffee. By the time I get home, I'm so eager to get to my writing when I may have been dreading it before.

I also get inspiration from music and chick flicks. And my family, of course. Though they may wince when they see what I wrote.

Praying that the well will be full the next time you dip your bucket in...

Wed Aug 30, 12:51:00 PM 2006

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

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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...

Grace Livingston Hill romances free to read online

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Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

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A List of my Free Blog Reads

Curious about what my writing is like? Here’s a list of all my free books and the free short stories, novellas, and novels that you can read here on my blog. I’ll update this post as I add more free reads. Christian Romantic Suspense: Necessary Proof (Sonoma series #4.1, novella) Click here to buy the FREE ebook on all retailers Alex Villa became a Christian in prison, and because of his efforts to help stop a gang producing meth in Sonoma, he has been set up for the death of a cop. Can computer expert Jane Lawton find the evidence that will prove his innocence before the gang eliminates them both? Fantasy short stories: Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like. The King’s Daughter The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The...

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 ...

I sold to Steeple Hill!

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