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

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...

"Sincerely" by TRUE (from Violet Evergarden)

I’ve been watching the anime Violet Evergarden on Netflix and it is possibly the most beautiful anime series I’ve ever seen. The animation by Kyoto Animation is top notch, the storyline (based on the light novel series ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン by Kana Akatsuki (暁佳奈)) is emotional and unique, and the original soundtrack by Evan Call is out of this world. The vocal songs in the series are also really beautiful, but the best one is the opening song, “Sincerely” by TRUE. She not only has a beautiful voice, but the melody and lyrics are absolutely gorgeous. I can’t rave about this song enough. 知らない言葉を　覚えていくたびおもかげのなか　手を伸ばすの Each time unknown words come to mind, I reach my hand toward the traces they leave. だけど一人では　分からない言葉もあるのかもしれない But there may be words That I can’t comprehend all alone. さよならは　苦くてアイシテルは　遠いにおいがした例えようのない　この想いはとても怖くて　だけど　とても愛おしくて “Goodbye” is so bitter, While “I love you” carries a far-off scent. This incomparable feeling Is so very frightening… bu...

Window shopping

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.14.2005 Knee update: I went to the doctor today for a checkup, and saw his assistant. I’ve been concerned because there’s still inflammation in my knee joint, and it’s been almost 4 months since the surgery. She said she’d talk to the doctor about it tomorrow and call me. Sometimes he suggests laying off the PT to see if that causes the inflammation to go away, but I don’t know if that will work because lately I’ve been pretty active outside of PT. At PT today, the therapist did ultrasound and some sort of electrical current on the joint. Hopefully that will make the inflammation start to go down. I’ll know by tomorrow, probably. Writing: Mt. Hermon conference starts this Friday! On Thursday night, I’ll be at the Santana Row Borders bookstore to help out (and hopefully learn a bit, too) at a booksigning for several of the ACFW authors who are attending Mt. Hermon . That should be lots of fun. I had a good brainstorming time at ...

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...

Captivating, chapter 3

Captain’s Log, Stardate 06.30.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Monday book giveaway is CONSIDER LILY by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt. My Thursday book giveaway is LOVE ONLINE by Kristin Billerbeck and Nancy Toback . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for CONSIDER LILY and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Haunted by a Question: Sorry, this is really long again. As before, some things I liked and some questions. Eve—What Happened? The authors say: “[Eve] brought strength to the world, but not a striving, sharp-edged strength. She was inviting, alluring, captivating.” I don’t know if I buy that. I don’t know if I really see how being inviting, alluring, or captivating is a strength. I understand how restfulness (restful inner beauty?) can be a strength, or solidity like a rock. To me, that’s strength. But being alluring? Captivating? Then they talk about “Why do so few wom...

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