Skip to main content

Guest blogger Trish Perry

Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.24.2006

Fabulous chick-lit author Trish Perry is blogging with me today!

Trish's debut chick-lit novel is THE GUY I'M NOT DATING.

Kara Richardson has finally suffered one breakup too many. She's decided to go the no-dating route to romance, although she's not quite sure how that works.

She couldn't have picked a worse time to meet Gabe Paolino. Gorgeous men hardly faze Kara. A personal trainer, she works with hunks every day. But Gabe, the handsome young deli owner in town, proves way too available and way too challenging for Kara's vow of friendship. How will she adhere to her new lifestyle without scaring Gabe away?

Enter matchmaking friends, a strange elderly aunt, three demanding teens, and one hard-to-take vixen with eyes for Gabe. Add an overcrowded road trip and plenty of God's blessings, and Kara may discover that the guy she's not dating is the best boyfriend she's ever had.


And now, here's Trish!

My hubby and son left for a week of youth camp yesterday. More writing time for me!

Ahem. They left 22 hours ago. In that time I have accomplished the following:

1. Edited a chapter in a manuscript that’s due this week.
2. Grocery shopped.
3. Picked up enough carryout Chinese food to last until Thanksgiving (I like a lot of choices).
4. Read 35 emails.
5. Belted out “When I Fall” with Rachel Lampa on my Karaoke machine. Three times.
6. Watched two chick flicks while grazing, Chinese style.
7. Soaked in a hot tub while reading reviews in Book World.
8. Slept fitfully—I’m a wimp when the men folk go away.
9. Awakened and had a cup of coffee and a fruit smoothie.
10. Visited with my daughter, SIL, and grandson.

So . . . whom do I get to blame for my only writing half an hour in the last 22 hours? I need my guys to come home!

What is it about us writers? We live, live, live, to write. But we go through these weird stages when you’d think writing was like shaving your legs; something you put off until you’re just plain disgusted with yourself.

Personally, I think there’s a little battle going on, constantly, between the left and right hemispheres of our brains. The right side wants to fantasize, to consider stories and situations and possibilities. The right side even wants to put those ideas down on paper. But the left side wants to take those fantastic thoughts and organize them now. Put them on paper between 9:00 a.m. and noon, and again from 12:30 to 7:00. The left side wants to see production, not just ethereal thoughts floating around in the mind and occasionally landing on the keyboard.

Now, I love my brain—both sides. But that left side scares me just a little, and I rebel against it. It’s like physical exercise: if I think I’m just having fun moving around, I’m good to go. But if I have to work out to stay healthy? Ick! And I love reading books and discussing their merits with people. But if I reviewed for a living? I don’t know if I’d enjoy reading quite as much.

So I’m wary of giving that rigid, organized left hemisphere too much power. Don’t want the freedom and joy of the right hemisphere to be overcome by structure and obligation.

But, unless we’re writing simply to write—and some people do—we’d better rope in that right hemisphere once in a while. If I didn’t want others to read my work, I could ignore that party pooper on the left. But I don’t just live, live, live to write. I live, live, live to be read. And to play a role in spreading His Word through a truly fun medium.

So now I’m going to sit at my computer and dive back into that fun medium. Right after I thank Him one more time for blessing me with the desire to write.

And right after singing “When I Fall” one more time. Let’s go, Rachel, honey.

Camy here: You go girl! Thanks for blogging today, Trish!

TMI:

Diet:
I have a confession (Camy hangs her head). Last night I had 6 pieces of shortbread. Homemade. With oatmeal in it. And toooooooooooooooonnnnssss of butter.

I felt so guilty that today I did THREE exercise programs. I skipped the commercials, so the actual time of exercise was something like 63 minutes.

Alas, that third exercise program probably only took care of one or two shortbread cookies.

I have not touched the shortbread today.

(Sounds like a poem, don't you think?)

Popular Posts

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...

Excerpt - A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS by Nicole Seitz

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.05.2009 Update: Sorry, this giveaway is closed. A Hundred Years of Happiness by Nicole Seitz A beautiful young woman. An American soldier. A war-torn country. Nearly forty years of silence. Now, two daughters search for the truth they hope will set them free and the elusive peace their parents have never found. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, a young mother named Katherine Ann is struggling to help her tempestuous father, by plunging into a world of secrets he never talks about. A fry cook named Lisa is trying desperately to reach her grieving Vietnamese mother, who has never fully adjusted to life in the States. And somewhere far away, a lost soul named Ernest is drifting, treading water, searching for what he lost on a long-ago mountain. They're all longing for connection. For the war that touched them to finally end. For their hundred years of happiness at long last to begin. From the beloved author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass...

Z Sales Meeting

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My trip to Grand Rapids: My trip went so great! I’m hoping I remembered people’s names correctly. I arrived in Grand Rapids around 3 in the afternoon, and Joyce Ondersma (Author Relations) picked me up at the airport. I’d met Joyce last year at ICRS and she’s a wonderful person. She has glorious red hair that I totally envy. We had dinner with Sue Brower (Senior Editor) and Sherry Guzy (Marketing Director). I also met Marla Bliss and Karwyn Bursma (Marketing Director for Fiction Inspiration) and Joe Questel, who’s part of the Sales department. We had these Bang-Bang shrimp appetizers that were a blast! (heheh) They were really spicy but really good. I fought Joe for them. The day at Zondervan was fabulous. First I was shown to a separate “author lounge.” Now isn’t that just way cool? They actually had my name on the door—well, underneath John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian church (I had gone to Menlo Park Pres a few times when I was in college) ...

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...

I GOT A 3-BOOK CONTRACT WITH ZONDERVAN!

Captain's Log, Supplemental My agent called me today with the great news! Zondervan has contracted me for another three books! Right now, they’re all stand alone books—not a series. The first book is slated to release May 2010 and is tentatively titled The Year of the Dog (they’ll probably change it). It’s a women’s contemporary novel. Here’s the back cover blurb from my proposal: Tessa Ota, a professional dog trainer, is having a bad year. While moving ahead with renovation plans for her new dog kenneling and training facility, Tessa needs to move in with her disapproving mother and her antagonist sister. She convinces her ex-boyfriend to take her dog for a few months … but discovers that his brother is the irate engineer whose car she rammed a few weeks earlier. Charles Bretton has enough problems. His mama has just shown up on his doorstep all the way from Louisiana, and his brother has to move in with him after being kicked out of his apartment—with a dog in tow. And guess who...