One Thousand Gifts-8

Captain’s Log, Stardate 11.24.2006

I’m participating in the “One Thousand Gifts” list from Christian Women Online. Click on the picture to find out more about it.

176. That my friends understand that THIS IS NOT IN ANY KIND OF ORDER, YOU DOOFUSES! (ROBIN!)
177. Barb, for the beautiful elements she makes and posts for people to download for free
178. That we can pray to God for things as serious as our health and our jobs, but that we can also come to God for things like our writing, book deals and contracts, and release dates. I recently saw an e-mail about this—God says to come to Him for everything so why not for our books? They’re written for His glory.
179. The kids in my church youth group, whom I don’t want to name by name because of internet security, but who are God’s gift to me in so many unexpected ways
180. The parents of my youth group kids, who totally love the Lord and seek His will for their children
181. The staff workers of my church youth group, whom I also don’t want to name by name because of internet security, but whom I’m very grateful for
182. My youth/associate pastor, who is just incredible in organization, vision, implementation, and teaching
183. My church head pastor, who always makes everyone in the congregation very welcome
184. My cute fat red teapot. It’s cute, fat and red. What’s not to like?
185. The tea cozy I made out of my red tea towels and a rubber band—cheap and useful
186. Adagio teas, especially their Irish Breakfast blend
187. Republic of Tea teas, especially their Peach Ginger tea
188. My Hawaiian hardwood cutting board, perfect for small jobs
189. My bamboo wood cutting board, which is so nice to use, not too heavy
190. Cloth handkerchiefs—so much heartier than tissues (sorry, is that TMI?)
191. My 60 GB iPod, which acts as my harddrive backup
192. My iPod Nano, which is perfect for when I go walking with the dog
193. Joy Williams’ Genesis CD
194. Natalie Grant’s Awaken CD
195. Homemade dark chocolate truffles!!!
196. cordless phones—thank you God for inventing these
197. rechargeable batteries—ditto
198. flash drives—double-ditto
199. long scarves—soft, feminine, warm, or alternately silky, feminine, filmy
200. fireplaces during the wintertime—love the smell and the warmth

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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 ...

New book idea a la Captain Caffeine

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Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

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I GOT A CONTRACT!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.29.2006 I had a wonderfully funny blog post planned for today, but I got sidetracked by some news yesterday! Zondervan has offered me a three-book contract on my Asian chick-lit series ! I’m still stunned by everything that’s happened. The series is actually a 4-book projected Asian chick-lit series about four cousins who fall under the infamous family title "Oldest Single Female Cousin," and their ruthless, wealthy grandma applies pressure on each of them to improve their lack of love interests. I think the first book is tentatively scheduled to be released in August 2007. The blurb on the series is on my website here . Brandilyn Collins posted to the ACFW loop about my writing journey, and Tamara Cooper asked that I share it. And since you all know how much I like to talk , here it is. My writing journey: Like most writers, I have wanted to write since I was very young. (In high school, I wrote a fantasy novel that will never see the light of day ...

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