Seekerville blog

Captain's Log, Supplemental

I owe a lot to writing contests.

Before I was contracted, I won first place in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category of the ACFW Noble Theme contest, which garnered me some fabulous attention from editors and agents.

Partly because of that, I’ve coordinated the ACFW Genesis contest (the Noble Theme was renamed the Genesis the year after I won) for the past two years. 2008 will be my third time coordinating!

I love writing contests—I can’t experience the thrill and anguish of entering, so I coordinate and judge (other contests—not the Genesis, for obvious reasons). I love hearing from entrants, emailing judges, tallying the scoresheets and seeing who finals.

A lot of my friends have finaled and won writing contests, also. Some have gone on to be contracted with publishing houses.

In honor of our love of/obsession with/irrational addiction to writing contests, fourteen of my writer friends and I have started a blog dedicated to contests.

We cover everything from writing craft, tips for savvy contest entering, lists of contests, encouragement and the occasional kick in the pants.

Welcome to Seekerville!

We’ve got a massive 3-month launch party going on. We’ll be giving away books written by our members (including mine, Only Uni, in February), Amazon gift certificates, and critiques of YOUR manuscript excerpt by us, the contest divas.

Head over to Seekerville to find out how to enter and join the party!

P.S. You don’t need to be a writer to enter to win!

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Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha tea review - MastersTeas.com

Today’s blog post is another review of the teas I received from Masters by Adagio Teas. Today I am reviewing the Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha green tea . See here for my thoughts on Masters Teas and its website in general. I took pictures of the tea before steeping and after steeping, but because the light is different on different days, I also included some rosemary and chocolate mint sprigs so you can compare the color of the tea. Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha: According to the website: “With its exquisite spear-like leaves, our Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha is a very young plucking. A gentle yet complex cup, it offers notes of spring flowers, sweet grass with traces of lychee. A beautiful tea for those who want the experience of a green tea without the sharp grassiness found in other styles.” “This tea contains a moderate level of caffeine. Steep at 170° for 2-3 minutes.” I put 1 heaping tablespoon of tea in 235 mL (about 1 cup) of 170℉ water for 3 minutes. Since the leaves are extremely long

Coming soon to Camy’s Patreon

My contemporary books are coming to my Patreon! (Did I just slip a teaser of a cover reveal in there for a new book? Why yes, I did.) My Patreon subscribers overwhelmingly voted to have me post my contemporary books in addition to my Regency novels, so I’ll be releasing chapters once people vote on which book to start with. If you subscribe, you’ll be able to read chapters every week and get a complimentary .epub of the book once it’s done posting. Unfortunately, my Patreon URL is CamilleElliot and I can’t change it, but it’ll be a Camy Tang/Camille Elliot Patreon with both my contemporary and historical books, at least for now. Tier 1: Ramparts Agent will get you access to all my contemporary books. Higher tiers are more targeted toward my historical novels for the moment, but that could change once I figure out how to manage my Patreon for both my pen names. I invite you to join my Patreon to get first access to my contemporary books before they go live on Amazon! Join Camy’s

Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter

I worked on my first Kickstarter and it got approved! It’s for the Special Edition Hardcover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer and the release of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster. I contacted my graphic designer about the Special Edition Hardcover of vol. 1: Archer—it’s going to be SO beautiful! The Kickstarter focuses on the Special Edition Hardcover, but it’ll also include vol. 7: Spinster so that it’ll sort of be like a launch day for vol. 7, too. A third special thing that’ll be in the Kickstarter is Special Edition Paperbacks of all the books in the series. They won’t be available in stores, just in the Kickstarter (and later, from my website, and also in my Patreon book box tiers if I decide to do them). The Kickstarter is not live yet, but you can follow it to be alerted when it has launched. (You may need to create a free Kickstarter account.) Follow Camy’s Kickstarter

Got my books!

Captain's Log, Supplemental Okay, I'm still at the library and Captain Caffeine sent me these pics since I wasn't home when they arrived: MY AUTHOR COPIES ARRIVED! Wow, that's just so cool. And I'm so glad Captain Caffeine sent me pics!

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

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures

Romantic guys

Captain’s Log, Stardate 10.13.2006 Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. My Monday book giveaway is Thanks for the Mammogram! AND Reconstructing Natalie , both by Laura Jensen Walker . My Thursday book giveaway is Hot Flashes and Cold Cream by Diann Hunt . You can still enter both giveaways. On Monday, I'll draw the winners for the Laura Jensen Walker books and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Pick my title! I’m still holding a poll for the title of my book! Go to this blog post to cast your vote! Heroes: I’m a TV junkie, I admit it. I’m hooked on the new series called Heroes. (It’s like X-Men, but before they realized their powers and came together to become the X-Men. And without the funky costumes.) Okay, regardless of the X-Men type storyline, one of the heroines—a high school girl—is talking to a boy she likes, the quarterback of the football team. He’s sweet-talking her and being very flattering. She says

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

Toe socks

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.11.2008 Update: I also wrote out the pattern for a pair of tabi socks, or split-toe socks . I can't help bragging a little. I just finished my first pair of toe socks (I have an unfinished pair of toe socks somewhere, but this is my first completed pair). These are a belated (VERY belated) graduation present for one of my high school girls in the church youth group. She wanted toe socks in Slytherin colors. I had a time finding superwash sock yarn in green and silver, and you can tell these are very different types of yarn (one is merino superwash, the other is a wool/elastic blend). But they knit up at the same gauge (almost) and look quite nice, if I say so myself. They look a little creepy (almost like freaky alien hands). You can see the bump from the heel on the right sock. I used Michelle Cho's toe sock pattern Update: The previous link was taken down, but here's another that's actually a bit better: Unicornbooks.com toe socks pat

One-Skein Pyrenees Scarf knitting pattern

I got into using antique patterns when I was making the scarf my hero wears in my Regency romance, The Spinster’s Christmas . I wanted to do another pattern which I think was in use in the Regency period, the Pyrenees Knit Scarf on pages 36-38 of The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting, and Crochet Work, volume 1, by Jane Gaugain, published in 1840. She is thought to be the first person to use knitting abbreviations, at least in a published book, although they are not the same abbreviations used today (our modern abbreviations were standardized by Weldon’s Practical Needlework in 1906). Since the book is out of copyright, you can download a free PDF copy of the book at Archive.org. I found this to be a fascinating look at knitting around the time of Jane Austen’s later years. Although the book was published in 1840, many of the patterns were in use and passed down by word of mouth many years before that, so it’s possible these are

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Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter