Captain's Log, Stardate 12.30.2009 I'm over at the Steeple Hill Love Inspired authors blog today! Camy here! What are your New Years resolutions? I was talking to a friend who said that it’s better to have only one resolution. Apparently, having too many makes our minds unfocused and we end up not keeping any of them, but if we have only one, we can focus and are more likely to keep it. That makes sense to me. Click here to read the rest!

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.28.2009 I'm over at Seekerville today, talking to writers: Camy here! I wanted to talk about New Years resolutions today! Okay, don’t hate me, but I love New Years resolutions, even though I don’t always keep them. I love resolutions because they make me feel positive about a new, fresh start; a whole year of possibilities! Click here to read the rest!

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.27.2009 I’m at Girls, God, and the Good Life blog today talking about my favorite obsessive compulsive behavior. Camy here! I am writing this before Christmas, but I already know my uncle is going to cook us something FABULOUS and I will most likely pig out like a starving native. Click here to read the rest of the post!

Captain Caffeine took this picture last night! Isn't this cute? Merry Christmas everybody!

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.24.2009 I’m on Faithchick.com today talking a little about joy for this holiday season: Camy here! This past Sunday my worship team led the music for worship service. Our pastor talked about Joy, for Advent season, and one thing he asked our worship team to do is to have one of us share about Joy and then light the Advent candles. Click here to read the rest of the post!

Merry Christmas everybody! Have a terrific holiday season! Camy

Camy here: This is a fantastic resource for any Christian fiction lover! Click on the link to check it out! FictionFinder.com: Finding Christian fiction the easy way ACFW launches new free online resource to search for titles PALM BAY, Fla. — With over 500,000 books published each year, it is harder than ever to find a new book that’s just right . A simple Amazon search in the Christian literature and fiction category yields more than 17,000 results. Consumers wading through the exhaustive, seemingly endless list of choices now have a more manageable resource to help them purchase their next book. American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), the nation’s leading Christian fiction writers’ organization, is launching FictionFinder.com , a new free resource for retailers, readers, media and other Christian fiction fans to search for authors and books. The search engine allows users to sort by author, title, genre, topic, publication date, and target audience. Cynthia Ruchti, presiden...

Today's Wild Card author is: Susan Page Davis and the book: The Sheriff’s Surrender Barbour Books (December 1, 2009) ***Special thanks to Angie Brillhart of Barbour Publishing for sending me a review copy.*** Gert Dooley can shoot the tail feathers off a jay at a hundred yards, but she wants Ethan Chapman to see she's more than a crack shot with a firearm. When the sheriff of Fergus, Idaho, is murdered and Ethan is named his replacement, Gert decides she has to do whatever she can to help him protect the citizenry. So she starts the Ladies' Shooting Club. But when one of their numbers is murdered, these ladies are called on for more than target shooting and praying. Can Gert and the ladies of Fergus find the murderer before he strikes again? ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Award-winning author Susan Page Davis is a mother of six who lives in Maine with her husband, Jim. She worked as a newspaper correspondent for more than twenty-five years in addition to home-schooling her children. S...

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.16.2009 TMI Alert: I know that exercise is supposed to make period cramps lessen, but it has never done that for me. Not if I exercise the weeks before my period, not if I exercise during my period. And actually, if I exercise during or close to my period, I’ll start cramping and it’ll just be really painful and unpleasant. The other day I was running and had to cut the run short because my cramps were just bad. I normally don’t panic, but my friend has endometriosis, and for a moment I wondered if I had that since the cramps were getting to me. So I IM’d her: Me: For people with endometriosis, if you exercise, does that make your cramps worse? Her: No, it makes it better. Me: Then I guess I don’t have endometriosis. Her: You'd know beyond a shadow of a doubt because the pain is so intense. Like labor. Labor? As in, have children labor? As in, little Camys NOT running around my house? Me: Um...that description doesn’t help me any.

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.15.2009 I’m over at Girls, God, and the Good Life blog with a semi TMI post so I hope you’re not too grossed out. :) Camy here! I was just thinking about this the other day—when we’re truly ourselves with someone and they don’t run screaming in the other direction, that’s got to be love. Click here to read the rest!

Camy here: I have had the honor and privilege of meeting Lori Copeland and chatting with her, and she is one of the most wonderful women on the planet! She's warm and sweet and energetic and just a really nice person. Her personality and love for Jesus really shines through in all the books that I've read from her. I hope you see it too as you read this excerpt! The Christmas Lamp by Lori Copeland Christmas trees, twinkling lights, skating in the park, and holiday displays are the hallmark elements for celebrating Jesus birth for the sentimental residents of Nativity, Missouri. Will fiscal responsibility replace Christmas their traditions when times are tough? Though their priorities and methods clash, Roni Elliot and Jake Brisco want the same thing, for the town to prosper. As the two get to know each other better, each begins to gain a new perspective on what the real wealth of Nativity and the season might be. Lori Copeland has been writing for twenty-five years and has ove...

Captain's Log, Supplemental I’m on Janalyn’s blog in an interview! Come by and say hi!

Her Patchwork Family 2nd in Gabriel Sisters series by Lyn Cote Christmas is for Families… And Felicity Gabriel intends to build a family right away! When she inherits a mansion, she decides to turn it into a home for orphans. But her first charges test her resolve. One child is a thief, suspicious of her kindness. The other is the local judge's traumatized daughter. Broken by war, Judge Tyrone Hawkins is devastated when his little girl runs from him to Felicity. But Felicity's courage despite the town's scorn for her orphanage and her caring way with his daughter restore his lost faith. Now he wonders if they all can find the family they seek…just in time for Christmas. Excerpt of chapter one: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania May 1867 Keeping to the line of fir trees rippling in the wind, Felicity Gabriel tiptoed to the rear of the dark clump of mourners at the memorial service. There she attempted to hide behind a bulky man. A strong gust tried to snatch away Felicity's Quake...

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.10.2009 So recently, I’ve done a self-makeover. I talked about it on Faithchick today: Camy here! Recently I’ve been working on my personal style. This has mostly been instigated by the book, Women, Work, and the Art of Savoir Faire by Mireille Guiliano, the author of the book French Women Don’t Get Fat (which I loved). Click here to read the rest!

Camy here: I met Debbie for the first time at Mount Hermon Writers Conference this past year, and she is a wonderful woman! She and her buds have a very popular blog called Novel Matters where they strive to connect readers who love "Book Club fiction." If that sounds like you, be sure to check it out! Raising Rain Moody Publishers (September 1, 2009) by Debbie Fuller Thomas ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Debbie writes contemporary fiction from an historic Gold Rush town in Northern California. By day, she manages after school and day camp programs, and she burns the midnight oil to write what she loves. Her first book Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon , is a Christy finalist. Raising Rain, her second book became available September 2009. Debbie has contributed to story collections such as Chicken Soup for the Bride's Soul, and Lord, I Was Happy Shallow, along with articles in Coping With Cancer magazine. She has two teenagers and her husband is the executive pasto...

Captain's Log, Stardate 12.07.2009 The Final Crumpet by Ron and Janet Benrey No wonder the tea plants in the garden didn’t grow! When Nigel Owen and Flick Adams—the new director and curator of The Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum—dug up two stunted Assam bushes, the last thing they expected to find was the body of Britain’s most famous missing person. Etienne Makepeace, England’s renowned "Tea Sage," disappeared forty years ago without a trace. But there he lies, in the museum’s Tea Garden, buried in a shallow grave—and every policeman and reporter in the British Isles wants to know why. So does the stodgy English bank that will fund the museum’s acquisition of a major collection of tea antiquities. They’re ready to pull the plug on the deal. Nigel and Flick have no choice: to save their beloved museum, they must delve into the 1960s and discover what even the spymasters of Her Majesty’s Government don’t know—Etienne Makepeace brewed more trouble than tea duri...

Camy here: I really love this book. Debbie’s voice is warm and encouraging, and I especially enjoyed the tip she gives of starting a gratitude journal. I did, and it has really helped me see God’s hand in so many different aspects of my life ( I blogged about it on Faithchick.com ). The format of this book is convenient for a quick devotional or just reading at odd times (like while waiting for the pasta to boil). Today's Wild Card author is: Debbie Macomber and the book: One Simple Act Howard Books (November 3, 2009) ***Special thanks to Jennifer Willingham of Simon & Schuster sending me a review copy.*** In her first non-fiction title, mega-bestselling novelist Debbie Macomber illustrates the profound impact of simple acts of generosity and how lives are changed in unimaginable and wonderful ways when we share the gifts of time, encouragement, hope, laughter, prayer and even forgiveness. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Debbie Macomber is one of today’s leading voices in women’s fiction. ...