Captain’s Log, Stardate 09.02.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Monday book giveaway is the Coffee Cup Bible Study books by Sandra Glahn . My Thursday book giveaway is PINK by Marilynn Griffith . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winners for the Coffee Cup Bible Study books and post the title for another book I'm giving away. ICRS, revisted: Mark Goodyear was kind enough to mention my blog when he blogged himself in response to a negative LA Times article about ICRS. Birthday fun: I got this from Dream . You go to Wikipedia and type in your birth month and day (but not year) in the search box. Some highlights: Events: 303 - On a voyage preaching the gospel , Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens , France . 1890 - Yosemite National Park established in California . 1970 - The Partridge Family debuts on ABC-TV and would run for four years. (I never saw this show.) 1981 - Sandra Day O'Con...

Captain's Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: My Monday book giveaway is the Coffee Cup Bible Study books by Sandra Glahn . My Thursday book giveaway is PINK by Marilynn Griffith . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winners for the Coffee Cup Bible Study books and post the title for another book I'm giving away. FIRST: This month’s novel excerpt is SQUAT by Taylor Fields (posted below). Marketing for writers! The members of the CAN ( Christian Authors Network ) Marketing blog entitled We Can! promote our books, formally welcome you to join our little corner of cyberspace. Check us out at: http://canblog.typepad.com/canbookmarketing/ Twelve authors will be participating in this blog: Monday: Tricia Goyer and Gail Gaymer Martin Tuesday: Cyndy Salzmann and Allison Bottke Wednesday: Suzie Eller and Sharon Hinck Thursday: Susie Larson and Camy Tang Friday: Mary E. DeMuth and Kathi Macias Saturday: Jil...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.23.2006 Self-discipline: So y'all know I've been struggling with this for at least a year now, in relation to my writing, exercise, diet. And I'm still struggling. So now I come to you guys for more help. How the heck do you discipline yourself??? I've been trying this new thing where I don't check e-mail until the evening so that I'm forced to do work all day. It's going okay, but I don't always fight the temptation to open my e-mail. So??? Any tips for someone like me??? TMI: Writing: Speaking of tips, I posted another synopsis-trimming tip on my Story Sensei blog . If you guys have a question for me, just e-mail me. I'm working on the new story. Using Donald Maass's WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL WORKBOOK to find more conflict, obstacles, turning points. This book totally rocks.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is WEB OF LIES by Brandilyn Collins . My Monday book giveaway is SECRETS OF THE ROSE by Lois Richer . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for WEB OF LIES and post the title for another book I'm giving away. ICRS, revisted: Mark Goodyear was kind enough to mention my blog when he blogged himself in response to a negative LA Times article about ICRS. Personally, I loved ICRS. All those booths with Jesus trinkets and stuff. Yes, I admit, there is a serious shopper hidden in me. Give this girl some cash and she's a dangerous force of nature. Are those things all that bad? I love them. Okay, I admit, most of the Precious Moments stuff doesn't really appeal to me, but there are tons of other things in Christian bookstores that could entertain me for hours. So what do you think? Jesus turning tables or walking through a m...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 07.25.2006 I'm gone to RWA National conference : This might be my last post for the rest of the week, depending on if I can get internet access at my hotel. Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is WEB OF LIES by Brandilyn Collins . My Monday book giveaway is BE MY NEAT-HEART by Judy Baer . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. I won’t be drawing a winner this Thursday, but on Monday, July 31st, I'll draw the winner for BE MY NEAT-HEART and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Blame Mary: My beautiful friend Mary DeMuth is hosting a “Carnival of Beauty” on Wednesday. I’m not really sure what that means, but she asked me to join so I said “Cool!” The theme is “The Beauty of Blogging.” Now blogging I could talk about all day! Blogging is beautiful for people like me who can’t shut up. Maybe it’s ego-centric. I mean, blogging is uncensored, unedited writing/ranting/complaining/crowin...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is TANGLED MEMORIES by Marta Perry . My Monday book giveaway is DIVINE STORIES OF THE YAHWEH SISTERHOOD edited by Michelle Medlock Adams and Gena Maselli . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for TANGLED MEMORIES and post the title for another book I'm giving away. ICRS, part 3 (continued from part 2 ): It was a night for being stupid. Me, that is. Sue Brower invited me and a few others to sit and chat in the bar area after the Christy awards. A woman sat down next to me. Her face looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Then I glanced at her name tag. “Hi,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Karen Kingsbury.” What does your loud Asian chick do? Why, nothing less than shriek, “OH MY GOSH! I AM SO EXCITED TO MEET YOU!” Karen was very gracious despite the fact I was probably embarrassing her. I had forgotten my came...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 07.16.2006 Leave any prayer requests in the comments and I’ll be praying this week. You don’t have to be Christian to leave a prayer request. If you’d rather not advertise to everyone on the blogosphere, just leave an unspoken prayer request or e-mail me. If I forgot your prayer request, e-mail me. Not to be mean or anything, but if you don't e-mail me or comment to update your prayer request, I'm only going to pray 3 Sundays. Lord, let your glory fall on us. I lift up Brenda, Gail, and Bob to you. Give them strength and grace. I lift up Jaen and Kevin to you, Lord. I pray for healing for him and strength and grace on him and the entire family. Protect Heather from more spiritual warfare. Shore her up, give her strength and determination to resist. Don’t let her give in or bow under it. Strengthen her with your armor, Lord. Heal Pammer’s body from any aches, pains, or allergies. Protect her and her family from spiritual warfare, also. Calm her and give h...

Captain's Log, Stardate 06.28.2006 I'm a favorite blog! Tricia Goyer conducted a small blog survey, and she compiled a list of favorite blogs from the survey participants. Tricia also blogs at Gen X Parents and WriterQuotes (where I'm a contributor--every Monday is my Health and the Writer column). Novel Journey - Gina Holmes, Ane Mulligan, Jessica Dotta - author interviews blog Author Intrusion - Lisa Samson Faith in Fiction - Bethany House Fiction Acquisitions Editor Dave Long The Uprising - Lisa Koons Rhythms of Grace - Marilynn Griffith Christian Fiction - Dee Stewart The Master's Artist - Christian writers' group blog Girls Write Out - Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter, Diann Hunt, and Kristin Billerbeck Forensics & Faith - Brandilyn Collins Romancing the Blog - Romance writers group blog Dee's Blog - Deeanne Gist Relevant Prose - Mary DeMuth Your Writers Group - WaterBrook Press Acquisitions Editor Mick Silva The Writing Life - Howard Fic...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 06.13.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is A STITCH IN TIME by Allison Bottke . My Monday book giveaway is RV THERE YET? by Diann Hunt . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for A STITCH IN TIME and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. My new publisher: I just discovered a Zondervan blog . Yeah, I’m behind the times. There’s also a Zondervan MySpace —become a friend! TMI: Captivating: I started my Blog Bible Study with Heather and other new friends, and I’m liking it. It’s making me think about my femininity more than I have in a long time. I don’t usually think of myself as feminine because I’m usually pretty logical and pragmatic. I’ve instructed my husband not to give me cut flowers because they’ll just die and it’s a waste of money. Try to tell me that’s not the most unromantic thing ever! Sometimes I revel in my unromantic nat...

Captain's Log, Stardate 06.03.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Monday book giveaway is EVERYTHING’S COMING UP JOSEY by Susan May Warren . My Thursday book giveaway is HEARTS ON THE LINE by Margaret Daley . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for EVERYTHING’S COMING UP JOSEY and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Subscribe to my blog via email! Now you can option to read my posts as an email instead of visiting my blogsite or using an aggregator like Bloglines. I have a new FeedBlitz box on the sidebar to the right (after the Blogroll) so that you can enter your email address. You still have to visit my site to comment, though. I used to have Blog Flux but they totally annoyed me with their web dashboard and the email format, so I switched. I'll see how I like FeedBlitz instead. TMI: Writing: So I just finished my Marketing Information Sheet for Zondervan, and they wan...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.23.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is ONCE UPON A CHOCOLATE KISS by Cheryl Wolverton . My Monday book giveaway is A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND by Kristin Billerbeck . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for ONCE UPON A CHOCOLATE KISS and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Unequally yoked: I have a lot of Christian friends married to non-believers, or who used to be non-believers. I can’t even fathom the kinds of issues they have to deal with on a daily basis. This new blog Spiritually Unequal Marriage is for encouragement and practical advice. It’s a totally awesome ministry. Even if you’re not in a spiritually unequal marriage, please go show your support and say a prayer. TMI: Writing: Several friends insisted I need to reward myself for finishing my manuscript, so I went to Safeway and bought four pounds of bing cherries. These...

Captain's Log, Stardate 05.01.2006 Today I get to interview the fantabulous Tricia Goyer ! Many of you know her for her powerful WWII novel, FROM DUST AND ASHES. I met her at Mount Hermon in April and she's totally fun to talk to. And now, here’s my interview with Tricia Goyer! It was so much fun meeting you at Mount Hermon! How many years have you gone to Mount Hermon Writers Conference? What are you favorite memories from the conference? I attended my first Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference in 1994. I was 22-years-old and pregnant with my third child. No joke! I have many wonderful memories--my hands shaking with nervousness as I sat at an editor's table, meeting other wanna-be-writers who are now heart-friends, presenting my proposals to wonderful editors such as Steve Laube and Karen Ball (they were helpful despite the fact I had no idea what I was doing!). I also remember joining with the others to sing and pray in the auditorium during the main sessions...

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.29.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Monday book giveaway is THE REMEDY FOR REGRET and A WINDOW TO THE WORLD by Susan Meissner . My Thursday book giveaway is MOTHER OF PREVENTION by Lori Copeland . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for Susan Meissner's books and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Care packages: I am one lucky girl. I don't know if it's just my parents, or if it's all Asian parents, or if it's parents in general, but my folks send me care packages all the time. It's just like college. A few weeks ago, my dad sent my husband a case of home-made beer. Porter stout. Yesterday, I got a huge box filled with Styrofoam chips and three packages of taro chips, because they know it's hard for me to find those here in my area. I admit, occasionally call home and ask for something. A few weeks ago, I asked Mom for ...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 04.26.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is A BABY FOR DRY CREEK by Janet Tronstad . My Monday book giveaway is THE REMEDY FOR REGRET and A WINDOW TO THE WORLD by Susan Meissner. You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for A BABY FOR DRY CREEK and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Continued from Mount Hermon recap, part 7 : Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference is held every year during the weekend of Palm Sunday. This year, it was April 7th – 11th. An unofficial tradition has been when the Night Owls gather in the coffee lounge to gab, check email, get slap-happy, and then get kicked out when maintenance closes the lounge at midnight. Last year in September at the ACFW conference in Denver, Brandilyn Collins had a meeting of all the “BGs”—the blogger friends who read her blog—and created a round robin story that she posted on h...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 04.22.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Monday (well, really Tuesday) book giveaway is the Flanagans series (4 books) by Marta Perry . My Thursday book giveaway is A BABY FOR DRY CREEK by Janet Tronstad . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for the Flanagans series and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Continued from Mount Hermon recap, part 5 : In the coffee lounge, Sarah had to leave to teach her Night Owl class, and so Chip left, too. I joined some other friends gabbing, and then I went to the dining hall to get hot tea. There weren’t many people in there chatting, so I zeroed in on the caffeine. Then I heard a voice, “Camy!” Chip sat at a round table with three other women, one of them Laura Christianson (my blogging buddy and classmate in the Media Mania class). I met Jenn Doucette, who is a long-time friend of Chip’s, and Karen Kennedy. All of the...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 04.19.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is AND BABY MAKES FIVE by Debra Clopton . My Monday (well, really Tuesday) book giveaway is the Flanagans series (4 books) by Marta Perry . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday I'll draw the winner for AND BABY MAKES FIVE and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. Continued from Mount Hermon recap, part 2 : I met Laura Christianson in my Media Mania class. She’s a professional blogger for Adoption.com, doing the Christian Adoption blog . She also has a personal blog called Exploring Adoption , and she just got a contract for a non-fiction book, What’s So Great About Adoption?: A Self-Guided Tour for the Uninitiated . She gave a blogging workshop and afterward, we ended up talking about blogging and marketing for almost two hours. We both admit that blogging is addictive. She gave me terrific tips. And I was able to b...

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.08.2006 You've Got Books! : Christian Authors Network (CAN) launches email book club Ever wish you could "test drive" a book before buying it? CAN's new online book club, You've Got Books! lets you to do just that! Here's how this free service works. Once you subscribe to the CAN book club, you will receive a two-minute sample of a book by great Christian authors via email each weekday. By the end of the week, you'll have read a chapter or two of the book. By then, you'll have a pretty good idea if you'll enjoy the rest. You've Got Books! Fiction will feature books from popular Christian novelists like Lyn Cote, Susan Meissner, Shelley Bates, Lauraine Snelling, Gail Gaymer Martin, Randy Ingermanson, Kathryn Mackel, DiAnn Mills, and many more. Fans of Christian nonfiction will get a taste of the work of authors like Allison Bottke, Mary Byers, Tricia Goyer, Grace Fox, Cyndy Salzmann, Nancy Cobb, Connie Grigsby, and...

Captain's Log, Stardate 02.09.2006 Gina: HOORAY FOR MY FRIEND GINA WHO NOW HAS AN AGENT!!! Congrats, girl! Christina: I'm pretty stoked b/c my friend Christina commented on my Xanga yesterday. Christina was one of my high school kids at church when...well, when she was in high school. :) Right now, she's on short-term missions in Japan! I'm so proud of her. She's grown into a beautiful woman of God. And now I've completely embarrassed her by mentioning her on my Blogger blog and my Xanga. Why blog: I've been thinking about blogging lately. I love it. Probably because I like to talk. The problem is, why would a perfect stranger want to listen to me talk? I wouldn't. I'm not looking for pats on the back. I'm seriously wondering what's the purpose of my blog. If it's just me talking about myself, there's only a limited circle of friends who care. I love books, which is why I like giving them away. Is that my only blog purpose?...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 02.01.2006 Continuing my interview with Shirlee... CT: What is your most memorable moment as a writer? SM: I have two. The day I got THE CALL and learned Steeple Hill wanted to buy my first (and second) book. And last summer when my agent called to tell me I'd been asked to take part in a Love Inspired Suspense continuity. That one was a big deal moment because it came just a week after Steeple Hill offered me a three book contract. CT: When did you first discover that you were a writer? SM: I've always been a story teller, but I think I discovered I was a writer when I took my first creative writing class. That was in high school. CT: Writing a novel is ... SM: like baking bread. It might take a while to do it right, but the results are worth the effort. CT: What's your greatest writing weakness and how do you overcome it? SM: I've got a real problem with pacing my stories, so when I'm writing I ask myself questions - Why a...

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.11.2006 Stephanie Elliot ( ManicMommy ) told me about this blogger's De-Lurking Week idea. It's totally fun. So, for any of you guys who read this blog and lurk, just give me a quick shout out! Don't have to say anything brilliant. A simple hello would make my day. Bible in 90 Days: Day 3. I have to say, because I'm reading Genesis so fast this time, all these characters just piss me off. Everyone is extremely selfish and they do really stupid things, then really terrific things. But I guess it shows God's grace, that He raises these people to be the great men and women of faith despite their failings. Writing: did some research in my Honolulu magazines. I'm hoping to do more characterization tonight with 45 MASTER CHARACTERS . I finished THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell. Really interesting. Some is stuff I remember from college psychology and sociology classes, most is completely new information. I'm not certain exactly...