From book 1 in my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, there’s been a symbol hanging around that connects to the mysterious Citadel group. Michael was carrying a partial picture of the symbol when Phoebe met him on Hampstead Heath (and it was the symbol his brother Richard found before he died). The symbol was also inside Lord Wynwood’s pocketwatch, and it turns out that Sol had seen that symbol twice before—once when Sep found the letter in the desk of Napoleon’s aide, and again a few months later in The Gentleman Thief when Sol sees a note given to Allinton with instructions for him to obey. And then in volume 4, they finally find a silver seal that belonged to Bianca, which has the symbol upon it. That’s why you can see a red seal on the cover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 4: Betrayer . I should have probably blogged about this when book 1 released, but the symbol is actually my family crest! I was thinking I’d like something like the Scarlet Pimpernel, and my family crest was ju...

My Christian contemporary romance, Single Sashimi , includes some of the wilder tales from my and my husband’s stints as youth staff workers at our church. The Steven character in the book is actually the same Steven who’s the associate pastor and youth group leader at our church now, since I wrote Single Sashimi when he was still in youth group. :) He’s a young man in his late twenties (maybe early thirties?), and he’s full of great ideas and lots of energy. On one particular Saturday, my husband and I were at youth group as usual. Steven had bought a tug of war rope—the really long, thick kind that looks like it belongs on a sea trawler. The opening game for the kids was, of course, tug of war. Then we came indoors for a three-song worship set. After worship, we usually split up into Junior High and High School for lessons, but this time Steven had an idea: “Okay guys, we’re going to have a tug of war--staff versus kids. If you guys win, we’ll ditch the lesson and go out t...

Thank you all for praying for me! My IBS is getting better, although I’ve had to eliminate more things from my diet. :( It’s so bland now, I was complaining to my mom that I should just eat rice and eggs. The good news is that I’m able to each mochi, and I’m thinking of making some for New Year’s. I actually found an old Regency recipe I had posted before, “Mr. Darcy Would Be Appalled White Soup,” can be easily modified for my IBS diet, so I made that a couple weeks ago. It was very yummy and perfect for our cold weather lately. If any of you know some good gluten-free recipes, please do send them my way! (I’m not actually sensitive to gluten, but I can’t eat wheat because it contains too much fructans, so essentially I have to go gluten-free.) As I’ve been feeling better, I’ve been able to get more and more writing done each day! I’m slowly progressing on Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 4: Betrayer . Even though my health has taken a turn for the worse thi...

I know I blogged about this on my Writing Diary Blog , but I don’t think I blogged about this here. I read a few writing and productivity books, and I’ve been trying to form better daily habits. The problem is that my self-discipline is very bad. As in, embarrassingly bad. One of my goals has been to form a better writing habit. Since I’m a full-time writer, I already write every day, but I think there are things I can do to tweak my schedule so that I can be able to focus better when I write. I tend to get distracted by the thought of things I need to do that day which I haven’t done yet. I don’t know why my brain is like this, but I haven’t been able to break this tendency. So for example, while I’m writing, I’ll suddenly think about the fact that today’s the day when I need to change the bathroom towels, or mop the kitchen floor, or change the bedsheets. It’ll distract me for a few moments before I tell myself I’ll do it later and I need to focus on writing now. Then a few ...

I had the worst dream! I was in some Shakespearean play, except for some reason I didn't make ANY of the rehearsals! AND I had forgotten to memorize my lines, and it was opening night and I was late! I was rushing to the play venue and wondering if I could memorize my lines in between scenes (Shakespeare! Gah). This reminds me of the terrible dreams I had where I would come to class late and find out that there was a test I had forgotten about, or a paper due which I had forgotten to write. I woke up and I was like, "Haaaaaaaaa thank God it was just a dream!!!!!!"

Please allow me to brag about my dad a little. :) He just sent me this cup that he made from a vodka (? I think?) bottle. He cut it, then sanded it down by hand, and then stenciled it with that pretty Hawaiian design. It's super heavy and thick! I think I'll use it for pens or something like that.

My husband, Captain Caffeine, tends to go to Goodwill a lot. I think he likes the thrill of finding a really good deal on something that would otherwise be expensive. Anyway, last year he came across a teacup, saucer, and dessert plate from Royal Albert in their "Moss Rose" pattern, which I really, really, REALLY love. It's probably one of my top three patterns from Royal Albert that I've seen. And the set was only $15! Then this past weekend he found a pitcher in "Moss Rose"! It was paired with a plate from a different manufacturer, and the set was $15. Also the pitcher didn't have "Moss Rose" printed on the bottom, but I told him to get it. When he brought it home, we realized it's a perfect match for my teacups! I have been using it for my English style tea and I love it! Way to go, Captain Caffeine! You're a superhero!

I’ve been reading a bunch of marketing books and articles, and many of them gave great advice on how to blog. So I’ve been trying to be more “formal” in my blogging lately. I don't know if it was noticeable? Anyway, I found it kind of boring and really very restricting since I kept thinking about "value added" for each blog post and all that jazz. But I was still blogging at my Daily Writing Blog because I'm trying to improve my writing productivity, and I was still enjoying blogging over there. I was throwing my messy thoughts up on the web (which most blogging/marketing articles tell you NOT to do) and in the process, I've been able to pinpoint some of my really bad habits. I've managed to fix some of them, and I'm still working on coming up with ways to deal with others. I've also been doing experiments to improve my efficiency and productivity, and I use my writing blog like a lab notebook--I blog about what I intend to do for the experiment...

I know this news is a bit last minute, but I volunteered to be a last-minute replacement for our church’s worship leader tomorrow, and our church service will be streamed online so if you’d like, come watch. It starts exactly at 9:45 am West Coast time, and the service runs for about an hour (it might be less). For the first song, I’m singing one of my favorites, “Hills and Valleys” by Tauren Wells , which I’m actually rather excited about. It think it’s pretty appropriate for current events, but also I really love the message of the song. I've walked among the shadows You wiped my tears away And I've felt the pain of heartbreak And I've seen the brighter days And I've prayed prayers to Heaven From my lowest place And I have held Your blessings God, You give and take away No matter what I have, Your grace is enough No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love On the mountains, I will bow my life To the One who set me there In the valley, I w...

I’m feeling a bit thoughtful this Christmas season, and wanted to share some things that have struck me recently, and other things I’ve been remembering. This will be a more sober post than other Christmas devotionals, but I wanted to speak to anyone who might have felt as I did before I knew Christ. The image above was made by my friend Pammer James on the YouVersion Bible app , and I especially liked it for Christmas because it brings that particular verse in the gospel of John into focus during this season. In Jesus is life, a light shining in the darkness. As a teenager, I had a bad bout of depression. Everything around me was pain and sadness and darkness. But the moment I surrendered my life to Jesus, I felt peace for the first time in a long time, and I was not so lonely and filled with pain. Life was still hard, but the darkness was not as dark anymore, because I had Jesus lighting the way through a difficult time. This season can be hard because everything is bright...

I had a really bad allergy attack yesterday (so did Captain Caffeine) and so I did some internet searching and found this article on cayenne pepper tea to clear sinuses from allergies or colds . However, being a wimp about pepper and also knowing that my stomach is rather sensitive to it, I knew I couldn’t take a tea like that straight even with food, so I came up with this recipe to disguise the pepper in Chai Tea, soften it with milk, and adding extra honey. Also adding the cayenne in twice the amount of hot water (from the original recipe in the article) helped make it less painful. The article also warns about this, but drink this tea with food. I ate some Snyder’s pretzels in between sips and that helped to keep my stomach from getting upset by the pepper. What also helped was drinking some baking soda in a glass of water. If you have problems with acid reflux, I wouldn’t suggest you try this recipe. Also my lips were burning pretty badly from the pepper, but my throat and t...

I’m over at the Clean Romance Reads Cafe blog today talking about some of my Christmas traditions, which admittedly aren’t “traditional” but are fun. :) What are some of your Christmas traditions? I was thinking today about Christmas traditions. I had always thought of “Christmas traditions” as things like antique tree ornaments, or certain family games, or special Christmas dinner plates—stuff that’s been passed down for generations. … But I realized that “Christmas traditions” aren’t necessarily things that we own, or things that you’d usually think of as a “tradition.” Click here to read more.

Me: What do you think about my new shoes? I got them on sale. (I show off a pair of Hotter shoes that look like they’re straight out of the 1940s.) Captain Caffeine: You were born in the wrong era. Me: Yes. But I like the plumbing in this era best. So what about you? Were you born in the wrong era? What’s your favorite time period?

I have an insane amount of yarn, so I’m trying to use it up. I knitted a lot of gifts this past year, but I also knit this jacket for me. image , a photo by camytang on Flickr. It’s a bit big for me, but it’s super warm (it’s two types of acrylic yarn held together). It also attracts dog hair like a vacuum. I was saving it to wear to church or whenever I go out, but I realized I don’t go out that often, usually just to church on weekends and the grocery store once a week. Most of the time I’m home writing. So in order to actually enjoy the fruits of my labor, I started wearing it while I’m home rather than wearing a sweatshirt to keep me warm. I fully admit that the neighbors might scurry into their homes when they see me going out to check the mail, because I’m wearing sweatpants under my jacket. But what’s the use of going through the effort to knit it and then hardly wearing it? Here’s to offending the Fashion Police, staying warm, and stash busting.

The kids at church just got back from a youth retreat called Winter Vision, and one thing they got out of the retreat was the concept of how each of us is a teacup. The red plastic cups used for parties is disposable. Coffee mugs are a little better than those plastic cups, but they seem to breed in my cabinet like rabbits, and also they’re “common,” they’re not anything special. Teacups, on the other hand, like the fancy ones in your mom’s china cabinet which you’re not supposed to touch, are precious and protected. We are each teacups—precious and protected by God. I thought it was a great way to think of ourselves. But I want to go one step further. Yes, teacups are precious and protected, but they also should be used. If they’re just on display, they’re of no use to anyone. Instead, people are using their common coffee mugs rather than the beautiful teacups. And yes, I do think it tastes better if it’s drunk from a fancy teacup. For my birthday, my mom had shipped to me t...

Most years, I ask God to give me a word for the year to focus on, and this year it’s been Worship. It actually coincides nicely with how our pastor is focusing on Prayer this year for our congregation, so I’ve recently been reading up on prayer, and finding how it includes worship in our communication with God. I read this book, Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days by Kay Arthur , a long time ago, but started reading it again to rejuvenate my prayer life this year. I’m enjoying it a lot so far. Some of it is stuff I remember, but some is stuff I’ve forgotten, and the Lord is speaking to me through the scriptures the author has me look up and study. Did any of you have a word for this year? How are things going with that? Any suggestions for me for my word for the year, worship?

While helping to put insulation on the whole house fan cover, Captain Caffein clocked me in the chin with the edge of the cover. He felt very bad. It was at this point that I told him how much I spent on Black Friday sales. :)

I’ve mentioned before that I have a thumb as black as night , but I’ve decided to alter that and call it my “accidental thumb” because everything that grows is completely by accident, whereas everything I want to grow, er, doesn’t. I got some stevia plants and used our compost from this past year. I’ve put all our kitchen veggie scraps in the compost, including the squash seeds from when I scrape them out of the squash halves, old tomatoes, etc. Captain Caffeine got me a soaker hose to water the plants since I’m so awful about watering properly, so I used that with the stevia plants. Then within a week or so, I noticed some other plants growing up next to the stevia, and I wasn’t entirely sure they were weeds. In fact, they kind of smelled like tomatoes--you know, that green fresh smell from the stem? I was too lazy too busy to weed, so I just left them and within a few weeks I absolutely knew they weren’t weeds. Yes, that is a tomato plant, practically overpowering my t...

I blogged at the Love Inspired Authors blog last week about my basil plants, and my giveaway is still going on! Click here to read the post and enter the giveaway!