Captain’s Log, Stardate 02.28.2007 Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. She’s Out of Control by Kristin Billerbeck Two books in the Black Or White series by John Aubrey Anderson Ono grinds . . . Let’s talk about food. Because I must confess, that’s one of the primary reasons I go back to Hawaii as often as I can. I have a list of foods I want to eat when I visit my parents. My husband is rather envious right about now because I’ve eaten some of his favorites, too. I have to eat kalbi and meat chun (thin beef slices quick-fried in a light egg batter) at Dong Yang Inn, a hole-in-the-wall Korean BBQ diner. They serve massive portions and the food is fabulous. The kalbi is served over rice so the juices and marinade can make a sort of light gravy. I had this on Saturday and considered calling Captain Caffeine to gloat, but my mom said that was too mean. However, I’m making it up to him because we’ll order some the night before I leave, freez...

ATTENTION: UNPUBLISHED MYSTERY/SUSPENSE & ROMANTIC SUSPENSE AUTHORS The Kiss of Death Chapter's 2007 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense is rapidly approaching, and although the body count is adding up, there's still room for yours! Look what New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan has to say about the Daphne … "In 2003, I finaled in the Single Title Daphne and came in second. While I didn't sell that book, the editor and agent comments were invaluable in helping me figure out my writing strengths and weaknesses. As a result, the next year I found an agent and sold THE PREY to Ballantine." -- Allison Brennan, author of SPEAK NO EVIL, out now!!! So pull those manuscripts out of the crypt and send them post haste. Why? Because the deadline is March 15, 2007. What happens if you don't? It frightens us to say. The Daphne has enlisted the help of some acquiring editors and agents as final round judges who rarely judge contests. ...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 02.26.2007 Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. She’s Out of Control by Kristin Billerbeck Two books in the Black Or White series by John Aubrey Anderson Aloha oi . . . Arrived in Honolulu on Friday without mishap. I brought mochi for my mom, which made her absolutely ecstatic and which gives me “Good Daughter Status” for the remainder of my stay. As soon as the plane touched down, I got slammed with a massive sinus headache. Lucky me, we were in for a heavy rainfall that evening and so my internal barometer went nuts. My mom has the same thing—when the pressure changes just before it rains, she has a bad sinus headache. I didn’t have these symptoms when I was younger, but as soon as I hit 25 I started getting sinus headaches, too. Captain Caffeine scoffed at me until I started having a 100% success rate of rain prediction. Ha! Anyway, I had to take sinus medication and a nap. On Saturday, my friend Malia Spencer ...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 02.23.2007 I’m such a homebody. Even though I have a chance to go visit my parents for a week, I’m lamenting the fact I won’t be home. I’m already missing my dog and my husband. What is it about the familiar and the old routine that’s so appealing? Isn’t change of pace and a new scene supposed to be exciting? Am I just becoming a fuddy-duddy? No, wait, don’t answer that. :) Anyway, I’ll be blogging from Hawaii next week. I’m hopeful I’ll be consistent about it, but if not ... oh well.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental I had heard that sock knitting is another level up from beginner, so I did some internet searches and a few knitters who visit my blog gave some suggested websites. I found a great article, Socks 101 by Kate Atherley, with a miniature training sock pattern and gave it a go: It was a totally neat design to just teach me the basics of working on double point needles, shaping the heel, etc. Making a sock isn’t very hard, either. Michael’s had wool yarn on sale so now I’m working on a pair of socks I can wear around the house. Gotta finish it before the cold weather warms up! Knitting has become so much fun! I’ve been getting some great brainstorming done on my manuscript while I knit. I’ve discovered that it’s because I need tactile stimulation when I’m in a creative mode. Something to do with the way my brain and senses are wired. I have friends who touch things when they enter a room in order to “see” it. My tactile-creativity is something like that. Have yo...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Blog book giveaway: To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there. Two books for moms by Jenn Doucette She’s Out of Control by Kristin Billerbeck I got this from my friend Cheryl Wyatt . This made me laugh SO HARD I thought I was going to pass out. A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband. Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen. "Careful," he said, "CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh MAN! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOSH! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful ... CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!" The wife stared at him. "What in the world is wrong with you? You thin...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 02.21.2007 The beginning knitter’s gold mine Knowing little about knitting, except fuzzy memories of what my mom taught me when I was a kid, I searched the web and found this FABULOUS site: http://www.knittinghelp.com/ The web editor is a videographer, and she’s got tons of videos on how to knit. Even better, she shows each knitting technique in both the American knitting method and Continental (German) knitting method. I only knew the American method, but after watching the videos of the Continental method, I switched to that instead. It’s so much faster and easier. The way you hold the yarn in the Continental method is also very similar to crocheting, so I recommended it to my auntie, who’s great at crocheting and wanted to learn how to knit. The website goes into all the things a beginning knitter would need to know, such as casting on, joining yarn, binding off, etc. For this novice knitter, this site is priceless. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now, and...