Captain’s Log, Supplemental Okay, so you might know I’m in crunch mode. The third book in my Sushi Series, The Lone Rice Ball (isn’t that a cute title? My agent thought of that one). Originally, I had misread my contract (yup, the Camster needs new glasses in a major way) and thought the due date was June 1st, but luckily I had gotten halfway done and then realized the due date is July 1st (Rachelle, if you’re reading—stop laughing, woman. For the rest of you—Rachelle is my macro editor). So I’m a little more than halfway done, but not near as stressed as I was on Saturday, and was able to take a Sabbath day on Sunday. (And, I admit, part of Monday.) Anyway, I’m still trying to get this book done in the next week. I had bought The Creative Mind System CDs a few months ago, and am now using it to hopefully increase my creative productivity. I also ordered Brainwave Symphony CD boxed set because I love classical music and if there’s at all some benefit from the beta or theta waves, w...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Deb tagged me! The Rules Are: Post your responses. Tag anywhere from 1-5 friends. Leave comments to let them know they've been tagged. Come back and leave a comment when your post is up. Ok, here goes: Next 5 books on your to be read shelf: Miss Invisible by Laura Jensen Walker Over Her Head by Shelley Bates Split Ends by Kristin Billerbeck Crime and Clutter by Cyndy Salzmann Hooked by Les Edgerton Last 4 novels you've read: The Restorer (The Sword of Lyric, book 1) by Sharon Hinck The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares Winter Wonderland by Elizabeth Mansfield Last 3 books you've borrowed (library or friend): Web of Lies by Brandilyn Collins Showdown by Ted Dekker The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield Last 2 non-fiction books you've read: Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas The 1 book you wish everyone would read: Holy Bible, TNIV I...

Captain's Log, Stardate 05.25.2007 Don't you think it looks like she's hungover? "Oh, my aching head ..." or "I kowtow to you, O Mistress of the Universe ..." or "I'm exhausted trying to corral these stupid humans to do my bidding. I'm calling it a day."

Captain's Log, Supplemental I’ve always loved sautéed “pea greens” at Chinese restaurants. They have a yummy, slightly nutty flavor, mild, that reminds me of young broccoli. However, seeing as I can’t speak Chinese, and most Chinese Nationals will not recognize the English “pea greens,” I usually only have them when I’m with my Chinese-speaking friends. It never occurred to me to try to search for info on pea greens on the web, but in the book I’m working on now, The Lone Rice Ball , the heroine speaks Cantonese. She’s also a health nut and despite indulging in carb-laden Chinese food in this scene, she’d certainly order some vegetables to balance things, as it were. I finally found out what pea greens are called in Chinese: In Mandarin: dou miao (dough meow) In Cantonese: dau miu (dow as in “down” minus the n, mee-you) Don’t even ask me what the pitched tones ought to be, but that’s the words, at least. Since my heroine, Venus, speaks Cantonese, she orders dau miu at the resta...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental I can’t really complain much about my desk because it was free. A company was going out of business, and they had left their office desks out in the parking lot for anyone to take. So, naturally, we did. :) It’s a cheap desk, heavy and relatively large. The two file drawers are starting to sag, and the bottoms of the drawers are coming off again (we’d had to nail them in when we first got the desk). The biggest problem is that the desk is too tall. I have a footrest and I raise my ergonomic chair up to its tallest height, but my chair is still too low for me to comfortably type with the keyboard on the desk. I shifted the keyboard to my lap, but my trackball is still on the desk. I like change. Especially when it occurs in my workspace. So I’ve been toying with the idea of what I can do about this problem. We considered one of those keyboard/mouse drawers that can be attached to the bottom of the desk, which would solve the ergonomic problem. However, I want...

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.22.2007 I am very pleased to announce the finalists for the 2007 ACFW Genesis contest ! (We will release the entrants’ manuscript titles after the scores have been received back from the final round judges.) Contemporary Romance (includes romantic comedy) Jennifer Lynn Cary Audra Harders Catherine Hershberger Roxanne Sherwood Jennifer Hudson Taylor Historical Romance Linda Fulkerson Audra Harders Pam Hillman (double finalist in Historical Romance) Jennifer Hudson Taylor Romantic Suspense Sally Bradley Marci J. Burke Dineen Miller Dani Pettrey Suzan Robertson Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory Sally A. Apokedak Valerie Comer Rebecca Grabill Shannon McNear Chris Mikesell Historical Fiction (not romance) Yvonne Anderson Marcia Gruver Tina Helmuth Carla Stewart Erica Vetsch Young Adult Sally Apokedak Leigh DeLozier Linda Fulkerson Charlene Glatkowski Rachael Phillips Contemporary Fiction Michael Ehret Jennifer Griffith Kathy Harris Myra Johnson Angie Poole Women’s Fiction L...

Captain’s Log, Supplemental I’ve been a staff worker for my church youth group for about eleven years now (yikes, do I feel old!), and we’re pretty close to this current crop of high school kids. I’ve gotten two graduation announcements from seniors, and Captain Caffeine and I are a bit confused. In previous years, we’d had seniors whose graduation exercises required tickets for admission, so the graduation announcement was just an announcement , not an invitation . Seniors only got a few tickets for family—sometimes as few as four tickets—so they couldn’t exactly invite their youth staff leaders to attend. Now this year, my husband and I are wondering—are these announcements or invitations? In my senior year in high school (let’s not go into how long ago that was), commencement was open, so anybody could go. (Plus it was outdoors, muddy, rainy (most years), in the early evening, and hecka long. ) So … are we invited to these commencements? How can we find out without having to actuall...