Captain's Log, Supplemental Some of you might have heard about the 5.2 earthquake in San Jose last night. Just to let you know, we’re okay. The house started shaking, and after 17 years in California, I know by now to run for a doorway. The shaking was over in a few seconds. No big deal. Not even a broken plate or glass. A couple CDs fell off my shelf, nothing else. Even before the shaking completely stopped, I’m standing in the doorway to my office like a good Californian, and I see Captain Caffeine walk into the foyer! “What are you doing? You’re supposed to be under a desk!” “Uh ... I was keeping the cabinets from falling.” (Translation: he was holding the cabinets closed so the glasses wouldn’t rain on the kitchen floor, which in hindsight was thoughtful of him, but I’d rather have glass over the floor instead of a ceiling tile falling on his head!) My friend Dineen lives closer to the epicenter, so I called to see how she was. Everything was fine at her house. “In fact,” she s...

Just Jane by Nancy Moser Unable to find her own Mr. Darcy, she created him. Jane Austen lives simply in the English countryside with her beloved family, entertaining them with her stories and seeking romance. She never ventures far from her own corner of the world and struggles to find her place in it. Growing up in a clergyman's home gives Jane opportunities to observe human nature at its best--and worst. Vivid and delightful characters pour from her pen--Elizabeth Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Emma Woodhouse, Fanny Price, John Willoughby ... Jane dreams of publishing her stories and sharing them with the world, but she's just Jane from Steventon, isn't she? Will anyone ever read her novels? In this moving and authentic portrayal, Christy Award-winning author Nancy Moser transports readers back to the life and times of the literary world's possibly most beloved heroines. Camy here: This was a very enjoyable novel. As an Austen fan, I was very anxious to read it, and it ...

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.30.2007 My water fountain has been sent to Goodwill because it used a stinkin’ pair of AA batteries every TWO DAYS! Now I am on the hunt for another one, about the same size but one that I can plug in. My tranquility corner was looking bare, so I arranged three things I absolutely need in order to get the creative juices flowing and write: The candle thing is for my aromatherapy. Nothing like a whiff of lavendar to signal writing mode for my right brain. The M&Ms are dark chocolate, folks. Yummy! The knitting is usually something easy—you knitters will notice it’s simple stockinette stitch—so that I can knit and allow my right brain to wander and be inspired. Something about the mindless tactile stimulation helps me write better. How about you? Want to play? Take a pic of three things you need for writing and post a link to your blog in the comments below!

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.29.2007 Today I have an interview with Rene Gutteridge about her new novel, Boo, Humbug! Readers have come to love the eccentric characters from Skary, Indiana, in Rene Gutteridge’s popular Boo! series. Now, in Boo, Humbug! they’re back – and they’re stirring up a large amount of holiday havoc. It’s Christmastime in Skary, and the town is planning an original production of A Christmas Carol with a horror spin. As showtime approaches, things go very awry for director Lois Stepaphanopolis. She panics when she discovers that her marketing director loathes Christmas and that the audience has been promised not Dickens’ A Christmas Carol , but the real Christmas story. Can the actors pull off the improv of all improvs and convince their community to embrace the true meaning of the Christmas season? Boo, Humbug! offers readers a delightful glimpse into small town, community life with heartwarming humor and winsome characters. And in the end, the true...

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.28.2007 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, email me. Not to be mean or anything, but if you don't email me or comment to update your prayer request, I'm only going to pray ONE Sunday. I’m trying something new with my Sunday Prayer. I’m really bad about doing it on Sunday , so I’ll be updating it during the week. Dear Lord, Thank you for today. I pray for complete healing for Bruce, Doug, Malia, Helen, and Tony. Please heal Gloria completely, help her not to get sick again. Cover her and her family with your peace. I pray for justice for Case. Please give Missy a quick contract. Give her manuscript and the series proposal favor in her editor’s eyes. Continue to provide for JaneJ. Please give her better contrac...

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.27.2007 I’m blogging over at Girls, God and the Good Life today: Set apart

Captain's Log, Supplemental I suck at baking. No joke. Something always burns—either me or whatever I’m baking. My husband, however, is great at baking. Probably because he’s more careful than I am. LOL We also tend to buy too much of any ingredient we need. As a result, we bought several bags of chocolate chips when we only needed one bag because the chips were on sale. Oh, shucks. Captain Caffeine made chocolate chip cookies to help use up the many, many—MANY—bags of chocolate chips we’ve got in the pantry. For scooping out the cookie dough, Captain Caffeine uses an ice cream scoop—much thanks to Alton Brown from Good Eats on the Food Network for this tip. According to the Captain, that ice cream scoop is worth it's weight in gold. Uniform, perfectly baked cookies! Captain is quite a good baker, unlike his wife. Snickers, naturally, hoping Daddy will magically drop a cookie just for her. Never mind it's so hot it would scald her mouth. Captain Caffeine in action. There i...