Woot!

Just hit fifty thousand words on the manuscript! No clue how long it's going to be once it's done, but I'd guess that's just under halfway. NaNoWriMo is my new best friend.

NaNoWriMo!

Say it real quick and it's a fun nonsense word, but break it down and it's short for National Novel Writing Month. Though now, in its tenth year, it's an international event, so it really should be InNoWriMo. Though it's not nearly as fun to say.

So what the heck is it? It's an opportunity for all those folks who've ever said, "I've always wanted to write a novel" to actually get off their patooties and DO it already by setting a one-month goal of 50,000 words. You pledge solidarity with thousands of other writers all over the world and say, "Yes! I will sit my butt down and write at least 1,667 words every single day in November!" (Yes, I know there's some contradiction there between getting off one's behind then sitting it down again to write. Work with me, alright?) Then you sign up at nanowrimo.org, join a home region so you can contribute to your area's word count, and start writing. After you've procrastinated a little bit by setting up your profile and checking out the forums, that is. I'm such a sucker for forums. Then you can grab a fun little widget like the one on the right that will broadcast to the entire world just how well you're doing on your novel.

I had about 30,000 words when I first read about NaNoWriMo. How I've been a writer this long and never heard of this phenomenon, I don't know. But I read about it on someone's blog on November 1 and thought, "Now that is a cool idea! And if I did that, I'd have my novel nearly done!" And it dawned on me that this would be a great accountability took to keep me from becoming completely depressed over how far behind I was on my writing. And let me tell you, counting words is SO MUCH LESS STRESSFUL than counting scenes. I'm so glad I found this out now and not at the end of the book when I was comatose from panic.

So today marked the end of the first week of this year's NaNoWriMo, but if you want to jump in I don't think anyone would mind. If nothing else, keep it in mind for next year and start working on your outline now. Heck, if you spent eleven months on your snowflake, you'd have the Next Great American (or wherever you are) Novel all ready to go by next November!

And to those who are participating this year, I'm alisonstrobel over at nanowrimo.org--make me a writing buddy if you want. Good luck on your novels!

Deep breath.

This is my Father's world
Oh let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet

This is my Father's world
The battle is not done
Jesus who died shall be satisfied
And earth and heav'n be one

--My Father's World, Maltbie Babcock, 1901

You put your right brain in, you take your right brain out, you put your right brain in, and you shake it all about

I feel like I have scrambled eggs for brains these days. There is SO MUCH GOING ON. And one of the things that gets neglected is my blog. So, sorry the posts are so few and far between. Maybe when things slow down (which would be....when?) I'll be better about posting more regularly.

Updates in a nutshell:
- Finished chapter 8 today. Started rereading a phenomenal writing book that I'd forgotten all about and ended up completely revamping my main character and rewriting all her scenes. I'll be talking more about that book, and offering a copy for free, in my next newsletter in December. If you don't yet receive my newsletter, please sign up in the box on the right.

- I have a fan page now on Facebook. There are some discussions there that I'd love to see more comments on. Swing by and check it out!

- I was the literature/poetry judge for a local school's "Reflections" contest last week. Talka bout full-circle: I remember entering the Reflections contest when *I* was in elementary school. This year's theme was "Wow." That's it, just "Wow." Talk about open to interpretation. There were 30 entries altogether, the majority from a 6th grade class whose teacher made it mandatory. I was actually quite impressed by some of the poetry. But sitting on the living room floor trying to keep a very mobile Penny Jane from harm and a very active Abby occupied while I "graded" papers made me SO GLAD I'm not teaching anymore. I had flashbacks to my teaching days and they scared me.

-Funny Abby story: My sister-in-law Amber played "I Spy" with her when she was here last week, and Abby asked me to play it with her the other day. When it was my turn to guess she said "I spy with my eye something brown with pink." So I'm looking all over the place thinking, "Wow, she really has a good eye, she's found something in this room that has brown and pink?!" And as I'm looking, trying to find something to guess, she holds up a toy and says, "Is it this?" I say no, then she picks up something else and says, "Is it this?" And I asked, "Abby, do you know what has brown with pink on it in this room?" She says, "No." "Well, what object were you trying to make me guess?" *blank stare like I'm speaking Turkish* "Um, Abby, you need to pick an object in the room and tell me one of the colors on it." (Keep in mind she had guessed three time before it was my turn, so it's not like she'd never played.) Abby says, "Okay!" then looks around for a moment and says, "I spy with my eye a picture on the wall with Greena and Par on it." Of which there is only one. Needless to say I figured out that round pretty quickly.

Oh yeah, one more funny Abby, mostly to remind me in twenty years: We were packing up one of her toys with lots of little pieces, and when we were done I handed her the case and said, "Go put this in the drawer." She said, "No, I don't want to." I reminded her that part of playing with our toys is putting them away when we're done, and if we don't clean them up properly then we can't play with them anymore. To which she huffs, stands up, grabs the case, and says, "Mama, you're frustrating" before stomping off to the drawers. I didn't even bother trying to hide my laughter.

Shauna Niequist in San Diego this Friday!

For all you locals--Shauna Niequist, author of Cold Tangerines, is going to be doing a luncheon signing at the Berean Bookstore in San Diego this Friday at 12:30. I'm so mad I can't go! :( But if you can, you definitely should--Shauna's a wonderful woman, and I loved Cold Tangerines!

Strike Two

iContact is really irritating me. According to the tracking of my October newsletter, half the recipients haven't opened their newsletter. Now, there's always a chunk of people that don't, and I figured out why, but I find it hard to believe that ALL the 20 people that signed up since August decided not to open it. And none of the letters bounced back, so I don't know what else could have happened besides going into spam folders, but...*shrug* Sounds fishy, eh? Anyway, if you know you receive the newsletter, or you signed up over the last couple months, and you didn't get my October newsletter last weekend, then please check your spam, and if it's not there, please leave me a comment. I want to figure out what's going on. Thanks!

I should have known better.

Note to self: when you see that your book has ONE LOUSY STAR, whatever you do, don't read the review. Instead, beg people who liked it to go to christianbook.com and review it.

For those who love to write...

...or read about writers, there's a new book out called Grit for the Oyster and it's all tips and ideas and stuff like that from authors to help writers keep plugging away at what they're doing. The author, Suzanne Woods Fisher, wrote the book and is posting interviews with contributing authors on her blog. She just put up my interview, so head over to the book's blog or to her personal blog (just an excerpt there, though) to read it!

Things here

Health hasn't been so great here the last few days. I had my first official fibromyalgia flair-up--at least, that's what I'm assuming was the reason behind my neck, shoulders, back (both middle and lower), hips, and hands all aching in a bizarre way I've never really experienced before. It would also explain that buzz that was so loud in my ear I was walking around to every piece of electronics in the house and listening to it to figure out what was making that infernal racket. Not fun.

Then on Saturday Abby had a 24 hour stomach flu. It sucked, I felt so bad for her. Vomiting (including once in her carseat--gross), fever, lots of sleeping and whimpering, "Uppies!" But save for a bit of fever in the morning on Sunday, she's been fine ever since. Though we did get this little gem on Sunday:

"Mommy! I have a beaver again!"
"Um...you have a beaver?"
"Yeah, a beaver. Take my tempa-chur, I have a beaver!"

She's in the middle of a major growth spurt, too. Her naps have gone from 1.5 hours--2 on a great day--to 2-3 hours! I've had to wake her up the last few days because I don't want her wide awake at bedtime. When my parents saw her yesterday, my mom said she actually looked bigger to her.

On the writing front, I reached my September writing goal--10% of "Guilt" is complete! I also turned in my marketing pack to Zondervan, meaning I've made two deadlines on time in the past couple months. I'm quite proud. Writing is more difficult than I thought it would be--I really thought I'd done enough work on the scene synopses, but it turns out I didn't. But I'm learning a lot, and the next snowflake I do is going to be even better, and maybe *that* book will basically write itself.

Well, Abby wasn't up until 5 today, so even though it's nearly 9:30, I'm off to wrangle her into bed...

Despicable

Regardless of whether or not you support the bailout bill, you should be outraged.

The outcome of the house vote on Monday was reflective of the opinion of the majority of Americans. That's how the system is supposed to work: the people tell their representatives what they want, and the representatives vote in a way that REPRESENTS the majority of their constituents. They don't say, "Well, I know 89% of the people in my district want me to say no, but that's not how *I* feel, so I'm going to vote yes."

Well, today the government basically told its citizens it didn't care what they wanted. They made some minor changes to the bailout bill and then attached it to a bill that was sure to get passed--a tax cuts for businesses bill. They also decided they didn't want to go through the house first, like they're supposed to. They're skipping the house--bypassing it altogether as though there wasn't a proper order for these things and you could just toss them anywhere willy-nilly--and going straight to the senate.

Is it just me, or is this underhanded, sneaky, and deceptive? Is anyone else as bothered as I am (and bothered is a gross understatement) by how the government consistently chooses to basically shred the Constitution in order to do whatever it wants? Yes, the minority of the country will be thrilled when the bailout bill gets passed, but how will you feel when they pull this kind of stunt with a bill you vehemently oppose? This isn't about the bailout bill anymore--this is about a government run by crooks.

Excellent explanation of the problem

Dr. Paul's notes which he didn't have enough time to deliver in full on the House Floor this morning. Excellent observations as always from the good doctor.

Never thought politics would make my heart beat so fast

Dan and I just finished watching live video of the house vote on the bailout package. My stomach was literally in knots watching the seconds tick away and the vote tally change. The video was turning our connection to molasses so I quit it before the last vote was cast, but seeing the nay votes so far in the lead made me want to cry tears of joy. I am so proud of the citizens right now--because this was a citizen-led decision, make no mistake. The public outcry was so huge that representatives couldn't help but listen if they valued their seat in Congress. I know when I told my reps how I felt I made a point of saying I considered this a reelection issue and that I'd track how they voted, though Dan pointed out they don't always track who voted how. Which I didn't know, and which I think is bloody stupid. But I hope people see how raising your voice and making your opinion known can actually make a difference.

Dan's watching C-Span online (I can't because they don't support Quicktime--thanks a lot guys!) and they're saying people can change their vote and there's some arm-twisting going on right now to try to get people to flip their decision. That makes me sick. It's bad enough to think that there are reps who don't care what their constituents want (or what all the experts say is the right thing to do) but to then try to force their decision on others and try to get them to forsake their own conscience!? Talk about making my blood boil.

Anyway, it's not going to matter, but I want to say thank you to all the reps who voted the way their constituents wanted. That's their job, and they did it well. Chances are this package is going to be re-packaged and pushed on the people again, so the fight isn't done, but hopefully people will continue to be vigilant. Check out downsizeDC.org to get updates about what's happening so you know when to harass your Congresspeople.

You are responsible.

I'm encouraged by the fact that the majority of the country realizes this bailout is a tremendously bad idea. However, if you haven't told your Congressional representatives yet how you feel, you *need* to make your voice heard. Our government was never supposed to bully its people the way it does, or act without following the will of its people. But somewhere along the line Americans got very lazy. We stopped thinking for ourselves and figured the government would sort things out just fine. We stopped taking them to task when they screwed up and stuck us with the fallout. We stopped speaking out and making our will known. It's time to shake off the apathy, folks, and get on the phone and the fax and the Internet and contact your reps whatever way you can to tell them you absolutely DO NOT support 3 trillion dollars' worth of bad debt being put on YOUR shoulders. The depression that this bailout will (not might, but will) cause is truly catastrophic.

This video does a phenomenal job of explaining what's going on and why the bailout must be stopped. It's ten minutes long, but worth watching--grab yourself a snack or some laundry to fold and put it on to listen to. Then email everyone you know and tell them the same thing: contact your Congressional reps, watch this video, and pass it on.

Nevermore

Yesterday was a red-letter day for Abby. She had her first McDonald's cheeseburger. We were at the mall, it was dinnertime, she likes hamburgers and chicken finger-type foods and anything else is very hit-or-miss, even if she's had it and liked it in the past. I was tired of buying her food she won't eat, and didn't want to deal with the whole eat-two-bites-say-I'm-done-then-complain-for-the-next-hour-about-how-hungry-she-is routine. SO I got the apple dippers to go with it, and a cup of water (which is all she wants to drink anyway) and comforted myself with the fact that she lasted about 20 months longer than a lot of kids her age when it comes to getting her first taste of the quintessential fast food.

Then this morning I ran across this.

WOW do I wish I'd just bitten the bullet and gotten her pb&j from Paradise Cafe instead.

Single Sashimi by Camy Tang

Camy is cool! Have you read her stuff yet? Here's a little bio about her:

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ for a huge website contest going on right now, giving away ten boxes of books and 30 copies of her latest release, SINGLE SASHIMI.

I've blogged about Camy's other two books, which I luuuuuved, and today I'm blogging about her third, though I haven't had the chance yet to read it. Can't wait to, though! Single Sashimi just released, and here's what Camy had to say about it--as well as some other things...

What's the basic scoop on "Single Sashimi"?

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Drake Yu. Why would Drake call her after … what, five years? Six?

Venus heard in his voice that resonance that was almost a growl, that titanium-hard determination to get what he wanted. And he usually got what he wanted. The voice said: “I want you to work for me.”

Not this time… If it was a choice between Drake and McDonald’s—she’d choose french fries. She’d never work for him again. It would take an act of God.

Venus Chau is determined to start her own game development company and launch the next Super Mario-sized phenomenon. However, she needs an investor to back her idea. When Drake Yu, an old nemesis, approaches Venus with a contracting opportunity at his sister’s startup, the offer to become Chief Operating Officer tempts Venus to think the unthinkable.

Venus would rather throw away her PS3 than work for Drake again … except Grandma bribes Venus to do this favor for Drake’s wealthy family with a coveted introduction to the most respected investor in the game industry. It’s also a short job—only a few months—so Venus won’t have to stand Drake’s presence for very long.

But one wild youth group, a two-faced assistant, and Grandma’s determined match-making threaten to make them both fail—or go insane. With the encouragement of her three cousins, Lex, Trish, and Jennifer, Venus discovers that even a wounded heart can undergo a beautiful transformation …

This is the third book in this series, right? Will there be a fourth? If not, what do you have planned as your next release?

Yes, Single Sashimi is the third book in this series. Zondervan didn’t contract me for the fourth book, BUT I will be writing it anyway and offering it around the end of the year as a free ebook download to members of my YahooGroup newsletter. It’s tentatively titled “Weddings and Wasabi.”

To join my YahooGroup is free and easy! Visit this webpage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Camys_Loft/join

(If anyone has problems joining my YahooGroup, they can email and I can help them out.)

As for my next “official” release, I’m writing a romantic suspense tentatively scheduled for August 2009 that will be released by Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line. It’s titled Deadly Intent, and it’s set in a day spa in Sonoma, California.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of writing "Single Sashimi"?

The research for Single Sashimi was harder than my other books because it was a completely new field for me. I had to rely heavily on friends who hooked me up with other friends who work in the field of video game development. The two women I dedicated the book to were invaluable help in creating Venus’s career around her and also accurately depicting the world of start ups in the Silicon Valley.

What are you reading for fun right now?

Miss Fortune by Sara Mills. It’s like a Christian Maltese Falcon with a female protagonist.

What do you hope readers will take away from "Single Sashimi" (besides a craving for sushi, that is)?

I hope, first and foremost, that they have an entertaining, satisfying read. Second, I hope they come away with a renewed sense of how God is always in control.


Thanks for having me here, Alison!

Pepper is the new ketchup

We've always known Abby likes her food with some taste, you know? She loves salsa, for example. I didn't even try salsa until I was 21.

But really, this is ridiculous.

It started at Claim Jumper's the other day. Dan took her there for dinner because I needed a break. They started putting pepper on her...grapes. Yes. Grapes. And she loved it.

Fast forward to today. We're eating dinner at my parents' place. I come back from putting Penny Jane down for a nap and find Abby sprinkling pepper on her...cucumber. Ooookay. Then Mom tells me she ate six cherry tomatoes--which she has previously loathed--all dusted with pepper. For dessert, she had applesauce, and, well...

Looks like I'm it

My book club buddy and doula, Sheridan, tagged me for this survey. I haven't done one of these things in a while, so I figured why not? :)

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules to your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

1. I have 1.5 chapters done on my fourth book.
2. I just ate an apple with peanut butter for my mid-morning snack.
3. Today I'm wearing my glasses instead of my contact lenses.
4. Five objects that are within reach here on the dining room table are: my FlipVideo, the baby monitor, PJ's appointment card for her 9 month well-baby check, the remote to Abby's GeoTrax train, and my peanut butter-smeared plate.
5. There are currently eleven tabs open on my Firebox browser window.
6. I am a world-class procrastinator, evidenced by the fact that I just chose to spend 10 minutes on this blog instead of doing any of the hundred or so other things I really *ought* to be doing.

The five people (I don't follow directions well, what can I say) I am tagging are: My sister-in-law Kelli, my friend Marcela, my friend Meg, my brother Kyle, and my husband.

It curls!

I was going to get it styled like I did when I first moved out here, but when Brooke started going at it we realized that it really curls when it's short. So, voila, the new me!

So long long hair!

I've finally reached the end of my rope with my hair. Tomorrow at 2:30 it's getting HACKED and I'll send it in to Locks of Love. I'm going back to my super-short cut that I got when I first moved out here. I CAN'T WAIT. It's been way too long since I did something with my hair.

So tune in tomorrow night for the results! Here's the BEFORE:

So this is what we've come to

We used to have a first amendment, if I remember correctly. And the freedom to assemble peacefully. Apparently not anymore.

Our government has more in common with Nazi Germany these days than it does with our own Constitution. God save us all.