News
09.27.2007 -- Kind of a neat thing--my article for TheHighCalling.org, "Pull a Daniel at Work," was posted on ChristianityToday.com.09.20.2007 - 09.23.2007 -- Went to the ACFW Conference in Dallas, TX again. I was on a panel of authors at a Late Night Chat titled, "I'm Contracted, Now What?" That was fun. (You can order CDs of the conference workshops at the website.) Announced the winners of the Genesis contest--Congrats to all of them!
09.03.2007 - 09.16.2007 I'm on AskAnAuthorAll, a Q&A email loop for writers, sponsored by RWA (Romance Writers of America). I talked about "Synopsis Savvy" and answered questions about writing and submitting synopses.
09.01.2007 - 09.30.2007 -- I'm holding my first ever blog tour for Sushi for One?!
09.01.2007 -- Today is the official street date for my debut novel, Sushi for One?!
08.30.2007 -- I joined the Faithchicks blog for Christian women. I'm blogging twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays.
08.24.2007 -- Once again, I have a gigantic new website contest that runs until October 31st, 2007. I am giving away a huge basket of books AND an 8 GB iPod Nano. This contest is exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, so join today.
07.30.2007 - 08.02.2007 -- Attended the Oregon Christian Writers Conference and taught two workshops, "What is Chick Lit?" and "Internet Marketing for the HTML-Challenged." You can check out my pictures here.
07.06.2007 - 07.11.2007 -- Went to the 2007 International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta, GA. Had a blast blogging from the conference! You can see my pictures here. 06.27.2007 -- I joined the Girls, God, and the Good Life blog for teens and 20-something women. I'm blogging twice a month, on the 14th and 27th.
06.11.2007 -- Publisher's Weekly posted a good review of Sushi for One?.
06.04.2007 -- I ended my column, "Write Time: Working Full-Time and Writing" on Wordpraize.com. It was a fun two years!
04.15.2007 -- The ACFW 2007 Genesis contest for unpublished writers ended today. Now for the first round judging. If you didn't get a chance to enter this year, polish your manuscript for next year! The contest will open around January 2008.
03.31.2007 - 04.03.2007 -- Attended the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. I got to take the Career Track and learned so much. You can check out my pictures here.
01.31.2007 -- My huge website contest ended today at 11:59 p.m. Congratulations to all the winners!
01.28.2007 -- The ACFW 2007 Genesis contest for unpublished writers launched today. I am the contest coordinator again.
11.10.2006 -- I've joined Writer...Interrupted blog for busy writers as one of the Fiction Friday columnists.
10.18.2006 -- I have a gigantic new website contest that runs until January 31st, 2007. I am giving away a huge basket of books AND an 8 GB iPod Nano. This contest is exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, so join today.
09.20.2006 - 09.24.2006 -- Attended the ACFW Conference in Dallas, TX. Announced the winners of the Genesis contest. Had a blast!
07.16.2006 -- Congratulations to the winners of my Story Sensei Summer Sale!
07.02.2006 -- I'm holding a Story Sensei Summer Sale. TWO lucky winners will each receive a free synopsis critique and a 25% off coupon for a manuscript critique (full or partial). Plus, everyone who enters will receive a 10% off coupon for any service. Visit the Story Sensei for more information.
04.07.2006 - 04.11.2006 -- Attended the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Had a great time. You can check out my pictures here.
03.28.2006 -- I got The Call from my agent Wendy. Zondervan has offered me a 3-book deal on my Asian chick litSushi Series!
11.15.2005 -- The ACFW 2006 Genesis contest for unpublished writers launched today. I am the contest coordinator. The grand prize is $500, and the top five overall entries go straight to the Warner Faith pub board.
10.08.2005 -- Signed with Wendy Lawton at Books & Such literary agency. Wendy's wonderfully easy to talk to and very enthusiastic about my writing. Books & Such has a stellar reputation, also. I'm very hopeful.
09.19.2005 -- Terminated with agent #1 because he had my suspense proposal for over three months but hadn’t given me feedback or sent out the proposal to the editors who requested it.
09.15.2005 - 09.18.2005 -- Attended ACFW Conference in Nashville, TN. The first chapter of my suspense manuscript BITTER DRAGON won first place in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category of the Noble Theme Contest! Saw old friends, made new ones. Took the Fiction Mentoring Clinic with Gayle Roper. Rediscovered how God can work incredible surprises in ways beyond my comprehension. Lord, I trust You for my career.
08.05.2005 -- Found out that my suspense manuscript, BITTER DRAGON, is one of three finalists in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category of the ACFW Noble Theme Contest. It was sent to the final round judge for my category, an editor at WestBow. Talk about confirmation for quitting my job.
08.01.2005 -- I turned in my two weeks' notice at my workplace to try writing full-time for about six months. This decision came from a lot of prayer, fasting, and more prayer from everyone I knew who could spend time on their knees for me. I wanted to wait until after RWA National to see if God would speak to me about my writing career while I was there, and He definitely did. Now I'm both excited and scared spitless.
07.27.2005 - 07.30.2005 -- Attended Romance Writers of America's National Conference in Reno, Nevada with Marilyn Hilton and Anne Kim, two San Jose writers. Was horrifically overwhelmed (there were about 2200 attendees) but had a great time nonetheless. (Wore a black velvet Chinese cheongsam dress that made me feel like a million bucks, it completely made my weekend.) A couple more editors requested my suspense proposal.
06.09.2005 -- Sent “Fists of Legend” suspense series proposal to agent #1 with the names of the editors who had requested it.
05.20.2005 -- My article Writing Styles: Confessions of a Plotter Who Used to Be a Pantser published in the Spirit-Led Writer newsletter.
04.22.2005 -- Completed rough draft of BITTER DRAGON suspense manuscript. Praise God! This sucker was hard to push out.
04.19.2005 -- My monthly column “Write Time” debuts in WordPraize newsletter for writers. I guess this time spent working full-time and writing had a purpose after all! I hope my articles can help other writers who are working full-time or just plain busy.
04.15.2005 -- My article Writing Styles: Confessions of a Plotter Who Used to Be a Pantser published in the ACFW Write To the Heart ezine.
03.18.2005 - 03.22.2005 -- Attended Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference for the second year in a row. Had a BLAST. Met up with old friends, made new ones. God reminded me to let go of my control-freak tendencies.
01.21.2005 -- Final responses in from the publishing houses, big fat NADA. However, because of the many positive responses from editors, agent #1 encouraged me to come up with another story idea and assured me he wants to try again.
01.15.2005 -- Arabella Magazine made a public announcement that they are going out of business due to lack of funding. My short story will not be published with them after all. Waaaaaaaaa . . .
10.04.2004 -- Agent #1 mailed out “Single Sushi” proposal to various Christian publishers for review.
09.16.2004 - 09.19.2004 -- Attended American Christian Romance Writers (ACRW) Write from the Heart conference in Denver, Colorado. They changed their name to American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Met some great friends, heard a word from the Lord about my writing direction, had a terrific time.
08.13.2004 -- Microfiction "Idiot" won honorable mention in "Micro-fiction Contest" on Writing.com
06.30.2004 -- Agent #1 emailed to say he'll represent me! Yay! He knows chick-lit--he got another author two multiple-book chick-lit contracts.
06.16.2004 -- Arabella Magazine called to let me know they want to publish my short story "Dom Perignon" sometime in 2005. After shrieking and crying in the phone, I politely thanked the editor, Sharon.
04.02.2004 - 04.06.2004 -- Attended Mt. Hermon Christian Writers' Conference. Awesome, Spirit-filled experience!
04.01.2004 -- "Dom Perignon" short story won Best in Genre: Romance in the "I Just Wanna Win!" contest on Writing.com
03.08.2004 -- Started working full-time at a biotech company in the south San Francisco bay area.
02.01.2004 -- Completed rough draft of THE CORINTHIAN RULES. Praise God!
01.01.2004 -- RubyZine online Christian magazine for teen girls launched. Started writing the "Real Life" Q&A column.
12.26.2003 -- "Madison's Doubts" short story published in Universal Personality online magazine for writers
12.12.2003 -- "How to Respond to Negative Critiques" article published in Write to Inspire newsletter. Thanks, Glenn, for giving me my first publishing credit.
12.03.2003 -- "Madison's Doubts" short story won second place in "Lynkin's Prompt Contest" on Writing.com
11.25.2003 -- "Lorena's Evolution" short story won first place in the Writing.com Action/Adventure newsletter short story contest
11.02.2003 -- My Regency scene won Honorable Mention in Stella Cameron's 2003 "Scarlet Boa" contest -- "Introducing the Hero"
