Author Archives: Cecelia Dowdy

Sushi For One?

Sushi for One?

Sushi For One?
by Camy Tang
Book One Of The Sushi Series
Publisher: Zondervan
Pub. Date: September 2007
ISBN-13: 9780310273981
352pp

From the back cover:
Lex Sakai’s family is big, nosy and marriage-minded. When her cousin Mariko gets married, Lex will become the oldest single female cousin in the clan.

Lex has used her Bible study class on Ephesians to compile a huge list of traits for the perfect man. But the one man she keeps running into doesn’t seem to have a single quality on her list. It’s only when the always-in-control Lex starts to let God take over that all the pieces of this hilarious romance finally fall into place.

===========================
I purchased this novel at last month’s ACFW conference in Dallas. This is the first time I’ve ever read a Christian fiction title with Asian characters, so I was eager to see how the story played out. I’m always anxious to see Christian novels portraying characters with different ethnic backgrounds.

This book is definitely chick-lit! Camy’s voice reminds me a lot of Kristin Billerbeck’s. The story is full of humor and Tang has created a strong character that will remain in your mind for a long time. Lex is a sports fanatic, and she loves volleyball. She’s in a dead-end job and when she quits on a whim, she soon finds herself landing the job of her dreams, working in the field she loves…sports!

She also wants to play pro-volleyball, and when her dream is about to come true, a serious incident occurs, causing her faith in God to waver even more. To top it all off, her grandmother is threatening to pull funding for the girls volleyball team that Lex coaches, if Lex doesn’t find a boyfriend soon.

I’d recommend this book to those looking for a light, funny, chick-lit read. A lot of the qualities in Lex’s crazy family are familiar to us all!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Sushi for One?

October 23, 2007 Posted by novelistcd Edit

Sushi For One?
by Camy Tang
Book One Of The Sushi Series
Publisher: Zondervan
Pub. Date: September 2007
ISBN-13: 9780310273981
352pp

From the back cover:
Lex Sakai’s family is big, nosy and marriage-minded. When her cousin Mariko gets married, Lex will become the oldest single female cousin in the clan.

Due to a traumatic event in her past, Lex finds it hard to get close to men. The one man whom she can be comfortable with, Aiden, is agnostic, definitely not one of the traits on Lex’s Ephesian’s list! However, once all of the obstacles are overcome, the book has a romantically satisfying ending.

I’d recommend this book to those looking for a light, funny, chick-lit read. A lot of the qualities in Lex’s crazy family are familiar to us all!

– See more at: http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2007/10/sushi-for-one.html#comments

Sunday Brunch – Did Philip Disappear?

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From my blog archives…

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos
Question:
What happened to Philip at the end of the eighth chapter in the book of Acts?

I wanted to talk about the ending of the scripture involving the Ethiopian eunuch. After Philip has a life-changing conversation with the eunuch, Philip baptizes him. After the baptism, the following occurs:
Acts 8:39-40
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

What I’m wondering is, did the Lord’s Holy Spirit enable Philip to disappear and then re-appear in Azotus? I know some translations use the term “carried” Philip away instead of “took Philip away.” Either way you look at it, it appears to me that Philip literally disappeared from the scene of the eunuch and then reappeared in Azotus. I’m thinking Azotus was where the Lord felt was the greatest need for Philip to preach the gospel. So, that’s why He had to carry Philip away from the eunuch so suddenly – Philip had lots of preaching work to do.

Do you think that Philip literally disappeared and then re-appeared? If so, why?

Bittersweet Memories

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Sticks And Stones By Susan Meissner

Sunday Brunch! Is It Wrong For Christians To Wear Tattoos?

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Photo
courtesy of Free Digital Photos

Photo: Bon Jour Good Morning Buon Giorno

Photo courtesy of Romanticando.

Do you think it’s wrong for Christians to wear tattoos?

I came up with the subject for today’s Sunday Brunch while I was out on Friday evening. I passed a tattoo shop and this scripture came to my mind:

Leviticus 19:28 28“ ‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

This scripture is taken from the Old Testament, and far as I know, the New Testament does not mention this rule. I’ve seen some cool tattoos on folks, but, I’ve never been of the mind-set to get one. The thought of being pricked by that painful needle…and making that permanent mark on my skin has never appealed to me. Plus, as you get older, the tattoos don’t look as fresh and vibrant, they fade. I definitely wouldn’t want my skin crowded with faded tattoos!

However, I honestly don’t think that getting a tattoo is necessarily “wrong”. I tend to think more of daily-life Christian laws as being taken from the New Testament, moreso than the Old Testament. However, people may disagree with me about tattoos and I’d like to get a discussion going about this subject. I know I was raised to believe that tattoos were wrong and this scripture was used to back up that “rule.” However, as I got older and more exposed to the world, my thinking has changed.

Although I don’t think getting a tattoo is wrong, it’s not something that I would encourage someone to do. Why? Well, like I’ve already said, the idea has just never appealed to me, and if my son were older (like a teenager) and wanted my permission to get a tattoo, I’d tell him NO!

So, do you think it’s wrong for Christians to get tattoos? Leave your response in the comments!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Saturday Matinee! The Book Of Eli!

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The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman

How would you survive in a post-apocalyptic-type world?

My sister recommended that I watch this movie a few years ago when it was in the theaters. I’m just now getting around to watching it! I really enjoyed this movie. This story takes place in a dystopian world. Thirty years ago a catastrophic event involving the sun has killed many people – leaving several people blind. Eli, a man who lived in the world before this event occurred, has a special mission. He needs to head West, taking a special book which he carries in his possession.

In this dystopian world, material possessions are scarce and daily needs, like water, are rationed. Most of the books were destroyed after the catastrophe and the majority of society is illiterate, struggling to survive.

I usually enjoy dystopian stories, and that’s why I found this movie so appealing. Also, the movie shows how the absence of God and prayer has affected society as a whole. I thought Denzel Washington did a great job playing Eli and I was surprised to see Jennifer Biels (from the eighties movie Flashdance) as a secondary character.

Eli is a fighter, and is protected by a force, as he survives, trekking on his journey west. In the meantime, there’s a man, a man who is as old as Eli, who’d survived from the world before the catastrophe. This man is anxiously searching for a certain book and he sends out illiterate men – hoping they will find this book during their search.

Over all, a great movie that I highly recommend. To better display the misery of the world, most of the movie was in black and white. So, if a catastrophic event occurred, wiping out a majority of the population, how would you survive?

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I have to point out that the book that Eli was taking West was the Holy Bible. However, in this movie, artistic license was used. The Bible in the movie was in Braille and Eli is blind – you don’t find this out until the very end. Since my husband is blind, there’s a little-known fact about Braille Bibles that I know: A Braille Bible cannot be bound into one book! My husband’s Braille Bible takes up a few shelves. Braille letters are much bigger than print letters and when you print something in Braille, you need a lot more paper than a print book. Just a book as simple as a novel can take up to three or four huge, thick Braille books.

I can understand why they changed this fact in the movie, though. It would not have worked so nicely if Eli were carting around huge cartons of books for thirty years!! Since the Bible was only one volume in the movie, the book fit nicely in Eli’s backpack! Also, I had a short story published several years ago and I used the same artistic-license convention. My short story was about a blind woman reconnecting with her faith and I have a emotional and important scene where she takes her Bible to church and reads a scripture.

Bittersweet Memories

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Question From A Writer…

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I received the following questions from a writer named Regina:

Hi Cecelia,

Is your latest book project almost done? I think it had a Key West backdrop.

>>>My novel, First Mates, was set in Miami. I’m revising an old project right now and I plan to self-publish that short novel late this year or early next year.

I had to put my book on hold for awhile. I wanted to ask about websites and their prices. Do you think that writers need to have a website just for poetry?

>>>Poetry? I know next to nothing about poetry since I seldom read it. If you’d like to sell your poetry (I’m assuming you have a book of poems) then it’d probably be best to have a website. That way, other poetry lovers can find you and they might purchase your book.

How effective are blogs? What do you think of them?

>>>Blogs are kind of tricky. Meaning, you have to update often, interact with others regularly, in order for them to be effective. How effective are they? It’s hard to say. I’ve heard some writers say that they can get more effective interaction with social media, like Facebook and Twitter, instead of their blogs. I’ve also heard of writers abandoning their blogs entirely, while focusing on social media. You just have to do what’s best for you.

>>>I recently attended the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers conference and blogs were discussed. You might want to start slow, like, maybe, one blog post per week. As you gain more momentum, you might want to increase your blog posts to two or more per week. At the conference, they mentioned it’s best to pick a schedule and STICK TO YOUR SCHEDULE! I’m not very good with sticking to a blogging schedule anymore. My life has gotten so hectic that I just blog whenever I feel like it. That works for me, but, if you’re starting out with a new blog, I’m not sure if that would be effective? It’s hard to say which blogging method would work – it’s all a process of trial and error.

I’ve been trying to put a budget together to see what are very good options that I can venture into to get an audience for my work.

>>>If I were you, I’d try blogging as well as social media. Try to find other blogs that focus on the same demographic as yours, comment and interact with those people, and they might come to your blog and interact with you. Again, it’s hard to say what will work. Thanks for writing to me, Regina! It was good to hear from you!

26525EB

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Bittersweet Memories – Now Released As An E-book! :-)

Sunday Brunch – Preaching The Gospel In Public School!

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Photo: Bon Repas Enjoy Lunch Buon Pranzo

Photo courtesy of Romanticando.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Do you remember when the Gospel was preached in public schools?

Reading this scripture had me thinking about my childhood. When I was in the fifth grade (many, many decades ago!) the Gideons Bible group sent permission slips home to our parents, asking if they could give each student a new Bible when they came to visit the school. I recall my mother telling me that I didn’t really need a new Bible since we were Jehovah’s Witnesses and we already had our own Bible (The New World Translation).

Anyway, I recall one of my Bible-receiving classmates taunting a non-Bible-receiving classmate – asking why he refused the new Bible. The Bible-receiving classmate had said, “Why didn’t you get a Bible? Do you love the devil?”

The non-Bible-receiving classmate mumbled that he already had a Bible. I also recall that the teachers had separated us non-Bible receivers into another room while the rest of the students were gifted with their Bibles. We returned to the classrooms later, amidst students flipping through scriptures, enjoying their new gifts. The teachers had received the full Bible, both Old and New Testaments, the students received a smaller Bible containing just the New Testament.

Anyway, my whole point to this blog post is that times have changed. I can’t imagine the Gideons visiting a public school nowadays, gifting each student with a new Bible. I’d imagine it would make the school explode with shock, as well as some possible lawsuits, if such an event happened today?

Do you remember a time when Christianity and faith were discussed in public schools? Do you remember when the Gospel was shared in the classroom? Please share your thoughts…

~Cecelia Dowdy~

WOOL – Silo Series 1-5

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Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) (Wool, #1-5)

WOOL by Hugh Howey

***Note, this is a secular title.

Can you imagine living hundreds of feet below the earth with your people, having no contact with the outside world?

That’s the premise of WOOL, a five-part series about large group of people who live underground in their home, a SILO. The SILO is huge, several hundred feet beneath the earth and the population makes their living by doing a host of jobs: machinery (to run the electricity in the huge underground home), agriculture, cafeteria worker, etc. These people live without contact with the outside world – they have little knowledge of what lies beyond the great door leading outside.

However, being below ground for decades can cause strife amongst people. Some get depressed, curious about what lies beyond those underground walls. Sensing their fate of death, they volunteer to “clean.” This means they are suited up, sent Outside, and when they’re sent out, they clean the SILO window, giving the people a clear view of the outside. The suit does not hold up under the strife of the outside world – so people are sent to die – both voluntarily, and non-voluntarily. The non-voluntary cleaners are those who create strife in the SILO, firing up the people, giving them all sorts of forbidden ideas that go against the Pact.

One SILO worker, Juliette, who works in the Mechanical department is particularly strong and courageous. Her life takes an interesting twist after a certain man is sent to clean.

This is a sci-fi title (I don’t read many of those). I kept hearing about this book in my writers’ circles so I felt that I should read it. I was NOT disappointed. I LOVED this book! Although the plot mesmerized me, I still felt there were a few things that were not fully explained – like, what happened to make the world unlivable beyond those SILO doors? A couple of the characters talk about this briefly, but, I was still left wondering. Is the entire world unlivable outside of the silo?

So, could you imagine living hundreds of feet below the earth with your people, having no contact with the outside world? How would those living conditions affect your mind?

~Cecelia Dowdy~