Shopping in Korea Contest!

Not too long ago, I passed my 100 follower mark. WOW! I'm so thrilled to be a part of the blogging community. This calls for a celebration!

If you like to shop as much as I do, then this is the contest for you. There are so many contests out there, but I wanted something a little different that is uniquly ME. And since much of what I write on this blog is about Korea and my latest WIP is set in Korea, I thought I'd bring the Korean marketplace to you.

So I picked up a few cute, easy-to-mail things in Insadong that I hoped you'd love.  Because I love my fellow bloggers! Take a few minutes and 'look around'. Then fill out the form below.

Have fun shopping!

A cute notebook with pencil to jot down all your brillant ideas (got one of these for myself too!)











A set of chopsticks with Korean style holders.

















Adorable Korean children wearing the traditional hanbok magnets.









A purse or case in traditional Korean colors.










Coasters with the sam-taegeuk symbol.









Bookmark with the traditional Korean doors with the kite (reminded me of the SCBWI kite)












Silk bag holding a handmade necklace.













Large silk bag.


Contest ends on April 10th, 1 pm Korea time. (midnight, Apr. 9th, US eastern standard time)

I wanted to post pictures for you of Insadong but I forgot my camera! But I'll be going back soon because Insadong is adorable, quaint and you must see it!

Happy Shopping!

A New Look

I'm trying out a new look here. What do you think? I'm having trouble getting rid of the search function due to my lack of HTML coding abilities. Any advice, I'm open to your thoughts!

Under Construction

Hey guys! Sorry, but I'm trying out some new templates. Hope I can get things in order soon.

Beth's Celebration Contest

Hurry! Because you have only until Apr. 3rd to enter Beth's celebration deal contest. You get to choose between a writer's pack or reader's pack. Love it!

Making Connections

Yesterday I was out doing errands with my two boys in our dong (that’s Korean for neighborhood). Our first stop was the bakery and while I ordered bread, my boys’ cheeks were pinched and chocolates were handed out. Now this is the same bakery we’ve gone to for eight years, so these ladies have watched my boys grow up and received many scribbly drawings too!

Our next stop was the florist, but when I ordered, I had trouble communicating. Thankfully my six year old knows more Korean than I do and was able to help translate. Evidently the man wanted to know where I was from and when I told him the US, he was all excited because his son is also living in the States. And once we had made that connection, the whole interaction flowed easier.

Connections and relationships are very important to Koreans. It’s how their whole culture runs whether it’s through business or family relationships.

And doesn’t that relate to blogging, too? When I went to SCBWI LA a couple of years ago, I was able to connect with people that I had ‘met’ through the Blueboards. Through blogging, I’ve gained help in my own writing through critiques and insights into the writing industry. Here I am a half a world away from most of my writing friends and critique partners, and yet they have been there for me in the hard times and celebrated with me in the ‘yeah!’ times.

I’d love to know your thoughts on making connections in the writing world. How has blogging or message boards effected you?

End of Publishing?

Times are changing and with it, so is the publishing business. For some people this is an exciting time. Others worry.

This discussion came up in our latest SCBWI meeting. We talked about how the music industry made the change, but really struggled and resisted it at first. It was I-Tunes who found a way and changed it all.


One of the guys in our group said the key for the book industry is similar. Publishing houses need to provide what I-Tunes does for the music and film industry, which he thought would be to charge less for an e-book than the real book. Get people to take the impulse buy. If it's affordable, people will buy them.

Interesting. Because the reality is, things are changing. The question is, how will it change and can we evolve to make the business even better. I really believe that those who take the plunge will be successful like Apple has been with I-Tunes.

Yet admist all that, DK has put together an awesome video. If you have 2 minutes, watch it! But don't stop halfway, you'll see why because it's a great twist midway through.


What do you think? What will make the publishing business more successful? What can we do as authors to be cutting edge?

Picture by: Kenneth Sponsler

Unifying to Bring Healing to North Korea

The school I teach at, Seoul Foreign School, is in the midst of coming together to raise money to provide TB medicine to a care center in North Korea. If you are interested in finding out more about the Dongdaewon Care centre click here.

I'm not sure how much you know about North Korea, but it is a closed country. I actually live less than thirty miles from the DMZ (the border between North and South Korea), but no one is allowed to enter.

No one in. No one out.

There are exceptions, of course. One of our teachers, representative of our aid to bring medicine into the country, is one of the few foreigners allowed in each year.

This teacher is escorted from place to place and only allowed to take pictures of certain places and things. Sarah Carpenter was the teacher spearheading this Dongdaewon and she blogs about her experience here.

Internet isn't allowed and the roads that run through the cities are for pedestrians or bullock carts, because there just isn't enough money to pay for the fuel for cars.

There are few trees due to using them for fuel. She said that visiting North Korea was like stepping back in time 50 years ago.

Those that live in the captial city generally have connections with the government and are the lucky ones, but still aren't free to move or go where they wish.

Houses in the countryside have no heat or electricity. Some might have ondol heating, using coal in the floor to heat the house.

As far as the people, I'm going to quote Sarah, "In a word, the people are beautiful. They have such an amazing spirit. Life is full of hardship for them, and they endure. They work. They love. They laugh. They smile. They weep. They mourn. They even dare to hope. In many ways, I think that it is good they do not really know what life is like outside of the country, because I don't know how you could endure the hardships they do if you knew that it didn't have to be that way."

It's moments like these that make me realize how blessed I am and how much I have to give whether it's through money, my time or prayer. There is power in drawing together and making a difference in the places in the world that are so desperate for joy, for purpose, for love.

You might not have a hurting nation 30 miles from your doorstep, but don't let that stop you from traveling a little further.

All pictures taken by Sarah Carpenter