It has been a while since I made a post on here. Long story short: I went home for a year, got married and have now returned to Taiwan with my husband. Traveling around my favorite places has been a blast, especially since Doug’s Chinese is quite terrible.

The other day we tried to buy dumplings and ended up purchasing soup. While we were looking at the stuff, Doug tried to tell the lady he didn’t know…except he forgot the word “not”. So we were standing at a soup shop and I was trying to tell the lady he didn’t know. Each time I said that, Doug piped up with “I know, I know” in Chinese. Finally, I had to just tell the lady, “No, he really doesn’t know. He doesn’t know Chinese”. Throughout the whole exchange, the lady and I were just laughing as Doug insisted that “I know, I know”.

Once the soup came out, the lady came out to ask us if we wanted the ten dumplings still. Doug-thinking she was inquiring about how our meal was—said yes. Another round of laughter later and a lot of confusion ensued before we sorted out the matter.

I have also been enjoying Doug’s other mistakes. He confused the word “want” with “am” the other day. Before I could stop him, he told several people that “I am a dumpling. I am a chicken” before I could correct him. Amusingly, he also told several people in his teacher training group how to say it wrong. If anyone sees a bunch of foreigners in Taiwan saying “I am a coffee” you know who to blame. 

Writing Again

I finally did it-I quit my job and started freelance writing full time. As I did the math,  I realized that my work as a freelance writer actually made more per hour than working as a lab technician. As I set out on this path, I did not realize how mind-numbing full time writing could be. Currently, I have one main client that pays my base monthly pay. The rest of my income  I make up through using a number of content sites. Some articles pay extremely well while others offer the same pay rate, but involve so much research that I barely make minimum wage an hour. As I set off on my new path, I find the way to be ardurous, but rewarding. I am finally starting on my personal life goals and living the way I had always envisioned.

FREE PROMO UNTIL FEBRUARY 13, 2012!

For any avid reader out there who hasn't yet checked out my new book, Burning the Bible, try reading it in the next couple of days! Until the night of February 13, Burning the Bible will be available to Kindle readers at no cost. Click on this link and it will take the free promo page for Burning the Bible. Enjoy!
-Courtney M. Crass

A Glimpse at the Backcover of Burning the Bible

Sodom and Gomorrah have come to pass yet again. This time, it is up to one man to find a truly good person in order to save mankind from the Lord's wrath. Finding a good person is more difficult than Daemon originally expected it would be when he volunteered for the monumental task. Believing that an ideal person would withstand the lure of temptation, Daemon tempts the unfortunate souls who cross his path-until he meets Esperanza.

Disillusioned and broken by his search, he finds himself falling more in love with her. After so many years of having his ideals crushed, he wants to just surrender and start anew-but can he? Can he let humanity down for the sake of one girl? Has he found-after all this time-the one incorruptible person? Uncertain if he can see another seemingly good person fail, he makes a decision that ultimately alters both of their lives forever.

Burning the Bible in Now Available

After a long, arduous editing process, Burning the Bible has finally finished the publishing process!Burning the Bible is available through the hyperlink, on Amazon.com and Kindle. It has been a tiring process, thank you to everyone who supported me through this and helped with all of the editing!

Burning the Bible: Last stages of editing

The long awaited for moment is here at last. Courtney Crass's first novel, Burning the Bible, has finally reached the last stages of editing. In the next few months, she will start to find an agent and publisher for her creation.

Burning the Bible is a story where a modern day Sodomn and Gomorrah has come to pass. Long ago the lord asked for 10 good men to be produced to save the cities of Sodomn and Gomorrah. Ten good men could not be found and those cities were destroyed. The lord is upset over the workings of the modern world and has decided to vent his wrath-unless one good person can be found. One idealistic young man is set the task of finding this good person. His task proves to be a more difficult than he had ever imagined and over the course of his disillusioning search, he finds darkness lurking in suprising places and love where he least expects it. Will this love be enough for him to be deterred from his course or will he stay true to his values? As time quickly runs out, twists and turns in the path lead to an unusual ending.

For more about Burning the Bible, e-mail Courtney Crass at gabcc89@yahoo.com.

Happy Reading!

Facing Your Fears: Fear of Cows

Bleary eyed in the morning, I used to stand at the lonely country bus stop to await the school bus. As a young girl growing up in the country, this was a normal experience-or would have been except for an irrational fear that I harbored. You see, I had this fear of cows that I just could not seem to shake. Although I knew that it was irrational, the logic of it did not matter for me. What mattered was the monstrosity that watched me from the neighboring field as I waited every morning.

Most people-wrongly- are not afraid of cows. Pictures of happy cows on commercials or dainty cow statues perpetuate this false idea. Cows are one of the most fearsome animals ever in existence. Still in doubt? Think again.

Standing at the stop sign in the misty, chilly morning, my hands would stay huddled in my pockets as I shivered and warily watched the creatures that marred my existence across the way. Mooing menacingly, they chewed their cud. Normally this would not be a cause for alarm, but again you see, these are not your cartoon cows. Munching roughly upon their cud, every chew seemed destined to be a warning for me. Stay away, they seemed to say, or this could be you. No matter how long I stood there, they did not change this attitude and instead, the chewing grew stronger taking on a ferocious intensity seconded only by the intensity I had occasionally seen my roommate take when approaching girls. The girl would say hello politely before walking away and he would stare intently, following her and hovering with a decidedly creepy focus until she would be forced to leave the room. The next day he would bemoan the fact that this girl did not like him and I would be too kind hearted to tell him that if he was put in a police lineup with a serial killer, a rapist, and a cow, the only one who would beat him for creepy, haunting intensity would be my bovine friend who scrutinized me from across the street.

The disturbing roommate would not be around for years yet. The problem at hand still was my fear of cows. Huddled behind the stop sign for protection, the occasional peek I chanced only ascertained my greatest fears. Long ago, the cow must have been a fearsome creature. Before it was domesticated and forced to be a beast of burden, the sight of a frantic, stampeding herd of cows must have been a great cause for alarm. An alarm that I, sensitive to the workings of the world, still felt. You may laugh at my fear of cows, but you were not there. The giant, two ton beast mocked me from across the way and as it chewed it’s cud, the threat of an imminent stampede was obvious. Writing this, my fear is slightly allayed either by the psychological relief of letting my fears out into the world, or by the reassuring presence of the hamburger in my hand.