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Fabulous Friday Feature: Camy Tang

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Today I welcome a well-known authoress, one with such a sweet, gentle, 
and encouraging spirit and is a sweet friend: Camy Tang. 
Enter to win an autographed copy of Camy Tang's book A Dangerous Stage AND Narrow Escape! see below

I met Camy at ACFW. She was one of my mentors. Her gift of listening, understanding, and guidance made me so thankful I had signed up to meet with her. What a blessing. What a treasure.

I asked her to share her writing journey with us. Here is what she wrote:





Camy and Mary Vee

God Asked Me to Lay Down My Writing!

I’ve always loved writing, but my attitude wasn’t the greatest. I was more interested in my name on a book cover than in giving God glory. So, God asked me to lay down my writing.

At first I thought He was nuts, but once I realized He was serious about it, I fought Him long and hard over it. Eventually, I did it—laid down my writing, stopped cold turkey. Set my manuscript away (all 600+ pages of my epic fantasy novel that was going to take the world by STORM!).


Camy and her agent,
Wendy Lawton

I went into biology research—probably as far from fiction writing as I could go—and made up stories in my head, but never wrote anything down. Then, I got laid off from work and out of the blue, God gave me the green light to start writing again.

I read tons of writing books, took online workshops, attended conferences. I learned everything I could about writing craft, the publishing business, and the market.


 I got lots of rejections. I had horrible comments from judges in the contests I entered. I wrote five complete manuscripts with Asian American characters during a time when publishing houses weren’t actively looking for multicultural stories. And I had to eventually go back to work because it’s just too expensive to be a writer without a contract in the San Francisco bay area.
Camy and her editor, Susan Brower


I guess I had an advantage because I had already laid down my writing once, and God had clearly told me to take it up again. I knew without a doubt that I had His blessing for my writing, so even though things were really hard, I didn’t give up. I knew this was what God wanted me to do.


Sushi for One released in 2007. My husband was so proud of me—holding that book in his hands affirmed to him that this “writing thing” really was what God wanted me to do.
Camy pening author copies for
 her first book


 Since then, I’ve written for Zondervan, Love Inspired Suspense, and Guideposts. My 16th and 17th books just released: A Dangerous Stage (Zondervan) released in November 2012 and Narrow Escape (Love Inspired Suspense) released earlier this month!



Camy Tang grew up in Hawaii and now lives in northern California with her engineer husband and rambunctious dog. She graduated from Stanford University and was a biologist researcher, but now she writes full-time. She is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads one of the Sunday worship teams. Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ to read free short stories and subscribe to her quarterly newsletter.

 My social media links are:
website: http://www.camytang.com/
blog: http://camys-loft.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CamyTangAuthor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/camytang
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/49078


To enter the contest for an autographed copy of Camy' book A Dangerous Stage and Narrow Escape, leave a comment and become a follower of this site if you aren't already. Please also include your email address (username (at) yahoo (dot) com) so I can contact you if you are the winner. The winner will be selected by a third party, random.org, and will be announced next week. U.S. residents only. 

Thank you Camy for joining us this weekend!

Reader, Has God ever asked you to lay something aside for a time and asked you to do something else for a season?


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Comments

Mary Vee Storyteller said…
Thank you Steve for joining us today. You are entered in the drawing!
05:40
Lindsay Harrel said…
I've had to lay aside community theater right now, since I'm pursuing my writing. It's been so hard. Sometimes I just itch to be on stage performing! (The MBT pizza party musical was actually a great outlet for that!)

Thanks for your inspiring story, Camy!
08:06
Janice said…
I had to lay aside my work in the accounting field to raise and homeschool our son. I am now back in the field working part-time in my husband's tax prep and bookkeeping small business.

You have a lovely name, Camy. It is similar to Mary's name in that both are short and catchy, and nice names to see on book covers. Being a Smith before marriage, I really notice names.

It would be great to win your book. Then I would have a cover with your name on it along with a great story! :-)

Mary, I left comments on your last two post that you may want to read.

Blessings, Janice
08:58
Mary Vee Storyteller said…
Lindsay,
That is especially so when something comes so easy for us. You are really gifted in musical performance. Sure loved seeing your participation at the MBT pizza party. Thanks for stopping by today:)
11:38
Mary Vee Storyteller said…
Janice,
Nice to see you. Accounting, eh? I took one accounting class and decided I did not have a gift in that area. Glad you were able to resume after raising your children.

I saw the other two comments. Thank you.

Sure love having you here.
11:41
Janice said…
Thank you, Mary. I left another comment on the previous post concerning Snow Jam.
15:05
Anonymous said…
Mary, I really enjoyed this article by Camy and intend to become a follower of hers. I am also a follower of yours. I would like to be entered in this contest to win her books. Thanks to you both. MAXIE
mac262(at)me(dot)com
21:22
Mary Vee Storyteller said…
Maxie,
I so enjoy seeing you each week. You are definitely entered in the contest for her books. Camy will be delighted to see you intend to be a follower.
05:10
Jill Kemerer said…
Camy's blog for writers was the very first blog I ever followed. I'd just started writing again after about six years of obedience to God asking me to set my writing aside to raise our small children. I learned so many things from Camy--and she has no idea how influential she was!

I learned things like how to show not tell and how to write a synopsis. I'm deeply grateful for all of the advice I got from her blog. I hope one day I can meet her and tell her in person how much she helped me.

Thanks for this lovely post, Mary!
09:47
Mary Vee Storyteller said…
Jill,
Yes, I have seen the great articles on Camy's site. Her advice is really helpful. Clear, and with great samples.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Jill. Loved chatting with you.
13:24
Camy Tang said…
Thanks to everyone for your kind comments!

Thanks, Jill, that's so sweet of you!

Thanks for the opportunity to guest blog, Mary!

Camy
22:30
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