Header Promotion
1. What’s your sale story? How did you end up selling to Steeple Hill?
I’ve been reading Steeple Hill books since the 1990s, so when I first started writing seriously, I targeted Steeple Hill as a publisher. I eventually discovered that my humorous women’s fiction romances weren’t a good fit with Steeple Hill, and was lucky enough to be contracted by Zondervan.
But I still read Steeple Hill novels, especially when they came out with the Love Inspired Suspense line a few years ago. I love romantic suspense, and when I came up with an idea of a posh Sonoma spa setting, I submitted a romantic suspense proposal. I was lucky enough to have Steeple Hill accept it, and it’s being released this month as DEADLY INTENT!
2. How long have you been writing?
That’s kind of a complicated answer. I’ve loved writing since I was in high school, but then God convicted me that I was more interested in my name on a book than in writing for His glory. I had a very clear “word” or “impression” from God to lay down my writing. It was excruciating, and a really battle in myself, but I knew deep down that God wanted me to lay it down, and I knew I had to obey.
For the next several years, I went in the complete opposite direction and majored in Psychology at Stanford University, intending to go to medical school after college. However, God threw another hairpin turn in my plans and instead had me work in biology research and stay in the San Francisco Bay area to work with the teens at my church.
But when I got laid off from my biology job about 8 years ago, I felt God telling me to take up my writing again. He didn’t have to tell me twice! I started reading writing craft books and taking online classes, and sold my fifth completed manuscript in 2006 (the other four manuscripts are playing with the dust bunnies under my bed).
3. How many books did you write before selling to Steeple Hill?
I sold 3 books to Zondervan before selling to Steeple Hill, but total completed manuscripts was 7.
4. What’s the best piece of writing advice you received in helping sell your first book?
Keep writing new stories. Even when you get a million rejections for the “book of your heart,” just push on and write a new story.
This advice kept me going. I wrote 1-2 new manuscripts every year since I started seriously pursuing writing as a career, and each new book bolstered my confidence and my spirits when the rejections started rolling in. I just went back to the work in progress, and the work was able to alleviate the sting of the rejections.
Patience is not one of my strengths, so working on new manuscripts helped me to wait on God’s timing for my writing career.
5. What’s something you wish you’d known when you started your writing journey?
That publication does not automatically mean all your problems are solved and you will be happy. I had to find my confidence and trust in God in the years before I was published. God had to teach me about finding happiness in what He’d given to me rather than in what I didn’t yet have. That was a really tough lesson because I had blithely assumed that once I had a publishing contract, I would be “complete” somehow. That’s dead wrong—only in God’s love and will am I ever complete.
6. Do you have a Bible verse that guides your writing? If so, what is it?
John 12:32 (Jesus speaking) “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” This reminds me that all I have to do is lift up Christ in my writing, and He’ll do the rest to draw people to Himself.
7. What is your favorite writing book?
TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER by Dwight Swain. He’s really wordy, but his principles are rock solid in terms of story structure and character development.
8. What is the most recent Steeple Hill book you’ve read?
A SOLDIER’S REUNION by Cheryl Wyatt. I loved it! I fell in love with Nolan and really empathized with Mandy. I love reunion stories, too, so their meeting on the collapsing bridge was both emotional and exciting!
9. What does your writing life look like?
Chaotic! I try to complete all my email and marketing in the morning, and then work on my writing in the afternoon, but that doesn’t always happen. I tend to be a night owl, so my best writing is usually done late at night after dinner. I also try to keep my Sundays work-free because recently God has been convicting me about keeping His Sabbath.
10. What advice would you give to an aspiring Steeple Hill author?
READ THE STEEPLE HILL BOOKS! Yes, I’m shouting. I can’t count the number of aspiring writers who email me and want to write for Steeple Hill, but they haven’t read the latest Steeple Hill books. The Love Inspired lines target a very specific reader demographic and have a very distinctive flavor and feel that appeals to their readers. Writers need to capture that if they want to write for the line.
Thanks for having me here, Dream!
DEADLY INTENT back cover blurb:
SCENE OF THE CRIME
The Grant family’s exclusive Sonoma spa is a place for rest and relaxation—not murder! Then Naomi Grant finds her client Jessica Ortiz bleeding to death in her massage room, and everything falls apart. The salon’s reputation is at stake...and so is Naomi’s freedom when she discovers that she is one of the main suspects! Her only solace is found with the other suspect—Dr. Devon Knightley, the victim’s ex-husband. But Devon is hiding secrets of his own. When they come to light, where can Naomi turn...and whom can she trust?
Bio:
Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every week, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ for a huge website contest going on right now, giving away ten boxes of books and 30 copies of her latest release, DEADLY INTENT.
Romance with a kick of wasabi
http://www.camytang.com/
http://camys-loft.blogspot.com/
