Skip to main content

Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter

I worked on my first Kickstarter and it got approved! It’s for the Special Edition Hardcover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer and the release of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster. I contacted my graphic designer about the Special Edition Hardcover of vol. 1: Archer—it’s going to be SO beautiful! The Kickstarter focuses on the Special Edition Hardcover, but it’ll also include vol. 7: Spinster so that it’ll sort of be like a launch day for vol. 7, too. A third special thing that’ll be in the Kickstarter is Special Edition Paperbacks of all the books in the series. They won’t be available in stores, just in the Kickstarter (and later, from my website, and also in my Patreon book box tiers if I decide to do them). The Kickstarter is not live yet, but you can follow it to be alerted when it has launched. (You may need to create a free Kickstarter account.) Follow Camy’s Kickstarter
4 comments

Insurance woes

Captain's Log Stardate 12.7.04

On Thursday last week, my husband got time off of work to pick up a mysterious FedEx package someone had sent us. I found out it was Open Enrollment for my insurance through work. The sheet with my name and password said it was from November 15th through the 30th, but the post-it note attached said I had until "Tuesday noon."

Then I logged on to the system on Sunday and discovered that I had actually missed Open Enrollment. So I looked at the FedEx package and found that it had been mailed on November 29th, the Monday after my surgery (which was on November 24th) and a day before the Enrollment ends. Well, that's just great. Work hadn't even emailed or called me to let me know the packet would be arriving, so I had no clue. Not that I would have been walking well enough by Monday to even answer the doorbell when the FedEx guy came. FedEx tried again on Wednesday December 1st (already past the Open Enrollment due date) and my husband picked it up on Thursday December 2nd.

So I emailed the person in charge of Open Enrollment, and I will call to leave a message today. I'm so flaming mad at my company. I haven't been at work since November 2nd, and I've faithfully kept them updated on my status, including my surgery date, but no one bothered to tell me about Open Enrollment. I don't have access to my company email from home.

I swear, I want to just up and quit. Except my husband would have a cow. He's worried about health insurance and mortgage. But if it turns out I don't have insurance because of this screw-up, does that give me an excuse to quit so I can find a job that does have insurance?

Oh please, Lord, I know this is a selfish prayer, but please let him get hired full-time really soon with benefits and a decent salary so I can quit without guilt. I'll even go find another job rather than stay home and write full-time, please just don't leave me with this inconsiderate company. :-(

Okay, whine session over. The knee is better. I'm working on getting range of motion. It's kind of a stretchy pain, which I think is a good thing.

Emailed Mary, Janet and Rachel yesterday about the Chicklit Anthology. We decided to make it more romance oriented since that's what Becky Germany at Barbour would want, and to put the deadline at about April for the novellas, since the rest of them have deadlines.

That gives me time to work on my romantic suspense. When I was doing the large-picture plotting, I did an outline-list of the various scenes on a spreadsheet, which enabled me to visually see the amount of action that happened between disasters. This helped because I found I had too much between disaster one and two, so I changed the order of scenes a bit to make it more proportional.

I'm doing a more detailed scene spreadsheet now so that I can make a tentative chapter-by-chapter synopsis for the proposal, although I'm not sure if I need that yet if the manuscript isn't completed. But it makes me feel good if I have it, at least.

I have six columns for Scene (Goal, Conflict, Disaster) and Sequel (Reaction, Dilemma, Decision), straight out of Dwight Swain. In each cell I list the aspects of the Scene, like heroine's Goal (make it to the funeral), the Conflict (she's late and has to sneak into the sanctuary after service has started), and the Disaster (Mom sees her and Promises Retribution). Then I fill in the aspects of Sequel. That way I make sure I usually have a Scene followed by a Sequel. I can't say I've grasped the concept of Scene and Sequel perfectly, but I'm getting there.

I also have a separate column for POV character and chapter number. Typically I'll try to end the chapter on the Disaster in a Scene, and this method allows me to see how much action is taking place in each chapter, if it's enough to be roughly 20 pages.

In addition to the spreadsheet, I have a Word document that lists the scenes also, but I add any emotional reactions I want to remember to include, any prompts for me when I write the scene.

Hopefully I can get this spreadsheet done tonight, although that might be wishful thinking. I'm hoping I could maybe get this manuscript written by the end of December, but is that unrealistic? Let's see. No harm shooting for the moon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...
10 comments
Read more

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...
21 comments
Read more

Grace Livingston Hill romances free to read online

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci...
2 comments
Read more

Writing Progress on Camille's Next Book

Join my Patreon or my email newsletter to get regular updates in your inbox!
Post a Comment
Read more

Lady Wynwood and the Senhora’s Bargain excerpt

  Here’s a snippet of the Lady Wynwood novella I’m posting on Patreon at the moment: “If you will follow me?” the butler said and led the way up the staircase. ​ The first floor hallway was long and sumptuous, with paintings on the wall and small statues on spindly tables next to elegant Chinese faces. The sound of music was slightly louder, but still muffled, and Laura could hear no voices at all. ​ On the second floor, after traversing a narrower hallway with closed doors on either side, the butler knocked at a door at the end. A deep, smoky voice bade them enter. ​ The room was dim but for the roaring fireplace and a few well-placed but low-burning lamps. The furniture looked comfortable and was upholstered in shades of burgundy and hunter green, and although the light did not reach the heavy curtains, she assumed they were the same colors. ​ From the far corner approached a woman who had been standing behind the heavy wooden desk situated there. She was dressed in a dark burgu...
Post a Comment
Read more

January 11, 2025 Weekly Roundup

KICKSTARTER: My Kickstarter is starting next week! Look for a post here on Patreon and an email newsletter. THIS MONTH ONLY: Subscribe to Tier 3 to get a book box in May https://www.patreon.com/posts/119485728/ BONUS: Protection for Hire Behind-the-Scenes: Wings Domestic Abuse Shelter https://www.patreon.com/posts/119266114/ BONUS: Sneek peek video of the Special Edition hardcover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies Volume 1 https://www.patreon.com/posts/119321861/ REMINDER: I posted my book release/posting schedule in my New Year’s post https://www.patreon.com/posts/119127050/ REMINDER: “Bidding on Treason” novelette available for all paid subscribers for this month only! https://www.patreon.com/posts/119191277/ Free books: Sherri Wilson Johnson, Christian Romantic Suspense https://sherriwilsonjohnson.com/bayside-betrayal-rr2025/ In October, my novella Bento and Betrayal  releases in the multi-author Christian Suspense anthology, Don’t Blink.  C.D. Gill, who writes Clean R...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter

I worked on my first Kickstarter and it got approved! It’s for the Special Edition Hardcover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer and the release of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster. I contacted my graphic designer about the Special Edition Hardcover of vol. 1: Archer—it’s going to be SO beautiful! The Kickstarter focuses on the Special Edition Hardcover, but it’ll also include vol. 7: Spinster so that it’ll sort of be like a launch day for vol. 7, too. A third special thing that’ll be in the Kickstarter is Special Edition Paperbacks of all the books in the series. They won’t be available in stores, just in the Kickstarter (and later, from my website, and also in my Patreon book box tiers if I decide to do them). The Kickstarter is not live yet, but you can follow it to be alerted when it has launched. (You may need to create a free Kickstarter account.) Follow Camy’s Kickstarter
4 comments
Read more

Free short story: How Laura Met Aya

One of the perks of Tier 2 and higher in my Patreon is that they get a bonus short story twice a year. They voted to read about how Laura met the Senhora and so I worked on “Lady Wynwood and the Senhora’s Bargain” at the end of November and I’m just about finishing it up right now. When outlining this story, because it was so intertwined with how Laura meets Aya, I ended up writing a short story about how they met, which became the prologue. (And then the story of how Laura meets the Senhora exploded into a novella instead. I’m not sure exactly how. I just kept writing and writing and writing …) Anyway, as a Christmas gift, I decided to give my patrons the prologue of “Lady Wynwood and the Senhora’s Bargain” because it’s a complete short story about how she met Aya, which I think some of you might like to read. (In order to see the post, you may need to register for a free Patreon account and then Follow my page for free). Enjoy! “Lady Wynwood’s Encounter” (how Laura met Aya)
Post a Comment
Read more

Camy’s upcoming publishing schedule

After the craziness of the Kickstarter, I hope to put Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 7: Spinster  up on Amazon probably in the first week of March. I am currently working on a Christian contemporary romantic suspense, Year of the Dog , because it’s due for the multi-author anthology I’m in that releases in May, Danger in the Shadows.  I’ll probably post the chapters (including the annotated chapters) on my Patreon, but I won’t be able to give a free .epub copy to my paid subscribers since it’ll release in the anthology in May 2025. The chapters will be taken down in May, so be sure to read it while it’s still up on my Patreon. I’ve been posting my Christian contemporary romantic suspense, Protection for Hire , but there’s a chance I might pause it in order to post Year of the Dog , because I am realizing I’m not very good at juggling two contemporary projects at the same time. If I do pause it, I’ll start up again after Bento and Betrayal  is done, probably sometime in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th...
18 comments
Read more