Money concerns

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.11.2005

Counting the hours until I'm done with work. Tomorrow is my last day. Yay!

On the flip side, I balanced the checkbook today and paid our credit card bill. We pay in full every month, so we're not in debt, but the size of the bill made me stop breathing for a second. Or two. I haven't even paid Marilyn for our RWA hotel bill yet.

Several amounts were for clothes for RWA--did I really spend that much to look pretty? No new outfits for ACFW conference, that's for sure. And I just paid for my plane ticket to Nashville.

Can we really do this? Can we afford to cut our income in half? I need to stop buying books, even if they are for research and market trends. I need to really see if I can rake in some extra cash doing developmental editing, like Marilyn suggested.

(Did I blog about that yet? Marilyn mentioned that I have a good feel for story structure, and I should go freelance as a developmental fiction editor. I have no idea if this would work since I have no copyediting training, journalism experience, or even an English major. But I do have a couple endorsements from friends who are published, I guess. I have to check out Christian PEN today.)

Lord God, there is no way I can do this except by your grace. Help me to trust you and be faithful in my writing.

The San Jose group of ACFWers met at my house last night, it was so much fun. I love meeting and chatting with these women of God. Shelley brought her RITA award so we could all rub her head. :) MaryLu shared the exciting news that she has a "handshake" deal with an agent, one of the agents who will be at the ACFW conference in Nashville, and her manuscript finaled in a contest, too. Marilyn's Momlit manuscript is in committee at several houses--let's hope for a bidding war.

Writing: I am feeling so dry creatively, when the opposite should be true--I should be writing up a storm because I'll be done with work soon. Why can't I go anywhere on this manuscript? I really want to finish it and start the next one, which I'm already thinking and planning. Is this spiritual warfare or just plain laziness? Lord God, please help me. I am at the end of myself, I'm too weak to do this on my own strength and discipline.

The San Jose ACFW group encouraged me to keep praying, keep striving, and not beat myself up over this. Marilyn suggested a writing "vacation" away from my WIP. I do still want to fast a day this month, and I was planning on Sunday but I have a bridal shower for one of my youth group staff workers. I'll have to think about it.

Diet: Wonder of wonders, I hopped on the scale this morning and I'm the same weight as before I went on vacation, despite the lack of exercise and gorge-fests. That doesn't mean I'll stay that way, however, so I pushed myself to do Taebo this morning. It felt good and made the ache in my back go away.

Comments

Anonymous said…

You'll do fine Camy... it won't be long til you have a post on here titled "I SOLD!!!"

Sat Aug 13, 11:15:00 PM 2005

Anonymous said…

Camy, praying for you. It'll work out.

Mon Aug 15, 03:31:00 PM 2005

I’m done

Captain’s Log, Stardate 05.17.2006 Blog book giveaway: My Thursday book giveaway is THE PREACHER’S DAUGHER by Lyn Cote My Monday book giveaway is BLIND DATES CAN BE MURDER by Mindy Starns Clark . You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for THE PREACHER’S DAUGHTER and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned. I’m done. At the beginning of the year, I made a goal of three books this year. That’s four months per book. I started this manuscript January 15th. I finished in the wee hours of May 17th, so it took me about four months, a day and a few hours. Yay me. I’m going to bed now. Yes, this is the espresso maker on the right, and a professional coffee grinder on the left. By the espresso maker, I mean the one I promised to my long-suffering husband if I got a book contract, as a reward for letting me quit my biotech job and write full-time.

I GOT A CONTRACT!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.29.2006 I had a wonderfully funny blog post planned for today, but I got sidetracked by some news yesterday! Zondervan has offered me a three-book contract on my Asian chick-lit series ! I’m still stunned by everything that’s happened. The series is actually a 4-book projected Asian chick-lit series about four cousins who fall under the infamous family title "Oldest Single Female Cousin," and their ruthless, wealthy grandma applies pressure on each of them to improve their lack of love interests. I think the first book is tentatively scheduled to be released in August 2007. The blurb on the series is on my website here . Brandilyn Collins posted to the ACFW loop about my writing journey, and Tamara Cooper asked that I share it. And since you all know how much I like to talk , here it is. My writing journey: Like most writers, I have wanted to write since I was very young. (In high school, I wrote a fantasy novel that will never see the light of day ...

Window shopping

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.14.2005 Knee update: I went to the doctor today for a checkup, and saw his assistant. I’ve been concerned because there’s still inflammation in my knee joint, and it’s been almost 4 months since the surgery. She said she’d talk to the doctor about it tomorrow and call me. Sometimes he suggests laying off the PT to see if that causes the inflammation to go away, but I don’t know if that will work because lately I’ve been pretty active outside of PT. At PT today, the therapist did ultrasound and some sort of electrical current on the joint. Hopefully that will make the inflammation start to go down. I’ll know by tomorrow, probably. Writing: Mt. Hermon conference starts this Friday! On Thursday night, I’ll be at the Santana Row Borders bookstore to help out (and hopefully learn a bit, too) at a booksigning for several of the ACFW authors who are attending Mt. Hermon . That should be lots of fun. I had a good brainstorming time at ...

ICRS Tuesday

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.11.2007 I started the day with a great meeting with Al Hsu , an editor at InterVarsity Press. We discussed Asian Americans—fiction, non-fiction, the church, family. He’s been in publishing for many years and is very wise. We had a great discussion. I also met his wife Ellen, who’s totally nice and is also into card-making! I wandered the floor and happened to meet Robin Jones Gunn. She asked if I’d eaten yet, and since I hadn’t, said to join her for lunch. On the way to lunch, we met Mark Mynheir, and he gave me a copy of his book, got The Void . Isn’t that cool? Robin has so much wisdom. I loved having lunch with her. She gave me such good advice, both professionally and spiritually. I hope I’ll get a chance to have lunch or dinner with her at the ACFW conference in September. I met up with agent Steve Laube, and walked with him to his next meeting, but on the way we were hailed by Cec Murphy and agent Jeff Dunn. Jeff had been the first editor to request...

Free Christian Romantic Suspense Novels by Camy Tang / Camille Elliot

Curious about what my writing is like? Here’s a list of all my free books and the free short stories, novellas, and novels that you can read here on my blog. I’ll update this post as I add more free reads. Christian Regency Romantic Suspense (as Camille Elliot) The Spinster’s Christmas (Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, Prequel novel) (Posted on my blog as a serial novel, completed) Spinster Miranda Belmoore and naval Captain Gerard Foremont, old childhood friends, meet again for a large Christmas party at Wintrell Hall. Miranda is making plans to escape a life of drudgery as a poor relation in her cousin’s household, while Gerard battles bitterness at the fact that his career was cut short by the injury to his knee. However, an enemy has infiltrated the family party, bent on revenge and determined that Twelfth Night will end in someone’s death … Lissa and the Spy (Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, Prequel novella) Click here to get this ebook FREE when you subscribe to my newsletter In...

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