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

Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto

I suffered a pretty severe writer’s block for the past several months (I think I’m still a bit blocked), and one suggestion was to write short fiction, which I hadn’t done in a long time. Someone on the r/writing subreddit mentioned that if you write a short story a week, it’s impossible to write 52 stories that are ALL bad, at least some of them will be decent. So I decided to give it a shot. I might post some mediocre stories, but hopefully this will help get my creativity juices flowing.

My favorite writing prompts are pictures, so I went onto Reddit and found some really great ones on the r/learnjapanese subreddit.

This one picture spoke to me:
Sogenchi Garden, Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto - October 2017

[OC] Sogenchi Garden, Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto - October 2017 [1265x949]


As soon as I saw this photo, I immediately had the idea to write this short fluffy piece. Feel inspired? Write something yourself and post a link in the comments!

Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto

There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like.

They were small, and had wings, and their bodies were faintly humanoid. They were different colors, muted colors and pastels, so that they blended into the greenery in the garden with ease. But there was a faint pearlescent sheen to their skin, not quite a glow or a sparkle, but something that made them look like colored starlight flitting through the trees, dipping their toes in the running stream, hopping from stone to stone. They had dragonfly wings, and the pearlescence of their wings was a little brighter than the pearlescence of their skin.

Their limbs were extra long, and extra thin, with their hands and feet being a little bigger than normal. Their faces were different shapes, with some being around, some pointed, some long and thin while others were wide. Their hair was long, and yet it floated about their body like they were in zero gravity, defying the fact that they were in the garden here on earth. The hair strands were not fine, but rather like thin, uneven strands of seaweed, with kinks and bends, and slightly flattened shape and texture. Their hair color was also muted colors, like their skin, but their hair did not always match their skin color. Sometimes the colors were complementary, like forest green hair and a light moss green skin color. Other times the colors clashed, like yellow and dark purple with orange streaks through their hair.

But despite their unusual color and shape, it was their eyes that captivated her. Their eyes were large, kind of like the eyes of the aliens that she had seen in pictures, almond-shaped and dark. There was a depth to their gaze that pierced her like a spear through the heart. Their eyes were full of emotion, with different emotions in different pixies, and sometimes one pixie would cycle through a range of emotions. But each emotion was sharp and bright and dark and diffuse. Each emotion evoked something in her heart, every time she met the eyes of a pixie.

And taken as a whole, as she watched the pixies in the garden, there was a desperate, deep ache in her chest, like a heavy weight pressing on her. But it wasn't weight, it was a longing, an intangible reaching toward the garden, toward something that she was not, toward something outside of herself. The garden held her transfixed, and yet it also was pulling at her, pulling at her experiences, her memories, her pain and sorrow, at her joy and peace. It was pulling at her, and pulling all these things out of her, so that she felt like the garden was trying to pull her astral projection from her body.

It was a desire for her life to have more meaning, for her motivations to have more purpose. It was an ache for something more in her life, for something beautiful. Like colored starlight.

No one else saw the pixies. They saw the beautiful trees, the mix of blues and greens and moss, gray and white and brown of stone, the black and colorlessness of water. They saw the garden, cool and damp, infused with the peace of skillful landscaping, and the calming effect of running water and stone and trees. But all that was simply a backdrop to her of the fleeting life that darted around and through like graceful streamers in various colors.

She sat on the porch, sheltered by the roof, and breathed in the damp air. She imagined she could smell something fruity and flowery, despite the fact there were no fruit or flowers in the garden. She smelled a solid, metallic tang from the stone, and the earthy, musty smell of moss and mold. She could almost imagine that she could hear the trees whispering words in the midst of the sound of their leaves stirring in the breeze. She could almost imagine hearing words and the occasional groaning of the wood as the trunks swayed. The pixies made no sound, but their mouth moved as if they were speaking and laughing and shouting to each other.

She didn't know why they were there, or what they were doing. She didn't know why they congregated here, in this particular garden. All she knew was that she felt incredibly blessed to have seen them here, and she was fairly certain she would not see them again.

But she hoped that perhaps one day, in another garden, she might see streaks of colored starlight again.

***

You can check out my other short stories here.

Comments

Sally Shupe said…
Love this story! I feel like I'm there!

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...

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...

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...

Writing Progress on Camille's Next Book

Join my Patreon or my email newsletter to get regular updates in your inbox!

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...

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...

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

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)

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...

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...