Skip to main content

Interview with Liwen Ho part 1

Today I’m very excited to interview Contemporary Romance author Liwen Ho!

Liwen’s bio:

Liwen Y. Ho works as a chauffeur and referee by day (AKA being a stay at home mom) and an author by night. She writes sweet and inspirational contemporary romance infused with heart, humor, and a taste of home (her Asian roots).

In her pre-author life, she received a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Western Seminary, and she loves makeovers of all kinds, especially those of the heart and mind. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her techie husband and their two children (AKA munchkins).

Camy here: Liwen is one of the twelve authors participating with me in the Christian Contemporary Romance anthology, Save the Date, which releases September 15.

Liwen will be on my blog three times! Twice for a two-part interview (Part 2 is here), and then I’ll post an excerpt of her book, One Vow for September, which is one of the stories in Save the Date.

And here, he’s me and Liwen!

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

I’ve always loved words more than numbers. I guess a good sign that I had the potential to be a writer was when I didn’t mind writing essays in school. But the first time that I actually felt like a writer was when I had to fill out a form at the dentist. The form asked me for my occupation and I finally felt comfortable with putting down “Author” after several years of writing and publishing books.

What's your greatest writing weakness and how do you overcome it?

Descriptions! I’m not a big descriptions reader or writer, so I really have to make a conscious effort to add it into my writing. Thankfully, I have a critique partner who is awesome at writing the most beautiful and detailed descriptions. I learn a lot from her.

Haha, I’m the same way with descriptions! :P

What's your best writing strength?


Dialogue! I have the most fun with that. Even though I’m actually pretty introverted and listen a lot more than talk, I enjoy making my characters talk.

I love writing dialogue! Although most of the time, I like making my characters say stuff I would never say. :)

Most writers struggle with insecurity. How do you retain your confidence as a writer?


What a great question. What really helps give me confidence as a writer is first and foremost knowing that God has blessed me with the gift of words (written, not spoken—that’s my hubby’s strength, haha!). I believe He gifts every person with unique strengths and writing just happens to be mine. It also helps to read positive reviews from readers and seeing how my books have impacted them.

I suffered from several bad bouts of writer’s block several years ago. How do you handle writer's block? Do you ever get writer's block?

I usually get writer’s block after I’ve finished a book. Or maybe it’s more of a writer’s drain, physically and emotionally because writing is hard work! What helps me get inspired to write again is reading romance books or watching romantic movies or shows. My favorite form of inspiration these days is Chinese dramas!

Oooh I love Chinese dramas! I absolutely loved Bromance!

Describe your writing space as it is now, and your fantasy writing space.


The left reclining seat of our family room couch has been my writing space for a while now. I share it with our doggy Madeline who loves to “help” me write. My fantasy writing space? Anywhere with a view of the ocean!

That would be heavenly for me, too! The sound of the waves is sooo soothing!

How did you choose your characters’ names? And what can I send you that will make you name your next heroine Camy?


Haha! Tell you what, I will name a heroine Camy one day soon! ☺ You and your books inspired me to start writing Asian characters, so I would be honored to name one after you! In terms of choosing character names, I usually choose ones that I think will fit the character’s personality. For my Spark Brothers series, I ended up going with names that started with the first five letters of the alphabet—Aiden, Brandon, Colin, Darren, Evan—to make them easier for me to remember. I also did the same for the heroines in that series. And sometimes I’ll name characters after people I know, just for fun.

Haha! If you do name a heroine Camy, let me know and we’ll roast the poor heroine on my blog! LOL

Do your kids influence your writing at all? How? How about hubby?


My two kids (AKA munchkins) and my hubby do influence my writing. I’ve based characters’ personalities off of them, especially my hubby’s. He and I are literally polar opposites (he’s an ENTP; I’m an ISFJ), so I model a lot of my alpha males after him.

Camy here: My hubby’s pretty much the opposite of me, too!

I’ll be back next week with the second part of Liwen’s interview. She’ll be talking more about her book, One Vow for September, which is one of the books in our Christian Contemporary Romance anthology, Save the Date, which releases September 15! Preorder now to get 12 novellas for only 99 cents!

Comments

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...

What Is a Brutus Cut? A Regency Hair Trend Inspired by Ancient Rome

Regency Haircuts and Disguises in Lady Wynwood’s Spies In this excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor , Phoebe prepares for a dangerous mission—one that requires her to disguise herself as a young man. The hairstyle she receives, called a Brutus cut, was actually quite fashionable during the Regency. Read on to find out more about this curious trend and why it suited her new identity so well. Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor : By far, the absolute worst part of Uncle Sol’s plan was that Phoebe had to cut her hair. Of the four agents, Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones would be the least likely to be recognized when they entered the Ramparts building—Mr. Coulton-Jones, because of his skill in altering his facial features and his posture, and Phoebe, because she could play a convincing young man, which no one would expect. A disreputable hat would hide her long hair to an extent, but it would not fool anyone who looked closely. Also, because she would lo...

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 Romantic Suspense: Necessary Proof (Sonoma series #4.1, novella) Click here to buy the FREE ebook on all retailers Alex Villa became a Christian in prison, and because of his efforts to help stop a gang producing meth in Sonoma, he has been set up for the death of a cop. Can computer expert Jane Lawton find the evidence that will prove his innocence before the gang eliminates them both? Fantasy short stories: 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. The King’s Daughter The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The...

Meet the Dashing Spy on the Cover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 3

If you enjoy clean historical suspense with slow-burn romance and a touch of danger, you’ll love my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series! It’s a multi-volume Christian Regency serial following a group of unlikely aristocrats battling a dangerous conspiracy in 1811 London. Today, I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at one of my favorite covers in the series— Volume 3: Aggressor. Who is that handsome gentleman? The model on the cover represents Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones, one of my main characters. This clever spy with a tortured past finally gets the cover spotlight in this volume, which is one of my favorite covers because the model is so handsome. 😄 I absolutely love this cover model! His name is Anatolii and here’s the original stock photo . It was really tough to try to decide which photo to use for the cover! It was a tossup between him and the main heroine, Miss Phoebe Sauber, for the cover for book 1, but I eventually went with Phoebe. Then in book 2, he was kind of...