When I Was Just a Kid...Camy Tang

Let's see, a little girl growing up in Hawaii, probably shy and backwards, really into anime characters and she wants to be either a physicist or a novelist. Well, we've come a long way, baby (you have to be old to get that one...)--you can be it all,play volleyball, write about it and turn from backwards and shy to loud and fun! (And I doubt that her little girl photo looks much different from this one.)

Yes, this is what happened with a shy little girl named Camy. And being a genius(don't let her throw you with that lame story about a fiery death of her physicist dream--she is a mad genius and has degrees and trappings to prove it,) she also knits(my favorite: toliet seat cover)and writes blogs, and probably can do almost anything, like run huge fiction contests and help other writers. Just thinking about Camy makes me tired. She kicks with wasabi! (And my boys think she is cool. Or whatever the terminology for she rocks is.But none of my boys can marry her because she's married to Captain Caffeine.)

Let's see what made Camy into one of my new favorite fiction authors--a sharp-witted and the self-professed Loud Asian Chick (love her new book): (By the way, I knew she was great from the first time I met her at an ACFW conference when she was just a gleam in her agent's eyeball:)

Childhood Ambition:
I always wanted to be a novelist, as soon as I knew what a "job" was.
Mom, thankfully, didn't dissuade me even though she knew it was a
longshot. Of course, I also wanted to be a physicist, which just goes
to show you how wild my ambitions were (the physicist dream died a
fiery death in my first college physics course where I met REAL
geeks).


Fondest Memory (then):

I wrote to Anne McCaffrey and she wrote back to me! From Ireland!

Proudest Moment:

Getting the call from my agent that I'd sold.Actually,it was an answering machine message which is still on the machine, plus my husband(AKA Captain Caffeine)recorded it onto an MP3 for me (yes, I'm that pathetic).






Biggest Challenge as a child or teen:

I was very shy as a child and very awkward socially.I was also extremely insecure in my personality and it wasn't until after college that I started realizing I can be who I want to be and not apologize for it.That's about the time I stopped being shy,too.


My First Job:

Assistant at the local library


Childhood indulgence:

Mom always bought me a book when we went to the mall.

Favorite Outfit as a child:

Shorts, T-shirt and zoris (flip-flops to you non-Hawaiian people)

Favorite Childhood Movie:

It's actually not a movie but a TV show--Star Blazers (Japanese anime show)

Favorite Childhood Book:

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Childhood hero:

Voltron (another Japanese anime show)






Anything else you'd like readers to know about you as a child:

I was shy, awkward and short. Luckily, now I'm just short.




You must check Camy out on her web site and read her blog to get to know the true Camy. (And she's a praying girl--check out Sundays on her blog.)You definitely want to hit her blog because she's always giving away books and all kinds of stuff like iPod Nanos. From her site: (Have you heard about my huge website contest? I'm giving away baskets of Christian fiction and an iPod Nano! Only my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers are eligible to enter, so join today !) (I joined. Haven't won but am always hopeful.)


Sushi for One? (Zondervan) September 2007




Only Uni (Zondervan) February 2008




I love Christian Chick Lit and Camy has her list here.

Other people talking about Camy this month!


She is also a Story Sensei and will help doctor your ailing manuscript if you are an aspiring novelist, like Camy as a little girl.