Camy Tang's Blog, page 138

Please pray for Texas

I heard about the tornadoes not from Yahoo, but because my friend had her flight canceled from San Jose to Texas, then when she went to San Francisco to catch a flight there, those flights got canceled too. I hope she gets home today! One of the tornadoes touched down near her kids' school. Scary.

Having lunch with Dineen Miller today

She's one of my best friends and also one of the most spiritual grounded people I know. I don't know about you, but when I choose books to read, I will often read books by authors whom I respect and like. You would love Dineen. She has a deep, fervent relationship with Jesus Christ, too, and it comes out in her debut novel, Soul Saver , which releases in May. She's also well known for her nonfiction title, Winning Him Without Words about spiritually unequal marriage, which she talked about on the Focus on the Family broadcast recently.

Yet more wisdom from French Women Don't Get Fat

My friend, NYT bestselling author Tosca Lee, was Mrs. Montana several years ago. She is a fount of information for health and exercise.



One thing she mentioned is that some fresh lemon juice in water is great if you're feeling bloated from your time of the month, because it's a natural diuretic besides all the great vitamin C it's packed with.



What struck me about it is that it's mentioned in the French Women Don't Get Fat book that I've raved about before on this blog (part one and part two). Citron presse is a popular drink French women order at cafes—a lemon squeezed into water, whether cold or warm, without sugar.



Maybe that's why they order them—for the anti-bloating properties! Since I've been feeling fat lately, I've been drinking lemon juice and water at meals. Unfortunately, I'm still fat. But I'm running again (breaking in my Vibram Five Finger shoes) so hopefully I'll lose the weight I gained in the past few months I've been on deadline.



And what's up with the pink slime hitting the news lately? Captain Caffeine told me about it, and that our local grocery store, Nob Hill, supposedly does not carry pink slime hamburger. I think Mireille Guiliano would not even call that food.

What do you like to do at the beach?

I admit the beach doesn't enthrall me since I grew up in Hawaii, but don't hate me for that. :) I love forests but people who grew up in one may not find them as fascinating as I do.



Today I'm taking my Zondervan editor to the beach in Santa Cruz. I've only ever been to one Santa Cruz beach and I don't remember which one it was, so I went on Yelp and decided on Natural Bridges State Beach since it had a lot of good reviews. I hope it'll be fun!



So when you go to a beach, what do you do? I've only ever gone swimming but the water's probably too cold right now, plus it's northern California so the water will never be as warm as Hawaii. Sunbathing only makes me hot and itchy. What do you guys like to do?

Burger King's new menu is like publishing trends

I know that sounds weird, but think about it: Burger King rolled out some new menu items that are a lot like McDonald's because surveys showed that consumers wanted items similar to McDonald's.



When the Chick Lit and Amish genres were peaking, publishers put out their own books in those genres because readers wanted more than just one or two Chick Lit or Amish authors to read/devour.



I see nothing wrong with BK (and publishers) running with their own similar versions of items that have proven to be popular. It means that if I'm traveling and need to stop in fast food, if there's a BK nearby, I'll stop since I know their menu will have what I want. Similarly, when I want to read something Amish, I'm not limited to just Beverly Lewis—there are lots of other Amish books to choose from.



What do you think?

This makes me mad.

Here's a link to an article about Amazon.com that I got from Mary Keeley of Books and Such Literary Agency. Why is Amazon doing this to publishers? This is so unfair. Amazon is trying to make these publishers agree to terms that would make the publishers lose money, in order for Amazon to make money off of other products in their arsenal. If the publishers don't agree, Amazon can just stop ordering from them and the publishers lose money anyway. What kind of a business practice is that? Amazon doesn't NEED to sell all their titles so cheaply. They're already making money off of bestsellers. Amazon is acting like a bully. Maybe this is petty of me, but I'm going to stop buying books from Amazon for a little while. >:(

Me and Snickers

For those of you who might have missed it on Facebook, I took a photo with my dog. This was a second before she licked my phone-camera!

I slept in

Because I finished my manuscript in the wee morning hours. I think I'm taking today off: Woke up to a delivery of TEA!!!!!! on my doorstep. Going running while listening to audiobook of Catching Fire. I'll read some Regency romances, too. I think today will be a terrific day. :)

Hunger Games and heroism

My friend Sarah went to see The Hunger Games with her daughter on opening night, but how about any of you? Who's seen the movie? Read the books?



I admit I only read the books when I heard all the hype about it, and I really like the first book. The social commentary was so fascinating. But I'm in the middle of Catching Fire and must admit I'm not as enthralled. I'll probably get slammed for saying this, but I don't really see what's so heroic about Gale that she loves him so much. He actually seems a bit selfish much of the time.



As girls, we shouldn't just fall in love with any guy who seems halfway interested. Even if he's madly in love with you, look at his heart. Is he heroic? Does he show the kinds of qualities God would admire? And I'm not talking piety. That's totally different from heroism.



He should put God first and you second. He shouldn't be a doormat, instead he should help you do the right thing even if it's painful for him and for you. I think that's heroism.



There are some guys who are confident rebels who are also heroic. But there are also lots of rebels who are selfish.



There are saints who are heroic, but there are also some saints who are not heroic. They can be full of themselves, or care more about what people think that what God thinks, or they can be downright selfish.



So far, in the little I've seen of Gale on the page, he's just not heroic to me. He's a rebel, which can be attractive, but he's a bit selfish. Maybe because one of the first things I see him doing in the book is talking to Katniss about running off together, leaving their families behind. I understand WHY he wants to do this. Yes, his life is hard, and it's tough for him to see Katniss and Peeta together, but he never told her he loved her, and it wasn't his name picked at the Reaping, was it? He doesn't know anything about what Katniss and Peeta had to do to endure.



So do you agree or disagree with me?

Narrow Escape manuscript is done!

I just sent it off to my editor in New York! Narrow Escape is my fourth Love Inspired Suspense novel and will be out in Spring 2013. It stars Nathan Fischer, one of the minor characters from Stalker in the Shadows . I'm excited because I think the book turned out really well. There's lots of kissing, anyway. :)