Camy Tang's Blog, page 81

The Light in the Darkness

I’m feeling a bit thoughtful this Christmas season, and wanted to share some things that have struck me recently, and other things I’ve been remembering. This will be a more sober post than other Christmas devotionals, but I wanted to speak to anyone who might have felt as I did before I knew Christ.

The image above was made by my friend Pammer James on the YouVersion Bible app, and I especially liked it for Christmas because it brings that particular verse in the gospel of John into focus during this season.

In Jesus is life, a light shining in the darkness.

As a teenager, I had a bad bout of depression. Everything around me was pain and sadness and darkness.

But the moment I surrendered my life to Jesus, I felt peace for the first time in a long time, and I was not so lonely and filled with pain. Life was still hard, but the darkness was not as dark anymore, because I had Jesus lighting the way through a difficult time.

This season can be hard because everything is bright with colored lights, cheerful music, and loved ones being together. If you have a place of dark loneliness inside you, it can seem ever blacker and more isolating during this season.

I have known that kind of darkness, and I found a light with Jesus. I am praying that you will reach out to Him so that He can give you peace from your pain. The bright light of Christ is warm and kind. You do not have to suffer alone.

If you already know Christ, my prayer is that the light of Jesus will fill you with a sense of His powerful presence in the midst of busyness and a full social schedule. If Christ is in us, His light is shining inside us with his love for us, and we shine His light to others.

I wish you all a truly blessed Christmas.

The Spinster's Christmas, Prologue

I’m posting my Regency romance, The Spinster's Christmas , so all my blog readers get a chance to read it! It’s the Prequel novel to my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series.

A Regency romantic mystery

Miranda Belmoore has never felt attuned to the rest of society. Her family has never understood her blunt speech and unwillingness to bow to conventional strictures, and so they have always made her feel that there is something wrong with her. Now as a poor relation in her cousin’s house, she makes plans to escape a life of drudgery and disdain from her own family members.

Naval Captain Gerard Foremont is having difficulty adjusting to life back on land, frustrated that his career has been cut short by his severely injured knee. Guilt haunts him as he sees the strain his long convalescence has had upon his parents. As they spend Christmastide with the Belmoores, he wants to help fulfill his mother’s wish to have her orphaned niece come to stay with them.

However, an enemy has infiltrated the family party, bent on revenge and determined that Twelfth Night will end in someone’s death …

All the posted parts are listed here.

***
The Spinster’s Christmas
by Camille Elliot
Copyright © 2015 by Camy Tang

And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
Genesis 16:13 (KJV)

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7 (KJV)

To my readers: My prayer for you is that you will know that God sees you and that you fully understand how much He loves you.

Prologue

Dorsetshire, England, December 23rd, 1810

“I am heartily sick of your complaining and moaning, you old woman,” Lady Wynwood told her companion, who was lounging on the seat across from her in her travelling coach.

The “old woman” was in actuality a fit man in his fourth decade, with a rugged face and an easy smile hovering on the edges of his mouth. His jaw might not be as firm as it had been twenty years ago, but he was still the handsome buck Laura had first met during her debut in London, and he knew it, too.

“Reduced to name-calling, Laura?” Solomon Drydale drawled.

“Would you rather I simply opened this coach door and booted you out of it?”

He grinned impudently at her in reply.

“You made the decision to ride inside the coach rather than alongside it on your horse,” she continued. “Therefore, I do not wish to hear another groan about the springs of my axles or whatever it is that you call them. It is my coach, not yours.”

Sol held up his hands in surrender. “You are quite right. Forgive me.” He gave her that charming half-smile that never failed to soften the ire of the most peevish of dowagers.

Laura rolled her eyes.

The coach jolted again in the badly potted road. Laura set her teeth.

Sol groaned at the jolt. “How much farther to Wintrell Hall?” In response to her black look, he quickly added, “I am not complaining. It is a sincere question.”

“You have been to Wintrell Hall before.”

“It has been a year or two since I accompanied you to Sir Cecil’s home for Christmastide,” Sol said. “I am hardly required to remember the length of each stage of the journey.”

“We are nearly on Cecil’s lands,” Laura said.

“Good.” Sol settled deeper into the plush velvet seat. “Sir Cecil Belmoore may be an insufferable prig, but at least he is responsible enough to see to the upkeep of his roads.”

“Solomon Drydale,” Laura said in shocked accents. “Remember you are speaking of my cousin’s son.”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, you like the man as little as I do.”

She gave a disgusted sound. “You are incorrigible.”

“Since when have you been too reticent to speak your mind with me?” he demanded. “It is only the two of us in this rattling—er, splendidly sprung coach.”

“I knew you were not overly fond of Sir Cecil, but I had no idea you disliked him so much. If such is the case, you could have chosen to spend the season with your own family,” she said pointedly.

Sol didn’t answer, but his face took on a grim cast.

Laura eyed him. “What unpleasantness are you avoiding in so cowardly a fashion?”

Her goad hit its mark. “It is hardly cowardly to wish to avoid the machinations of a desperate woman.”

She raised her eyebrows at him.

Sol sighed. “You are not the only one to have relations who wish to marry you off to their person of choice. In my case, my sister-in-law has hopes for her niece or cousin or some sort.”

Laura’s laugh hopefully hid the pang that squeezed her heart at his words. She oughtn’t to be surprised. Solomon Drydale was an eligible widower with a vast estate, and great-grandson to a viscount. “I would think you would be up to the tricks of a young girl.”

“She’s not young, she’s nearly thirty.”

“A veritable babe,” Laura said with narrowed eyes. She herself was now on the disagreeable side of forty.

Sol simply smiled at her. “Have no fear. You, my dear, are still as youthful as the day I met you in Green Park.”

He delivered his compliments with that quirk to his lips that made the dimple peek out from his left cheek. But she refused to count herself among the scores of other widows in London who were half in love with him. “Are you now a merchant trading in Spanish coin? You are not usually so flattering to me, Sol.”

“Not flattering, merely answering your question. Avoiding Miss Whatever-her-name is the reason I chose to spend Christmastide with you and your Belmoore relations. Our reasons are not so dissimilar.”

He was right. On Laura’s father’s side of the family, her cousin’s wife, Matilda, had a profligate brother with a penchant for gambling. Matilda had already attempted some rather devious plots to bring Laura into company with him, perhaps even to orchestrate a scandalous situation that would force Laura to marry the gambler. So Laura was avoiding her father’s relations this year in favour of the Belmoores, her mother’s side of the family.

“I do hope there are no Matildas among the family party,” Sol said. “Your late cousin was not clever enough to be so devious, so I am assuming his son, Sir Cecil, is the same.”

“Sol, you imp,” Laura admonished him. “You are trying to make me confess my family members’ faults, but the truth is that I like them a great deal.”

“I seem to recall your complaining to me about some rather priggish letters Sir Cecil sent to you regarding how you administered your fortune,” Sol said.

In other words, Sir Cecil had disliked the fact that Laura had control of her own money. Laura had ignored the letters. Sol had laughed at them, but he had no great regard for Sir Cecil, the present head of the Belmoore family.

“You like my cousin Edward,” she reminded him. “And I assure you that his sisters have much more countenance now than when you met them during their come-outs.” They now had children and even grandchildren. The thought of their families made her smile. She adored all the children who gathered for Christmas at Wintrell Hall and looked forward to the games and charades.

“Now what has brought that brightness to your lovely face?” Sol asked.

She hesitated, because she knew her answer would pain him. “I was thinking about the Christmas games. With the children.”

He smiled in response, although it did not reach his eyes. “That is because you are so competitive.”

“Now I know you are back to your normal self, because you are dishing up rude remarks once more,” she said.

“I must take heed of my tongue, lest I offend some matron and turn Christmastide into a theatrical tragedy.”

“I am not concerned about your tongue.”

“Are you not? And they being your family?”

“However much you play the churl with me, you would never forget yourself in company.”

“Now who’s dealing in Spanish coin?”

“However, you will be looking for any opportunity to goad me into saying something offensive,” Laura continued.

Sol grinned. “Because it is so much fun when you do.”

Laura glared. It had only been the once when she’d been indiscreet enough to say out loud that she thought Lady Adderly’s hat looked like a molting chicken. She said in a firm tone, “I wish for a happy, uneventful Christmastide this year.” Unspoken was her admonition, Behave, Sol.

“Yes, yes.” Sol grinned at her. “Completely uneventful, I assure you.”

***
Buy The Spinster’s Christmas ebook for only $0.99!
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Merry Christmas! Enjoy The Spinster's Christmas

As a Merry Christmas gift to all my blog readers, I’m going to be posting my Christian Regency romance, The Spinster’s Christmas , for free on my blog!

I’ll be posting the book in 1000-1500 word segments every Tuesday and Friday. (When I do the calculations, it’ll finish around the end of May.)

Why am I posting a Christmas story when it won’t be Christmas in a week? Because I can! :)

The Spinster’s Christmas is the prequel volume to my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series. Right now I’m editing volume 1 of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, and it’s on track to release in Spring 2020. (If you’re on my Camille Elliot newsletter, you’ll be sure to hear when it’s available for preorder, which will be a sale price.) I anticipate that the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series to be about ten volumes. I think the series story will be a lot of fun to tell, and I’m looking forward to writing up a storm!

Below, I’ll be listing the links to the parts of The Spinster’s Christmas as I post them. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas! Enjoy The Spinster's Christmas #Christianfiction #Regency #romance

As a Merry Christmas gift to all my blog readers, I’m going to be posting my Christian Regency romance, The Spinster’s Christmas , for free on my blog!

I’ll be posting the book in 1000-1500 word segments every Tuesday and Friday. (If you do the calculations, it’ll finish in 5-7 months.)

Why am I posting a Christmas story when it won’t be Christmas in a week? Because I can! :)

The Spinster’s Christmas is the prequel volume to my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series. Right now I’m editing volume 1 of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, and it’s on track to release in Spring 2020. (If you’re on my Camille Elliot newsletter, you’ll be sure to hear when it’s available for preorder, which will be a sale price.) I anticipate that the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series to be about ten volumes. I think the series story will be a lot of fun to tell, and I’m looking forward to writing up a storm!

Below, I’ll be listing the links to the parts of The Spinster’s Christmas as I post them. Enjoy!

Kisses galore

I wrote a post about writing a kiss on my Story Sensei blog, and I ended up listing almost all of the kisses I’ve written in my published books—and since I write romance, it’s a lot of kissing!

The post is aimed at writers, but it might be fun for a reader who’d like to read all those kisses, so check it out here.

Lady Wynwood's Spies

I belong to a writer’s Discord group (Writer’s Block, full of nice people) and they have daily Line Shares where people can post 150 words of their work in progress, based on the theme for that day’s Line Share. Everyone is writing something different (although I think there are more fantasy writers on the server than any other genre) so the Line Shares are often really fun to read.

It made me think it might be fun to post Line Shares on my Camille Elliot Twitter account. I’m going to commit to posting one Twitter Line Share a day from my work in progress for at least this week. If you want to read my Line Shares each day, follow me on Twitter.

Lady Wynwood's Spies #novelines

I belong to a writer’s Discord group (Writer’s Block, full of nice people) and they have daily Line Shares where people can post 150 words of their work in progress, based on the theme for that day’s Line Share. Everyone is writing something different (although I think there are more fantasy writers on the server than any other genre) so the Line Shares are often really fun to read.

It made me think it might be fun to post Line Shares on my Camille Elliot Twitter account. I’m going to commit to posting one Twitter Line Share a day from my work in progress for at least this week. If you want to read my Line Shares each day, follow me on Twitter.

The Spinster's Christmas Japanese versions

Three or four years ago, I felt God’s calling to have my books translated into Japanese so that I could release my Christian romance fiction in Japan. On December 1st, The Spinster’s Christmas in Japanese released in ebook and print book! It’s available in Japanese in both the photo version and also the illustrated version.

I wrote this book specifically for non-Christian women, in order to introduce them to Christ. If you know of any Japanese women who enjoy fiction, please be sure to send them to the Japanese language pages on my website or buy them a copy of the Japanese version of my book!

The Spinster's Christmas illustrated edition

The Spinster's Christmas illustrated edition available for preorder in ebook and printThis prequel book to my Lady Wynwood's Spies series will release on December 1st with an illustrated cover and more than twenty manga-style illustrations inside. You can check out this website page to see a few of the interior illustrations.

It's now available at a sale pre-order price of $1.99 for the ebook (Kindle[image error], iBooks, Kobo) and $6.30 (which is the minimum author's cost) for the print book (Amazon[image error]). But hurry because the sale prices only last until January 1st, 2020!
The book is also still available with the original cover and no interior illustrations in ebook (Kindle[image error] , iBooks, Kobo) and print (Amazon[image error]).

Some of you may have also noticed that the series title changed to Lady Wynwood's Spies. Click here to read about why the series changed.

The Lady Wynwood series is changing its name

Hey everybody! It’s been a while since I’ve been online, but I promise I had good excuses! I’ve had a few bad bouts of writer’s block over the past couple years (I blogged about how I coped with it on my Story Sensei blog), and I also was unsure about how I wanted to structure my Lady Wynwood series.

When writing The Spinster’s Christmas, a lot of plot and character twists came up that I hadn’t expected when plotting the book. I was writing the book for the Mistletoe Kisses anthology, so I didn’t have much leeway in changing how that book turned out, but when it came to writing the next book in the series, I was undecided about how I wanted it to go. I could continue in the same vein as The Spinster’s Christmas and write historical romantic suspense novels only loosely related to each other, or I could go with the new overarching series idea burning in my head that would take the series in a slightly different direction.

I discussed it with my husband, Captain Caffeine. My new idea for the series would be similar to the Japanese light novels (translated into English) that I had been reading. Most light novels series consist of several volumes and a plot mystery gradually uncovered in each book. The story in each volume is heavily dependent on the volumes published before—you can’t just dive into a volume in the middle because you’d be really confused about what’s going on.

However, I only knew of a few Regency romance series structured that way. Most Regency series are books that are complete stories that don’t necessarily need to be read in order.

The problem was that the series idea and the cast of characters in my head was too large to be structured that way. But I’ve been writing those types of standard romance stories for my entire writing career, and it would be a big leap to change to a new structure, especially since there aren’t many serial Regency novels out there right now.

But Captain Caffeine pointed out that God had spoken to me about writing for Japanese women. My plan was that the books in the Lady Wynwood series would be all eventually translated into Japanese and released in Japan. Since that was the case, he suggested I structure the series more like a Japanese series than an American series.

So The Spinster’s Christmas became a prequel book to my series, which I retitled Lady Wynwood’s Spies. I had spent considerable time plotting the next book and trying to make it fit into a typical romance novel, but now I scrapped all that and began plotting my books as several volumes, or “episodes,” in my series. It was a lot of work (I’m still not entirely done) but I had enough plotted to be able to write Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1, which I finished on November 2nd. Yay!

I’ll be titling each book in the series like a light novel series, as volume numbers rather than different titles. So far, volume 1 is pretty long and will probably be around 80,000 words, but I think the other volumes might be a bit shorter. The nice thing about self-publishing is that I’m not constrained by a particular word count, so each volume might vary widely in length.

I really feel this is the direction God wants me to go with this series. It was especially nice to have the words flow so quickly as I was working on it—I started this new version in early August this year and finished in only 3 months!

I hope to start editing the rough draft in December and then maybe have it ready by spring 2020. If you’re on my Camille Elliot newsletter, you’ll be sure to hear when it’s available for preorder, which will be a sale price.