How to make a blog your website

Welcome!

2006-06-01T23:48:00.000-07:00

This is my example for how to make a blog into your website.

Blogs are much easier to update, especially for the html-challenged, and so I came up with this idea of giving easy tips so people can make their blog into a website.

This will be more geared toward writers, but anyone wanting a simple website to showcase themselves can use this idea.

Camy Tang
author
Romance with a kick of wasabi
http://www.camytang.com/

About Me

2006-05-21T02:10:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Wahiawa, Hawai’i, a small town right in the center of the island of O’ahu. My family is still there, but they love to fly up to California to visit on the way to Las Vegas.

I’ve loved to write ever since Junior High, but I put it aside because I felt convicted that my motives were not pure--I was more interested in being a published author than in serving God and writing for His honor and glory. But in 2003 I felt God’s calling to write again, and I’ve been loving every minute. I’ve learned so much about writing technique from books and articles on the web, and from the writers’ websites and groups that I’ve joined. As of right now, I am active in American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW, formerly American Christian Romance Writers) and the Faith, Hope and Love chapter of RWA (Romance Writers of America).

My writing has been heavily influenced by my interests: reading and action/adventure movies and shows. I am addicted to the TV show "24,” and will watch anything with Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat and Jackie Chan.

I also love Japanese anime--does anybody else besides me remember Star Blazers, Voltron, Robotech, and Bubblegum Crisis? I love the mangas Ranma 1/2 & InuYasha.

Outside of writing, my husband and I are staff workers with our Youth Group at Santa Clara Valley Japanese Christian Church (SCVJCC). This is both pleasure and pain: Some days I feel God’s blessing as I see the results of years spent developing a relationship with these kids, and helping them to understand Christ more deeply. Other days, I just want to strangle all their little throats. ;-)

God has given me an opportunity to combine both my writing and my youth work ministries by becoming an contributing editor for Rubyzine, an online Christian magazine for teenage girls. I’ve written articles and stories, and have a Q&A column called “Real Life.”

I worked as a biologist researcher for nine years, doing compound development studies for a pharmaceutical company and product development and method-of-action studies for a biotech company (utilizing my college bio and chem courses).

My husband and I adopted our dog Snickers from the Santa Clara animal shelter. She is 65 pounds of pure energy. She has a huge pain threshold and can run full-tilt into doors, pick herself up and take off again. My parents affectionately call her their “granddoggie.”

When I first started writing, I didn’t know if God was going to allow my novels to be published, but the entire experience has taught me more about entirely, completely, totally depending upon Him, and submitting to Him aspects of my life that I never realized I was trying to keep control over.

Now, I try to trust in His plans for me--I know that what I write is for Him to use for His own agenda. He knows how He wants to use me, so I just need to go with the flow.

“Romance with a kick of wasabi”
What does my tagline mean?

Wasabi is a very hot (sinus-clearing) Japanese radish condiment used to clear the palate when eating sushi or any raw seafood. Most of my stories have a hint of romance in it, and wasabi, with its Asian origin, refers both to my Asian characters and that “kick” of sass in my chick-lit.

My faith

What do you believe about God, the universe, and everything in between? How strongly do you believe it? Does it impact and influence your life?

I’ve known people who try to shove their faith down my throat. I’m not here to do that. Give me a minute to tell you my experience with Jesus Christ.

In school, I was an outcast and I would have done almost anything to fit in, to be acknowledged as someone worth knowing. I thought I was a Christian but I wanted to do things my own way, and I did some horribly selfish things to other people, making Christians seem like hypocrites.

God didn’t strike me down with lightning. He sent real Christians into my life to make me realize that their faith gave them a confidence and stability I didn’t have. He showed me that if I surrendered control of my life to Christ, I could cast aside my old life—the old me—and gain a new life, a new me, someone I’d like much better.

I always regret that it took me so long to find this kind of freedom. That’s why I work with teenagers in my church youth group—to help them discover this kind of supernatural love and inner peace while they’re still young, before they make stupid decisions like I did.

God didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to do. Instead, He opened doors for my greatest dream and desire, my writing. His Spirit guides me and molds me in ways that are too weird and mysterious to describe, but very cool to experience.

It isn’t hard and it isn’t a cosmic killjoy. It can be a little scary, but He loves you so much, the fear melts away. If you earnestly search for God, He has promised that you’ll find Him—undeniably, irrevocably. So don’t take my word for it—look for Him yourself. Find a Bible and start reading the Gospel of John.

News

2006-05-20T02:12:00.000-07:00

September, 2006 - I finally figured out how to post the article "How to Make a Blog Your Website"--by saving it as a .pdf file and listing the download url.

June, 2006 - I wrote an article entitled "How to Make a Blog Your Website" and launched this sample blog.

My Books

2006-05-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

My debut novel, SOLO SASHIMI (working title), will be released in August 2007 from Zondervan.

It's the first book of a four-part series titled "Single Sushi."

Four cousins commiserate their single status—Lex the Jock, Trish the Spaz, Venus the Swan, and Jennifer the Oddball. The only Christians in their large extended family, they vow to fight the stigma of the infamous family title, Oldest Single Female Cousin. But they have very different ideas about not acting as desperate as they feel about their bleak love lives. Who knew God would have His own plans of true love for each of them?

Book #1: SOLO SASHIMI

Sports-crazy Lex Sakai isn’t too worried about “winning” the unofficial family title “Oldest Single Female Cousin” when her cousin Mariko marries in a few months. Her control-freak grandma is easy to ignore, until Grandma issues an ultimatum—if Lex can’t find a date for Mariko’s wedding, her ruthless Grandma will cut off funding to the girls’ volleyball team that Lex coaches.

Lex isn’t about to look desperate by dating every player in the dugout. She comes up with a stringent list of requirements from her Ephesians Bible study in her search for The Perfect Man. She always wins in volleyball—if she ups her game, she’s sure to succeed.

Then her brother introduces her to non-Christian, non-athletic, unemployed, no-immediate-physical-appeal Aiden.

Aiden’s on the rebound from a girl named Trish, who dumped him because he wasn't Christian. Then he discovers that Lex is 1) not attracted to him at all, 2) Christian, and 3) Trish's cousin. No way is he hooking up with anyone from that crazy family, much less another hypocritical Christian chick. He's certainly not masochistic.

Time is running out for Lex, and no matter what she does, she can’t find the right guy. Especially when she keeps running into Aiden everywhere. If only the list would stop getting longer and longer...

Book #2: ONLY UNI (work in progress)

After a disastrous time at her cousin’s wedding, lonely, single Trish Sato comes up with three rules from First and Second Corinthians: 1) Stop looking at guys, 2) Only date Christians, and 3) Persevere in hardship by relying on God. If she follows them, she’ll stop desiring a boyfriend so badly. They’re only three little rules. How hard can it be?

Handsome non-Christian Spenser finds himself attracted to his coworker Trish, but his dinner invitation gets slammed down. He can’t quite believe her stuttering explanations about Corinthians and rules. So Miss Churchgirl is too good for the heathens? He’ll pursue her and put every temptation he can think of in her way, confident that she’ll give up her rules and prove she’s just another hypocritical Christian. He doesn’t realize that Trish under fire is a messy sight—he’d better take cover!

Book #3: THE LONE RICE BALL (work in progress)

An Ugly Duckling mercilessly teased because of her name, Venus Chau suddenly blossomed into a to-die-for Bombshell when she hit twenty-five. She’s distrustful of all the guys interested in her, but at work she enjoys the harmless teasing on the phone with technical support rep Drake. Then she discovers that her faceless flirt is the hottie asked to help out with the church Talent Show. His killer smile comes with a reputation for an ego the size of Valley Fair shopping center and broken hearts strewn across Chinatown.

Newly come to Christ, former playboy Drake finds that the Youth Group needs his sound system expertise for the Talent Night fund raiser. The older teenaged boys find his trendy style appealing, despite his efforts to stay aloof so that his tainted past and shaky faith doesn’t somehow influence them. Venus’ about-face and glacial shoulder spur him to perversely pursue her just for the annoyance factor, but then he stumbles on the secret chipping away at her self esteem. Can two hurting people help each other heal?

Book #4: WEDDINGS AND WASABI (work in progress)

To attract the handsome engineer she’s had a crush on, shy Jennifer Chau does a complete image rehaul, but it flops. Embittered and emboldened, she determines to stop being a doormat and just say the blunt things she only thinks in her Stanford-alumni brain.

Giddy with freedom and snubbing her nose at her confused family and so-called friends, she quits her high-paying job to start her own catering company. Her search for a wine merchant brings John into her life—a tall, dark, handsome biker, in form-fitting black leather, and Caucasian to boot. It would be wonderfully wild to snag a man like that!

Shy engineer John tentatively tries out his birthday present from his winery-owner uncle—a Harley Davidson complete with the trimmings. Jennifer seems to like the rough, aggressive image, but it isn’t his real self. Is she latching onto him just to spite her horrified family?

And what’s with the goat in the backyard?

For Writers

2006-05-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

These are my suggested resources for writers. I've listed the most helpful online writing articles and book resources I've found.

I offer an inexpensive critique service that does high-level structural editing and book doctoring of fiction synopses and manuscripts. Visit the Story Sensei for more information.

I also post short writing tips on my Story Sensei blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Articles

The Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine: Christy-winning author Randy Ingermanson (of the infamous Snowflake writing method) puts out a GREAT, free ezine to help writers in their craft and marketing. His website also has excellent articles for beginning writers.

Barnes and Noble online University: B&N holds “free” online courses where you only need to purchase the book that will be used for the class. Among other interesting topics, they offer terrific writing courses.

Charlotte Dillon's Resources for Romance Writers: This is an excellent website for articles and links on writing technique, research information, and lots of good stuff, even if you are not a romance writer. No matter what question you have, there's a good chance you'll find a link with the answer here.

Writing-World.com: Great articles on not just the romance genre, plus author interviews. Moira's articles on characterization are some of the most entertaining and informative I've read.

Writing Tips (previously known as FirstDraft): This GoogleGroup is not a discussion forum--it sends out emails five days a week with links to various writing articles. It’s invaluable information. Reading a little bit about the writing craft *every day* has really helped to improve my writing skills.

Grammar:

"Elements of Style" by Shrunk and White: This classic grammar text is available FREE online. This is one of the most recommended grammar books for writers.

Daily Grammar: On this website, the archive has a series of short lessons by a high school English teacher that are great for a grammar refresher course. You can also look up individual lessons to answer your grammar questions.

Writing market:

Cindi Myers (aka Cynthia Sterling) Market News: Cindi/Cynthia posts news and updates about the current romance market. This is a terrific way to keep up with editor needs, trends and popular genres.
You can also send an email to Cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Writers Groups

No writer should go it alone, and these organizations have educated, inspired, motivated, and encouraged me. Many of them offer workshops, articles, mentor groups, critique groups, and general feedback that have helped me to improve as a writer.

Communities:

American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW, formerly American Christian Romance Writers): This is a terrific community of Christian fiction writers, and they also hold an annual fiction writers’ conference. Membership is very inexpensive, and it includes a writers’ discussion email loop, online forum discussion boards, a mentorship program, an email critique group program (small groups of 4-5 writers each), and dozens of helpful writing workshops. Each year, they hold an annual conference and the Genesis contest for unpublished writers.

Faith, Hope, Love chapter of RWA (Romance Writers of America): This wonderful group of Christian romance writers provides encouragement and information. There are many published authors who participate on their email loop. They provide a mentorship program, a Finish-the-Book program, and a Guestlink Q&A with published authors. Each year, they have a worship night at the RWA National conference and they hold the Touched By Love contest for unpublished writers.

Steeple Hill eHarlequin.com Community (Inspirational Romance and Women’s Fiction): There are wonderfully encouraging ladies on these discussion boards, including several Steeple Hill authors. Plus, the Steeple Hill editors pop in every so often. They also offer terrific discussion board workshops and chats with authors and the occasional editor.

Writing.com: This is an excellent site for writers who desire feedback on their writing. On this huge site, writers can read stories, poems and articles, post their own pieces, and connect with other writers from practically any genre. There are several tiers of membership, from the basic Free membership to a full Business membership. The site policies, the innovative Gift Points system and the examples of generous community members work to maintain an honest and encouraging critiquing environment. Because the membership is so large, writers get a wide variety of critiques from people who are truly interested in the genre of their piece, and all writers are encouraged to review others in kind. It’s a secular site, so pay attention to the ratings for each piece before reading.

Romance Writer’s Community (RWC): There are several writers’ discussion groups run by Charlotte Dillon. RWClist is discussions on writing craft, with weekly Talk Prompts that can spur some very informative posts. RWCcritique is purely novel chapter critiques--you critique two other writers’ chapters for every chapter you submit. RWCprompt is a writing exercise group that responds to weekly writing prompts. RWCchallenge is a forum to set writing goals and encourage others to meet theirs. RWCpromotion is a place to learn how to promote your novel. RWCsocial is for good old chit chat among friends. There is also Romance Readers Community (RRC) to discuss books you’re reading.

Survivor Writer and Mini-survivor Writers: These two Yahoogroups are for accountability and encouragement. For Survivor Writer, each member must write 2 pages a day, or 15 pages a week, or else be removed from the list. In Mini-Survivor Writers, each member must write a page a day, or 7 pages in one week, or else be removed from the list. A new session starts each Monday.
You can also send an email to SurvivorWriter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or Mini-SurvivorWriters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Critiquing:

Most writers will agree, the best critiquing will be from trusted critique partners. Some of the writers groups mentioned above offer critique group programs, although sometimes it takes some trial and error to find a good “match” between critique partners. Here are some other opportunities for critiques.

Writing.com: This is an excellent site for writers who desire feedback on their writing. On this huge site, writers can read stories, poems and articles, post their own pieces, and connect with other writers from practically any genre. There are several tiers of membership, from the basic Free membership to a full Business membership. The site policies, the innovative Gift Points system and the examples of generous community members work to maintain an honest and encouraging critiquing environment. Because the membership is so large, writers get a wide variety of critiques from people who are truly interested in the genre of their piece, and all writers are encouraged to review others in kind. It’s a secular site, so pay attention to the ratings for each piece before reading.

Romance Writer’s Community (RWC) Critique: RWCcritique is purely novel chapter critiques--you critique two other writers’ chapters for every chapter you submit.
It is part of Charlotte Dillon’s Main website.
You can also send an email to RWCcritique-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

WriteRomance: This Yahoo Group is for serious romance writers, including chick-lit. They focus on critiques but have a sister Yahoo Group open only to WriteRomance members where writers can brainstorm and chat.

Critique Circle: This is an online writing workshop open to all genres and all formats, for writers to give and receive feedback on their work. Membership is free and visibility of critiques can be controlled by the writer for more privacy or security. The site runs on a “credit” system to ensure everyone both receives feedback and participates.

Critters Workshop: This is a huge secular crit group for Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror. Because there are several minors in the group, they do not permit pornographic/erotic material to be submitted.

Conferences:

Although costly, these are great opportunities to attend workshops and meet editors, agents, and other writers. God has led me to terrific friends and given my manuscript proposal exposure to publishing houses and agents without needing to send the requisite query letter first.

Also, editors and agents like to meet writers face-to-face. My guess why is partly to see your faith and partly to make sure you’re not an ax-murderer-type.

American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW, formerly American Christian Romance Writers) Annual Conference (location changes each year):
I like this conference the best. The intimate size allows for lots of opportunities to meet writers, agents and editors, and there’s a broad range of excellent workshops and tracks for all levels. All the workshops and speakers are geared specifically for fiction writers and the Christian fellowship is amazing. It’s like a powerful spiritual retreat and a writers’ conference in one.

Mount Hermon conference center (Santa Cruz, California):
Mount Hermon has a spring Christian Writers Conference for both fiction and nonfiction. It gives a great opportunity to meet writers, agents and editors, and it provides a spectacular free manuscript critique service. The workshops are top-notch, ranging from beginner to professional. Set in the beautiful redwoods, the conference is a lovely isolated retreat.

RWA (Romance Writers of America) National conference (location changes each year):
This gigantic conference can be a bit intimidating, but it has a huge variety of workshops, tons of free books, and informative publisher spotlights. The Golden Heart and RITA awards ceremony is like the Oscars for romance writing. It’s fun and glitzy--definitely a great experience.

How to Make a Blog Your Website

2006-05-17T01:20:00.000-07:00

I wrote an article that explains how to manipulate the html code to make your blog look like a website. Don't panic, it's fully detailed for the html-challenged.

Because of the html code, I put it into a .pdf file.

Click here to download the article, "How to Make a Blog Your Website."