Only Camy Tang … On Only Uni

I’m glad to have my my very, very close friend Camy Tang here today. We’re so close that we can actually knit a pattern with each of holding only one of the needles. Okay, maybe we’re not really that close, but I really, really like her.

Here’s what I had to say about her first book, Sushi for One? Because I had such a huge to-be-read pile and it took me while to get to Sushi for One?, I didn’t have to wait very long for her second novel. The quality of her first book bumped the next in the series right to the top of the stack of books.

Camy is the loud Asian chick who writes loud Asian chick lit. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own…), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website for a huge website contest going on right now. She’s giving away five boxes of books and 25 copies of her latest release, Only Uni.

And just so you have an idea why I ask the questions I do, here’s the back cover copy:

Flirty biologist Trish Sakai has alienated her best friends and her family because of her wild behavior with her artist ex-boyfriend,Kazuo. Then she finds her father kissing another woman, and her mom suffers a heart attack. Convinced God is punishing her for her sexual promiscuity, Trish 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, God will restore her life to the way it was before her mistakes. If she can somehow regain her chastity, she won’t feel as dirty and unworthy as she does now. They’re only three rules. How hard can it be?

Handsome Spenser finds himself attracted to his coworker Trish, but his dinner invitation gets slammed down with a lame excuse about Corinthians and rules. That cools his ardor pretty quick. But then Spenser discover that his old enemy Kazuo needs Trish as the “muse” for his unfinished masterpiece painting due in a few months for a gallery show. Kazuo pursues Trish with everything he’s got, but Spenser decides to throw a wrench in Kazuo’s plans by pretending to pursue Trish himself.

Trish is going nuts trying to stand firm against two hunky guys. Her three simple rules aren’t so simple anymore . . .

Now that you’re appetite has been properly whetted, on to the interview!

1) How many cousins do you have and are you as close-knit to them as the cousins are in your series? Speaking of knitting, what’s your current project? (I’m on my second, a scarf that actually has a knit 2, purl 2 pattern!)

I actually have a comparatively small family. I have a total of 9 cousins. However, my own parents have very large families, although they’re not as close to their cousins as the cousins are in the Sushi series. I also have friends who are very close to their cousins, and I used them as the template for the Sushi cousins.

Knitting–I’m working on a lace wrap in this cooooooool teal/purple/cream colorway. I’m also working on a pink scarf as a gift, and a pink pair of socks for myself (for next year, since the days are getting warmer here in California).

2) Did your grandma pressure you to find a man? How did you and Captain Caffeine meet?

No, my family was actually really great about not nagging me to get married. However, I have enough friends whose parents/grandparents/aunties/uncles were extremely naggy, and I could imagine what it felt like for them. I met Captain Caffeine at church. A mutual friend introduced us and we immediately clicked because of mutual love of volleyball and music.

The Captain was also one of the few Christian guys I had ever met who didn’t think I was too frivolous in my tastes. Up until I met him, I’d mostly known Christian guys who were very intellectual and thought my liking for romance novels was silly and immature. Since then, I’ve met more people who are definitely NOT intellectual or snobby that way.

3) How do you work the spiritual theme into your novel without being preachy?

I don’t consciously weave the spiritual theme into the plot–it grows out of the character’s flaws and issues. The story develops around the character’s needs and desires, and the spiritual theme is revealed through the character’s Christian worldview and the conscious choices that are a result of that Christian worldview.

4) I’m in the middle of Only Uni right now. I’m really enjoying seeing a protagonist struggle with her carnal desires. Can teenage girls read this book? What would be the number one thought you would like a sexually-active, single woman to take away from the story?

I purposely write my novels so that the junior high girls in my church youth group can read them. I wrote Only Uni especially so that single Christian women can realize it’s not weird for them to have desires,and that it’s part of a Christian’s struggle to remain pure. I think that not enough churches or books address a woman’s desires–there’s usually more focus on a guy’s desires.

5) You grew up in Hawaii, right? Where is your favorite spot in the islands?

My home, of course! My favorite memories are of sitting in the back patio while Dad makes huli-huli chicken on the rotisserie charcoal grill.