Sunday, November 8, 2009

Meet VirtualBookTour author, Heather Paye

I'm pleased to host Virtual Book Tour author, Heather Paye, on my blog today. Heather grew up in Arizona not knowing what she wanted to do with her life. That all changed when she became an avid reader, and it seemed the next logical step to become an avid writer. "A Gift from Above" is her debut novel.

Katie: Can you give us a brief synopsis of your book?

Heather: Sure. Celia Meyers gets everything that she wants, but when she requests a sibling and gets it, it's not all that she expected. Her parents ignore her, threaten to send her to a "summer camp" and the worst possible things happen to her. Finally, she can't take it anymore, so she confides in her best friend, Tommy Hanson, about searching for her long lost nanny, Milicent Potter. But when she finds Millie, she learns some disturbing facts. Celia visits with Tommy and discovers his true feelings towards her. At the end, Celia becomes somewhat of a hero as she saves a young boy in a car accident.

Katie: What inspired you to write "A Gift from Above?"

Heather: I would say that my younger siblings were certainly a source of inspiration, my little brother especially. A lot of the troubles I had iwth him are reflected to a degree in "A Gift from Above."

Katie: Who is your favorite character in the story?

Heather: That would have to be Tommy Hanson. He's like Edward Cullen to me; he is that comforting, nice, kind guy that you become addicted to.

Katie: What was the hardest part about writing this book?

Heather: I wrote it for a contest where I had to write the entire thing in one month. One thing I remember that was particularly hard about this was that my laptop broke in the middle of writing in the competition, so I had to take it completely to pen and paper. As you can imagine, this slowed me down. Everything I had written about my stsory was on my laptop, so I didn't have anything that I wrote except for the last few words that I memorized. Luckily, my uncle got the information from my laptop for me with one day to spare. My laptop was totaled, but the half-written book was the gold I was looking for.

Katie: What was the easiest part about writing this book?

Heather: Definitely the entire plot. I knew exactly what was going to happen as I wrote it, so I didn't have to stop for awhile and ponder what was going to happen next. It was all really natural for me to write.

Katie: What is next on your writing plate?

Heather: I'm currently working on a fantasy series of nine. I have the first in the series complete, and it's currently being looked over by a publisher. The second in the series is still in the writing stage.

Katie: Thanks, Heather, for being my guest on my blog today. Heather's fan site is http://www.agiftfromabove.webs.com, and her blog is http://heatherpaye.blogspot.com. Her book can be purchased as a Kindle book, and is available through Amazon and Target.

20 comments:

Karen Cioffi said...

Heather is certainly one amazing young lady. I'm sure she'll be going far in the world of writing.

Karen

Nancy Famolari said...

Heather is certainly taking a big step in her writing career. Great post, Katie

Deborah Weed said...

Heather, I like the fact that your book is inspired by "what you know." That leads to more authenticity in your writing. It sounds as if the next nine books ROCK!

Anonymous said...

It intrigues me. Sounds like a book my grandchildren would like in addition to me.
XD

The Old Silly said...

Heather, your writing career is taking off nicely - good job! And nice job on the feature article also, Katie. :)

Marvin D Wilson

pastorbunny said...

Heather, your book sounds fantastic.
You've got a future reader here.

Anonymous said...

Heather,
A 9 book series? I've written a series of picture books. I have a trilogy planned for my memoir, too. Do you have each book outlined? I can't imagine having 9 planned. You're good.
Blessings,
J. Aday Kennedy
The Differently-Abled Children's Author
www.jadaykennedy.com

Vivian Zabel said...

Thanks, Katie, for bringing this revealing interview with Heather to us.

Unknown said...

9 book series-WOW-I'm impressed. GO, Heather, GO!

Mr. Hughes said...

I love reading about how authors divine their ideas. As a 6th grade teacher, I find inspiration in many things I could write about. The only problem is time. Thanks for sharing about your writing and ideas.

TerryLynnJohnson said...

Introduced to yet another interesting book. Will be on the lookout for that. Thanks.

Donna McDine said...

Katie:

I enjoy learning more about Heather each time I read a new interview of her. She is simply amazing.

Best wishes to you both for your continued success.

Regards,
Donna
Children’s Author
Write What Inspires You Blog
The Golden Pathway Story book Blog
Donna M. McDine’s Website

Helena Harper said...

Heather, I wish you success with your fantasy series. Can you give us a few clues as to what it's about?

Helena

Gayle said...

Great interview!

Darcía Helle said...

Loved the interview, Katie!
Heather, congratulations and I wish you tons of success in your writing career!

Dallas said...

What a great interview! Heather you are an inspiration to everyone who wants to go after their dreams. Thanks for brightening my day!

Katie Hines said...

Thanks to everyone for the comments and encouragements to Heather.

H.C.Paye said...

Thank you all for stopping by, reading, and commenting, it always makes me pleased when I read all of the positive comments!

Deborah - Thanks, I always do find that the stories that are from "what you know" make for interesting and appealing reads.

Marvin - Thank you, my writing career has certainly taken off more than I could have ever expected.

Pastorbunny - Welcome aboard! Readers are always welcome with open arms!

J. Aday Kennedy - I have an entire notebook full of ideas, plans, character profiles, maps, and a lot of other things in a big binder of mine. As of now, I don't have an outline for each novel, but I have each novel planned out individually and the entire series as a whole.

Helena - Roughly it's about a young girl who goes away to a witch's school, but learns - even for being a witch - she is different on many levels, she can literally "read" the future, she can produce force-fields, and she can bring people from death.

Darcia and Dallas - Thank you both so much for your kind comments.

And I thank everyone in between too!

~Heather Paye

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

Heather, make sure you get your books into libraries in Canada. We'll be knocking the doors down trying to get to them. Thanks for sharing. Your books sound terrific.

H.C.Paye said...

Joylene - I'll definitely make sure they are sold in Canada. I know that they will be sold in Barns & Noble, but I'm not sure if it's just in the USA or if it includes Canada, but I'll put special request in to my publisher, that way you can be sure to get them! ^_^