Author Interview on the Queen of Teen Fiction Blog

Happy Friday! Today is Day 14 of the 28-Day Blog Challenge for Authors (halfway point! Details about the challenge are here). It's also the start of the last week of my Reading Addictions Blog Tour. Tour ends June 22 which gives you one week still to enter my giveaway for a $30 Amazon gift card and an autographed copy of First Visions. I'm also holding a giveaway on my new Facebook Page for a chance to win an Advanced Reader Copy of Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot.

Today Katie from the Queen of Teen Fiction featured me on her website. I posted the interview below, but make sure you check out her awesome blog and read her review of First Visions by clicking here.



1. Hi Heather! Where did you get the inspiration for First Visions?
It was actually based off an old story I wrote as a teenager. Most of my stories were crap and had melodramatic plotlines like teen pregnancy scares or were cheesy horror stories about virgin blood drinking vampires. However, the one particular story involved a psychic who helped find a missing child and I just expanded from there. I had actually forgotten completely about the story and when I started re-reading my old writings, it really struck me how great it would be to turn it into a series. I haven’t read too many books about psychics and I thought it would be fun area to explore. 

2. Kate is a fabulous character! Did you relate to her at all when writing First Visions?
I tried to make Kate as real as possible. Yes, she definitely has her flaws and I hope readers see she does grow a lot over the course of the novel. We’ll continue to see her grow and mature in the next book as well. But I’m a pretty sarcastic person, so you’ll definitely hear my voice come through at times. 

3. What made you choose to write for the older YA audience?
When I was in college, I had such a hard time finding books for my age group. I either had to read books about characters younger than me in high school or books about characters with “real life” problems like careers, marriage and children. I think when you’re 21, you are in this phase where you’re not a child anymore, but you may be still very reliant on your parents. I hope there will be more books that focus on this age group because it’s such an interesting time in a person’s life. 

4. There’s some great humour in First Visions. Do you think it’s important to keep a certain level of humour in a story?
I love books that can be suspenseful and still make you laugh to alleviate some of the tension. I try to think about the books that I like when writing and most of my favorites have parts that have me belly laughing. I try to inject some much needed humor when things are getting too heavy. 

5. First Visions is the first book in the series, how is book two coming along?
It’s going really great! I have an outline and a good chunk of the first draft done. In this book, we continue Jared and Kate’s story, but will also be introduced to another psychic. Kate has always wanted more control over her visions and this new psychic offers to help her. There will also be another missing persons case she’ll become involved in. 

6. What are some of your favourite YA novels?
I have a ton, but I’ll try to narrow it down: Hunger Games trilogy, Delirium series by Lauren Oliver, The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi and Fever by Lauren DeStefano. 

7. In your opinion, what is the most rewarding part of being an author.
You’re sharing these crazy little stories that occurred in your imagination with complete strangers and hoping to touch them in some way. I love to hear people’s opinions on my work and how they react to certain elements o

Monday Mailbox-June 11

Happy Monday All! My cold has finally left the building, so I hopefully will not longer sound like an incoherent mess. On the agenda for this week is the third week of my book blog tour and a continuation of the 28-Day Blog Challenge for Authors. Today's stop for my tour is Workaday Reads where Sarah provided a wonderful review of First Visions. Leave a comment for a chance to enter my giveaway for a $30 Amazon gift card and autographed copy of First Visions. Details of the contest are here.


I received a couple of advanced reader copies this weekend that I'm pretty excited about. The first one was from Harper Collins and it's Meg Cabot's latest Heather Wells mystery Size 12 and Ready to Rock. This is actually the first Heather Wells book I've read and I'm enjoying it so far. It's definitely goofy, but since I have a cornball sense of humor I'm finding it pretty funny. Wonder if it will be worth it to check out the previous three books in the series (Pretty sure there's three?)


The second one made me put Heather Wells temporarily on hold. It's The Goddess Legacy by Aimee Carter. I received a copy of the ARC from NetGalley on behalf of Harlequin. I know I probably talked about this before, but I have a huge crush on Henry (aka Hades, I'm not the only girl with major crushes on literary characters, right?). This is sort of a prequel that contains a series of novellas about the gods and goddesses that have appeared in the previous books. Since the Goddess Inheritance isn't coming out until next year, this will hopefully not just be a piece of fluff to hold fans over.

Reviews of both books will be coming soon! Happy Reading!

My Writing Inspirations-Blog Tour Stop on Book Lovin' Mamas

Today, I stopped by the fabulous blog Book Lovin' Mamas to talk about writing inspiration, share an excerpt from First Visions and also hold a contest for a free e-copy of the book. Be sure to stop by to check out the entire post and enter the giveaway. Leave a comment to enter a chance for a $30 Amazon gift card. Contest details are here.

Getting in the Mood to Create: My Writing Inspirations

The topic of writing inspiration is really interesting for me to think about. I find inspiration in so many things, it almost seems impossible to narrow it down to a select few. The funny thing is the things that help me create my stories have a huge divide. I can just as easily find inspiration in a marathon of Supernatural on the CW as equally as a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Old Writings

Were you as angsty as I was during your teen years? Besides being dirt poor, I was socially awkward with a penchant for playing the trombone. To say the least, my dance card was far from full. Instead of a social life, I filled notebook after notebook of dreadfully melodramatic stories of characters with the lives I coveted. They were beautiful, rich and had amazing love lives. After my beloved grandmother passed away last year, I retrieved my writings from her home. Although most of the work was crap, I did find a few storylines worth developing. A book of my favorite poems as a teen was also in the collection and helped me tap back into that creativity of my youth.

Getting Away From It All

I LOVE my husband and sons with all of my heart. However, temper tantrums and diaper duty doesn’t lend well to creative inspiration. Going for a solo drive or having a chance to people watch can really give me a chance to work on current stories or find new characters or plot points to fit into future writings. Taking the boys for walks can really help with my inspiration as well. As they play, I can let my mind wander.

Books/TV Shows/Movies

I’m big on escapist shows, movies and books. Even the reality TV shows I watch are not really steeped in reality (The Bachelorette? You get to live in a mansion and travel the world while 20 gorgeous guys vie for your hand in marriage. I would guess not too many people have this kind of life). Watching these crazy scenarios play out on screen or on the page helps me get my mind in the place it needs to be to write about paranormal things. Although I definitely watch and read a lot of paranormal stuff, I try to vary genres and also enjoy romantic comedies, thrillers and real-life mysteries.

Music and art are definitely major inspirations as well and I love to spend the day writing after a trip to the museum or attending a concert. Although I could probably write a novel on the topic, these are the most significant. It’s exceedingly important to identify the things that inspire you since this can be such a huge help in overcoming writer’s block.