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The Many Hats of Tamara Hart Heiner

By on October 5, 2018   /   Articles  

I’m so excited to introduce my friend, Tamara Hart Heiner. We met about a year ago in one of the many online author groups that we both belong to. In fact, we’ll be meeting in real life soon! We’ll be roommates at a writing retreat and conference in Edinburgh, Scotland! I visited Edinburgh last year and quickly understood why it provided so much inspiration to J.K. Rowling.  So when the opportunity arose, I just knew I was going to seize it. And now it’ll be even better with new friends to enjoy this journey!

Tamara Hart Heiner lives in Arkansas with her husband, four kids, a cat, a dog, and a
bird. She would love to add a macaw and a sugar glider to the family collection. She
graduated with a degree in English and an editing emphasis from Brigham Young
University. She’s the author of the young adult suspense series, PERILOUS,
INEVITABLE, the CASSANDRA JONES saga, and a nonfiction book about the Joplin
tornado, TORNADO WARNING

Amie: Welcome Tamara! So great to have you here on The Files! I’ve learned that you wear many hats as an author, an editor, and the chair of a conference. Let’s start with your publishing journey. Your began this journey as a traditionally published YA author. Tell me a little about that experience.

Tamara: Yes, I got started in YA with WiDo Publishing. I had originally written what I considered a very niche book, a Christian suspense novel. With that in mind, I only queried publishers that I thought could reach that market. WIDo could, at that time. During the course of my contract, however, WiDo changed focuses slightly to include a national market. My book, by course of events, went from being a Christian suspense to a thriller suspense (almost the entire Christian element was removed.)

At first it was a rather bitter pill to swallow, but in the end, the changes they made opened up a new world to me and turned me into a suspense writer.

Amie: I guess that’s a bit of a happy accident, you could say. How many books are in your YA series? Are they appropriate for the upper age limit of middle grade?

Tamara: That YA series, the Perilous series, has four books in it. The main character is 15 in the first book, and though the topics are mature, they are appropriate for upper-level MG. (I conceived of the idea and wrote the first draft in seventh grade, so . . . there’s not anything too dicey in there.)

Amie: I love that you started writing it when you were in middle school. So many kids become inspired to write at that age and with the correct tools and some mentoring, that writing can be molded into a career. At what point did you switch to writing Middle Grade books?

Tamara: Writing Middle Grade was a total surprise for me. I thought I wasn’t capable of capturing that voice; it often felt just a little too far away from my comfort zone. When I decided to write the Cassandra Jones series, I had a very clear idea in mind for this girl’s life (which often parallels the difficulties I went through moving from a big city to a rural town!). I didn’t think the series would really take off until it hit YA-age, but I knew Cassandra’s story started much younger than that. It was a total shock to me that the series took off.

Amie: That’s great! Sometimes the best things happen when we least expect it. What do you like most about writing for this age group?

Tamara: It’s very freeing. Once I learned how to let my inner child out, I loved how much fun it was to vocalize the world kids see. I loved being able to speak out about injustices I saw and right some of the wrongs I experienced–and some of them don’t get righted, which becomes a learning experience for the reader as well as the character.

Amie: Agreed. You chose to go indie with your MG series, why? What’s that experience been like?

Tamara: The number one reason I decided to go indie with my middle grade series is I knew I wanted to tell the story in serials. I knew I would never find an agent/publisher who had the same vision and would let me have the freedom I needed to break the story up the way I wanted to. I’d already ventured into the indie world with another YA series, and I found the freedom and the ability to make my own decisions very liberating. The experience has been so marvelous for me. I love being my own publishing team.

Amie: Like you, I’ve experienced both paths. I’ve learned there’s many reasons to select indie publishing and it’s definitely not because it was a last resort.  What made you decide to publish your middle grade series as mini-serials? Do you think your books would have been more/less successful if you’d published them differently?

Tamara: From the very beginning, I wanted my books to mimic a television series. I loved Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl and wanted to tell a middle grade story in much the same way. Books when I was a kid were similar, from Sweet Valley Twins to The Babysitters Club. But eventually it began to annoy me that the twins and the babysitters never grew out of the sixth grade, no matter how many books there were.

So I broke Cassandra’s life into years (seasons), and each year is broken in six episodes. This makes it very easy for me to keep track of, and it allows me to include characters and story lines that would be cut from a book as extraneous if I only had one book per year. Also, I can provide multiple formats to meet different readers’ needs. For my early readers who like big font and lots of white space, each episode has its own book. For my more advanced readers who oogle the thicker books, each season also has its own book. If a publisher had been able to catch my vision for this series, I’m certain they could make it even more successful than I have. But I know for certain none of them would have humored my pitch for six books a year for the next fifteen years. 🙂

Amie: That certainly would have been a difficult pitch! Switching gears here, let’s remove the author hat and discuss some of your other roles. You’re also a freelance editor as well as an editor at WIDo publishing. You’re the chair of the SMIAH conference. Finally, you’re the chair of  The Indie Author Hub, an author guild. Tell me how you juggle all of these many hats.

Tamara: Heavens, most days it feels like I don’t! Which reminds me . . . I still need to contact the hotel to set up our contract for next year’s conference . . . yeah, anyway! Editing used to be my bread and butter. I love editing. I minored in it in college. I always figured I’d be able to make room for editing no matter what my writing schedule, but lately I’ve found I don’t want to edit as much as before. I’m enjoying the writing process too much. So I only take on two editing clients a month. It helps give me a break sometimes but doesn’t take away from my time. As for the conference and the guild, I have wonderful committees that support me and do most of the legwork. I could not do this if it were a one-man show!

Amie: Alright, we’re in the homestretch. Goobers or Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans?

Tamara: Bertie Botts. That’s the lesser of two evils.

Amie: Are you sure about that? I think I’d take my chances with the chocolate covered peanuts than earwax flavored jelly beans. Haha! Okay, skunks or porcupines?

Tamara: Porcupines. They’re like a bigger version of hedgehogs, and hedgehogs are so cute.

Amie: Good choice! Alright, now, which one? Skateboards or surfboards?

Tamara: Surfboards!!!

Thanks for joining us here today, Tamara. Best of luck to you and see you in Edinburgh!

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5 Questions for Hillary Homzie

By on October 3, 2018   /   Articles, MUF Contributor Books  

Middle-grade author and MUF blogger Hillary Homzie celebrates the publication of her latest MG novel, APPLE PIE PROMISES (Sky Pony Press, October 2). Here, she chats with fellow MUF blogger Melissa Roske about the writing and researching process, haunted houses, and strawberry-rhubarb pie. 

1. Your latest MG, APPLE PIE PROMISES, is about Lily, a seventh grader who is sent to live with her father, stepmother, and half-sister while her mother is on an academic fellowship in Morocco. Where did you get the idea for the premise, and what kind of research did you do?

After I finished Pumpkin Spice Secrets, which was the first book in Sky Pony’s Swirl line, I discussed with my editor the possibility of writing about a seventh grader who must live with her new stepfamily after her mom earns a fellowship abroad. Immediately, I thought of having the mother travel to Morocco. My father’s family is from North Africa, and I knew it would be a wonderful opportunity for me to explore that part of the world. I scoured travel blogs and articles about Morocco. I asked friends who were going or had just come back from a trip there. I became an inveterate armchair traveler, falling in love with the sights and sounds of the country. I had so much fun having Lily’s mom write dispatches from Rabat, the gorgeous capital city, sitting along the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg. Oh, I really want to go! Of course, the main action takes place in the States, in Tacoma, Washington, but Lily (and the reader) will definitely learn a bit about Morocco, and especially Rabat.

I also spent time researching Tacoma. I’ve been to Tacoma and have spent time in the general Seattle area, which I love. However, I haven’t lived there, so I watched vlogs of Tacoma residents, as well as immersed myself in reading about the city through books and blogs. And yes, I fell in love all over again with the Northwest. I set my middle-grade novel Queen of Likes (Simon and Schuster/Aladdin MIX, 2016) in Portland, another quirky, cool, beautiful Northwestern city. Also, I found myself researching haunted houses. Not real ones, but the kind that students and the PTA assemble for school fairs. I’ve put together a few haunted houses in my day, but it was fun to read about different themes out there. In Apple Pie Promises, Lily works on a haunted house for the fall festival with her stepsister, as well as her crush. Let me tell you, I spent quite a few Google searches investigating zombie makeup and funny sayings and names on gravestones. You know, like Ben Better and Ann M. T. Grave. I love research assignments that make me giggle like a madwoman.

2. Baking is a huge part of this book, as Lily is an avid baker. She even Skypes with her mom while she’s baking. Are you a keen baker? If so, what is your favorite dessert to bake, and why?

True confession. I’m not a baker, but I love pies (strawberry rhubarb and tart apple pies are my favorite), so I had to read about pie baking, watch videos and cajole a friend who is actually a gifted baker to tutor me (it was so terrible. I was forced to sample pies. Ah, such cruel hard work). The hardest part is undoubtedly the crust, and my friend taught me a few tricks, which I attempted to repeat. My son filmed my tutorials and I plan to post some of it online (even the fails) to help non-bakers like me get over their baking phobia.

3. Pranks weigh heavily in APPLE PIE PROMISES. What is the silliest/craziest prank you’ve ever pulled? 

I’ve done quite a few pranks, from kidnapping stuffed animals to tying strings to closet doors, but probably the silliest happened in college. I was living in the French House (La Maison Française, at University of Virgina), and a friend purchased une crotte—basically, a piece of brown plastic that looked remarkably like a turd.  We’d drop it on the bathroom floor and then wait to hear a piercing cry, and cursing in French. It gave a whole new meaning to “Pardon my French.”

4. Do you have a specific writing routine? If so, can you tell us about it? 

Well, my writing routine first involves non-writing. Getting up. Feeding the dog. Feeding the child. Packing the child’s lunch. Walking for about 40 minutes up and down a steep hill with my husband, who is disciplined about these things. This is lucky for me, because I’m lazy and would much rather stay in bed and read. Then I check email and see what’s going on with the news (which can be dangerous since there’s a lot going on, so if I’m strategic I don’t do this, but I’m not often strategic). But somewhere around 10:00 a.m., I do start writing. And then take a break around lunchtime. Then write some more. Of course, not every day is writing. But I feel much better about my life if I can get a couple of hours in or more. Oh, and I do take social media breaks and scan to see what’s going on with my writing friends. In truth, I’m most productive when I’m on a tight deadline, and I’ve had some crazy deadlines. When a deadline looms large, I don’t even need to use Freedom (which shuts off my internet access) in order to make my goals.

In a strange way, when life interrupts due to family obligations and other responsibilities, it only makes me hungrier to write when I do finally sit in front of my computer. And often literally hungry. I confess to liking snacks when I write. I’m trying to switch to drinking more tea though.

5. What advice would you give to aspiring writers? And how about to aspiring bakers?

Finish what you write. I can’t tell you how often I’ve gotten bogged down by the first three chapters—obsessively rewriting them. I would say just write on through to the end, and only after you’ve finally gotten your armature in place, then spend time fine-tuning. After all, you might have to throw away your opening—perhaps starting later or earlier. Also, be careful of overcomplicating things. I’m famous for over-plotting, and then having to scale it back to spend more time on characterization. For aspiring bakers, don’t be afraid to throw away your too buttery pie dough. It’s no different than for writers—throw away your darlings, if it will make a better book (or pie!).

HILLARY HOMZIE is the author of the upcoming Ellie May chapter-book series (Charlesbridge), as well as contemporary middle grade novels, including Apple Pie Promises and Pumpkin Spice Secrets (Sky Pony Press), and Queen of Likes, The Hot List and Things Are Gonna Get Ugly (Simon & Schuster/M!X). She is also the author of the humorous chapter book series, Alien Clones From Outer Space (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin). Hillary lives in California with her family, and teaches at the children’s writing MFA program at Hollins University. You can find out more about Hillary her  website and follow her on Twitter.

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Blast Off with Author Suzanne Slade and her new Space Book

By on October 3, 2018   /   Articles, Author Interviews, STEM  
I am so excited to be interviewing author Suzanne Slade about her new book

 

Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon (Peachtree Publishers)

 

           Powerful free verse and stunning illustrations tell the true story of the American effort to land the first man on the Moon. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would try to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. During the two thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine days following his speech, eighteen astronauts climbed into spaceships; three of them died before even leaving the ground. Eight rockets soared into space. And four hundred thousand people―engineers, technicians, scientists, mathematicians, and machinists―joined Project Apollo in hopes of making the dream a reality.
Award-winning author and mechanical engineer Suzanne Slade joins up with New York Times best-selling illustrator Thomas Gonzalez to tell the powerful story of the successes, failures, triumphs, tragedies, and lessons from Apollos 1 through 10 that led to the first Moon landing.

 

Junior Library Guild Selection
Starred Review Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library Journal

 

Thanks so much for joining us, Suzanne.

 

  What first drew you to this story? Why did you feel it needed to be told? 

 

The Apollo moon missions are of great personal interest to me — probably because I have a mechanical engineering degree and worked on rockets in an earlier career.
I decided to write COUNTDOWN: 2979 DAYS TO THE MOON because I wanted to convey the struggles, successes, and surprises of the early Apollo missions that led to the first moon landing. The book covers the details of 2979 incredible days: from President Kennedy’s announcement that America should land on the moon (May 25, 1961), to Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon (July 20, 1969.) 

 

COUNTDOWN shares notable events including Apollo 1’s deadly fire and Apollo 8’s first glimpse of the far side of the moon, as well as lesser-known details such as why Apollo 7 staged a mutiny and refused to wear helmets, and how Jim Lovell made chocolate pudding in space.  

 

Is there a reason why you think this story is so pertinent now?

 

The 50th anniversary of the first moon landing is approaching soon — July 2019. I hope this true story of courage, ingenuity, and perseverance inspires readers as they join in the celebration.
Although the Apollo missions were decades ago, their discoveries are still relevant today and important for our future.
These missions helped us to learn about the moon (it’s history, geography, how it was formed, etc.), and they continue to help scientists today learn about space, space travel, Earth, other planets, and much more. 
(Fyi – Check out the Air and Space Museum’s   “Top Ten” Apollo discoveries  list. #2 is my favorite.)

 

 I understand that it took you 8 years to complete all of the research for this book. Can you speak to how you felt during that time?

 

With any nonfiction project, I expect the research to be comprehensive and time-consuming. Since COUNTDOWN is a middle grade (I usually write picture books) about a technical topic, the research was particularly tedious and intense.
My engineering degree, and experiences at McDonnell Douglas Space Systems working on rockets for NASA, provided a technical background which helped me understand the basics of the Apollo spacecraft (Saturn V rocket, command module, service module, lunar module), but I still had a  lot  to learn. 

 

To your question, during my research for the book I felt inspired, discouraged, curious, frustrated, overwhelmed, exhilarated, and many other things. But the overriding emotion was excitement. It was thrilling to delve into the details of this amazing time and discover fascinating facts about the missions and astronauts that I’d never heard before. It was especially rewarding to write this amazing story for curious readers. I think they’ll be blown away by the astounding Apollo missions.

 

Can you give a few insights into how you found your sources?  

 

 
Of course, I focused on primary sources — NASA transcripts*,  Apollo photo archives, NASA websites, and astronaut biographies. 
Email inquiries to astronauts resulted in interviews with Alan Bean (4th man on the moon) and correspondence with astronaut Walt Cunningham.  I was unable to find contact info. for some astronauts, and  a few didn’t reply to my emails . But I was very grateful for the many reliable sources I found, and to the experts who enthusiastically helped with the accuracy of the project.
[*NASA Transcripts are public domain. Discussions between astronauts in flight and mission control are found in the   Apollo Flight Journal.  Dialogue after landing on the moon is in the  Apollo Lunar Surface Journal .]
 
I also visited museums where I studied Apollo spacecraft and space suits first-hand.  After the manuscript was complete, I asked several experts to vet the story. Thankfully, Dr. Dave Williams (PhD from NASA), and three others lent their expertise to the project.  My “Sources Doc,” which contains all the sources for the facts in the story, ended up 51 pages long.
 

 

This book is in verse. Do you write all of your books in verse? And if not, why did you choose to do that for this one?

 

Only a few of my books are in verse.  Actually, I didn’t choose this format for COUNTDOWN, the story did. 
Here’s how it happened. After years of research it was finally time to start writing, so I sat down to pen Chapter 1. To my surprise, the words came out in short, energetic lines. The text felt powerful, tense, and urgent, just like the events they described. So I kept writing in free verse. With some books, it seems the story knows how it wants to be told and the author has to go with it.

 

 Do you have a particular passion for writing STEAM/STEM books? 

 

 
Science and math were my favorite subjects all through school. In my free time now, I find myself reading about new science discoveries, watching science documentaries, or asking my son about his latest research projects, so science seems to be one of my favorite topics to write about.
 

 

Why do you think young readers would find this book interesting? Important?

 

It’s been nearly 50 years since the first moon landing. This incredible event is often summarized in history books  with a few lines or paragraphs   that discuss the Apollo 11 landing and Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon. 

I think readers will be fascinated to discover more about the details and determination it took to get to the moon. The accomplishment of the  Apollo team, who made countless sacrifices to put the first human on the moon,  is nothing short of a miracle!

I hope COUNTDOWN allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of the the inspiring 2979 days that led to the moon landing. Also, Thomas Gonzales’ illustrations are simply stunning!  His glorious art is detailed, powerful, and emotional — just like the missions.

 

 COUNTDOWN recently released on Sept. 1. How has the book been received?

 

 
COUNTDOWN is a 2018 Junior Library Guild Selection, and has received Starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. I was invited to present the book at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC (which happened to be the day it released,) so that was exciting. 
​
 

 

 Any new works on the horizon that you can discuss? 

 

I have two more “space” picture books releasing March 2019, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing:   A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon  (Little, Brown) and  Daring Dozen: The Twelve Who Walked on the Moon (Charlesbridge).

 

Those books sound fabulous, too. Congratulations on all your successes!
Suzanne is generously offering to giveaway a  COUNTDOWN book mark which contains an authentic moon rock!! To take advantage of this amazing opportunity, please leave a comment below.
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