This week we
will be talking to Heather Day Gilbert. She is a fascinating woman I’m sure
everyone will enjoy getting to know. She will be giving away a copy of her book
Miranda Warning to the lucky person drawn from those who leave a
comment.
Hi Heather!
Welcome to the Mine. We are so happy to have you.
Thanks for
having me today! Glad to visit.
Let us get
acquainted. Could you tell us who you are, and what you hope to accomplish
through your writing?
First of all,
I'm a wife and mom (homeschooler). I think of myself as an author second,
although it does take up a lot of my time at this stage! I'm a West Virginia
gal who just moved back a couple years ago to my home state.
I feel my
writing is one way of using my gifts and talents for God. I truly hope, above
all, to bring stories to people that make them think, take them to a new locale
(be it Greenland in AD 1000 or the back roads of West Virginia), and bring them
characters they can relate to in some way.
Tell us a
little about your genre and why you chose to write in that particular one.
I am actually
writing in two genres now: Viking Historical (Vikings of the New World Saga) and Contemporary Appalachian Mystery
(A Murder in the Mountains Series).
I chose Viking
historical because the sagas are a rich source of information on a little-known
period of history (I'm allegedly related to Eirik the Red, which fueled my
interest), and in particular I wanted to highlight the Viking women who
historically sailed to North America. Gudrid, the main character in my first
novel, God's Daughter, was a Christian Viking. So I felt it
was interesting to explore what it would be like to be a Christian in a very
pagan society. Freydis, the main character in my second (upcoming) book, was
Eirik the Red's daughter and was known as a warrior woman.
I also enjoy
writing my contemporary mysteries (Miranda Warning is my first
novel in that). My main sleuth, Tess Spencer, is a West Virginia "mountain
mama," and I really enjoyed creating a strong family dynamic in this
series. Actually, come to think of it, a strong family dynamic runs through
both series.
I guess I will
start off by asking how you come up with your characters. Do you imagine them
and then create, or model them after someone you know or have seen, etc.?
For the Viking
historicals, I had the rough outline of who these women were and what they did.
I just had to fill in the blanks as to why
they did things and what motivated them. Character depth is very important
to me, especially since I write in first-person point of view. I have to be in
the main characters' heads and try to understand them.
For the mysteries, I do draw from my surroundings
to some degree, since I live in West Virginia and so does Tess.
I love
searching Pinterest for pictures of people who resemble my characters and for
locations/settings so I can have visuals. You can find my Pinterest boards here.
I think all
our characters are truest to life when they resemble people we know/have known
or ourselves. Even when we're writing someone totally unfamiliar or distasteful
to us, we know they still have things driving them we can relate to, be it
power, protectiveness, etc. I think the key, especially for writing in first
person, is finding those points where we can relate and drawing those
characters true to form, even if we don't think that way ourselves.
Could you tell
us a little about how you felt when you first realized you would be published?
Being
published was actually my decision, because I self-published. The decision to
self-publish was not a light one (like most of the indie authors I know). I had
three agents and had submitted three books via traditional publishing routes.
God just showed me the time was right to self-publish. It was something I
hadn't really wanted to do, because I knew I couldn't afford to outsource a lot
(formatting, editing, cover art, marketing).
But God
provided people in my life who were able to help me with those things and it
was a learning process for me—one of those things where "teach a man to
fish, feed him for life" held true. I learned hands-on how to publish my
books and it's not something I'll forget. It's also not a solitary process. My
brother is my cover artist; my critique partner edits and is my audiobook
narrator, and the list goes on.
What is a day
in the life of Heather Day Gilbert like?
This summer, I
have spent much of my time marketing and doing a blog tour for my mystery. When
school season rolls around, I hope to set hours for writing and let marketing
take a back seat to some degree. But I think indie authors do spend a lot of
time tweaking our marketing, because it's up to us to get the word out on our
books.
I do garden a
little, too, though I'm no expert! Every year it seems we learn more about how
to get those veggies to grow!
Tell us a
little about who has given you inspiration in your writing, and why. I believe
readers want to know the author to a certain extent. It makes the reading
experience more enjoyable.
As far as
believing in me, my family has always been a strong supporter of my writing. My
parents, siblings, in-laws, husband, and children have all prayed for me on
this writing journey and have shared all the ups and downs that come with it.
When the first book released, we were all rejoicing!
Author friends
also encourage me to keep going when I hit roadbumps. We uniquely understand
that sinking feeling that results from a publisher rejection or a bad review. I
love the support system of author friends I have met along the way.
I see that you
homeschool. Could you tell us some of the trials and tribulations of that
endeavor and how it affects your writing?
I think any
homeschooler will say that some days it's great; some days it's extremely hard
and you want to quit. Kind of like being a writer, actually! But in the end,
you do it because you know that's what's right for that child. My son is in
Christian school—that was the best choice for him right now. I homeschool my
two daughters.
All my
children are more independent learners now. I don't think I could've written
and homeschooled when all three were toddlers. I believe there are seasons in
an author's life, just like in a mother's life!
What advice
would you give to an aspiring writer such as myself about the whole ‘waiting’
process?
Waiting.
That's like my Achilles' heel. I like to push and GO and not get hung up in the
process. But sometimes we have to wait, to get to that next step. For me, it
was years of waiting and submitting and thinking God didn't care about my
dreams.
But at the end
of all that disappointment, I saw God had a BIGGER and better dream than I
could even conceive of. I love being an independent author and I see now how
this is the best fit for me. I love having control over everything from my production
schedule to my audiobook narrator.
I’ve written many different manuscripts, but
there is that one that kind of defines who I am as a writer. What have you
written that sticks out in your mind as ‘the’ one?
Oh, wow.
That's really hard. God's Daughter,
my Viking historical, was probably my most ambitious book. I had many
sub-themes and a lot to share in that one. It was my "mission
statement," if you will. :) But Miranda
Warning, my mystery, is just as much a part of me, and I feel the
contemporary Appalachian writing is more reflective of my writer
"voice."
Every one of
my books is really like a child. I wouldn't ever want to settle and write
something just to be trendy or formulaic. I write my heart.
What message,
if any, do you want a reader to take away from your work?
I don't like
preachy messages in books. I want my books to reach readers, whether the
readers are Christians or not. I want readers to remember my characters and the
choices they made (good and bad). I do tend to focus on marriage in my books—both
the highs and lows—and I do hope readers relate to that.
I know from my
own experiences that when writing, sometimes a character begins to become a
‘part’ of us. Have you written a character like this? If so, could you describe
the personality of the character and why you think he/she/it stays in your mind
so vividly?
Again, I do
feel that way with all my main characters, because I have to get into their
heads to write first-person. I also feel my side characters are real...I have
to, to write them properly. I will say I am very fond of Nikki Jo Spencer as a
side character in my mystery series. She's Tess' mother-in-law and you can read
an interview with her here.
But sometimes
you have to strip away the parts of yourself you'd rather hide to get into your
main characters' heads. I'm doing that while writing Freydis' story (my
second/final Viking historical, Forest
Child). It can be a scary process (trust me, Freydis is something else!),
but I want to bring my readers an experience they will never forget. I
personally love conflicted characters, like Scarlett O'hara or Anna Karenina.
People who seem so real you can never forget them. That's the kind of
characters I strive to write. Readers might like them or dislike them, but I'm
hoping they will never forget them.
Author
Bio:
Heather Day Gilbert enjoys writing stories about
authentic, believable marriages. Seventeen years of marriage to her sweet
Yankee husband have given her some perspective, as well as eleven years spent
homeschooling. Heather regularly posts on Novel
Rocket about self-publishing.
You can find Heather at her website, Heather Day Gilbert—Author, and at
her Facebook
Author Page, as well as Twitter,
Pinterest, YouTube, and Goodreads.
Her Viking novel, God's Daughter, is an Amazon bestseller. You can find it on Amazon and Audible.com.
Her Appalachian mystery, Miranda Warning, is here
on Amazon.
