So, WHO is our guest for today?
Allow me to introduce you to Heidi McCahan.
A
Pacific Northwest girl at heart, Heidi was blessed to spend her formative years
in Alaska. Her unique upbringing, coupled with Alaska's breathtaking scenery,
fueled her active imagination and loosely inspired her debut novel, Unraveled.
Heidi
graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Sports Medicine from Whitworth University
in Spokane, Washington and a Master's Degree in Athletic Training from the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. After a brief career as a Certified
Athletic Trainer, Heidi married her husband, Steve. They live in North Carolina
with their three active little boys.
When
Heidi isn't stepping on Legos, chauffeuring the boys around suburbia or
watching one of their many sporting events, she loves to read and write
heartwarming romance.
Now let's move on and take a peek at her novel, Covering Home, before we get to the interview.
Book Blurb:
On assignment in Japan, television
personality turned sportscaster Britt Bowen is determined to land an interview
with the most reclusive pitcher in baseball and prove she can succeed in a
demanding profession. A relationship with a self-absorbed professional athlete
is the last thing Britt needs. Shunning all media attention, former All-Star
pitcher Caleb Scott is focused on rebuilding his career in Japan, far from his
past and the horrible tragedy that nearly ruined him. Then he meets Britt, who
is everything he vowed to avoid. But it doesn’t take long before Caleb is
battling his attraction toward Britt. While she works to uncover his secrets,
she can’t deny she’s drawn to his wounded soul. At a crossroads, Caleb must
decide if he can break free from his past mistakes and give love another
chance. And Britt must choose between advancing her career … or falling in
love.
Here we are now with the interview. You just keep reading while I'll make some hot cocoa and throw another log on the fire.
Could you share a
little about yourself and what led you to become a writer?
Steve and I have been
married for thirteen years and we have three boys. After college and graduate
school, I worked briefly at a university as a Certified Athletic Trainer, helping
athletes recover from their injuries and teaching a class in the PE department.
Once I married, we moved across the country and had our first child just prior
to our second anniversary. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for eleven years and
this year marks a big milestone: all three boys will be in school all day
because our youngest starts kindergarten. I have loved stories and the written
word since I learned to read. Growing up in rural Alaska, my imagination served
as my entertainment. As a teenager and young adult, I lacked the confidence to
pursue a writing career (hence my short stint in athletic training). Three
years ago, I decided it was time to go for it and I wrote my first novel, which
was published in 2014. Now, nine months later, my second novel is available.
It’s a challenging gig, the life of a writer, but I’m passionate about it and
so happy I mustered up the courage to pursue my calling.
Do you write full
time? How much of your life is set aside for writing?
As any wife and mother
knows, we keep a lengthy to-do list. Adding anything into our lives requires a
sacrifice of some sort. I’ve learned to write when I have time, even if it’s
thirty minutes between tasks and appointments. Also, I have a very supportive
husband. He picks up the slack around the house and loves to take the boys on
numerous adventures so I can have the time and space I need to write. I’d say I
spend thirty hours a week on writing. That includes marketing, editing,
networking via social media. Wow, that's great!
Could you tell us a little
about your novel?
Absolutely. I’m proud
of this story and I love to talk about it. Covering
Home is an inspirational romance, set primarily in Japan. The heroine of
the novel is on assignment in Tokyo and determined
Would you take us on a
brief tour of your novel and the world you’ve created?
Of course. As I
mentioned earlier, this novel takes place primarily in Japan. I spent three
weeks in Japan as a college student, so many of the details come from my memories
of that trip and photographs I took. Because I like to ‘see the world’ from the
pages of a book when I’m reading, I try to create that same experience for my
readers. To me, the setting of a story is so important. Eating in restaurants,
experiencing the sights and sounds of the crowds, hearing the noise inside the
baseball stadium and riding the trains were all details that I remembered from
my visit and I tried to incorporate those into the story. While I love sports,
I’ve never worked as a broadcaster and I don’t know any professional athletes
personally. So I did do some research to try and make those aspects of the
story as realistic as possible.
Where does the
inspiration for you main character and story come from?
Initially, I was
inspired to start this story when I saw a writing prompt from a publisher. They
had issued a call for submissions for novellas set in various locations around
the world and specific elements had to be incorporated in the storyline. Tokyo
was the only city on the list that I’d visited. The required elements for Tokyo
were a bat, a bell and an angel. I decided a baseball player and a sportscaster
would be the ideal hero and heroine and I started to write. But I had so much
fun that I couldn’t stop at a novella-length story. So I crafted a full-length
novel and here we are. That does sound like fun! Good for you :o)
What is the message
behind the story? Was it something you specifically wrote a story around or did
it develop as your characters came to life?
I had to write at
least half of the story before I uncovered the deeper message. It developed as
the story came to life. To me, this is a story about finding redemption and
believing that love deserves a second chance. Also the game of baseball is a
metaphor for real life, which artists have continually explored through novels
and screenplays for decades. I admire the game and it provided a wonderful
backdrop for illustrating the hero
Caleb’s struggles and growth as a character.
Do you work from an
outline or just go with the flow? If you use an outline, how detailed is it?
In my first two
novels, I tried to go with the flow. I’m finishing a third now and had a little
more structure, but still sort of went where the story carried me. Inevitably,
I slammed into the same road block every time, usually around 50,000 words. I felt
stuck and the story lacked the conflict necessary to sustain the third act of
the story. Thank goodness, the editing and re-writing phases address those
issues. My fourth novel is a sequel to the first, so I’m going with an outline
this time. Susan May Warren is a successful author I admire and respect and she
has developed two resources that have helped me tremendously: The Book Buddy and Kiss and Tell: How to Write a Romance. I purchased the PDF versions
and there are several worksheets that help map out the character interviews,
key conflicts, etc., which drive the story. I still resist the idea of
following a detailed outline, because I feel like that stifles the creative
process. But I do know the major turning points, the lies the characters believe
about themselves, the truth that will set them free and I always know the end
before I write the beginning.
What is the time span
in your novel, weeks, months, years? How much research went into it? Covering Home spans a few months, about
half of a baseball season. Since I used previous experience in Japan to help
with the details, I didn’t have to do as much research as I would if the story
was written in a location and culture I knew nothing about. But I’d estimate I
still spent about two days gathering specific details about baseball in Japan,
certain menu items in restaurants and I read a lot of interviews online
regarding a prominent female sportscaster, just to get an idea of what her life
is like. Sounds like fun. I love research, and I agree, it is easier when we have some point of reference in our experience.
Could you tell us how
you go about your research, how you ‘catalogue’ information to make it all
work? I’m old school in that I write down anything I think might be valuable in
a notebook and note the source so I can find the info again. I’m using
Scrivener for this fourth novel and apparently I can keep all sorts of info
there, too, so my goal is to catalogue it all in one place. I adore Pinterest
because I’m a visual person and I can pin almost anything that inspires me. Hmm, I like that! I have Scrivener as well, but I have never thought about using Pinterest as a storyboard of sorts.
How does this book
differ from what you have written in the past?
I think this novel is
a little lighter than my first one.
How have the changes
in present day publishing impacted your schedule as a writer?
My perception is that
this industry is always changing. Right now, as an indie author, my objective
is to write high-quality novels that attract a loyal following. Initially, I
wanted to write stand alone novels, which is why Covering Home has nothing to do with Unraveled. But readers seem to prefer a series, so I’m working on a
sequel. Also, it would appear that readers want a lot of content, so writers
need to produce compelling reads more frequently than ever before. Even authors
published by the big traditional houses are releasing books more often, with
novellas in between full-length stories.
How do you handle marketing?
Do you have a plan, a publicist or just take one day at a time?
I do not have a
publicist, virtual assistant or an intern right now. Maybe in the future I will
incorporate one or more of those into my writing life. It is certainly a
challenge to balance administrative tasks, marketing and writing. My plan is to
continue building a following as I release more novels, hopefully two a year.
Readers can subscribe to my quarterly newsletter at my website HeidiMcCahan.com
for exclusive content, updates on new releases, etc. I’m exploring the idea of
releasing a novel or novella to my subscribers exclusively, but I’m not there
yet. I think it should tie into one of my other novels, so I need to explore
some options and choose a minor character from my first novel that could be the
star of a novella. Stay tuned for more on that, I suppose. Oh, we will!
Do you have any advice
for aspiring authors?
The one piece of
advice that really motivated me to write seriously was from Jeff Goins and he
said, “Stop waiting to be picked.” If circumstances, affirmations, the size of
your social media following ... if any of those things are standing between you
and putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), stop allowing those
obstacles to limit you and get busy writing. There’s never been a more exciting
time to be a writer. Pair up with another writer and share your work. The
process of putting yourself out there, receiving constructive feedback and then
applying what you’ve learned is the best way to improve one’s craft. Finally,
never, ever give up. Thank you for sharing that, I am sure it will touch many other writers.
Could you tell us what
you’re working on now?
I’m wrapping up my
third novel now. Since it is another stand alone, I think I’ll hold off on
releasing it. I’m still undecided. Now that I’m invested in book four, which
allows me to revisit the setting and characters from my first novel, I’d like
to aim for a fall 2015 release. The hero of the novel is Jeremy Tully, a
character I really enjoyed writing about in Unraveled.
He’s proving to be just as much fun in the starring role, so I look forward to
sharing his story with my readers later this year.
I enjoyed our time together, and I want to thank you for taking time to stop by. I any of you want to connect with Heidi, you can do so here:
Social
Media links:
Amazon Author page
Twitter: @HeidiMcCahan
Amazon purchase link
Thanks for the chance to know more about Heidi McCahan!
ReplyDeleteOnisha Ellis