Meet Author Heather Paye

My guest writer this month on our VBT blog tour is Heather Paye, a remarkable young writer whom I’d like you all to get to know better. Please read and find out more about Heather, who has recently published her first novel, “A Gift From Above”.



Heather, please tell us more about yourself, starting with where were you born and where do you live?

I was born in Tucson, Arizona, and I still live there now… or I should say here.


How old are you, and what grade are you now in?

I am 15 years old, and I will be starting 11th grade next fall.


What does your family think about you having published a book?

My family stands behind me 100 percent. My family has given me the love, knowledge, and support that I need to keep my fire burning. At times, I feel that I am not moving fast enough or getting anywhere; and then, someone steps in with another path or idea that I had not thought of. If I need something, anything, my family members are there to assist me any way that they can. I bounce ideas off of my family and they have all done their share of editing and re-editing.

We recently did a book signing and every one in my family pulled together to make my signing a success. We put together bookmarks for each and every book; some members were cutting, laminating, and printing for days. The whole family turned out for the signing including my 8 –month-old, baby sister who smiled and cooed throughout the evening. I consider myself fortunate to have the family that I do because they made me what I am, without them I would be a completely different person.


How did you become interested in writing at such an early age? Does anyone else in your family write?

Well, boredom always sparks creativity for me. I remember the very first time I started writing a story, I was sitting down at my computer (this is before I had the Internet) and I wanted to be creative, I wanted to write something, so I opened up Microsoft Word and I wrote. What got my interest in writing was J.K.Rowling; her Harry Potter series inspired me so much. I read an article about her, and then I found out anyone can write. Before that I really thought that you had to be someone special to write a book, the president’s daughter or something, I didn’t know that anyone could try their hand at writing. And that’s what made me want to write, that’s why I started.

Yes, actually, my sister has this wonderfully creative Stephen King mind, and she’s as clever as it gets, and she’s always writing something, she’s also a great artist. And my mom, she writes too, she’s equally as wonderful as my sister, not half as demented, probably completely the opposite in her writing. I’m trying to think of words to describe it, it’s just close to the heart writing, just brilliant writing. My little brother isn’t quite old enough to write yet, but I really think he’s going to get the writing bug after he gets his spelling down, he’s almost there, but not quite yet. He has a great imagination; I get a lot of my inspiration from him.

My grandfather always kept a journal and inspired my mother to keep one too. I owe the honor of my great imagination to my grandmother who passed that down to my mother and then to me. The gift to dream and daydream came from a long line of dreamers and thinkers. Before I started writing I used to daydream quite a bit (and still do), my mother always told me that my head was always in the clouds. I live in a very small town and almost nothing ever happens here, except for when you open your eyes and look around with a writer’s mind. Yes, I would definitely say that boredom was one of the main contributing factors to my becoming a writer. I just cannot sit still and do nothing – ever.


What were the first things (poems, short stories, essays, etc) you started out writing?

First I started writing lyrics, just short little silly songs. I think one year I did a Harry Potter version of Jingle Bells… yeah, that was creepy. But, anyways, then I started writing short stories, and I wrote about two short stories before I wanted to write something bigger and better… Novels. I was 9 going on 10 years old when I started writing my first novel. I worked on it for 4 or 5 years – I think – before I finished it, which includes the editing. And then about a year later, I got interested in writing poetry. Oh, and this year I just finished a script.


What are your future writing plans? Anything currently in the works?

Yes, I actually have quite a few books in the works, I have a series of nine books that I’m working on called the Artifact Series. The first one is done and currently being looked over by publishers, the second book is still in the writing stage, but it’s about ¾ done right now. And, I get this question a lot, so I’m just going to answer it now, the titles of the books are: The Jewel of Onsolot, The Cloak of Erason, The Ring of Tellisgera, The Shield of Manicoli, The Sword of Anoshea, The Dragon of Landon, The Elves of Nardia, The King of Illion, and The Bracelet of Deloia. I also have a book in the works about a girl turning into a werewolf; no title for it yet.


What role do you envision for writing in your career as an adult?

Well, unless I turn out to be the next Nora Roberts, J.K.Rowling, or Stephanie Meyers, I’m probably going to be a part-time writer and full-time Game Designer. I couldn’t imagine a life without writing… at all, it’s just a dark and scary place.


What kind of writer do you consider yourself to be primarily, i.e. poet, short story writer, novelist, etc? What genre(s) do you write in?

I’d say novelist, I can live without writing lyrics, I can live without writing poems, but I can’t live without writing novels. Sometimes Horror, Drama, Drama, Drama (I have to have drama), Mystery/ Suspense, Children’s, Fantasy, Folklore, Teen, Tragedy, etc. What I don’t write is Sci-Fi, or anything non-fiction.


What challenges have you encountered as a young writer?

My challenges are mostly difficulties that I’ve overcome along the way to my publishing success. Issues that I’ve overlooked, etc., Writing takes quite a thick hide to stay in the business. First of all, you have to be able to take criticism with a grain of salt. Many reviewers can be quite harsh on your writing, and I learned to not take things too personal regarding my writing. Becoming a good writer also takes discipline and good planning. In order to meet a deadline and stay successful, you need to learn how to keep an exact record of how many pages or words to be completed on any given day.

Writing is a job and requires work. I learned to push and to push hard at an early age to be taken serious by fellow writers and publishers, usually two or even three times my age. I get mixed emotions when it comes to gaining the respect of other writers. Sometimes, I have to earn my place within the writing community. Every door that opened, I went in with gusto, asking questions and learning more every step of the way. After talking with me, many people comment they cannot believe that I am such a young person.

Writing is in my heart; I want this more than any thing. My drive comes from within. I am not going away any time soon. In addition to writing my novel series, I took on Nanowrimo last November and that is what created my current novel, “A Gift From Above”. I wrote the book in thirty days. Previous to the novel, I enrolled and successfully completed some college level writing courses at the Writing Academy online. A year ago I joined Writing.com and became a “newbie” member. Shortly after joining the group, I saw many good writers losing their memberships simply because they were unable to pay their dues. After some consideration, I started a group to help pay for the membership fees of the writers in need. My successful group became known as H.U.G.S (Heather’s Upgrade Giving Service). My group has never had to turn any one down for a membership to date. As a result, I learned to multi-task and multi-task fast.

While completing the aforementioned challenges, I continuously labored on my “first love”, my series of nine books. While pushing to publish or find a publisher to take on a teenage writer, I continued to edit and re-edit the first book and write the second. Now, if all of these above-mentioned challenges are not enough, I keep up with home-schooling and recently held my first book signing at our local middle school. I simply cannot wait to see what path life takes me on next. Come on world; I am ready.


I see that you have written some poetry and posted it on-line. Would you please share one of your favorites from your poems?

Sure! This is one of my favorite poems; it’s called “Peaceful”.

Look at you, look at me,
What big difference do you see?
I am me. You are you.
What did I ever do?

You've grown you've seen,
But all you can do is be mean.
You're peaceful now.
But I'm hurt somehow.

You don't understand anymore.
You're eyes are hidden behind doors.
Why do you criticize me?
I'm just here; just trying to be.

I've never done anything wrong,
So why won't you let me sing my song?
I'm not as evil as I seem.
My blooming heart sparkles and gleams.

So please don't be scared of me!
I'm harmless you see.
Please, I want to be peaceful you already are.
So why is it my heart you have to scar?

Now look at you, look at me.
What big difference do you see?


Is there anything else you would like the readers to know about you?

I love to learn something new, and am always ready and willing to make new friends, so feel free to stop by my blog and leave a comment or two! I’m always happy to hear from people and willing to give advice and receive it. Don’t be intimidated by me just because I’m an author.


Heather Paye’s blog: http://heatherpaye.blogspot.com

Heather Paye’s website: (I just have a fansite for my book right now, and it currently serves as both fansite for my book and fansite for me) http://www.agiftfromabove.webs.com

Heather Paye’s email: preciouskitty15@gmail.com

Where to find Heather’s book: Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Above-H-Paye/dp/1441498389/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246045655&sr=8-1
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/A-Gift-From-Above/dp/B002BA5VTM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246045655&sr=8-3

CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/Customer/EStore.do?id=3375222
And I’m hoping to turn it into an audio book soon.

Whew! I hope you read all the way to the end so as to learn all the details about this fascinating young writer, Heather Paye. Please come back in two days to learn more about Heather’s book, “A Gift From Above”.

Cheers!

Harry