Heather Burch writes paranormal
young adult novels for Zondervan, Harper Collins Publishing. Her YA novel
Halflings released to critical acclaim in January 2012. Guardian, book two in
the Halflings Series released in October 2012. The series has garnered praise
from USA Today, VOYA Magazine,
Booklist Magazine, Romantic Times and Publishers Weekly. An X-Men fan and a
hopeless romantic, Heather wanted to tell a story of extraordinary young people.
She lives in Florida where she writes full time and has conversations with
fictional teenagers. Every. Single. Day.
You can
find Heather at
follow
her on twitter www.twitter.com/heatherburch
find her
on Facebook www.facebook.com/heatherburchbooks
Praise
for Halflings and Guardian
“A well
written, thoroughly thought out and utterly addicting read. With all the buzz,
the word franchise comes to mind.”
~
USA Today
“Gobble
up and seek more.”
~
Publisher’s Weekly
Burch has
penned a great read … with action from the first page to the last. Four Stars!”
~
RT Book Review Magazine
“An edge
of your seat story that plunges your imagination into a unique world”
~
Rachelle Rea
“A
high-paced novel packed full of action, mystery, suspense and romance”
~
Making the Grade
Accolades
Chosen by Girls Life Magazine as
one of their top “Summer Reads” for June
Top Teen Pick at Barnes and Noble nationwide
Halflings chosen by Amazon as one
of their Top 100 Books under $3.99 in April
#1 on various Amazon best seller lists for Kindle
Chosen for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge
Interviewed by USA Today
Mentions in Publisher’s Weekly
articles
Heather has been interviewed across the
country by morning show hosts and news anchors
A multi-city book tour ended in Nashville,
TN where she discovered Halflings on the first best seller list
Guest Post:
What It’s Like To Be An Author
This should be easy for me to write, right?
I mean, I live it. But I have such conflicting emotions I’m sitting here
wondering how I can express what I feel. Being a published author has been my
dream for as long as I can remember. I started writing my first novel when I
was seventeen. It was bad. Very bad. But I looked at it and thought it was the
most beautiful baby anyone had ever birthed. Yes, we look at our books as our
babies. We have to develop rhino-skin in the process of discovering that our
first babies are usually hideously ugly. I’m not talking about everyone’s. But
mine, for sure.
I took that baby and polished her up and
sent her out into a cruel world of literary agents and publishers. And the
cruel world told me she was ugly. (The cruel world was right.) So, I brought
her home and put her on a pretty little shelf and made sure she knew I loved
her regardless.
And I wrote another baby. This one was a
little prettier than the last. But not by much. All the while as I’m creating
and pouring my heart into these stories, I’m learning, challenging myself to be
a better writer. I put a group of other writers around me who had ugly babies
too. We supported each other and could gently look at each other’s projects and
say, “You know, why don’t you try dressing her up like this …” and what we
discovered was we really could help each other be better writers.
Why do it? Why go through the pain of
rejection? Because there is something deep within each writer that says, “You have a story to tell. You have words
that have never been put together the way you will put them together. And it
will change people’s lives. Within the palm of your hand there is a powerful,
powerful weapon. A weapon that can bring destruction, joy, sorrow, happiness.
But it is unique to you and no one else can wield it.”
I want to reach into people’s hearts. I
want them to believe in the power of love over everything else. And I want to
do it through words. What is it like to be an author? It’s like finding what
you’re born to do and spending every day doing it. For me, it’s magical. It’s
not an easy job. But everything that’s worthwhile will cost you something.
Now, some of you are going to get to the
bottom of this and say, “She never told us about her daily routine.” So, I’m
going to do that here. I sit down at my computer to write at 5:30 in the
morning. I usually write until around 12:30 or 1:00. I answer emails and do
social networking after that (and sometimes during my writing time if I’m
procrastinating.) I do between 15 and 20 book signings a year. (These are like
dessert because I get to meet fans and chat with them face-to-face. I’m a
people person.)
I travel to a minimum of 2-3 conferences—usually writer’s conferences,
but I’ve been invited to speak at librarian’s conferences as well. J Now, how many of you are
wondering if you’re a writer? You want me to tell you if you are? When you read
the earlier paragraphs, your heart beat faster. You’ve already reread the quote
above that’s in bold. You already know in your heart you’re a writer. You don’t
need me to tell you. I know it’s scary to think of putting yourself out there,
but like I said earlier, everything that’s worthwhile will cost you something.
Writing is worth the cost. Hope this has been at least entertaining and at best,
inspirational. No matter who you are, there’s a dream on the inside. Go ahead.
Jump in and see if the magic won’t meet you there. J
I've read Halflings and enjoyed it. Now looking forward to reading Guardian and Avenger. Love the covers too.
Thanks to Heather for being on my blog today. Great Guest post. I hope to be published one day, as Heather says - I know it in my heart. :D
1 comment:
Great post, Heather.
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