Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Steampunk Author, Heather Hiestand's Confessions of a Toddlers Mom


Heather Hiestand


       Heather Hiestand is the author of many novels, novellas and short stories and has been published since 2005. She is an Amazon Romance Anthology Bestseller. She lives in Washington with her husband and son. She also writes as Anh Leod. Find Heather Hiestand online:



Housemaid Linet Fenna would rather be an air pirate than a servant. When she finds the ladder to an airship dangling outside her garret window on Christmas Eve, 1892, she ascends to the skies above London on her late father’s flagship dirigible, the Christmas. The new captain is someone she never expected to see again, a dangerous, sexy foe. Is the Fenna family nemesis offering Linet her heart’s desire or a dastardly trap?

Captain Andrew’s motivations are as foggy as the coal-soaked sky. Prime Minister Gladstone’s Blockaders, a horde of automen and a teenage girl named Hatchet want Linet to fail in her quest to discover what happened to her missing family, but she is determined to have a happy Christmas.

Captain Andrew’s Flying Christmas is a 16,000-word steampunk romance novella.


Becoming a steampunk author (Confessions of a toddler’s mom) By Heather Hiestand
In late summer 2011, my toddler stopped napping. I went from writing two chapters a week on my novel-in-progress to having no free time at all! I knew I couldn’t keep working on a novel with just a few scattered minutes here and there, like on those rare occasions where he slept in.
Know thyself, right? I know I can’t keep a novel in my head without actual blocks of time available to me. But I didn’t want to stop writing entirely. I had a great idea for a Christmas-themed steampunk novel, but knew my regular publishers required too much lead time to release the story by Christmas. Since I didn’t know how long steampunk was going to be popular, I wanted to get my story out in 2011. This is why I chose to publish it myself. Eventually, a new author friend suggested I try her publisher since they had a shorter timeframe to release and my story exactly fit their guidelines, but I had already purchased my cover so I stayed on the indie path. Things might have been different if I wasn’t friends with a cover artist who was inspired by the etching I found.
This, my first Heather Hiestand indie release, Captain Andrew’s Flying Christmas, came out in mid October 2011, after multiple drafts, several critiques and beta reads, and a proofread by a professional copy editor. It immediately caught the imagination of other steampunk-inclined authors, partially because the cover was eye-catching. I quickly sold past my expectations, based on my recent small press experiences.
At this date, I have nine reviews on Amazon for it, all five stars, which amazes me. The novella reached bestseller status in early December for one day, on the Romance Anthology list. I went on to publish a sequel, Captain Fenna’s Dirigible Valentine. A third story in the series is planned, assuming my child allows me any computer time in the near future!
     Please welcome Heather Hiestand to Sweet Not Spicy by Leaving a Comment.

7 comments:

  1. Welcome to Sweet Not Spicy, Heather. Sounds like you have your hands full!

    Morgan Mandel
    http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

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  2. Good for you, Heather.I admire how a busy Mom can find time to write and publish. Your bookcovers are really cute.

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  3. Thanks for having me to visit, Morgan and thanks for stopping by, Mona!

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  4. Heather, I love the premise of your novel. What imagination and creativity! I love steampunk myself. It's not easy to write with kids in the house, I've got 2 myself. It's all about balance. Good luck with your release!.

    smiles
    Steph

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  5. Thanks for stopping by, Steph! Any day a mother gets words on a page is a good day.

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  6. Congratulations on your books. I remember those toddler days. No naps is tough. Hang in there.

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