Author Debbie Heaton

www.debbieaheaton.com

Hello, please welcome Debbie  Heaton. to Lisa's Place. Welcome, Debbie. 

 L.V. When did you first start enjoy reading?

D.H. 1^st grade. My mother introduced me to the library and that was that—I was hooked and have never stopped reading.  Now I serve on my local Library Advisory Board promoting early childhood literacy.

L.V. When did you start writing? 

D. H .I started writing in high school at the encouragement of my English teacher.  My final class project that year was a novella.  Upon graduation, she encouraged me to pursue writing in some format.

L.V. When did you publish your first work? 

D. H. I was first published in 2002 with my novel, The Dream Suite.  After that I took an absence from writing to deal with health issues in my family.  In 2010, The Haunting of Wolfe Haven debuted.

Any special awards or recognition for your writing accomplishments.

The Haunting of Wolfe Haven has picked up the following achievements: 2010 Bronze Medal winner in romance at Foreword Review’s Book of the Year Award; 3 time finalist in the 2011 & 2012 International Book Awards; Honorable Mentions in the wild card category at both the 2011 San Francisco & Halloween Festival of Books; 2011 USA “Best Books” Award in romance; winner in the romance category at the 2012 Paris Festival of Books; finalist for the 2012 Eric Hoffer Award.

http://thehauntingofwolfehaven.wordpress/.

L.V. Are your books in print or ebook? 

D.H. The Haunting of Wolfe Haven is available in ePub which is compatible with Amazon Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader and many other ebook formats.  It is also available in both hard and soft covers. The ePub editions of the book as well as the hard and soft covers can be ordered from iUniverse.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.  The hard and soft cover editions can be ordered through any bookstore.

L.V. How can your fans contact you? 

Readers can contact me at debbieaheaton@yahoo.com , by visiting my website at www.debbieaheaton.com, or my blog at http://thehauntingofwolfehaven.wordpress/.

Social networks

Facebook under DA Heaton or the book fan page: The Haunting of Wolfe Haven; authordebbie@twitter.com; Goodreads; The Library Thing; Shelfari; The Paranormal Romance Guild; The International Women’s Writing Guild.

L.V. What do you do to relax?

D.H. I read, preferably a book with a paranormal theme, watch classic Susan Hayward or Jessica Tandy movies, and hike with my dog. 

L.V. How do you handle stress or writers block

D. H. I walk away for awhile, busy myself with house cleaning, weeding, and even reading.  I try to be patient and not push the ideas and usually I’m inspired out of the blue and am able to resume writing.

L.V. Do  you have  a blog?

D.H. Yes.  My blog started out promoting my writing and then morphed into a place where those interested in taking up writing can bring their questions, as well as those struggling with domestic violence issues.   As a therapist, I can’t turn away people who need answers to troubling questions so my blog multi tasks.  You can find book reviews, updates on my book, young writers can pick up information about writing and those in need of some guidance with domestic violence issues can hopefully find some answers.  http://thehauntingofwolfehaven.wordpress/. 

L.V. Do you have a Youtube video trailer for your works?

D.H. Thanks to the great Rodney Holt at Concept Visual, Inc, yes I do!  It can be accessed on the “Book” page of my website at www.debbieaheaton.com. 

L.V. Do you have a favorite character in your books?

D. H. Riley Russell in The Haunting of Wolfe Haven is by far my favorite character.  She’s so beautifully imperfect and human.  She isn’t Hollywood gorgeous with a six figure career.  She’s a woman who went through a lot growing up.  As an adult she comes to realize that she has issues to work on and sets out to do just that.  As the story unfolds readers learn about her, watch her struggle to recognize her faults and work to improve herself.  As we all do in life, Riley evolves and embraces her imperfections while working to change the things she can about herself.

L.V. Favorite food?

D.H. I love Mexican food.  I come from a long line of firefighters in New Mexico and all of them learned to prepare some of the best Mexican food around.  I still enjoy it every chance I can.

L.V. Favorite color?

D.H. Orange, yellow, rust, lavender.  

L.V.Favorite charity?

D. H. I support services that support children.  The Parent Connection is a non-profit organization that works to provide families with children the parenting and coping skills they need to be the best parents they can be. 

How do people contact/donate the charity?

The Parent Connection can be contacted through their website at www.theparentconnection.org. 

L.V.Any advice for new authors?

D.H. Never give up.  There are a lot of truly great writers out there so competition is high.  But there are even more great writers that never get acknowledged in their career.  If you love to write, don’t let anything stop you.  Try, try and try again.

The Haunting of Wolfe Haven is classified as a Gothic romance but it contains murder, mystery, betrayal, arson, supernatural overtones, and romance.  I write and read romance because I enjoy happy endings, something we don’t always see often enough in real life.

L.V. Thank you so much, Debbie for doing this interview with me. Good luck in your future endeavors. To my readers, please show Debbie some love by leaving comments.

My Reading List

I've been reading from various authors over the last year, primarily Indie Authors. Among my favorite Indie Authors are Shaun Allan, Denise K. Rago, Brian S. Pratt, Brian Moreland, and Catherine Mahoney. I'm currently reading Lili Tufel, Jacqueline Hopkins, and getting ready to pick one up from Valerie Douglas.
I want to tell you a little about the books from the Indie Authors I've read from so far.
Let's start with Shaun Allan, author of Sin. He is from England, and a very talented author. Here's a brief description of Sin. You can find out more about Shaun at http://www.shaunallan.co.uk/sin.

Dead, dead, dead.  Say it enough times and it becomes just another word.
What would you do? Could you kill a killer? Does the death of one appease the deaths of a hundred? What about that hundred against a thousand?

What if you had no choice?

Meet Sin. No, not that sort of sin, but Sin, crazy as a loon (you ask Sister Moon), and proud of it. Sin locks himself away in a mental home and, every so often, gets violent. That’s only so they’ll give him those nice drugs, though. The ones that help him forget.

It’s a pity they don’t work.

Sin, you see, has a serious problem. Well, it’s not so much his problem, as ours – yours, mine and everyone else’s. People die around him.  He doesn't like it and there's nothing he can do.  But someone else knows, and Sin has to stop them... and himself...
Flip and catch... 

Life Song~Appeared in e-Fiction magazine in 2011

 life Song 

by 

Lisa Vandiver

The Sky is blue

The grass is green

and I lie on my back

in between

dreaming of tomorrow

thinking of yesterdays gone by

I do have regrets

yet

I still have dreams

for bright tomorrows

absence of sorrows

So what is a life without regrets

It has a hand in creating who you are

And what is a life without dreams

for dreams is what  motivates us to

move, to dance, and to plan

I will not be one to sit on the sideline

as life goes along

I want to write my lifesong

And when I am at life’s end

I hope that others will say of me

I lived life as it was meant to be

free

Updates for April

The month of April is all but spent, and it's been a busy, interesting, and learning month for me. I scripted out my first screenplay, The Moon People for ScriptFrenzy, and completed it ahead of schedule, and was pleased for finishing it. I then had two wonderful friends who are also screenplay writers to take a look at it, and gave me their honest, real opinions, and so I went back to the screenplay, and followed their suggestions, cut, rewrite, edit, re-edit, and I'm still working on cleaning it up and making it a tight script before I take the BIG plunge and submit it to agents in the industry. I still have a lot to learn, but am looking forward to this new adventure. I'm not quitting on novel writing, I in fact am working on The Moon People novel now, and I'm finding that the script writing is aiding me in writing the novel! I love this story, as I do all of my stories, but this one is going to be the cleanest, tightest written one I've done, simply because I've grown as a writer, with the wonderful writing friends I've met through my journey, three in particular that I love and appreciate so much, and that has helped me in so many ways, with suggestions, corrective criticism, and their own love for art and creativity, thank you, Corrie Ann, RJ, and Jake. I hope to one day to actually meet you all face to face, and give you a big Country Girl Hug!
So, now that the Frenzy is over for April, I'm looking to May for more fun things to do with my creative mind. I hope that you will all stay with me as I continue my writing adventure. Thanks to all who have read my work, and who follow me. Without the readers, there's no point. God bless all. :)

Script Frenzy Starts

So, today was April 1, and the start of Script Frenzy. The goal today was three pages. I made that goal. The ultimate goal at the end of April, is one hundred pages by the thirtieth. I can do it. It's going to take some discipline on my part. It's going to take a lot of work but I'm hoping it will be fun as well. I know that it will definitely be educational. I'm both excited, and nervous about it, but am looking forward to getting into it.
 My story will be titled, "The Moon People." It will be a Sci-Fi story. I think that it will be a nice story when I'm finished. I actually wrote The Moon People as a week long story on my Imagination Alley blog, and received some emails stating that the story was enjoyable, so it was the natural choice for me to work on.
I'll check in here each day and give you my page count on my Script Frenzy page count page I've created, or you can go to the Script Frenzy site, and check on my progress there. Thanks. And wish me luck!:) 

Lilith~

Hi, are you curious as to what Lilith's ties are with the underworld and with modern day witchcraft? I will finish my research on this interesting character next week, so stop by Lisa's Place, and join me as I finish with this mysterious legend that's been around since the beginning of time... Have a great weekend.

Myths and Legends: Ghosts in the Graveyards

Hi, I'm doing a short piece on graveyards today. I am sharing two short stories that I'd been told about two graveyards near the area where I was raised, Savannah, Tn. I was born and raised in Hardin County, Tn. Some of our 'famous' folks from that area are of course, Country music singer, Darryl Worley, from Savannah, Country music singer and Actor, Mark Collie, from Waynesboro, Tn., and most famous of all, from McNairy County, Buford Pusser,. the man behind the legend Walking Tall, movies. I also live near Shiloh, Tn. where one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War took place. If you guys and girl like this story, perhaps I'll research some legends concerning the Battle of Shiloh, and of Buford Pusser, and share them with at some point.
Below, is a brief bio of the county in which I was raised, Hardin County.

The Hardin Expedition

Two parties of settlers (totaling 26) struck out of Knoxville, Tennessee in late spring of 1816 bound for the general area which would eventually become Savannah, Tennessee. The first party came by boat by way of the Tennessee River, landing in May at "the easteward curve of the Tennessee"^[2] at Cerro Gordo. The second, and larger party, had traversed overland and suffered from many delays. This second party was led by Joseph Hardin, Jr., son of Col. Joseph Hardin who had, before his death, accumulated several land grants to the area as rewards for his American Revolutionary War service. Joseph, Jr., as well as his brother, James Hardin (founder of the rival settlement of Hardinville, at modern day Old Town, located on Hardin’s Creek), executed land grants^[3] in the area. Both had fought alongside their father in the war and had been likewise rewarded with land patents.^[4]
Additional settlers from the initial expedition were almost immediately to establish a nearby community down river at Saltillo.
If you enjoyed the brief info on my little community, please drop me a line, and I'll share more on this community if I get enough requests. Thanks. Now, on to my ghost stories. I hope that you enjoy. Again, please drop me a line, and let me know if you enjoyed them. Thanks.
Back in my hometown, Savannah, Tn. I've heard of ghosts floating about in the graveyards, especially the older ones, the graveyards that have the names and dates etched into them with stones, dating to the 1800's, and some, with even earlier dates. I'm sure everyone has old 'graveyard' stories, but I thought that I'd share one anyway, I hope you like it. There is an old graveyard in a small community, Cerro Gordo. The story went like this. On a bright moonlit night, a young couple parked their car in the graveyard to make out. The couple parked, started making out, and suddenly they each heard some scraping noises across the top of their car. They stopped kissing, and looked around. As they peered out the windows, they saw eerie shadows appearing and floating across the car, and past the windows. While still in shock, and fear, they stated that they saw several floating entities hovering above many of the graves. The girl screamed, and the boy immediately drove out of the cemetery. I've heard a few similar stories such as this one from that particular graveyard. Several friends and I have driven out to this particular graveyard, parked, and sat there peering out our windows, waiting for the ghosts to appear. We saw nothing except shadows of tree branches swinging in the wind, casting shadows on the tombstones, or ground. If you stared at the shadows of the tree branches long enough, you could convince yourself that they were images of ghosts floating in the air. Of course, with a car load of loud boys, laughing, joking, and making up scary tales to scare the screaming, silly girls, the ghosts were probably scared of us.:) But, it's fun memories for me to share with friends, and with my child when she gets older. I'd be curious to hear from some of my local Hardin County friends on some local legends and ghost stories of the area, if you know of some. Please, feel free to drop me a line with them.

Purdy Cemetery in McNairy County, Tn. Very spooky cemetery.

Purdy Cemetery is located in McNairy county, a county that lies next to Hardin County, and home to local legend, Sheriff Buford Pusser. I have been to this cemetery as well, and I must say, this was the scariest place I've ever been. A lot of the graves are so old, that they aren't even marked! My one and only encounter there was one late night with some friends.  Many years ago, after completing a night shift at the local Aqua Glass bathtub factory, we loaded up in two vehicles, and drove to Purdy. We get out, start tromping through some weeds, large shrubbery, and trees, just to get to the graveyard. I'm sure that they've probably cleaned the area around this cemetery up by now.  So, we go tromping through the path, and reach the graveyard, and with flashlights, we start chatting as we walk through the graveyard. It was fascinating to look at all of the gravemarkers, and the dates on the ones that actually had dates and etchings on them. One such grave marker read, Elizabeth, beautiful baby born 1873, died 1873. As I recall, the baby died of some sort of dysentery. This graveyard, like the one in Hardin County, was only lit by the moonlight, and it cast eerie shadows on the tombstones, and the ground, and the tree branches swayed in the wind. Aside from that, only one very scary event occurred that night.
After looking around for some time, and not experiencing anything out of the ordinary, or scary, we decided to leave. As we were leaving, I inadvertently stepped onto a grave, and it caved in! My foot fell through, and of course, my heart gave way to fear, and started beating extremely fast. I screamed, "Oh, God, it's got me."
Of course, my friends with me thought that it was funny, and as they pulled me from the collapsing site, laughed at me. That was the one and only time I've been to the Purdy grave site, but I gotta say, I'd love to go back there, only in the daylight. 
I've not been 'grave' parking since that night, but I'll never forget those two nights as long as I live. With those visits, we all admitted that through our curiosity, we gained a new found respect for those enchanting places. It was fascinating to look at those tombstones, see those names, and imagine what their lives were like when they lived.
So, that's my graveyard ghost stories. I hope you enjoyed them. Once again, I'd love for you to drop me a line, and let me know how you liked them. Thanks, and until next time, be safe, and happy~Lisa