Hi everyone, today we invite Heidi M. Thomas who I have known since my first Blog Book Tour class a couple years ago. Heidi's one awesome lady with a knack for writing books with a Westen theme and dreaming big. Thanks Heidi for stopping by today!
When you’re writing a book, everyone tells you to “write something different” and “we’re looking for something unusual.” But as I found out, publishers and booksellers still want it to fit a “niche.” They want to know where to categorize it, what shelf to put it on in the store.
I’m one of those square pegs in a round hole kind of writer. My books, Cowgirl Dreams and Follow the Dream are labeled as Westerns and were published as adult novels. I didn’t set out saying “I’m going to write a Western,” I just wanted to tell my grandmother’s story. It was, I believed, a unique story: that of a woman who rode bucking steers in Montana rodeos during the 1920s and 30s.
Yes, it is a story of the West, it is a story of rodeo, but it is also a young woman’s story, that of courage to face a wild beast, of daring to buck social convention, to have a dream that was different from the norm for women. It is a coming of age story and a sweet romance that crosses the barriers of time and age. Having a dream and daring to pursue it—no matter what—rings true for girls and women today as well as in the early twentieth century.
That’s why my books are deemed suitable for Young Adult readers as well as adult. Writing about an age when men used polite language around women and defended them chivalrously made it easy for me to keep the language clean and the love story simple and sweet.
My books won’t appeal to everyone, yet there is a message in them for everyone: whatever your dream is, don’t give up. Dare to Dream!
Heidi M. Thomas grew up on a working ranch in eastern Montana. She had parents who taught her a love of books and a grandmother who rode bucking stock in rodeos. Describing herself as “born with ink in her veins,” Heidi followed her dream of writing with a journalism degree from the University of Montana and later turned to her first love, fiction, to write her grandmother’s story.
Heidi’s first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, has won an EPIC Award and the USA Book News Best Book Finalist award. Follow the Dream is the second book in the “Dare to Dream” series about strong, independent Montana Women.
Both books are available through the author’s website and from the publisher Treble Heart Books. The can also be downloaded at Kindle and Nook.
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18 comments:
How lovely that she writes cross-over. I bet her novels are wonderful!
Thanks Heidi for posting here. I've known you for a long time in Blogdom and this is your first time here. But hopefully not your last.
I love cowgirl books and women who buck the rules. Heidi's writing sounds right up my alley. Great post with a very interesting author.
I hear her on the niche market thing. They want you to write the next Harry Potter, yet have it be utterly different, but not too different. :)
Well done Heidi. I appreciate authors who, despite what those in the know say, still believe in their appealing story.
I enjoy the West and history and am off to follow your link.
Hi Stephen and Heidi .. I love that you stuck to your guns and wrote about your grandmother's experiences .. I'd love to read it one day ..
Cheers Hilary
Loved the post most enjoyable to read.
Have a good day.
Yvonne.
Think I'm a square peg in a round hole as well.
Love your message, Dare to Dream, and your books sound like a rollicking good read!
I don't see many Westerns these days, in print or on TV. I'm glad to see writers like Heidi keeping the genre alive!
I'm glad you write books like these. There were woman fighting convention in big and little ways during periods of history where we mostly get the male perspective.
I love that you wrote your hf based on your grandmother's life. I'm working on a pb and an mg that are loosely based on my grandparents life during WWII.
I hope lots of young women read Heidi's books. Sometimes we forget how restricted women's activities were in the not so distant past.
Thank you, Stephen, for hosting me today, and thanks, everyone, for commenting. I do love learning about that era of the West and about the spunk and stick-to-it-iveness of those women!
National Day of the Cowboy was July 23 and there are still promos going on over at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=221304581236513
Lots of "western" stories out there that people don't know about (yet)!
I have not read any cowgirl books, but will have to remedy that fact!
I tagged you over at my blog, Stephen.
The western is definitely an under-populated genre, so it's great to see someone doing so well with it! Thank you for the awesome interview.
Ellie Garratt
Heidi, you wrote what moved you - doesn't matter the genre.
Theresa, excellent point. Thanks!
Sharon, family members are great sources of inspiration and information. The emotion really comes through on the pages when you model characters after loved ones.
Susan, how true. This is why i blogged about Women of Science last month. They were groundbreakers for sure.
Heide, its my pleasure!
Glynis, thanks! I'll be right over.
Ellie, I'm looking forward to Cowboys vs. Aliens due out very soon.
Diane, thanks for mentioning that. its got to come from what we know and from the heart.
Thank you very much, Heidi, for reminding us to never stop following our dreams and to worry less about being different or trying to fit into a niche.
Stephen, thank you for stopping by Bird's-eye View; I'm glad to be a new follower.
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