Author Interview with Rita Hestand

Introduction:

Hi I'm Rita Hestand, I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas just after the Second World War. My father was a storyteller so I just took off on that. I became a people watcher. I learned to write by watching movies and rewriting them in my head. I married Don who is also a creative soul, I have 2 grown daughters and 7 grandchildren.  I've been in day care for thirteen years now, helping to raise my grandchildren. I'm also a multi-faceted writer, I do not only write Contemporary Romances, but I am a graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature, and I write a series of children's illustrated books along with poetry and short stories. I like American Movie Classics, kid parties and researching the net. My site has been totally designed by myself. http://ritahestand.com/


Past:

When did you start thinking about becoming a writer and when? Did you follow writing courses for it?

Becoming a writer isn't something that begins knowingly at any certain time.  But I can tell you that as young as a child, like four or five I was dreaming up stories in my head, and playing them out.  Then as I got older I had these stories jumbled in my head.  They needed a release.  So I finally began to write.  I wrote my first book in high school.  It traveled through many friends and never returned, but I can tell you it was  a regular Swiss Family Robinson type book.  It went to no publisher.  Then when I became a wife and mother in the 1970's I began writing again.  No, at that time there were not as many resources for courses on writing as there are now available, everywhere.  So I wrote, without much instruction, just straight from the heart.  Since they were romance, the stories mainly stayed in a file at my home, and were not sent to a publisher.  Truthfully, they were not ready for a publisher.  My first manuscript went to a big New York publisher, came back fairly swiftly, with a nice, but rejected note. 

A true writer, writes, whether they know what they are doing or not.  It is something in the system of that particular person that makes them put words on paper. 

Later I did attend some courses at a community college, and joined writing groups.  All of this was my own self education into writing. 

But the last word on writing is that a writer writes, because they have to. They have no choice.  Even if they don't get published, they write.

How did it all start?

Like I said, I wrote my first book in high school.  No one published it.  No one saw it but my fellow students in school who all loved it.

My first attempts were very lame, and very unpolished.  I had a lot to learn about the craft of writing.  I learned it, but it took years.  I sent manuscripts off, no one requested it until I wrote the publisher and asked.  I sent them in to New York publishers, they all came back with encouraging words, but still rejections.  Only a select few get published right off the bat.  It's like you have to do your time in studying the field and learning the craft, then learning how to approach a publisher, an agent or whatever.

My first published book in ebook form came back in the 1997.  I sent Pretend Mom in to DenMark Publishing.  They loved it, sent me a contract and then the editing began.  Pretend Mom came out with DenMark, then DenMark Publishing folded, and Double Dragon picked it up, and contracted it, then I left Double Dragon, and from there I went to Wordbeams publishing, but not too long after the CEO of Wordbeams decided to close because of health problems.  I finally took it to Writers Exchange, where all my books are being published.

There is a distinct difference in being print published with a contemporary romance and being published by a New York print publisher.  The differences are many, but to cut to the meat of it, e-publishers do not insist on formula writing.  Writing to a certain criteria.  Instead, you have the freedom to write the book you want to write. The book is edited, and then goes on the shelf to be sold. The shelf life for an ebook is forever, unlike the six weeks you have for a print publisher.  There is so much freedom allowed with e-publishers.  A writer can at last be free to write what they want to write. 

Now:

What is the average time you spend in writing a book?

Now this is a real tricky question.  I wrote Pretend Mom in about six months, but I changed it so many times, in other words I rewrote it so many times that it took several years to come up with the winning combination.  Writing a book can start off simple, but as a beginning writer you have to look at your work objectively and correct all the little flaws in the plotting, and characterization before you can send it off to a publisher.  And that first book can take years, unless your have learned your craft first.  But I learned as I went.  And it is still an ongoing process.  When you stop learning you die!

What does a regular working day writing looks like?

If you have no other job but writing, it is a day when you wake up with ideas, plots, characters, and ready to go.  But I never sit down to write until I've completely formed my ideas in my head first.  Even then things change.  And sitting all day at a desk is the most tiring thing, along with living in your characters head all day too.  You can exhauste yourself quickly.

Given the picture, it would look like this, you get up, have some coffee, then dash off to the computer (it used to be a typewriter, but things have improved with age).  You sit staring at the computer for a while, focussing on what you want to write. 

Unless you've spent hours, days, and nights thinking of this plot, you will be dazed at the computer for some time.  Then you begin. 

Writers munch a lot, so you take snack breaks, a lot.  Most writers are not thin. This isn't because you eat all day, it's because you SIT all day.

If you are heavy into your idea and can write smoothly for a while, you write maybe two hours and are exhausted from living in that other person's head.  Literally, you have lived someone else's life and try it some time, that can wipe you out.

Given to exhaustion, you snack, feed the dog, watch a TV program for more inspiration.

Then you get back to writing.  You might even scrap the whole thing you spent all morning on, because it won't work that way.  You begin again, until what you have on your computer screen makes sense to you.  If you've thought it out properly, it will.

Now, given the fact that you have spent hours and days figuring out what you are writing about, you are so absorbed in your work, you sit there till the hubby comes home and asks,

"What's for supper."

"Supper?"  You'd forgotten about eating! 

Hurriedly, you rush through supper so you can get back into writing, if the family will let you have that time. 

I also like to write with the TV blaring, music playing, kids hollering, and food available.

Some writers are neat and tidy and keep the place immaculate.  Yeah right, most writers are slobs.  They write in their robes and house slippers, drink way too much coffee to stay awake, eat all the wrong foods, because who has the time to cook, and only manage to get a few hours sleep. 

So you ask average time, endless sometimes.  A book can take a week, a month, a year, or many years to write.  Depending on whether you rewrite it.

Do you plan before you write, write everything down in schemes?

I always plan what I write, but never write that down.  No, for me, I visualize the book as a movie in my head.  Until the characters and main plot are right, I don't write it.  I won't write it.  It's a waste of time and money for me to try to do something just cold turkey.

What is on your schedule right now?

I have a full time evening job.  I baby sit my granddaughter during the mornings, try to catch a nap in there sometime. 

I write inbetween all of this.

I am working on finishing the Travers Brothers series, the last book, Along Came Love.  I am working on a book of short stories for kids, two westerns and possible spin off of Heart of the Wild, a new contemporary, Runaway Bride, poetry.

You and your books:

Are your ideas or characters based on real persons?

Never!  No, my characters are just that, MY CHARACTERS.  I invented them.  They might have traits of another real person, but never take on that personality.  I am very character driven and a lot of me comes out in my books, but it isn't me!

What book of yours means the most to you, took the longest, needed the most research?

Oh wow!  Every time I get a new release I think, wow, that's my favorite, but then another comes along and I change my mind.  I am proud of all of them, for different reasons.  Pretend Mom and Heart of the Wild have been rewritten the most, but I never hated rewriting them, in fact, I enjoyed it.  I loved the characters so much, I got emersed in their lives and it was fun to go back and change things to see what they would do next.  The most researched was Nick's Baby, set in New York and I joined an on line community in Hell's Kitchen, talked to the people, visited their sites and looked at the pictures they offered of New York and it's people.

Plus I had to research sperm donation some.  Also, Heart of the Wild was heavily research for the bear, Ole Blue.  I created him after my research, and I love him.  I also did research on the logging busines and ecology.

What are your favourite authors/books?   

I like Kate Huffman, Elizabeth Graham, and a lot of the old classic writers.

What is your favorite genre/theme? The bookgenres you like writing on are they the same genres as the books you like writing?

Romance is my favorite, but I also like biographies, comedy, some mystery.


Future:

Would you ever consider writing in another genre? If so, what genre(s) would that be?

I've been researching an outlaw character that I'd like to do a semi biography on, Sam Bass the Outlaw.

Any future plans you would like to share with us?

I write from inspiration.  Sometimes I watch an old movie and I think to myself, "Hmm, what if I turned that around and did this…?" 

I want to work on more Willy books, my children's series, finish my mid-grad short story book, finish my westerns, and keep writing romance till I'm too old to compute.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

You are very welcome and it was a pleasure, thanks for having me here.