Heidi Heilig

Day In The Life of a Debut Author…

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Hey all! So, inspired by the epic Victoria Schwab and her post detailing a day in the life of 18 incredible authors, (such as the fabulous Rae Carson, and the talented Ashley Blake, and of course Ms. Schwab herself!) I thought I’d share a day in my own weird life during this strange time running up to the pub date. (A hypothetical day–an amalgam of days–not a specific day, because sometimes specific days are taken up entirely with watching my phone blow up because I can’t resist running my mouth online.)

So this is A Day In The Life of a Debut Author with a 15 Month Old Baby and also Bipolar Disorder who Is Trying To Promote Book 1, Write Book 2, Outline Book 3, and Fight Injustice*

5:30-6:30am: My day starts when my baby wakes up. He’s 15 months old right now and the three of us live in a tiny studio apartment (less than 400 square feet) so when he’s up, I am immediately aware and I go to him, because my husband stays up late at night to get his own work done. Soon after the baby wakes, there is frantic coffee and baby wrangling and throwing one of 4 “work outfits” onto my person (yes, I wear one twice in one week. Yes, I need to go shopping. I hate shopping. A typical day will NOT include shopping.)

7am: DOUGHNUT

7:05am: I’m on the way to the office, where I work as a receptionist. On quiet days, my day job is my haven. When the phone isn’t ringing and the guests aren’t arriving, I can get some writing done. Currently this includes promotional content for book 1, which comes out in just under 5 months (gulp.) I’ve also had to figure out travel and schedules recently, because there are some book events coming up. I’m also, as mentioned above, trying to fix the problems with Book 2 (I’m on draft 11) and outline book 3.

When I’m stumped on one project, I switch to the next. Unless of course I see something infuriating online, in which case I get some arguing done. I need to get better at time management probably, but it’s also a manic thing for me, to chat and talk somewhat frantically on the internet. Also, bigotry is evil and fighting it is not something I regret.
Lunch happens sometime during this block.
3pm: After my day job, I head right home to do my second job, which is superintendent of the 32-unit building where I live in Brooklyn. I make sure the place is clean, and 3 days a week I haul the building’s trash to the curb. (THE GLAMOROUS AUTHOR LIFE.) Then I go up to my house and hopefully grab a quick shower and do home stuff–make dinner, care for the baby, mop the floor (if you have ever been near a 15 month old you know why mopping the floor is a daily task.)
7:30pm: The small one finally falls asleep and I can write or do internet stuff again. Usually by now my brain is pretty tired (I write best in the morning.)
9pm: Sleeping if I can. My kid is not a great sleeper so I usually wake up with him 2-3 times a night. I try to sleep at least 7 hours total a night because it’s one of the ways I control my bipolar disorder. My husband needs more sleep than I do (yes, medically), so he is not on night duty.
Trying to review this through the eyes of someone who doesn’t live in my skin, I realize that it probably seems like I do very little actual writing. But I am really privileged to have the writing time I do have. I’m lucky to be able to make it work.
And of course, my baby won’t be a terrible sleeper forever. (I HOPE I HOPE)
So, if you are reading this and you are swamped with work and family and medical stuff and you want to be an author, I wish you the luck that I have in finding the time to write. I believe in you!
*it’s kinda specific, sorry–I’m at a bit of a weird place in my life. But i’m betting there are people who can relate.

The Girl From Everywhere Cover Reveal and Giveaway!

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Are you the type to judge a book by its cover?

If so, get out your gavel!

Are you excited? I am. The fantastic artist, Ray Shappell, made eight–EIGHT!–cover comps to look over, and everyone fell in love with this one. And here’s a sneak peek of the first line, if that will help sway the court.

To enter the US giveaway for an annotated ARC, head to YA Books Central!

That’s right: if you win, you get to read the book 6 months early (without having to time travel!), along with all my random notes, musings, and doodles in the margins.

And if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, add the book on Goodreads. Or if you’re want to go absolutely wild, pre-order it at HarperCollins or Amazon.

On Reviews and Responses, and a Personal Policy

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In the year since the book sold, I’ve seen several instances of authors stalking or threatening reviewers. So, first off because it’s most important:

Threatening and/or stalking someone is never, ever okay.

It is so Not Okay that I don’t even have a metaphor for how Not Okay it is.

In fact, “Not Okay” is a huge understatement. It is wrong. It is illegal. It is evil. No one should ever do it.

I have never been the subject of a bad review. (Because my book isn’t out yet. I’m sure that I will get some when it starts to be available. That is life. Can’t be all things to all people/there are bad reviews for classics/etc.)

But I have been stalked and threatened.

And it is terrifying.

Is a bad review terrifying? … Maybe? But not in the same way. If someone hates my work, I do not fear for my life. And if they somehow make me fear for my life with personal threats and calling my private cell and heavy-breathing their review into my ear, then, you know, I go through appropriate channels to try to protect myself. And “Appropriate Channels” is NOT threatening or stalking.

(Nor is it using a large platform to sic fans on reviewers. I don’t have a large platform so this may never be applicable to me, but it should be said because apparently some people don’t know this?)

So, okay, with the internet the way it is, people are more accessible than ever. We can tweet and email and chat and crosstalk and argue and all that, and I love that, I love connecting with people. And as the pub date approaches and my circle widens, there is more opportunity for cool conversation but also more risk. And I never want to make anyone feel unsafe, ever.

So I want to just include a personal policy, of sorts, for social media. As time goes forward, I will be thinking about and developing this policy further, but for now this is what I’ve got.

–If you ask me questions directly online, or invite me into a conversation, I will happily and respectfully try to respond. I love talking to people (though I am awkward about it at times) and appreciate conversation.

–If you Tweet about me but do not appear to be inviting me into conversation, I will err on the side of not responding. I’m not ignoring you to be rude! But I would rather risk appearing rude than making you feel unsafe.

–If you review my work, I may or may not read it, but I will always appreciate it–even if you hate the book. Why? Because you took the time, and time is your most precious resource. Thank you, truly.

–If you review my work and loved it and rave about it and it comes to my attention, I may in fact print out your review and keep it to look at when I’m unsure of myself. It means the world to me to know I did well in the eyes of a reader.

–I will always support a better safety and harassment policy on all social media platforms.

–If I hurt someone or cause harm, I will want to apologize. I will feel sorry. I will likely make some kind of public announcement of what I did wrong (keeping names out of it) and my intent to do better and any plans I have to that effect. I may or may not apologize directly, depending on my sense of whether or not a direct apology/contact is wanted by the person I hurt. (I am aware that sometimes, when harm is caused, the person harmed wants nothing more to do with the person who has harmed them and that’s okay too. Stuff is complicated and I want to try to do the right thing.)

Okay. I think this is a good policy, though again, it is evolving. And I always want to do better so feedback is welcome.

New (Old) Song!

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Getting back to my musical theatre roots!

Please enjoy a new recording of an old song, with New music. (er, music by Joel B. New, that is). Sung with flair by Vishal Vaidya.

I don’t always write love songs, but when I do, I–oh who am I kidding, most of my songs are love songs.

The other ones are about science and time travel. But in service of love.

Writing Outside The Checkbox

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You know those checkboxes you get on some official forms where there’s an incomplete list of races/genders and you’re like “Where am I on here?” and also “Is this, strictly-speaking, legal?”

Not even an “Other” box? 

Very few of us fit in neat boxes, but you can imagine a hypothetical and inclusive checklist. And I posit that most of us feel pretty comfortable writing characters with whom we share an identity–people who would check the same boxes as we would.

In seeking to write diversity, I definitely feel like I can speak for the type of people that would check the same boxes as me. I’m bipolar. I’m biracial. So I’m comfortable writing characters with mood swings or people who never feel quite at home in any one culture. Part of this is that I have a huge amount of lived experience to draw from.

And part of it, of course, is that I never have to fear that someone can accurately say to me “We’re not like that. You got it wrong.”

I hate being wrong, of course. Most people do. But it’s more than that.

Any member of a marginalized community knows how hurtful stereotypes and misattributions can be. (If one more mass murderer is diagnosed by popular opinion with “mental illness” post-rampage, I’m going to go NUTS.) (See what I did there?) I don’t want to feed into stereotypes. I don’t want to hurt people. I don’t want to make things even worse.

But I don’t want to do nothing either, because the status quo is actively harmful.

So how to try to make things better without making things worse instead?

Two things I recommend.

1) Read and support marginalized voices outside your own experience. Listen, like, buy, retweet, signal boost. And most importantly, do this without butting into the conversation to give your own take on other people’s lives.

2) Use the learning that naturally came from listening in your own work. Try to write outside your checkbox. My main character is mixed race, her father is a bipolar addict. Those are all things I’ve dealt with. But her best friend is Persian. Her surrogate father is Nuer. I am neither, but I did my best to research, to listen, to understand, and then to write a compelling cast of diverse characters.

Did I get stuff wrong? Very likely.

Will I apologize for getting it wrong when someone lets me know? Most definitely.

Would I rather have just stuck with people that were like me? Certainly not.*

After all, they can’t ALL be crazy.

Trying and failing is better than not trying at all. Do your best to write diversity well, and acknowledge in advance that you can always do better.

And then write books that can proudly check loads of boxes.

*That is, unless for some reason my portrayal of these characters causes massive harm to others. I really don’t think it will. But I may be utterly clueless. You have to leave open that possibility, the possibility that you are Utterly Clueless.