Friday, December 6, 2019

Where I Was Planted Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

Where I Was Planted JustRead Blog Tour 
Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for Where I Was Planted by Heather Norman Smith, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Where I Was Planted by Heather Norman Smith Title: Where I Was Planted
Author: Heather Norman Smith
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Ambassador International
Release Date
In the spring of 1961, ten-year-old Nate "Weenie" Dooley has a revelation-his father is not a good one.

Inspired by National Geographic, his favorite thing next to the Bible storybook his mother gave him before she died, Nate plans to leave his father and their home in the Smokies to set out on an adventure.

When he discovers that his father has left him first, it will take the help of a stray dog, some kind neighbors, a one-man-band, letters from a long-lost-aunt, and a new understanding of God to figure out he isn't really alone.

Will he find that Copper Creek is where he's always belonged? Or will his wanderlust keep him from ever coming back?

In her second novel, Heather Norman Smith demonstrates that love makes a family, and that while fathers may leave, our Heavenly Father is faithful, and He has a plan for all of us.

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Heather Norman Smith

Heather Norman Smith is a Christian Fiction and devotions author. Her goal is to use the written word to entertain and encourage while illuminating the redemptive love of God. Heather is proud to be a life-long North Carolinian and aims to present the beauty of the Tar Heel State in her fiction. Her home is just outside Winston-Salem, NC, where she lives with her husband and their four children, two cats, two dogs, and some fish.

CONNECT WITH HEATHER: Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Hi Heather! First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and allowing my readers the chance to get to know you and your latest book-Where I Was Planted- a little bit better. I always like to start these interviews with something fun… tell us 5 random facts about yourself that we WON’T find in your bio!

I have never been out of the country or even west of the Mississippi.

I despise math yet have a strange obsession for even numbers and patterns in dates.

I play the alto saxophone and have owned the same one since sixth grade.

My favorite toy as a child was a blue water pistol, and I got into lots of trouble with it.

One of my favorite things is leading the invitational hymn each week during our prayer time near the close of Sunday morning services.


Let’s talk writing! Have you always known that you were meant to be a writer or was that a passion that came about later? 

I knew it when I was a little girl, but through my teens, twenties, and early thirties, I forgot all about the dream my younger self had. God graciously and miraculously reminded me by handing me a story in summer of 2017 that I had to write down, and I haven’t stopped writing since then.


As a writer of historical fiction, what type of research goes into creating your stories? Do you try to keep everything historically accurate, or do you feel a little creative liberty is okay to better tell the story?

I’ve written contemporary and historical, and historical definitely required more research. It was really important for me to make it historically accurate. The book is set in 1961, so I did a lot of internet searches to make sure certain things had been invented then—like gas-powered lawnmowers and Kool-aid. There are references to musicians of the time, like Patsy Cline. One fun thing I did was subscribe to the National Geographic online archive, so I could actually read the articles my character, who loves the magazine, would have read and make references to them. I also did a lot of research on the region of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Where I Was Planted is a beautiful story full of inspiration. What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

All my writing centers around a Romans 8:28 theme—“all things work together for good…”  This particular story should also remind us of the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.


I loved the unique cast of characters found in this book, are any of these based upon real people in your life? 

While I was writing, I actually met two of the characters. When I met Susan and Chester David at my training class to become a foster parent, I very quickly realized they were the embodiment of Opal and Dell Nelson, my main character’s kind neighbors. So, as I continued writing the book, the fictional and real people became more and more intertwined. What was really crazy was later learning of similarities between my fictional characters and my friends that I didn’t even know about before I finished the book.


I have found that writers are so often some of the best readers too. If we were to take a look at your ‘to read’ pile, what might we find there?

I have pretty varied tastes. Right now, I’m reading two great books—The Man He Never Was by James Rubart in paperback and Landmark by Pamela Poole on ebook.


Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions. Before we go, I know I cannot wait to see what’s coming up from you! Any projects you are currently working on that you can share? 

Thank you for having me! I am in the process of making decisions about the publication of my third novel. I feel pretty confident that I will be able to share it with the world in 2020. I’m also working on two new novels concurrently, and I just published a devotional called Timeout for Jesus: Thirty Appointments with the Savior.








(2) winners will receive a paperback copy of Where I Was Planted by Heather Norman Smith!

Where I Was Planted JustRead Giveaway

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight December 2, 2019 and last through 11:59 PM EST on December 9, 2019. US only. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.


 
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
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1 Comments:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing!!! - JustRead Tours

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