I am so pleased to have Pam Hillman join us again today.
Pam Hillman was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn’t afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove the Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn’t mind raking. Raking hay doesn’t take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that’s the kind of life every girl should dream of! Claiming Mariah is her second novel. www.pamhillman.com
This time she is sharing a little about her new book, Claiming Mariah. And be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for a special surprise you aren’t going to want to miss. Trust me on this 🙂
What was the hardest part of Claiming Mariahto write?
Without giving away too much of the story, I wrestled with Red Harper. What kind of man was he? What were his redeeming qualities? What were his faults? How did he get to where he was in his life? People find themselves in tough situations all the time with no way out just like Red did.
If you could be one of your characters, who would you choose to be and why?
The street kid named Luke in Stealing Jake. One reader said that Luke’s story was interwoven so much with Jake & Livy’s story that she couldn’t imagine one without the other. Even though delving into Luke’s story wasn’t part of the original draft, he kept niggling at my brain, and once I added the thread in his point-of-view, the story felt complete. Luke is just a kid, but he risks his life to search for his little brother, and becomes a father figure of sorts to the other street kids. Given the same circumstances, I would hope to be half as brave, caring, and compassionate as Luke.
What interested you in writing about the Old West?
I was born and raised on a farm, and from an early age I loved horses and all things western. I was a bit of a tomboy and cut my teeth on Louis L’Amour westerns. Our neighbor’s husband worked in the oil fields of Alaska and was gone months at a time. She’d invite my brother and me over to watch John Wayne movies on Friday nights. We’d have popcorn and soda, or she’d bake a butter cake (the smell of hot butter cake fresh from the oven still makes my mouth water!).
When starting a new project, do you tend to begin with a time period or event and create the characters to live it, or do you start with characters and then find their story?
I generally start with an event, or a story question. For Claiming Mariah, it was the question mentioned above, “What would a Christian do if they discovered their whole livelihood was based on a lie?”
Stealing Jake started out as a novella proposal for a Cowboy Christmas anthology for Tyndale House. Interesting that it didn’t make the cut as a novella, but ended up as my debut novel with them, huh?
While writing, do you find yourself using your life experiences as fodder for a more realistic novel? If so, describe a few times this takes place within Claiming Mariah.
The account of Yellow, the half-wild tomcat and his precarious beginnings after being born in the woods, is an almost exact retelling of a cat that I befriended several years ago. I had to work for that cat’s trust, just as Mariah earns the trust of both Slade and Yellow in Claiming Mariah.
The entire true-life account of Taming Yellow can be found here: http://calicotrails.blogspot.com/2012/11/taming-yellow.html
If you could rewind time to when you began your pursuit of publication, what would you tell yourself?
Focus on perfecting craft, not on premature publication. There were a few times editors seriously considered my work. Yes, I was terribly disappointed, because I offered the best I had at the time, but after I reworked the manuscript to a higher level, I was thankful the editors said no.
As a child or teenager, did you ever dream of being an author?
I knew I wanted to be a writer as soon as I discovered that people used their imagination to string written words on paper to create stories. There was a small public library where my brother and my cousins and I checked out books once a week on the way home from school. I checked out the maximum allowed (I think it was 3) and my cousin checked out 3 more that I wanted to read. I’m sure I even twisted her little brother’s arm and made him check out books for me!
How long did you write before you sold your first book?
I starting pursuing publication in 1994, so that would be….hmmmm…seventeen years, give or take. But I’ve wanted to be a published author ever since I can remember. As a child, I was fascinated by how authors put all those stories on paper. Somehow, my brain just naturally made up stories. But for years, I didn’t write them down. I tried to get started a few times, but didn’t know how to construct a compelling story with an interesting beginning, firm middle, and satisfying ending. So out of lack of knowledge and fear of failure, I just kept dreaming. I think I had the idea that as long as I didn’t attempt to write, I couldn’t fail at writing. In 1994, I decided that if I was ever going to write, I had to stop kidding myself and get to work.
What is the coolest, wackiest, most risk-taking thing you’ve ever done?
I got caught in a stampede of 100 Holsteins once. In the dark, in a cutover cornfield. I didn’t know which direction they were coming from, but I could hear their pounding hooves, and I could feel the ground shaking. When I realized I couldn’t outrun them on the uneven ground, I turned to face them and started jumping up and down, waving my arms, and screaming my head off. They parted like the red sea, and I sank to the ground, shaking like a leaf, and scared out my wits.
~
Breaking News!!!
Claiming Mariah will be
ON SALE for $1.99 February 10-16th
Click here for links to your favorite etailer
>>>> Tyndale ebook Promos<<<<
Mark your calendars, put a string on your finger,
or a reminder on your iPhone, but whatever you do,
don’t let this opportunity slip by.
To celebrate, Pam is giving away two eReaders
(choice of Kindle Wi-Fi, 6″ Display, or Nook Simple Touch)
Two Winners: One on facebook. One through Pam’s Newsletter.
Registering both places is not required but will double your chances of winning. Also keep in mind that you will receive updates more often being connected on facebook than through the newsletter. Just sayin’
Contest runs from January 1st until March 31st, 2013.
And….that’s not all! There will be prizes offered randomly throughout the tour.
This week’s giveaway:
PREVIOUS STOP ON TOUR:
February 7th: Blogging with Jo Huddleston
NEXT STOP ON TOUR:
February 11th: Blogging with Sandy Ardoin
Liz, thank you for inviting me back to Changing Scenes!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. I’ve been kinda busy today, but it’s been a good busy, well except for the part where I’m supposed to be working on my taxes. Being a numbers person and known as The Spreadsheet Queen, you’d think I would enjoy doing my taxes. Bleck! lol
Okay, peeps, keep your eye on the Tyndale Digital First titles this week. Watch for us on facebook, twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, wherever you hang out, because we’re taking the ‘net by storm…or at least by hashtag! lol
#Digital1st
Liz, thank you for inviting me back to Changing Scenes!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. I’ve been kinda busy today, but it’s been a good busy, well except for the part where I’m supposed to be working on my taxes. Being a numbers person and known as The Spreadsheet Queen, you’d think I would enjoy doing my taxes. Bleck! lol
Okay, peeps, keep your eye on the Tyndale Digital First titles this week. Watch for us on facebook, twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, wherever you hang out, because we’re taking the ‘net by storm…or at least by hashtag! lol
#Digital1st