BLOGWORDS – Thursday 29 May 2025 – CHAT THURSDAY – HEATHER DAY GILBERT

BLOGWORDS – Thursday 29 May 2025 – CHAT THURSDAY – HEATHER DAY GILBERT

CHAT THURSDAY – HEATHER DAY GILBERT

 

Please give a warm feathered welcome to author and friend, Heather Gilbert.

 

rem:  Welcome Heather. Tell us three random things about yourself.

HEATHER: 

-I'm a dog person—big dogs in particular. rem: like, say, Great Danes

-I don't love ice cream, although I did crave it with one of my pregnancies.

-I play Tomb Raider Remastered every week with a girl gang, and we eat chicken dip and nachos while solving puzzles and beating levels. I'm playing Tomb Raider 2 now, which I beat many years ago before it was remastered. And yes, I do use cheat codes sometimes.

 

rem:  What is your favorite quotation and why?

HEATHER:  Ooh, that's hard! I'd have to say it's Amelia Earhart's poem "Courage," which I've memorized. It starts out: "Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not knows no release from little things..." and the rest is just as inspirational.

 

rem:  Oooh, I like that. When reading, what makes or breaks a story for you? Your fiction pet peeve?  

 

HEATHER:  I'm drawn to first-person POV with characters who do realistic things. rem: totally agree!!! I prefer really strong, protective heroines and stories with plenty of twists I can't see coming. I don't care for writing that sounds like the author is trying to impress someone with their vocabulary, although I do love a beautiful turn of phrase (a la The Great Gatsby). My pet peeve is child abduction scenes, and I will rarely read them unless I trust the author (like Mary Higgins Clark) will bring justice in the end and not get graphic. 

 

rem:  What are you reading right now? 

HEATHER:  Mary Higgins Clark, as a matter of fact—Just Take My Heart. She's my comfort read author, as is Agatha Christie.

 

rem:  I do love Mary Higgins Clark but I have a particular appreciation for Agatha Christie.  Tell us a little about your writing journey.

HEATHER:  I've been writing for over fifteen years, and I've been published since 2013 (my first novel was the Viking historical God's Daughter, which I know you enjoyed, thank you!). I've been both independently and traditionally published, so I'm what you'd call a hybrid author, although all 27 of my books are currently indie published now. 

 

rem:  Heather, I will read any and all of your books! Have nearly done, actually, only missed a couple of them. What genre(s) do you write and why?

HEATHER:  After all these years, and after writing several very different genres, I've finally realized I enjoy writing contemporary mysteries the best. I've had the most success with my mainstream cozy mystery series (The Barks & Beans Cafe series), and I feel that's where my writing voice best fits (no surprise, since again, I'm a HUGE Agatha fan). But I also have a psychological thriller novella in a boxed set, so I still haven't drilled down to mystery-only writing yet!

 

rem:  How do you keep up with it all? LOL Tell us a little about your latest book? What is your current project?

HEATHER:   I've turned in a new mystery for a possible series to several agents and a publisher, so I'm waiting to see where the chips fall on that one. And I'm currently writing a psych thriller novella (Queen Bee) for a 12-author boxed set that will release in October—Don't Blink—and it's currently up for preorder.

 

rem:  Can’t wait! What is YOUR favorite part about these books or why do you love them? Why should we read them?

HEATHER:  The psych thriller is another book set in my home state of West Virginia, and it's set in the radio quiet zone there. And finally, I'm so thrilled about this new mystery, because it incorporates some bookish elements I can't share yet, as well as a small-town setting and a strong, intelligent protagonist.

 

rem:  Well put me at the top of the list for both of them! What is one take-away from your book(s) that you hope readers identify with? 

HEATHER:  In each book, I want to share that hope is never lost, and to show women who have agency in changing things and shaping the world around them.

 

rem: I can see that in your books I’ve already read. One more and then we’ll close. Do you have a life Scripture?

HEATHER: I focus on different Scripture passages all the time, and one that has been helpful of late is 1 John 4:4: "...Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

 

rem:  That certainly puts things in perspective, spiritually speaking. Anything you’d like to add?

HEATHER:  Just that I'm excited you're interviewing authors again, and I'm so glad we've been friends for most of my author journey! You're a blessing to all who know you, and I wish you all the best, my friend.

 

rem:  Thank you so much for your kind words, Heather, and thank you for chatting with us on my blog today!

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Heather Day Gilbert, an RWA Daphne du Maurier Award winner and 2-time ECPA Christy Award finalist, enjoys writing contemporary mysteries with unpredictable twists, much like the Agatha Christie books she read growing up. She also writes Viking historicals. Her novels feature small towns, family relationships, and women who aren't afraid to protect those they love. Find out more at heatherdaygilbert.com.

 

 

 

 

#Blogwords, Chat Thursday, Interview, Heather Day Gilbert, Great Danes, God’s Daughter, The Great Gatsby, Just Take My Heart, Barks and Beans Café Series, Queen Bee. Don’t Blink, 1John 4:4