Heidi Hostetter's Blog

I’ve been told that it’s very beneficial to the whole creative process to have a writing buddy.

Someone you can bounce ideas off. Someone who will encourage you when you’re stuck.

Someone who has your back.

I have one of those.  His name is Emmett and even though he’s only three years old, he takes his job very seriously.

He knows when I’m slacking off, and won’t tolerate it for long.

If my writing is going well, he’ll distract the family so I can get more done.

Even though I dedicated my first novel, The Inheritance to him, I’d like to formally thank him for his help. We’re about to write another book and I’m going to need his help.

Thanks Buddy.  You are a good boy.

I’ll make you some chicken now.

The post My Writing Buddy…. appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

After a relaxing winter break, I am ready to begin the third story in the Inlet Beach Novels. There’s another story to that’s waiting to be told, and it’s a good one. Different, from The Inheritance and A Light In The Window, because this one starts in Charleston, SC.

Eudora Pickney-Rutledge is very satisfied with the way she has managed her family’s legacy for the past five decades, thank you very much.  She opens her home and garden twice a year to tourists who are eager to know about her ancestors and how they helped shape the history of Charleston.  She sits on the board of three Very Important Committees. She dresses for dinner, and knows exactly how she will bestow her knowledge to the next generation.  Family history and deportment are the Most Important Thing.

Joanna Rutledge is the newest member of the Rutledge family. Eudora will ignore the unpleasant elopement because she sees the value of getting off on the right foot. Joanna is from away, after all, and can’t be expected to understand customs as if she were a native. Joanna is the one who will protect the family’s legacy after Eudora.

But what if Joanna doesn’t want to?

The working title of the book is The Legacy starts in Charleston, but moves to Inlet Beach, and what happens in between will be an amazing story.

If you want to know more, please sign up for my newsletter.  I’ll be sending character sketches, scene descriptions, and probably a contest or two before The Legacy is released in the fall.

My writing buddy is waiting, and my story is waiting.  I’ve got to get back to work now.  Thank you for supporting the Inlet Beach Novels and I hope you enjoy the newest one.

In the meantime, you can find me on Facebook or leave a comment here.  I answer every one.

The post The newest Inlet Beach Novel: The Legacy appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

All of Inlet Beach is ready for the traditional Christmas Lights Festival.

Storefronts have been draped with cedar garland and sprinkled with tiny white fairy lights since Thanksgiving. Window boxes are filled with pine cones, holly sprigs and seashells. Plastic reindeer are everywhere and the Christmas tree stands in the town square, carefully decorated with glittery ornaments.

Everything is ready……  

Until an unexpected visitor arrives during a winter storm searching for something he’d lost. Something only Inlet Beach can give him.

Come join the quirky residents of the small town of Inlet Beach in this warm holiday read.  

A story of family, and second chances.

The post Spend Christmas at Inlet Beach appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

The Harvest Moon appears at the end of September.

The Harvest Moon is bigger and more colorful than other full moons. The science-y people will tell you that’s because of the tilt of the earth and the reflection of the atmosphere.

That’s okay, I suppose. But I like the magic of a Harvest Moon.

Norse myths call the Harvest Moon the most powerful moon of the year and associate it with the god Loki .

The Celts called it Samhain and it marked the end of summer and the beginning of the quiet of winter.

I think it’s beautiful and I hope you enjoy it.

PS — this a much representation of Loki, don’t you agree?

Not sure how this post got away from me, but there you have it.  Blame the magic of the Harvest Moon.

The post What makes the Harvest Moon so awesome? appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

One of the very last scenes in The Inheritance is a what I named a “Candle Kite Launch”.

Authors have amazing freedom when it comes to making up stuff, and I liked the name, so I used it.  I loved the idea of all the residents of Inlet Beach gathering near the ocean to make a wish, light the candle and release the kite to float over the ocean.

In Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, The Lantern Festival marks the end of Chinese New Year.

In Portugal and Brazil, sky lanterns are released as part of the Festa De Sao Joao.

I think it’s hypnotic. Let me know what you think.

The post What’s a “Candle Kite”? appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

I’ve been to quite a few beaches in my life and they’re all beautiful and unique. When I needed a setting for my Inlet Beach books, I knew exactly which one would be my inspiration.

The beach there is wide: dark sand sprinkled with sand dollars, driftwood, and black stones.

Some things, I’ve never seen anywhere else.

I’ve found blue and green sea glass on the sand, sea stars and anemones in the tide pools, and sea caves that are only visible at low tide.

People dig for clams at low tide and they’re happy to show you how it’s done.

The town is small, the locals are friendly, and everyone knows everyone else.

I found the inspiration for Inlet Beach, the setting for The Inheritance and Christmas at Inlet Beach in Cannon Beach Oregon.

It’s beautiful there. I have seen people walk ankle-deep into the surf at sunset and raise a glass to the horizon, to toast the end of the day.

I’ve seen family bring blankets and beach chairs onto the sand at dusk and roast marshmallows over bonfires piled high with driftwood.

I have seen winter storms so fierce that the rain falls sideways and the wind can lift a child off the ground.

I love it there.  I love walking on the beach, I love the quirky little shops in town, I love the wildlife.

And if you get a chance to visit, you’re going to love it too.

Disclaimer:  I don’t work there, I own any property there, I don’t benefit at all if you visit. In fact, I’m pretty sure the people of Cannon Beach couldn’t pick me out of a line up.

The post The Inspiration for Inlet Beach appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

This week is filled with mostly-excited kids going back to school. The entire section of school supplies at Target is almost completely wiped out, and I’ve seen more than one kid dragged into a shoe store. Teachers have their classrooms ready, notebooks are fresh, and kids can still find their gym clothes.

So when the dust settles, sometime next week or the week after, and you wonder where the summer’s gone, you can try this — an easy DIY project to display your beach treasures.  My history with DIY projects is pretty sketchy but I’m going to try this one. 

For the full — easy — tutorial, please follow this link:  http://www.thecreativityexchange.com/...

I hope your back-to-school week is easier than you imagined and your summer was filled with sunshine and family. 

The post An end-of-summer DIY project appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

How could you not love this little dude?

Such determination.  And I can’t be sure but I think the little blue ruffle are board shorts? 

The post Just for fun… appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

Usually a story can be broken into three parts:

Act I is all about introductions: main characters, world they live in, problems they face and their main struggle.

Act II is where you find out how hard the characters are willing to work to get what they want.

Act III rewards characters who deserve it, and punish those who don’t.

Every author has their favorite section, and for me, all of the magic happens in Act III.

In Christmas at Inlet Beach, Tyra really went through the wringer and I’m going to spend the next two days deciding what to give her. Of course, there’s always the trick ending where good characters should be rewarded but aren’t but I’m not sure I can do that to her.

I’ll have to think about it.

And that is the magic of Act III….and the magic of storytelling.

The post The magic of Act III….. appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.

Sensory description plays a big part in my writing, mostly because I think in pictures and when I write I describe what I see. It’s always worked that way for me, and for the longest time I thought everybody’s thoughts were a series of images.

The tricky part is finding words to exactly match the pictures I see. For that to happen, I need to spend a lot of time in my story’s world, sifting through words, until I find the ones I need, then I weave them together. When I’m really concentrating, I completely block everything that’s happening in real time.

It’s all very Matrix-y, I know.  It’s exactly like plugging in.

The funny thing is that I happen to be editing a draft of my Christmas novella, which means that I’m editing this right now:

 As the sun went down the temperature dropped and the rain, which had been falling heavily all day, turned to sleet. Zachary pulled the damp edge of his hoodie across his face to shield it from the weather and hunched his shoulders against the wind. Charlie’s house was on this street, he knew it was. But nothing looked familiar and the specter of doubt that had been haunting him since he left raised its head and began to speak.

It whispered that Charlie wouldn’t remember him. It reminded him that he had nowhere else to go, and because he stole money from Darren’s mother, the police were looking for him already. It said he didn’t have a chance.

He swiped at his runny nose with the back of his sleeve before grabbing the strap of his backpack and shifted its weight to the other shoulder. A few of the things inside were wrapped in plastic, in grocery bags he’d found along the way, but most weren’t, and were now soaked with rain, adding to the weight of his pack. At least he thought to dump his school books before he left.

And on the best writing days, I come out of my coma and I’m surprised that I’m wearing shorts, that my garden needs watering (again), and that I need to pick my child up from summer camp, not school.

I think that’s what’s what makes writing magical: being able to create a world so complete that you can see, feel, and taste, smell, and touch everything in it. You can talk to the people who live there, you are a fly on the wall for all of their conversations, you know all of their secrets.  And when you emerge, you can bring back exactly the right words to describe all of it.

The post The “Writer’s Coma”….. appeared first on Heidi Hostetter.