Latest / Feedbag with Nat Lauzon / Episode 12: Humour, Life & Writing with Bestselling Author Heather Grace Stewart

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Episode 12: Humour, Life & Writing with Bestselling Author Heather Grace Stewart · Feedbag with Nat Lauzon

• Nat Lauzon: ⁓ as you were going through your breast cancer treatment, surgery, everything, you were also readying novel, which have right here, The Love Leap. And I have to tell you that ⁓ it was... fantastic for me because I was going through probably one of the most stressful times of my life and I needed something to purely escape to. I found this to be a really good summer book. Like it was, it felt really like backyard in the lounge chair kind of fun reading. Pure it is set in spring and summer and I did, I got inspired by going to the Highlands in the summer. the rest of series is different times of the season. But the whole idea for all my books is to provide ⁓ an from reality because we all need one and I started writing my rom-coms to do it so that people could read it in one weekend, because a lot of books are like this, and you forget where you were the next Saturday. So I wanted to create an escape that you could read in a couple of nights. Yeah, and not need to be in Mensa to keep up with it. It's awesome. It's really good. The Love Leap. And thank you for my autographed copy. You're welcome. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. It's really cool to be here. This is a really setup. Thanks. We're here with Bolt. Bolt's the new and quality control. So ⁓ he's all good. And he likes And he can smell my two cats on me. So ⁓ it's going so far. Yeah. So far so good. I'm so happy to know you and I never would have gotten the chance to know you were it not for our boobies. Boobies bring the world together. Boobies, ⁓ brought us together. I wrote a poem called Everybody Loves Boobies. Really? ⁓ of my first poems. ⁓ yeah, but long before I met you. still holds ⁓ true today. Everybody does love weren't loving boobies too much though when we met. This is not a whole like promo thing. I want to get into other stuff, but I just I brought you a gift. So this is the This is the sequel to TheLove Leap Oh, thank you. The love Quest. So it's the same characters. With some new ones added in. OK, awesome. was out in November. I've been busy. That's that's why I was concerned about. mean, really, you should be concerned about your health, but I was concerned about getting. all the books that I had planned. I it. I was writing this thing. I just came. I was so inspired by the Highlands and We were not very happy. No, we were not happy with our boobs, you were your journey with breast I hate the word journey, but you were posting ⁓ your experience with breast cancer at the same time that I was diagnosed. So here's what's crazy. ⁓ we were diagnosed a few, few months, maybe ⁓ maybe six weeks ⁓ apart from each other with I bonked my head on the attic ceiling of the little cottage by the sea that I was staying in. Very Heather-like. So Amelia is a bit like me. She's an author. But like everything else is fiction because ⁓ otherwise my books wouldn't be ⁓ big and as funny if I used my own life. So I bonked my head, looked out the window and saw this pretty hot guy. I mean, from far away you couldn't see his face, but he had this hugging wetsuit on, ⁓ on a sailboat and it was overturned. Yes. DCIS which is stage zero breast cancer. ⁓ And I didn't know anyone who'd ever had that. I never heard of it in my life and so I went googling and found you because you were actually doing updates about your surgery, about your treatment, everything. And then I reached out to you. Yeah and I didn't I had no idea that posting would make that difference but I was doing it for the reason of I wanted looked out the window and saw this pretty hot guy. he had this hugging wetsuit on, actually happened. Okay. I went, am I seeing, no, I'm not seeing things, but I've bumped my head several times because the ceilings are quite low on this like 200 year old cottage. It was a like that. And I'm like, wouldn't it be funny if a rom-com started with ⁓ a woman, she's bonked her She's not sure if it's really happening that this guy's out there, but she feels like she has to go save him because he's out there in the middle of Moray Moray, that sounds Scottish, Moray Firth, which is Scotland's largest Firth. women to get mammograms to remind them because I had not gotten one for three or four years. OK. So it was I got it at 53. And but mine's mine's aggressive. It's DCIS. ⁓ and I saw an orange ⁓ motorboat by the water outside the cottage. went, I'm to put the orange motorboat in. She's going to get in the motorboat. That's how I write. It always starts with a spark like that. But when you, when you went on your trip, was it, did you think you would be inspired to write a It was just like, I'm just for shits and giggles going to travel. And then it turned into a book. Well, I actually was going to a publishing, self publishing conference in London. my husband, God, God bless him. Cause this book never would, the whole series would have never happened. little more scary because he said it could move really fast. to give you the cold's DCIS is stage zero breast cancer it's ⁓ confined to the milk ducts so by definition it's not invasive but has the potential to become invasive if it's not treated and there are three grades of DCIS grade one grade two and grade three ⁓ as Heather said yeah so three is the are the most aggressive cells which have He's Scottish, but neither he nor I have been to Scotland. I mean, his dad was born in Scotland. So Bill is a third generation Scotland. He doesn't have a Scottish accent, but he got married in the kilt. Very sexy. the most potential if left untreated to break out of the milk duct and Look at you being all sciencey. dude, I went so down the rabbit hole and I know in talking to you I think you were a good balance for me because you ⁓ are not a rabbit hole you weren't with this anyway. I am with my books. ⁓ my gosh, for research. for this, you were like, I'm just... I was actually hands off. I'll do the bare minimum because then I will fuss and worry too much. So I actually didn't... I wasn't head in the sand, but I just... No, you knew enough and you knew enough and you had enough trust in the system. You rabbit holed. I'm a rabbit holer. And if something happens, I got to know why, and it was too And I remember speaking to you sometimes and you were like... Don't, don't, don't go too far. Just like live your life and don't go too far the other way. recommend that, especially like discussion groups. can be, they can be uplifting, but they can be the exact opposite too. Exactly. Yeah. my husband suggested that Finn, my young adult, our young adult, that we take a little side trip because he said, you're already going to be in England and you're staying a week at least in England. Why don't you extend your trip? I'm like, aw. So he had to work so he couldn't join us. But he said, you guys should, you should do it together. Well, Finn has some time off. Finn had just graduated from Dawson College. So there was time, there was time. And there was, you know, we were off, I was off work. I wasn't really writing anything at the time. I had set something aside And so then went to Scotland and ⁓ never expected. It was like I'm having a bit of a ⁓ hard writing kind of trip. And then it just, ⁓ it flew Did you start writing while you were there? ⁓ I started, thought, wow, this is something. the next morning I went for walk and looked at all the street signs and that's where I got the name McDowell. Okay. hero, I saw it McDowell House, I think it was called. I started, then I started writing down on my phone, actually, I use my phone, and I wrote down Scottish names, I thought I'm gonna need some Scottish names, and I like to use things from the town. went to this little Kirk church, they call it a Kirk in Scotland, ⁓ then I went that afternoon, and it was in ruins, but you could look at it, and it was a medieval church, and that became the church that's in every book. It's the Aven Valley church. ⁓ And then I got on the plane, that's when I... and I loved the that Nat was emailing me. you know, that's an old form of being in touch. And was like, we were pen pals, we both live in Montreal. So it was kind of funny that we kept emailing back and forth. but we had the same breast surgeon. started writing like I wrote three chapters on the home. for someone who is an author and a writer and this is what you do, what is it like to go from that moment of I have no ideas, I'm in bit of a rut, to the moment of And you were like, ⁓ didn't go through radiation, but Heather did. And she was like, if you need someone to come you to radiation or keep you company or anything. so just having a person who ⁓ knew what was happening up here ⁓ really made ⁓ a difference. And It really made a difference for because I no one who had DCIS. ⁓ I didn't know anybody either. ⁓ I pushed through it and here I am with all this creativity. So what is that moment like? I'd say it's pushing through a bubble and then you're like, oh God, I'm gonna be putting myself in a social, in my own bubble for the next like a year. Because I, and I try, especially after the cancer, I'm like, I wanna be a good mom and I wanna be there for my husband and my friends. But as a writer, you have, you suddenly have Fiona. I think when I said I wasn't head in the sand, to a certain extent maybe I was and that I had shit to do. I had to get my book that was due to come out June 30th and I had the biopsy on the 22nd of January thinking I'm gonna be fine. It's not gonna be anything. It's a static. Stereotactic. See, science. I'm the rabbit-holer. Stereotactic. Stereotactic biopsy and that was the 22nd of January and by the 25th the woman from 1645 saying a line in your head while you're cooking dinner, at least for me. I don't know if all writers are like this, but I have, I constantly, you know, I have voices in my head, but I'm sane. As far as we can tell, it's all good. So far they're character voices. And so, so how it went was just, ⁓ my gosh, I'm going to have to get more sticky notes. And I used to have sticky notes all over the house and realized that's not good. So then I use my phone if I'm somewhere, I love using that for notes. I'll even leave myself a voice memo. I don't know if all writers are like this, I have voices in my head, but I'm sane. As far as we can tell, it's all good. ⁓ 25th of February I was having my surgery. That's how fast this happened. I was really stressed about all the creative things I had planned. Yeah, because you're like, I don't know if this is gonna knock me on my ass now. I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if I can fulfill the goals that I wanted to I had commitments. ⁓ I take my commitments to my readers seriously. ⁓ The house might not be clean for three months, but those readers have to get those books. Of course. Let's talk about the books because Heather... ⁓ you're living it in all these different ways. It's like I'm hearing a line, I'm hearing a voice, I'm hearing a character here, I'm seeing this thing. Yeah, that's how it starts And I make sure I get it all down. I start writing the plot because it's coming to me, but it's never solidified until I do the characters first. And then from the characters, I get a good feel of what the plot will be. every book's different. you were saying how does the process work? You asked me that once. Yeah. is amazing. How many published works? If you count everything back to even the CD-ROM that I did, it was a CD-ROM book published by an actual publisher. was really cool. 24? 24 published works. The only process is that I have to write every day. And I used to not. And that's why my books, I didn't get as many books written. I think that I didn't realize was that important because people were like, you don't have to write every day. But for me to keep that routine, I write every morning, same time, or roughly the same time, like 8, 8.30. And then I go till 12.30, phones away, phones in another room. until 12.30 then grab lunch and then sometimes it becomes a business of writing after that. Sometimes go right back the work if I'm really into it. ⁓ I find it really impressive that you have the discipline to sit down and just do it. But again, you said this ⁓ ⁓ the thing that I had to come to to understand that ⁓ this is how I'm going to write a book. I do it any other way. I need to ⁓ carve out time. Yeah, and I was already carving it out when Finn was in high school, but I think it's really important to me to be there for my kid and run to high school if they forgot their shoes. mean, But we're a unit. All of us are still unit. ⁓ Finn's still at home. And so it was important to be there ⁓ for them. ⁓ balancing work, I've been working at for 20 years. Balancing that has been quite a... a balancing act, and then I think now that, you know, they don't need me as much anymore. So ⁓ I have more time so I can go from like eight to one PM. And sometimes Finn's the one now who might be waking up and knock on my door and say, have you eaten? Did you eat? Did you eat lunch? The child becomes the parent. ⁓ my goodness. I so appreciate it. Mom, are you drinking water? I'm awful that way because I get so into it. Hey, speaking of drinks. ⁓ Right? Okay. So, ⁓ when Heather came over, she said, I have a little something to celebrate. So tell us about this alcohol, non-alcohol. This is non-alcoholic. decided to, one of the things I decided to do was cut back. The doctor didn't say that smoking or, well, I mean, we kind of think smoking does cause it, but he was saying, I was feeling bad about being in smoking environments all my life. like I was in smoky bars. ⁓ I was not often, but, I, I, and I socially drink. you always wonder after a cancer diagnosis you, wouldn't wonder unless it happened to you, which was a shock obviously for, for anyone and for each of us. It's like, you, you're always like, ⁓ what was I doing wrong? What could have done differently? But many people do exactly the same things we doing and will never get cancer. So yeah. Dr. Otaki said though, he says, you know what? Cause I asked that I said, you think it's those things? And he said, Heather, do you know why you got breast cancer? because you're a woman and you have breasts. it made me feel so much better. I still decided to look at Upside Drinks. I discovered upsidedrinks.ca They're all non-alcoholic. So I found this HP Juniper gin all organic, ⁓ juniper berries, yuzu lemon, organic cucumber, coriander, lemongrass, eucalyptus. I think the eucalyptus is why I said it smells like you're drinking something from a spa. ⁓ okay, okay. asked me I like gin I always felt, because ⁓ I didn't drink much anyway, but I stopped drinking after the cancer diagnosis, ⁓ which is why fun to have the taste of alcohol. I always found gin to have I feel like I was licking a tree. But the smell of this was quite nice, actually. It's very botanical. to one year since our surgery and to meeting all because of... Right? To DCIS All because of our boobs. All because of our boobs. To our boobs. To our boobs. To you ladies and you ladies. I never thought I'd be cheering to my boobs. There's an awful lot that I never thought since this happened last January. Like, so much. My whole life has changed. To our boobs. To our boobs. And yet on the outside, other people wouldn't think my life has changed. I'm gonna cry now. Like I didn't think my life had changed, but it has drastically changed. such a little thing because it's early. Like- I know, but it's ⁓ a mind fuck. It still messes with your brain, right? ⁓ I like this by the way. Isn't it like very... ⁓ gonna cry now. Like I didn't think my life had changed, but it has drastically changed. Something you would drink at a spa. So it's HP Juniper is what I love. And there's also a blood orange one too. I'm going to buy the blood one of that. It's fun because sometimes you just feel like I just, I just. The taste of a drink. for me after a long day of writing, after a long day of writing. Yeah. Sounds like commercial. I enjoy my fake gin and tonic. I put on my Highland Koo socks, put my feet up and have a gin and tonic. That's right. No booze. Tell me about, I mean, you just alluded to it. The mindfuck of cancer? Yeah, for me, I took this, this, everything like shifted. who are the most important people to me? What are the things I want to do most in life? Um, who can I cut loose? What energy can I free myself of? Like I really started to edit my life and I think I was pretty good at that before, but even more so after, after cancer, Same. I had conversations Bill and Bill, my husband ⁓ is a very quiet man and I'm obviously not, but he... he listens really well. And so I just like had conversations at night and he would just listen and be there for me. And so I think a lot of ruminating and a lot of a lot of deep thinking happened in those conversations. did you find people stayed away from you or Did you find that they gravitated towards you? What was your experience with that? Everybody who really loves me and I matter to them absolutely was there for me. I felt that 100%. I felt like the love, And they were with me throughout the whole I remember people calling me or texting me during the radiation, which was really scary. And I took a series of pictures ⁓ just to document like that I was getting through. It was only five treatments, but I didn't feel like only five. It was a whole week that you had to take off work and just dedicate it to that, going for the treatments at the hospital. people were really there for me throughout the whole thing and my family. My family and my parents and my sister. And then the bestie friends, you know, and you. And then- And us, who didn't even know each other, you know? Oh, you were there, I know. Yeah, and you were there for me too. was like- I understand what's happening to you. yeah. Yeah. I think everybody else ⁓ didn't want to hear about it too much. interesting. I'm not somebody different on social than I am in my life. ⁓ I'm not. I mean... maybe more polished because of like language I like to make sure that I haven't made a grammar mistake. And I make grammar mistakes all the time in person. Like I was telling Nat, I don't know how to pronounce things. I'm an author and I forget how to pronounce things. It's a thing for me. It's okay. You're human too. I've done okay so far today. Yeah, I think it's fine. So I think online I was helpful. And I think in person, because I'm very honest and someone would meet me at the grocery store, how are you? Oh, well, I actually had early... breast cancer. They didn't really want to know that. people ask you, how are you? They just want you to say, I'm good, so they can escape. ⁓ know that, but I like to be, I know that I've been told that I know I'm not supposed to say the truth, but I always want to say. Well, yeah, I think you should say they're not in a rush. Like if I see they're in a rush, I'm just going, I'm great. Thanks. Yes. Yeah. But it depends on the company. Like, like, I mean, I found that there were some people who, same as you, like all the people that matter that care about you, they were always checking in and always. And other people, it's just like, and, and I don't think, I don't think any of it was malicious, but I just think it's like sometimes out of sight, out of mind. And I'm going through this real up and down summer, which felt it didn't even happen almost like last year was such a bizarre. ⁓ So I think that because I was just kind of off the radar a bit, people don't tend to reach out and say, how are you doing? How are you mentally? How do you want to go for a walk? anything? It did teach me though to be off the radar more because I still was able to sell books. I'm on social media, not just for selling books. I like to make friends. In fact, one of my best friends in England is an author I met on social media, cool, on Instagram. And we're best friends now. So. ⁓ and another one too, who just moved to Canada. So I think it was time to stand a little bit try reevaluate how I wanna use it. didn't want to be posting so much when I was really sad and going through a hard time. Like it was hard to figure out how to post. I still like that for me because I don't want to not talk about the hard things. I think people appreciate the hard things even more to be honest because then ⁓ that's a more authentic like a vulnerable side that people don't like to talk about or don't often ⁓ about so I think it's important too but I do think ⁓ I think my followers though, like and friends, friends and followers all know that I'm like I'm a deep thinker one minute and then the next minute I'm coming up with some ridiculous joke like in my books you know. I'd like to into the books. OK. Yeah. Is that OK? ⁓ Maybe my back, Jesus Christ. Oh, fuck I know. I gotta change this. I wanna mention it, because I feel like, do you think I'm, does it look, no, but does it look like I'm sitting weird or is it fine? Well, I'm gonna have, I'm gonna cut it at the edges. That's good, I'm gonna look. does it look like I'm sitting weird or is it fine? So we're not gonna look like this. That's good, I'm gonna look. Heather feels very proper. I feel like I've got the bustle. You know the women who had that bustle at the back? ⁓ yeah, See, I got a word. That's thanks to my lion's mane mushroom. Welcome to Feedbag. I'm Nat and before we get started, would you mind subscribing wherever you are consuming this podcast? It really does help the podcast grow. Thank you for that. but I feel I'm sitting like of those Victorian women with the bustle at the back where you had to sit all ⁓ proper and then your butt had this massive ⁓ bustle. ⁓ I apologize. ⁓ It's not comfortable sitting situation. See, when Rupert and I the we hang to the mics because ⁓ like if there's... ⁓ are seconds away from a conversation with best-selling Canadian rom-com author Heather Grace Stewart. If we mess up the mics or whatever, like it's just Rupert and I don't have to use it. But if I have a real guest, I don't want to take my chances with the mics being weird. But I know that this I'm uncomfortable too. Why are we on a couch and uncomfortable? It's not right. Like this is how it should be. Right? know. I just want to do this. But anyway, we have to have good sound. So Bolt's got the right idea. I know it feels super proper and like uprighty. ⁓ Why are we on a couch and uncomfortable? It's not right. Like this is how it should be. Right? I just want to do this. Can I do a segment super proper? Cause I wasn't sure where to, I want to show you something. Show me a super proper thing. And one of the things that happened in my reevaluation of my life, I always liked to cook. but I wanted to do more of that and fit that more and enjoy as I'm cooking instead of grumbling, oh my God, what am I making for dinner tonight? And it's an hour and grumbling. Yeah. And I'm the cook just because it works that way and I'm fine with that. He does a lot of other stuff, but I want to enjoy it more. Well, I found this book, Her latest novel, ⁓ The Love Quest, came out in November and we'll talk about We'll also talk about sometimes life throws you an unexpected plot twist. Heather and I met last summer because we were both diagnosed with breast cancer. Not the usual way you'd like to make a friend, but here we are. in BC is an antique book from 1930. Take a look at this. And this is in front of me when I cook now. Are you cooking recipes from this? No, this is called the Kelvinator This is a book that was made just for the refrigerators that they had just sold to start selling and just read that the artistry of the modern housewife. So what I find inspiring about this is that I don't have to dress up like this for my husband. can show. no, you don't have to June Cleaver it. June Cleaver it. This is like. So how did that affect the way that she approaches life or her career? Why did she almost quit writing? Heather is an open book. See what I did there. As we discuss weird life moments navigating our don't give a fuck era and Heather's got a really great recommendation for a non-alcoholic gin too. It is a great conversation I hope you enjoy it too. my reminder that life has improved tremendously for us because right now it feels like life is not improved for a lot of people. Just read an old misogynist cookbook and you'll realize how far you've come. Exactly! I get it! I knew you'd get it. I have a misogynistic book is similar to this called Etiquette for Women and it's like from the 30s or something and it's bullshit times a million. Here comes Heather Grace Stewart. I was lucky. I got to know my granny who lived in who lived in that time. And her doctor husband was phenomenal to her and was never like that. So I think a lot of women in that time... You know, they found the right partner. found the right situation for themselves, which my grandmother did. But I can't get over that she lived in that time when she was told to live that way. So for me, that's just sometimes I try to find gratitude for what I'm doing and in my life. That's a little one of my little keys. I have a lot of those like that remind me, know, remind me that I have a good Let's talk about your books. So The Love Leap came out this summer. ⁓ Yeah. And then Love Quest came out in November and I can't wait to read this one. ⁓ for who's never read your books before, how would you describe your style of writing or what you offer a reader? I've always put comedy in everything I do. I'm a poet too. So I have, it's humorous fiction, the poetry, the screenplays. I have two screenplays ⁓ and even the kids poems that I did years ago ⁓ and eight novels now. Love Quest is the eighth. Well, they just, once you do one, you know, once you do one, kind of ⁓ yeah, you make us have so easy. Once you have one novel under your belt, I can't even like write an email to my mother. Like you're writing novels. can't do radio shows. Like everybody has their skills. What's the first book I should ⁓ get to kind of get a feel you? Right. ⁓ I was saying humorous fiction, but I forgot to say that they all have a little bit romance in them because I'm a hopeless romantic. But ⁓ look at them, a lot of people have reviewed them as they're not your, they're called rom-coms just to make it easy. I write rom-coms. That's an general. headline category, but it's like a with a romance. Do you get the differentiation? And people say, which I love, it's a really nice compliment that I'm a great storyteller. So I think if you want a good story and it's going to make you turn the pages and it's going to make you laugh and cry, hopefully that's what I do. tell me about The Ticket That's the one that, that's my bestselling one. This series is called Love Again series and they're standalone rom-coms. But all have a viral, ⁓ meet-cute sort of. And so they're all viral headlines. Like this was a true story that happened in Canada. I on the news ⁓ in 2014 and ⁓ it was that the guy had had a ticket to go around the with his girlfriend, but his girlfriend him. I remember story. He was looking for someone. Yes. ⁓ That's what this is? Yes. my God. I fictionalized it and I made them American because at the time I realized that my has always been to have books to film. Yeah. And a lot ⁓ of are American, filmed in Canada and they, they pretend it's an American city. And I love New York at ⁓ Christmas. just love New York. yeah. So I decided to make it New York. And then they go around the world too, but it's based in New York. then, so viral headline. And then also Good Nights was also a story where. ⁓ a guy and a woman end up double booked at an Airbnb and I'd seen that in a France newspaper. They accidentally were at the same Airbnb. All my stories start with like the question, what if? ⁓ Even with the Scottish one, was what if this woman goes out into the Firth and saves the guy, but he doesn't need saving? Did you always know that that rom-com was your jam? I didn't go into it thinking way. ⁓ I was inspired ⁓ to write my first novel by a couple, ⁓ Heather and Julie, they know who they are. ⁓ They're friends from my Periodical Writers Association of Canada, PWAC, very funny ⁓ acronym. PWAC, we're PWACers. and they to support me at my first Indigo. ⁓ signing for Carry On Dancing, which was my first ⁓ published poetry book. So was selling books at Indigo. They came ⁓ and I was, I know, one of them said, you should write a novel. I'm like, ⁓ God, no, I can't. And I kind of brushed it off. She comes back five minutes later with this box, how to write a novel or actually I think it was called, you can write a novel too. ⁓ And we all started so hard because of the title, you can write a novel too. I took, I ended up buying it because they were so come on Heather, buy the little box set. Yep. And I used that little, it had like little cue cards So you bought the little box set, How to Write a Novel, and that's how you wrote your first novel. Yes. And I never, you know what? I've come a long way because I never wanted to admit that I wrote my first novel with that little box set, How to Write a Novel. I was being a snob at the time, like a writer snob, like, I never wanted to admit that I wrote my first novel with that little box set, How to Write a Novel. You don't use a little box set that has little cue cards and a little book, but everybody has to learn somehow. Yes. It's just that I was a journalist, so I thought I should, as if I'm going to know how to write a novel. But it's a whole different beast being a journalist versus a novelist. Yes. And, and so that novel did really well. And it was, it was, I mean, well a little small Canadian publisher. ⁓ and people wanted a sequel. And the sequel actually did better than the first and it still does. For some reason, people read the second one and go, I didn't know there was a first book. And God knows why. But so it's Strangely Incredibly Good and Remarkably Great ⁓ I almost quit writing after strangely incredibly good. No, before, sorry, it's before I was forgetting that I ⁓ almost Why? Like I'd been I'd been trying to write that novel. box that wasn't working. some people acquaintances so I shouldn't have listened but again a lot different at 50 from 40. Yeah. And someone had said you're writing a book about a genie that comes out of a Wii It was at a dinner and it made me feel like shit I shouldn't have let it get to me but I put the thing in a drawer. put my manuscript in a drawer. Because someone said something shitty. Because I thought it's a really dumb book who's gonna want to read this dumb book about a genie which was kind of funny because there's a few movies now. it made me feel like shit I shouldn't have let it get to me but I put the thing in a drawer. I thought it's a really dumb book who's gonna want to read this dumb book where a genie is the hero, heroine. I shouldn't have listened. so I take up home staging instead. You're like, I'm not being a novelist, I'm doing this. Put it aside, I'm gonna do home staging as my side hustle. and Bill's like rolling his eyes, cause I keep buying. I'm just going to buy another little thing for the home staging. Cause you have to have your own shit for your home staging. So a thousand dollars worth of ⁓ crap. ⁓ And he's how more stuff do you need? cause you usually have to like even get a blow. I got a blow up bed. Okay. We'll use it, honey. We'll go camping with the blow up bed. Never used it. But I had to like stage. yeah. So I got a. ⁓ I think it was Pleather because it was like 300 bucks, 400 bucks. But this was the last straw. Because I get the Pleather ottoman. It's gorgeous. And I'm going to stage a home, a whole home, like in a few days. And I put it by my fireplace just to kind look at it and take pictures too and go upstairs for five minutes. And Marmee, who I love and we still have him, he's still alive. I never killed him. Ate the ottoman. Wait, he ate the ottoman. Who is this? is that? Marmee is my cat. Okay. Oh, oh. ⁓ It sounds like book title, Marmee Ate the Ottoman. I'm not even saying like just little little nibbles. It was like a dog, like he's a cat. And at the time he was like one or two. ⁓ no. And he ate it like stuffing came out ⁓ and- That's very orange cat behavior by the ⁓ way. ⁓ And ⁓ it does sound like a cat book, the ate my ottoman. Marmee ate the ottoman. But then- mean, in hindsight, it's 2020. ⁓ Then ⁓ realized, like months later, ⁓ that was the impetus, there's a word for you, to go back to writing. Because like I couldn't really stage anymore. I didn't have the ottoman. That was one of the main things I used. put a nice little tray with coffee on it. ⁓ I didn't have that. And I was just getting frustrated with the whole thing. was a lot of realtors were staging. So wasn't being hired. I was hired. That one time I did it. ⁓ And she said, I'll pay you. ⁓ if the house sells. I know, right? Yes, no. And I didn't stand up for myself because my ottoman had just been eaten. Okay, so a mild detour as a home stager, Marmee ate the ottoman and then you were like, I'm taking that book out of the drawer. I did. And... I was struggling because it's my first novel. I'm still struggling. And I had a friend named Larry that was an online pal. See, I do love social media pals. We were really close. it was a of people that had been in a group that Aaron Sorkin, ⁓ the producer and screenwriter, was answering questions. And we were all interested in screenwriting and he was actually our questions. It was phenomenal. It was a great time in my life. Cool. And so we all ended up actually seeing one of his, the social network screening in New York. We all met. So that was my Larry friend. He was amazing. And he kept saying, more pages, please, more pages. This is so good. More pages. ⁓ And then he died. He ⁓ suddenly died a And so he'd been staying more pages in December. In January, I got really depressed. He was like a brother to me. ⁓ And I couldn't get out of bed. my kid, I think my kid was about 10 or 11 at the time of the book being written, said, mommy, would Larry want you to keep staying in bed and being all depressed? Or would Larry want you to get off your, like, I think they actually said, because I swear my house, get off your ass and write the book. My 10 year old. And so I got off my ass and I wrote the book. ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah, that's awesome. And now whenever I'm having ⁓ block, which really is kind of an attitude thing, think I think you're tired, I think you're fed up with the reviews, I think ⁓ just not sure of yourself. I think about Larry and how Larry didn't get to live and I get to live. Wow, And then he'd be kicking me in the ass. Yeah, he'd be saying more pages. More pages. Everybody needs a Larry. Yeah. Everybody needs a Larry. I do have a story for every book. there's a story. So I don't have an emotional story for every book. Right. Except for have a trauma story for one. Okay. Do you want to hear the trauma Yeah, go. became a pescatarian because I could not eat pigs after this. ⁓ I know that story. ⁓ I did tell Yeah, you told me that story. tell us about Lucky. Tell us ⁓ what happened. So ⁓ like I said, like all of my rom-coms ⁓ are maybe based on a Well, they're never based on me, but this is the only time that it was a headline news story that I kind of played a part in. was a local news story. It wasn't one of the viral ones because it ended up being a local news story in Ottawa. So my family lives outside of Ottawa in Kinburn and I was going to visit them. ⁓ I'm behind a truck and a little piglet comes soaring. Like, I swear to God, he was leaping. Like I've always said that. Like people would say he fell off the truck, but I think he saw little slot. I'm behind a truck and a little piglet comes soaring. Like, I swear to God, he was leaping. of little light and just found his way and he leapt off. I mean, it was ⁓ a transport truck and I don't even know how he got out of those little. Yeah, like the pig transport thing. Well, I thought he was dead and I couldn't stop because it was too dangerous. I was almost sideswiped by another car coming up. And so it was really dangerous, very scary. My kid was in the back. It was really horrifying. Yeah. Scary. And I was horrified for the poor little thing. Fast forward to a week later, my mom said, Heather, I remember that story about the pig. And you thought that like it was gone. ⁓ vet found it like five minutes later. I took it, looked after it. So I contacted her ⁓ paid attention to the whole story. Ended up donating to the shelter because it was really important to me. His name was Mango. it's a great name. ⁓ And that another what if story. I was like, ⁓ what if? you know, a character like the vet had stopped and had ⁓ someone come and help her with the piglet. I thought it would be a really cute meet cute So it was what if me, but not me. And then there's this hot Hollywood star that is helping wrap the piglet, but got things to He's got to be somewhere very suspicious, but it's actually a good reason where he's got to be. So he leaves her on the side of the road with a piglet. he swaddled and a check for $10,000. Does the actual vet who rescued the pig in real life know about this story? They all know about it. Oh, they do. Great. I, the farm where Mango is was wanting to be more private because I wanted to do a lot more and I wanted to do a whole proceeds go to thing and they wanted privacy. I wasn't supposed to call the pig mango in the book. had to call him lucky. But you also never know where inspiration is going to come from. Like, holy And so I became a pescatarian because I could not smell, ⁓ I smell pork. Now I'm back to red meat once in a while. Actually, it's been six years and ⁓ I wasn't sure my health was good without the iron. So my diet is mostly plants. And then with a little bit of meat sometimes. Yeah, I actually haven't eaten red meat 34 years. Oh, wow. A long time. But I do eat turkey, fish and chicken. So I guess I'm a hypocrite. no, I've tried to go vegan. I have tried and I feel bad on it. Like, I don't feel good. And that's that's what I was finding. But I know what it was. I actually come to think of it. was when I hit menopause Menopause. heard of it. Hey, I'm in peri You're in meno though now. Yeah. ⁓ I'm in peri I can't ⁓ stop eating. P.S. I have a boyfriend is 6'3 and I eat more him ⁓ every day all day. Why am I so hungry? don't find that, I do find I'm, but it's probably because I just want to live life. I'm saying yes to chocolate and ice cream more. And I used to be really good at, no, no, not gonna have that. like, I'm kind of like, well, I'm half, ⁓ half a hundred. Right? I know. Like ⁓ more than midlife. Like I say we're in midlife, but we're more than midlife. but also there is a freedom in. And just being like, I'm going to eat the thing, I'm going to do the thing, I don't give a shit. Well, because I'm really good at exercising. I love inline skating. Sadly, I live in Canada, well, in Montreal, where I can only go about four months a year before I freeze something. I used to skate around the Olympic basin. I don't even know if you can anymore, but I used to be able to ⁓ go there and take subway and then skate around the basin and a few times. was amazing. why did you get into inline skating? Like did you, you a skater as a kid? Because I always wanted to inline skate. I always thought it looked cool and fun. And I think I did it once. always trying new things. So that was, I went to a garage sale in Kingston, Ontario when I went to Queens. ⁓ I, got a pair of rollerblades. And you'd never done it before and you were like, hey. So I was like, what, 24? Good for you. this since I was 24. There weren't a lot of people doing it then. But I like that. I love doing stuff that nobody else has done. I love that you're still doing it. So when you're inline skating like now a days, because I know that you like to do that, are people still doing it? Hardly. When I, it's like, it's like, I don't know who else has this wave, but like when you see, oh, I know people who mask and then they're like. You know, when they got the mask? Oh yeah, when you see someone doing the same thing as you or driving the same car or whatever, it's like, hey, me too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so it's like that. No, it's like, in my little town, I rarely see anybody else. But another inline skater. It's like, hey, I get that. I get winked at when people are like, hey. Yeah, it's really nice. That's great. I wonder why people aren't doing it still because people bike still and... Probably because the roads shit here. Like usually... Yeah, it's true. It's true, It's a skill I'm still not great at. to my parents dismay and a lot of people, I wear knee pads or elbow pads because they actually... They're more bulky for me and I'm small and I feel like they're so big on me. I feel like I'll have more accidents. okay. Yeah, yeah. No, I think it's more, it's a bad idea. And I've been doing it since I was 24. So my mom is watching and going, Heather, you're going to break a hip someday. Don't put it in the world. I just, I just make sure I go on the, like the paths for bikes. Yeah. Yeah. That are made for it. I'm very, let's get Bolt settled in here. ⁓ just love him. Bolt is a podcast feature now. I just love him. Yeah. He's boy. He knows I love animals. Yeah. I mean, he's hard not to love, He's really cosied up to you I love ⁓ animals. I'm really curious because ⁓ as a voice artist, ⁓ I... love also that your books are in the audio format. And I think you have the love leap right here, So it's by Recorded Books, which is the largest audio book company in the world. It's a division, a division called Tantor Audio. It's got me under contract to do the four books. Probably five, because I just, I'm writing a fifth one now. because they didn't know there's gonna be a fifth book. Wow. Okay. Called the timeless love chronicles. March 10th, the second book comes out on audio book everywhere. Audio books are sold or streamed. I'm so sick of saying that, but I'm so excited. It's including Spotify. ⁓ tell me about that. You were talking about the Scottish Gary Furlong is ⁓ a long time ⁓ narrator of many of my books. just that we of hit it off and he's so talented. He does all these different voices. Do you get to pick them? First of all, not all, not all authors do, but Tantor audio is so incredible and I love working with them. So all my audio books have been with them and Dreamscape and I'm still working with Tantor now and they said I could pick. So they gave me some choices. But Gary is really busy. So for the Love Quest, we could have had the audio book out sooner than March 10th. I had to wait six months to get him when I really wanted him. I need him to be Callum. And then he does all the other Scottish voices. It's dual narration because a lot of people now love... duet where they are talking like you and I are talking. Okay. That's really expensive to do. a lot of ⁓ people, especially people like who are not who are new to audiobooks, apparently Tantor says that it's harder for them to, to, listen to that. And they prefer one chapter with one voice. And then the next. so, so, so Gary will do the chapter that is Callum's perspective. Okay. So Cal is it's but then he'll also do a higher voice for like Amelia, like for Mills. But not too high. that's another thing is he's so fantastic. He'll go, any notes Heather? Do you have any notes before I go and record? He'll write me an email and I'll say, no, you just do your thing. Like man, he's a genius. So he's been Pete, ⁓ the in The Ticket. And he was Tripp, the British ⁓ entomologist. No, sorry, he's a bird guy. Sorry, not entomology. What's the bird? ⁓ Stop it. I'm the biggest bird person and nerd in the world. Featherology. He's a science guy. Anyways, I can't believe I actually know this too. We're both tripping on- ornithology. We're both tripping. Thank you. ⁓ Ornithologists, we're both tripping on this. I knew it. I knew it too, but menopause. Right? We're just going to blame everything on peri and meno. Lion's Mane mushrooms. I'm telling you. Get on the Lion's Mane. Get on the Lion's Mane. It's like been wondrous. Although obviously that not case in point. Well, exactly. It's not perfect. Trip is making us trip And he's a British ornithologist. ⁓ And Gary him. ⁓ And ⁓ he's played almost my voices. The women areas changed just because ⁓ different women have been available. They've all been so great. love it. I love my audio books. ⁓ A lot of people aren't sure they want to listen them. But I think they just don't know what to do. They're of new. ⁓ And what's great is you can listen in the car. You listen folding laundry. I Do you listen to your audio books too? You must. once. I got to hear what he did with it. And then I don't really listen to it again because I'm, well, because busy, guess. there's a real market. is. Yeah. fact, I might've quit writing again had I not gotten all these audio book deals ⁓ because ⁓ It's a lot of income for me and it's really been good. It's been a good motivator to keep going. And now when I write a book, I'm like, okay, what's, I think when I write the dialogue a lot more, I think about how it's going to sound. think about the performance a lot more. ⁓ For the Timeless Love Chronicles, I'm like, I could write this line like this, but it won't translate very well into audio or my God, that's too much alliteration. Gary's going to kill me. That makes sense though. You're looking at the whole picture. I have so much respect you not only as a person but as somebody who went this is the thing that I want to do so I'm just gonna keep doing it and you had Larry's and you had people with the book kit and the everything else but you had all these little cheerleaders on the way but your biggest your biggest cheerleader was you. Like you had to be the person to sit your butt in the seat and go, okay. don't know about that, but thank you for saying that. Well, you ultimately have to put the words out through your magical fingertips. Massive team, a massive team of people. And it takes a lot of dedication and discipline and work and time. I'm trying to get trad published. And that's another thing I haven't often talked about because if you fail, it's hard to fail publicly. but it's, know, my first book was trad published, very small publisher. ⁓ When you say trad is traditional, right? ⁓ yeah. Because you're saying self published, but I'm actually, I am, but I'm hybrid. It's called hybrid. Yeah. So I've done both and for different reasons, I went and I've been more independent than anything because it's actually, I mean, it's more income and more control. But now I'm trying again with the most recent thing I just wrote, because I'm really proud of it. And I think it needs a wider audience. what is the loveliest thing you've ever heard from a fan ⁓ there's been lots that, it's so nice when they write me notes. ⁓ I've also had one, shame on you Heather email. Didn't even know what I'd done wrong. I think the loveliest was a woman named Jasmine who wanted my poems to be read at her wedding. So she asked, which is really nice because often things are taken as an author, which is, I would always say yes, but you you ask permission and I've had, know, companies take things and not offer payment and they're supposed to. And here's a private person asking you, can I read you? That's so sweet. So I sent a So you said no. Yeah, so they show me parts of the wedding with it being read and it was in the program. She put my poems in the program. Yeah, was really sweet. So that was one thing ⁓ I've had. And then I've had the funeral. I've had people say, you give me one of your poems? It's all poetry. I can't really think of a story right now with the novels. think it's because the poems really, really hit people's hearts. I am writing a poetry book right now too, along with three novels. Wow. ⁓ Yeah, when your brain is busy and it's working, there's times when our brain doesn't work to write. ⁓ And when it's, ⁓ when I'm... when you hit the fire, you just like go take it. can you write three novels? Like, do you confuse the plots or anything? have a week. I've decided to put it in my calendar. Like, okay, this week, like I'm writing Love Lock right now. I'm finishing up that book four that comes out in October. Love Lock week. So I can't I can't do one day on. I'm sure some can, but it's too confusing for me to. Your brain is very impressive, I have to say. I have a friend. He's a journalist. So I thought he was kind of the same because like, you know, facts up there. And he said, your brain is like an amusement park. That's a perfect description. like I'm envisioning the Ferris wheel in your head and like ⁓ all the different spokes of thought. It's really quite. It's quite a good metaphor for my brain. Believe it or not, I can really like that's the one thing about when people hear me talking and the way I think. that she can't be calm, but I do yoga. I have like an hour most mornings if I have time before writing that I will just meditate now. I started doing that too. I started doing, well, you saw my trampoline upstairs. So I'll do like that. ⁓ And I ⁓ meditate do a little stretching. And I always, feel like much calmer. Like I can go into the day like, okay. We all can have those moments where we need to reset. ⁓ do you think you live your life differently now? I think once I hit 50 for sure, things started to change and it wasn't like a, it didn't happen like we said before, it just kind of gradually happens. And then you may be looking back, go, oh wow, I've really changed a lot. Yeah, I'm trying to go slower. I'm trying to enjoy my days. Even the work, enjoy my work, enjoy my meal. you know, and- Be mindful. Be mindful. And I have a pillow that I bought last couple of years. So I look at it every morning cause it's in our living room. And it's Mary Oliver, the poet. I try to live my life like this. It's tell me, how you plan to spend your one wild and precious life? And ⁓ I her. I love her poetry. And I love that. ⁓ It's simple. It's very simple, but it's profound. Maybe maybe it's a diagnosis, maybe it's some kind of trauma, maybe it's aging, but I think at a certain point we all have that moment where we're like, holy shit, this is temporary. So I better, you know, get everything for me though is that has happened to me throughout my life maybe and I haven't stuck with that thought. Oh, yes. And the key is I think, and I think I'm at a place where I am every day recognizing how precious it is. You're sticking with it. I'm sticking with it. Yeah, good. Which is really good for the soul. I have a lightning round of questions for you. They're really quick. Are you ready? I'm ready. This is fun. Okay. Don't overthink. Just lightning it. Okay. Cool. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Morning writer or night owl? Morning. Pen and paper or laptop? Laptop. A book that changed your life? The Neverending Story by Michael End. your favorite place to write now, cause like it was tree house. tree house. ⁓ on porches at Airbnb is if I'm, if I'm that lucky, but otherwise just my office. ⁓ or silence while writing silence, a character you wish you had created anybody in Shonda Rhimes' is worlds. but like, so anybody, Grey's Anatomy. Grey's Anatomy. Your favorite character that you've written. Oh, don't do that to Oh, it's like picking kids, right? probably. You don't have to they're not listening. No. My babies, my babies. Probably Mills or Cal right now. Mills or Cal in the current series, but Pete and Allie are close second from the ticket. I all the men. I love all the men. They're all like, I have a sticker that says, I'm a sucker for fictional men. I made my own stickers for my readers for little gifts. I think I brought you one. Oh yeah, it's in the book. It's a fictional men sticker. And I like it hot and with a Scott. ⁓ That's ⁓ one word your friends would use to describe you. Crazy? A dream vacation spot. anywhere by the ocean. I would like to, I'd like to go to Greece. somebody is listening right now, cause somebody ⁓ and someone's going, ⁓ I really to write a but I'm too ⁓ old or I don't know where start or I don't know what to do. ⁓ What would you say to them? Yeah. Right. ⁓ And take that to the bank. But I mean, I wouldn't do that to their face. I'd be a little more polite. Right. But seriously, like we were just saying, one life to live. Yeah. Life is short. You never know what's around the corner. And I wrote my first novel thinking I had no clue how to do this, except for that little box set at 40. I wrote it it was published by a Canadian publisher at 42. So it can happen. I would say. I would say you're going to have to have a lot of stick with it-ness. persistence. And there's gonna be times you want to quit. that and I think what I've learned is fine, feel that that night, okay, you're giving up. Often my husband go, what would Finn, what would Finn think? Because don't want to teach your child to quit. Right. Then he'd also play devil's advocate and go, okay, fine, quit. He the reverse psychology a lot. ⁓ You you need a you do need a strong unit. but it can also be your own self. I've also told some women, I had some women who were in abusive situations come to me, because I teach. I've taught 18 students since the pandemic started. I was teaching through Zoom. Good for you. And taught how to write, how to self-publish, how to do KDP. That's Amazon's publishing. okay. Yeah, kdp.amazon.com is the website if you want to look into KDP. And... They were in situations where they had to get out and they felt like they didn't have the money to do it. And that's why I said KDP is free. It's free to publish on there. All you have to do is hire a graphic designer for your covers. So there's that. And I always suggest hiring a good editor. that could be costly, but you can also look on what's it called? Fiverr? Yeah, The women were saying, oh, I can't, can't because of all these barriers. I understand that. And I also like want to say that, like I had the privilege of having my own house. We always, you know, a husband that's paying the bills. But I managed to actually make a small living. Yeah. So and I was always like looking at, OK, well, I guess I'd live in an apartment if I was not, you if I was single. Yeah. But but it can be it can be done. And a lot of them are saying, well, where am going to write? And if I got kids and all this library, library. Or like write when and where you can, like write at night when they're in bed or when you're on break or whatever it is. But it's not easy to find those workarounds. course not. One of the things that I like helping my students with is figure that out. So that when they finish the course and they're like, ⁓ wow, ⁓ I see a way through. What is your website? my name.com. So Heather Grace Stewart. where can people buy your books? They're at Indigo in Point Claire and they're at Indigo, Kanata Ontario, because I'm from Kanata and the downtown store they said to they need more copies because they sold out at the downtown Montreal. Yes. But ⁓ they're also on Amazon. Yeah. And they're also at Indigo on the website. So you can just them. You can order them online too. Okay. Please look up Heather Grace Stewart. I'm so happy to know you. I'm so happy ⁓ that we came into each orbit. I'm not happy for the reason, but I'm happy that you're now here. ⁓ You're a beautiful person and glad you got through this. ⁓ Yeah, I'm glad you got this. And I think we should have the fake gin and tonic every year to celebrate. Let's do it. To celebrate the... ⁓ Cause I don't want to forget. Like I want to forget. want to forget, but I don't want to forget. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You want to mark that. Hey, here's a thing that I went through and through. Yeah. Can I give you a hug? Oh, you don't have to ask, it's me. Thank you so much. Thank you. I really, really appreciate that you And thank you Bolt was so fun. And I just love your setup and I hope this just takes off, Oh, thanks. Hey, you like your new friend, buddy? I'm a sucker for this guy. Yeah. I'm a sucker for him. He likes you too.