I met Gail through LinkedIn, and was intrigued by her service. When I requested an interview I opened the email with “I hope you had a wonderful weekend.” Here’s her response.
GAIL: Weekend? Is there such a thing as a weekend? LOL. I work seven days a week, so one day is like any other to me. I often don’t know what day of the week it is and have to check my PC date/day of the week (So handy).
I first developed this “nasty habit” as a successful Real Estate Broker, with a twenty-two year career. There again, no such thing as a weekend, as Saturdays were often reserved for showing homes and Sundays were reserved for open houses. That’s what the big dogs did, and I was determined to be one of them. I did very well and opened my own office, Heritage Homes Realty, which I ran until I retired four or five years ago. (Wait, I’m retired??? Whoa!)
OK, so we’ve established what I do. I work. Who am I? I take plenty of breaks for family time because even as a workaholic, my family is the most important thing in the world. I’m married to Bob, the love of my life. We knew each other in high school, went our separate ways and hooked up at forty-years-of-age. We’ve never left each other’s side . . . literally. He is my soul mate, I adore him, and I think he kinda likes me too.
We have seven grandchildren, five of which live locally, so the ones that care to spend time with “the old folks” keep us busy. I have personal passions aside from work. Number one being my animals . . . no, wait, my cooking . . . no, wait . . . maybe it’s my gardening. Hmm, I can’t decide because I love them all.
SUZ: Tell our readers about your book series “The Eyes of Innocence”?
GAIL: I have a connection with animals; I always have. Maybe that’s why writing The Eyes of Innocence series came so easily to me when I described how Kalina was with animals.
Some of the things in the book actually happened; the snapping turtle story for instance. I still have the photos. Anybody else would have run away screaming, but he was dying, I just knew it. I stayed.
We have a lake home that we live in from May until November, so that’s where it happened. It was one of the times Bob got bored and left my side, but my other best friend, Toby the keeshond stayed with me. You’ll see Toby’s picture on the back cover of the first book.
Gail Westover wrote The Eyes of Innocence series under the pen name of Tika Newman.
This popular series depicts the life of an orphaned girl as she grows up displaying an innate way with animals and many surprises for her aunt and uncle. By the age of five, Kalina is showing psychic abilities and the power to heal. The series opens when Kalina is nearly sixteen, and a white horse haunts her dreams. On her birthday, the horse appears. The mare is real, and she is hers.Kalina’s tumultuous life is riddled with unanswered questions. Someone is watching her, and although she is aware of this, she has no fear. When the day arrives that she actually meets these people, she quickly forms a bond with them, much to her aunt and uncle’s dismay.
Follow Kalina’s escapades, as she matures into a gifted psychic and healer. Her aunt and uncle want her to tone down her abilities, but Kalina is unwilling to do as they ask. If someone needs her, she reacts, especially if a child is involved. People grow suspicious of her extraordinary powers, and try to prove their theories, but haven’t been able to uncover the truth….yet.
Kalina is unique, as is her story.
SUZ: How did you become a writer?
GAIL: How I began my writing career was because of a movie; a very well-known kid/adult movie. We rented it for the grandkids and I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about, so I watched some of it while I was working (the TV is right next to me at the lake, so it was easy to do).
Anyway, I didn’t care for it at all and complained through the entire movie. I thought it was fakey, unbelievable, etc. etc. Well, no duh! It is a fantasy plot and supposed to be like that. I complained that I could write a better plot than that. I think I said it a lot. Bob finally said, “Why don’t you, then?” So I did it.
I took myself, a lot of family members, people I knew both online and in real life and created these characters; these people; these beings who are “real” to me and anyone who reads the books. I’ve had people tell me they laughed with joy, cheered a character on, or cried as they read my books. To me, that’s what being a writer is all about.
SUZ: So how did Thistlewood Publishing come into being?
OK, so I was a writer. Now what to do with my novel? I solicited a publisher in Canada because I read somewhere that they were looking for authors. Wow, first shot out of the pen and they wanted my series! I wasn’t even finished with it yet! Wow! I was on cloud nine!
They sent their contract and it was full of red flags. My eyes that were so used to reading Real Estate contracts picked up things that didn’t seem right. I ran to Victoria Strauss and she said “I’m so sorry, but you’re right. Do NOT sign that contract.” Needless to say, I fell out of my cloud and crashed to earth.
Oh, and a year later, that publisher went out of business. I was crushed, depressed, disheartened and stopped writing for a few months. Then one day I got my fire back and I dove back in.
Again, I heard of a publisher who was open for submissions and I sent my work to them under the pen name Tika Newman. They nearly tripped over themselves and offered me a six book deal. Six books? I only had two and a half at the time. My main character would grow up during the series and this publisher wanted the whole series. I shot back up into that cloud like a rocket! I was so happy! I danced, I cheered, I was a real writer now, just like my uncle and my cousin.
Then the contract came. Wait, they wanted to own the copyrights. They wanted to be totally in charge of any movie rights, and a few other things that just didn’t seem right to me. I ran back to Victoria like a Screaming Meme. Again, she advised that I not sign this contract.
Here we go again, depression, temper tantrums, and just plain mad! How can people like this be in business? How can they do this to me and break my heart? Wait a minute! Hold the phone! What is it exactly, that either of these publishers offered that you can’t do yourself, Gail? Nothing! You’ve owned two other successful businesses. Go for it!
That was the beginning of months of work and research until Thistlewood Publishing was born. For many reasons, POD made complete sense, so that is the route I chose. I would get my feet wet on my own books first and then bring in other authors. I would never risk anyone else’s work until I knew the ropes.
I compiled what I believe to be an author friendly contract and over two and a half years later I opened submissions. The response was tremendous and we got buried, quickly. We closed submissions after only a few weeks.
Today, I spend my days reading mostly the works of other authors. I have three books in The Eyes of Innocence series now, and wrote a historical novel called For the Love of Anne, a Chicago based story during the late 1880’s. I began a western many months ago, but just don’t have the time to work on it. There are other people out there that share the dream.
Contact Information:
Website : www.thistlewoodpublishing.com
Blog : tikanewman.blogspot.com
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_193321814031468&ap=1Contact: gwestover@thistlewoodpublishing.com
contact@thistlewoodpublishing.com
