Author Interview with Heidi Hess Saxton

Today we sit down to talk with author and Editor Heidi Saxton. Heidi is the Editor for Canticle magazine and an adoptive parent columnist for Catholicmom.com and CatholicExchange.com. She is on a virtual book tour this month to promote her latest release, Behold Your Mother: Mary Stories and Reflections from a Catholic Convert.

Q: Before we get started, please tell us a bit about yourself. How long have you been writing? Who or what inspires you the most? 

A: I can date my desire to become a writer back to seventh grade English class when I decided it was more fun to write short stories than diagram sentences. (Mr. Burke was not amused.) So … that would be (shudder) almost thirty years now. 

I get inspired all the time through chance encounters with ordinary people. If you ask the right questions, you can almost get an interesting story (since the publication of Behold Your Mother, my favorite question to ask people is, “Have you ever experienced an answer to prayer?”

Q: You’re also a wife and mother. Does your family support your writing career?  

A: For this book, my kids were particularly inspirational. My husband Craig and I foster-adopted them, finalizing the adoption in 2005. Christopher is eight, Sarah is six. It’s a good age … old enough to feed me with cute little anecdotes, young enough not to care that I write about them. 

My husband Craig is exceptionally supportive. He honestly believes I’m going to write a bestseller someday. He’s hoping for sooner rather than later, since he WOULD like to retire someday! But either way, he’s my biggest fan. 

Q: How do you go about finding that perfect balance between your personal life and your writing? 

A: (Falls off chair laughing.) Perfect balance? Does ANY mother ever find the perfect balance between her personal and professional life? Even SAHMs I know feel as though they are being pulled between home and church and work and school commitments. It doesn’t stop. If you don’t take care of yourself, that’s when the “Mommy Monster” comes out—which is the subject of my other book, Raising Up Mommy.