Heidi Tucker is an award-winning author and speaker. She has won multiple “best inspirational” awards for her books which include "Bridge of Miracles", "The Secret Keepers", "Finding Hope in the Journey", and "Servie’s Song". Her passion for writing and speaking about light and hope has inspired thousands. Heidi is known as a great storyteller who believes that every story not only teaches an important principle but can make you feel it. She has inspired many to rise up, cling to their faith, and position their hearts to recognize God’s hand in their life. When Heidi isn’t writing her next book or speaking at a conference, you’ll find her spending time outdoors with her husband, four grown children, and eleven grandchildren. She loves sunflowers, hiking, and ice cream ... not necessarily in that order.
Latest Book: Bridges of Miracles
Facebook
Heidi’s books can be purchased at
Her website
Amazon
Deseret Book
History of the Saints
Barnes and Noble
Heidi Tucker is an award-winning author and speaker. She has won multiple “best inspirational” awards for her books which include "Bridge of Miracles", "The Secret Keepers", "Finding Hope in the Journey", and "Servie’s Song". Her passion for writing and speaking about light and hope has inspired thousands. Heidi is known as a great storyteller who believes that every story not only teaches an important principle but can make you feel it. She has inspired many to rise up, cling to their faith, and position their hearts to recognize God’s hand in their life. When Heidi isn’t writing her next book or speaking at a conference, you’ll find her spending time outdoors with her husband, four grown children, and eleven grandchildren. She loves sunflowers, hiking, and ice cream ... not necessarily in that order.
Latest Book: Bridges of Miracles
Facebook
Heidi’s books can be purchased at
Her website
Amazon
Deseret Book
History of the Saints
Barnes and Noble
Ted (00:06):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the LDSPMA podcast. I'm your host, Ted Finch. Today we'll be visiting with Heidi Tucker. Heidi Tucker is an award-winning author and speaker. She has won multiple best inspirational awards for her three books. The Secret Keepers, Finding Hope in the Journey, and Servie’s Song. Her passion for writing and speaking about light and hope has inspired thousands. Heidi is known as a great storyteller who believes that every story not only teaches a gospel principle, but can make you feel it. She has inspired many to rise up, cling to their faith, and position their hearts to recognize God's hand in their life. When Heidi isn't writing her next book or speaking at a conference, you'll find her spending time outdoors with her husband, four grown children, and 10 grandchildren. She loves sunflowers, hiking, and ice cream, not necessarily in that order. You can connect with Heidi on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Tune into YouTube and watch some of Heidi's latest video content. You can also learn more about her by visiting heiditucker.com. Well, Heidi, thank you so much for joining us. I'm so excited to have you on our show today.
Heidi (01:18):
This is awesome, Ted. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.
Ted (01:23):
And I have to start off before getting into the questions and just make a plug for Servie’s Song. I just started getting into that and it's so, so fascinating. I've worked with a couple of students from Africa, and I've loved their stories, and I just love people's stories anyway. And so, listeners, if you're looking for a good book and you want to get to know a little bit more about the things that Heidi is writing, start with any of them, but I started with Servie’s Song. So I would say that's a good one to start with.
Heidi (01:53):
She's an amazing woman, and there's nothing better than a true story. Those are the kinds of books I like to read. And so those are the kinds of books that I write, true stories that really motivate me to pull myself up and move forward and make a difference.
Ted (02:11):
Do you have a favorite story, whether it's a fictional one or a real life story, that's moved you the most?
Heidi (02:22):
Whatever book I'm working on at the time is my favorite story. That's kind of like asking me who's my favorite child. I can't even answer that, but whatever book I'm working on, I just pull myself right into their story and it just consumes my heart and my soul. And I learn from it, and I am better because of the stories that I've learned. I feel like I've become a better person and it's really had an impact on me, made me want to change and to reach out and to develop that relationship with my Heavenly Father, even more than it already was.
Ted (03:02):
That's great. Yeah, stories do, they have that tendency to move us. I've had some personal family stories. I’ve been able to work on a great-great-grandfather's. We had his memoir he wrote to his grandson. And I took that and almost novelized it. And that was so much fun. I feel like I really got to know him. And it was fun to be able to give that to my mom and say, Hey, here's this story.
Heidi (03:29):
Yeah, that narrative non-fiction, there's nothing like it, you know, to take real stories and then develop them into some narrative and make it read a little more interesting than just a news article would. It just pulls the reader in and makes them feel the emotions and all the lessons that you learn from those stories.
Ted (03:49):
Yeah. And that made me think of another question. A lot of people that I run into.. like fantasy has been the big thing forever. And everyone you run into, they're writing fantasy or they're writing romance, but I don't run into as many people who, like, nonfiction is the thing that they're doing. At writing conferences, I just don't seem to run into them. Why did you choose a nonfiction route over a fiction route?
Heidi (04:17):
You know, it chose me. I grew up with my dad taking me on long walks. That was his time of bonding with us. And that was a special moment [for him] to say, Come on Heidi, let's go on a walk. We'd go walk through the mountains in the desert in Arizona. And he would tell me stories, true stories of people, of ancestors of. And that always made me wonder who I wanted to become and who am I? What are my stories going to be someday? I've always, since I was a little girl, been fascinated by true stories. And so I'm really not surprised that that's what I'm writing, because that's what I'm drawn to and always have been. You know, someone at the pulpit is giving a talk at church and they go into some true story that kind of teaches that principle. You've got both ears of mine when you go into that. And so that's kind of just the avenue that I've taken. I didn't set out to be an author, but here I am working on my fourth book now.
Ted (05:24):
That's really cool. And I liked that you talked about how it chose you because sometimes the path that we think we want to go creatively, we end up going that way. But other times we start that way and then it turns out to be something different. I think that's some great insight. So I'm going to dive into some of the questions that I ask each of my guests. And the first one is, what does it mean to you to be a voice of light?
Heidi (05:47):
You know, it's a means of connection. It's reaching out and finding others who are looking for connection, whether that's truth or whether that's compassion. It's making a connection testimony-wise. And I think that that's needed out there. We need to find connection because we need help. We don't want to feel like we're alone in this journey of life. And so, to be able to be a voice of light helps others. It's a way of serving for me.
Ted (06:16):
I love that you tie it to, it's a way of serving. Because as creatives we're told, and just as members of the church, that we need to share our gifts and our talents. It’s a great way to look at it because we really do get to help others.
Heidi (06:28):
I think of it as my mission, and that's what I'm doing right now is my mission. Absolutely.
Ted (06:34):
Heidi, how has the Lord helped you or prepared you to be a voice of light?
Heidi (06:38):
Really, something that was really profound in my life was when I was called to be an early morning seminary teacher. Up there in Idaho, you probably have release time, but down here in Arizona we're starting class at 6:00 AM, right? So my alarm went off every morning at 4:30 in the morning. It involved speaking in front of those kids every single day, right? It involved commitment, incredible dedication and discipline, which I look back and I have to use those characteristics in my field of writing. And it's about sacrifice and it's about love and it's about learning each of those students and what makes them who they are and maybe the backstories of understanding them and how can I reach them specifically? All of that really has filtered into my writing. I feel like that was a hard calling. It was like the hardest calling but the best calling of my life. But I look back now and it prepared me for what I'm doing now, for sure.
Ted (07:43):
And I just have to say, bless you. I went to seminary in Arizona. I was the second closest to the church, and I was usually one of the last ones there, or was late more often than not.
Heidi (07:57):
You know what, I always used to say, as long as they get into that chair before the bell rings when it's time to dismiss, I just love them and appreciate them.
Ted (08:07):
And you kind of… My next question, you've hinted at it a little bit. And it's, When was the moment you finally decided just to take the leap and to share your voice, and then what impact did that moment have on you?
Heidi (08:21):
Yeah, it determined exactly what I'm doing today, which is, you know, writing and speaking to groups of people. But the moment was, I was in a position in my life at that time where I was… I had just turned 50 and that's about 10 years ago, ‘cause I'm just about to turn 60 this summer. So I had just turned 50. My last child at home was getting ready to leave for college. And the three before her never came back to Arizona. And so I knew that I was going to become a true empty-nester. My son had just returned home early from a mission call to Novosibirsk, Russia. He was in the MTC for 11 weeks and then he came home. That was really hard on me. That was really hard on him.
Heidi (09:10):
And so I'm in a position at that time, I'm in my fourth year of teaching seminary, so I am physically, I'm spiritually, I'm emotionally beat up. I’m at a real low point and sort of struggling to find myself and clinging to my faith with everything that I can. And so I get on an airplane to go to Utah and part way, somewhere between Phoenix and Salt Lake City airports, I had a dream. And in that dream, I saw my hands holding a book, and I knew that it was my book. I looked at the words, I looked at the phrases. I knew it was a book about hope. And I recognized that it came from me. It was my writing. So when the plane landed in Salt Lake City, that jolted me in my seat and it woke me up and I had two immediate thoughts.
Heidi (10:02):
The first one was: That was so, so real. It just felt different than any dream I'd ever had. And the second thought that quickly chased that was: There's no way. There's no way I would ever write that. Why would anyone want to have anything to do with what I have to say? I'm at this low point in my life. So I took that dream and I locked it away in a little box in the back of my mind. Did not tell my husband, did not tell my children because I didn't want it to be real. And then I continued through that year, and I began a real effort of temple attendance and prayer and fasting at the end of that final year of teaching seminary. And said, Heavenly Father, where do you want me? I have this time available now where I'm not going to be in the classroom every morning.
Heidi (10:55):
And what can I do to make a difference? How can I have an influence and continue to move forward in my life? What do you want me doing? And I wasn't getting any feedback and I just continued to pray. And I do a lot of hiking and walking. That's sort of my great prayer time is to go out and have real conversations with Heavenly Father. And I was just really asking that question over and over again and keeping my eyes wide open and pursuing a lot of different alternatives. And eventually, one day, I was walking back home, coming up my dirt road, and out of the blue, I had a quick glimpse of my hands holding that book. And I heard a quiet voice in my mind that said, I showed you that book.
Heidi (11:43):
And I knew exactly what that meant. I'm not very proud to say, to admit, that my response back was: Anything but that. It felt so hard, and it just felt so big and impossible. And, I mean, I'm a business major at ASU. I was not an English Lit major. And so I just thought, you know, what is this? Never on any bucket list does it say that I want to be an author. So I fought against that, and I had some pretty good argumentative prayers with Heavenly Father for a few months. And eventually my little crusty heart began to soften. And Heavenly Father was incredibly patient and loving and continued to nudge me and give me more and more and more very amazing and sacred signs that that was what I was supposed to do. I remember the day that I started that first book. I went on a really hard hike because I was just still fighting the anxiety of taking on this big, enormous task.
Heidi (12:46):
There were three hikers that were coming down the mountain. And usually you push to the side when someone's going to pass you on this narrow trail. And I pushed to the side and they never moved. And so I looked up at them and the man in front, it was three men, and the man in front looked at me and said, Go get 'em. And then he just turned and walked down the mountain. And I knew exactly what that meant. I mean, I just knew it. So I cried all the way up the mountain and cried all the way home, came home in my sweaty, stinky workout clothes, sat right down at my computer, and typed the first sentence. And at that point, it began to just pour out of me. It's like the flood gates opened.
Heidi (13:28):
Once I said, Heavenly Father, I will do this. And once I actually took that terrifying step into the darkness, that's when the blessings came, and I knew how to write that book. I saw the outlines again. You know, I never had before. For months, I had prayed for cliff notes, right? Anything! Helped me with this book. But once I made the commitment to start, that's when it poured. And now, those three books and I'm working on my fourth, they've become one of the greatest blessings in my life because it completely took me in a direction I didn't see coming. And that has facilitated into people, asking me to speak at firesides and at conferences and different events, which I love doing. I love sharing my message of hope and my testimony. And it's this amazing gift that I didn't realize I had, but Heavenly Father did. And so it's just a huge blessing and it comes directly from Him.
Ted (14:28):
That is such an amazing story about that moment you decided to take the leap and just talking about the wrestle that you had to go through. There's a talk that Sheri Dew has given up a BYU Idaho talking about engaging in the wrestle. Everything you shared, there, is an example of what it looks like to engage in the wrestle. So thank you so much for, for sharing that.
Heidi (14:54):
You know, I think, like most of us, we feel a prompting. We know we're supposed to do something, and we kind of really want it on a silver platter, right? We want the directions and everything just spilled out on a silver platter or on a billboard or written in the sand. It's so hard sometimes to take your own frightening step forward when you feel under-prepared and maybe unworthy and uneducated enough to do this hard thing that you've been asked to do. But really, truly–and I have to keep learning this–with each book I learn this over and over again, I'll tell you, is that once we step into it, we will be blessed. If we start with the hard work, that's when Heavenly Father really moves in and helps us accomplish that task.
Ted (15:39):
He does and sometimes there are those moments where we just have to take that step. I'm going to ask you another question that's really related to this one: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced creatively so far?
Heidi (15:54):
Well, really one of the biggest challenges I've faced with these books is digging deep enough in my interviews with these people to really feel their story. I need to feel their story so that I can write from my heart and not write it like it's a newspaper article about, you know, here's the bullet points of their life. No, I need to create narrative. I need to create scenes. I need to feel it. And so I have to get into that mode of understanding with the people whose stories I write before I can make that story come to life for the reader so that the reader can then feel it. So that is definitely a big challenge. The other big challenge I have is balancing this with my other work and family and my marriage. To juggle the three of those things is tricky. Because Heavenly Father wants me to have a good marriage. He wants me to pay attention to my children and my grandchildren and my church calling and all the things that are in my basket. It's a little like spinning plates, and I have to just be careful to not let one of those plates fall.
Ted (17:05):
So I've got a couple of questions about it that I'm pulling from a talk that President Ballard gave back in the mid, late nineties. President Ballard, he taught that we need to make our voices heard. Heidi, why is that important?
Heidi (17:22):
Well, it's important because I believe that we each have amazing, very unique, gifts that are individual to each of us. And so, when we feel that and we recognize that gift, whether it's a spiritual gift or whatever that is, we have the opportunity to go out and make a difference in our very unique way. And that's important because your book is going to be very different from mine versus a filmmaker versus an editor versus an artist who can paint something that stirs your soul. We all need to make that difference in our own way. And so that's why that's important that we do that.
Ted (18:08):
One of the other things that President Ballard talks about is, “With so many choices, our work not only needs to be uplifting, it must be excellent. To set it apart from the mediocre of the worldly.” In our crafts that we work on, why do you think excellence is so important?
Heidi (18:26):
In addition to so many choices, there's a lot of gray out there, and we need to be sure that the truth has eminence and light is available for others to find. And we do that by taking our craft and making it visible to others, but it needs to be excellent. And when I think of that word, for me that means what I write needs to be more than just the book that you sit and soak it up, right? Oh, that was a great story. I want what I write to be something that propels the reader to move forward in their own life and to act, to make a conscious choice that I can do better, or I can move forward in this way, or I'm inspired to now do this with my life because I've read about this woman that did this in her life. Surely, I can do that. So, for me, that term excellence means that I need to write it in such a way that I've inspired you as a reader and that you want to act. That's different than just sitting and soaking up a story.
Ted (19:29):
That made me think of something you said earlier, and this connection with excellence, is that need for people to want to connect right now, especially as we're in the middle, kind of coming out of, this pandemic. A lot of us have been distanced for so long, that need to connect is a very sincere need. And part of that excellence is knowing what your readers need, what your readers want, being able to understand that. So doing those things really will help it stand out. People will flock to it, and they'll be changed. I think that part of that excellence is knowing what to put in there to have an impact on people.
Heidi (20:08):
Exactly! And if I can portray vulnerability on the part of the person's story, surely someone will recognize that and see that hope. When I see inspirational films or read books, you switch the details, right? You're reading or you're watching their details. But what you do in your mind is you switch them into your own details. You pull yourself into that story in some manner and say, Okay, I can do that too.
Ted (20:34):
My daughters tease me about getting too attached to characters. It won't matter what it is, and I just start getting all choked up. And we laugh a lot about it now. And I've told my wife, I'm like, what is going on with me? It doesn't matter what it is, I'll get choked up over little silly things. Like, I love Disney's Up. The opening montage of that, I can't get through that without getting choked up. ‘Cause I can relate, ‘cause I know how much he loves his wife and the things that they struggle with. I know how much I love my wife. I know how much my in-laws love each other. I know how much my parents love each other. And so seeing that, I really can connect with that.
Heidi (21:19):
Yeah. Well, there you go. See, that was done so well, right? That you can throw yourself right into that character.
Ted (21:25):
We've talked a lot about your writing. You hinted that you'll go out and speak. So I have a two-pronged question here. What is your goal as a writer and/or as a speaker?
Heidi (21:39):
Well, it's just to continue to put my heart and my prayers out there that another story will find me. I don't seek these stories out. They actually find me. I feel like it's Heavenly Father just putting the three of us together. It's Heavenly Father and me and this person, and saying, here you go, here's your next project. So, I will always be open to that, and I will continue to write stories. My grandson, just the other day, he said to me, Grandma, when you're retired, are you going to stop writing books? And I said to him, I'm going to stop writing books when Heavenly Father tells me to, because that's my why. That’s why I'm doing this. As long as I can make a difference, and I can show up and speak to a group of people and allow them the opportunity to feel hope. And to confirm their faith and to maybe understand a little bit more about themselves and their relationship with Heavenly Father. And if they can leave that event feeling better than when they arrived, I will continue to do that as long as I'm asked.
Ted (22:39):
It goes back to that…what you mentioned earlier about, it's your opportunity to serve. And you said something, I think that's really important. It was a great reminder to me. And I think it's a great reminder to our listeners about knowing ‘the why’ you're doing whatever your creative craft is and remembering that in the moments when it's hard or it's inconvenient. If you can remember that, it's easy to continue to press on and to keep doing it. Even if your searching and figuring out what's next, what do I need to work on now? Remember that why, then it makes it a little bit easier to do that. One reason I'm super excited about having you on, you’re, the one of the first nonfiction writers we've had on. A lot of times it seems like, especially writing conferences, that fiction writers get all the love and all the attention. Nonfiction usually doesn't. And so, I always ask everyone, what are three things that listeners should know to be stronger voices of light, either in general or in the field? I'd like you to think about that around, you know, writing nonfiction.
Heidi (23:42):
Well, absolutely. I mean, we just touched on it. And my number one thing I tell them is, Never forget your why, because that will propel you forward through the slammed doors that you are going to face. And so, if you remember that why and that passion and that focus is there. And you can always go back to that. For me, it's that dream that kicked this whole crazy journey off. Then you can move forward with that, whatever that is for you, keep that front and focused and that will help you. As you encounter those slammed doors and you're going to hear ‘no’ through various aspects of your field. We all hear that terrible word, ‘no.’ And it just means, find another door, for me. The second thing I always say to them is start small.
Heidi (24:32):
Maybe you're here to just influence the one. Don't think about the masses. That puts tremendous pressure on us as artists to think about influencing hundreds or thousands of people. When I go to an event to speak, I think and I pray for the one person that I need to reach that evening. And for my books, you know, whose life can I change with this book? Not, how many thousands of lives can I change? So think small, start small. And the third thing is, never forget to include prayer in everything that you do, because the Lord cares about our creative works. He knows that that's a unique way for us to reach out and grab the attention and the hearts of those who are ready to be influenced by what we do. And so I never write anything, I never go to a speaking event without including my Heavenly Father in a prayer and asking for guidance and for help. And I'm aware that I do have a gift and I've worked on that and I've polished that gift over the past 10 years. But I am very aware that that gift comes from my Heavenly Father. And so you better believe I'm going to include Him in everything that I have to do with that?,
Ted (25:49):
That's a great reminder, because a lot of times, I think we forget that He cares about the creative things that we do. What's next for you?
Heidi (26:02):
What's next for me is book number four. I'm halfway through it now. And it's just an incredible story about a man that comes from the largest slum in Africa with $50 in his pocket and comes here to the United States and makes this tremendous difference in people's lives and builds up the missionary program. It's just amazing. It's just one more story that's going to knock people's socks off, and it's quite different from anything else I've written. So I'm really excited about that.
Ted (26:31):
I can’t wait for that to come out. And I can't wait to read the rest of your books. Now, one of the last questions I'll ask, why do you think networking or collaboration are so important as creatives?
Heidi (26:44):
Because we can't possibly possess all the gifts that are required to move forward in this field. I mean, it's just so huge, right? And we all have very unique gifts. One person's not going to do it all. So if we reach out and we share with each other and help each other along the way, that's going to benefit all of us. So I sort of keep that attitude of what can I do for you. I get new authors that reach out to me all of the time. I had some that helped me in the beginning as well, and I'm not going to ever forget that. And so the way that I can do that is I can pay it forward, and I can help some new struggling author that's not understanding how to start or how to outline, you know, a number of things like that. So we really, as a community of talented and gifted people, I think we have an obligation to help each other.
Ted (27:39):
To be able to help someone else, there is a lot of joy that comes from that.
Heidi (27:43):
Absolutely.
Ted (27:44):
One question I'm starting to ask people who I know either have experience in the field of mental health or they're writing about mental health is, as a creative what's our role when it comes to portray mental health, what should we keep in mind?
Heidi (28:03):
Well, I've encountered that myself, specifically with the third book that I wrote, which is The Secret Keepers about a woman who’s …she's a survivor of childhood trauma and abuse. And because of that horrific time in all of her childhood years, growing up. She developed DID, which is Dissociative Identity Disorder. So the entire book chronicles her life in the abuse and the ability she has to live with DID and live a productive, loving life where she has an influence on others. And by doing so, she has reached in and grabbed onto her faith in Christ. And so regardless of what we each are struggling with, we kind of have to learn how to reach deep down inside and find that anchor of hope in Christ to pull ourselves out of that.
Heidi (28:57):
What can we do as creatives to make that real, to do something that's vulnerable so that it relates to other people so that it stirs those emotions and allows them to find hope? And, I think I did that in that third book it was the hardest project I've ever done, because I had to not only wrap my head around her story and the complexity of it, but I needed to really understand DID and the struggle with that in order to be fair and respectful to her in writing her story. I came at that with an understanding of anxiety and depression. It's thick in my family genes. And so I have a respect for mental illness and an understanding that it's real, and I have a tremendous respect for others who have battles in other areas of mental illness as well.
Ted (29:54):
Thank you for sharing that. And one thing I want to highlight that you said was the effort that you put into understanding the particular type of mental illness that you were going to be writing about.
Heidi (30:02):
I have hours and hours and hours of research and interviews with this woman's therapist. She gave him a hundred percent free access to communicate anything that he wanted to with me. And so, he really taught me and he navigated me down that road to the point that I felt comfortable enough to write about it. He was a great teacher, and I would ask certain questions and he would say, Okay, Heidi, get on Amazon. Get this book, here's the title. I want you to read that book this week and then call me next week, and let's talk again. You know, I mean, I had to do my homework to really understand it. And as a result of putting in that tremendous amount of hours and work in doing that and gaining that understanding, one of the greatest blessings of my life is I'm hearing back from survivors who have read this book and said, You nailed it.
Heidi(30:58):
You know, how did you understand what I'm thinking? How did you do that? I've never seen any other book that has done that. And I really believe that I was guided to Margie to be able to write her story so that we could make a difference one survivor at a time. And it's not a book just for survivors. It's a book to enlighten and educate anybody who's interested in someone who can rise up from incredible darkness, and how do they do that? How do they find the strength and the courage? And how do they find that incredible anchor of faith and hope to do that in their life? So it's been such an honor and a privilege to do that. And that book one and just won an award for 2021. It won Best Inspirational and Enduring Light Award. And this is from a panel of judges that are from all different religions.The fact that they read a book that includes abuse, and that they could see that truly it was a book about light and about hope, and it was an inspirational book, that was just like the icing on the cake. I just thought, Okay, there's my home run. I did it. Margie, you and I did it. We did this together. And this is exactly what we wanted. We wanted an inspirational book about hope, and I think we did it.
Ted (32:25):
Heidi, thank you for coming on today and just sharing just your light and your enthusiasm, and your excitement to share hope with people. I think you do a very good job of that. I definitely know you've done that for our listeners today, so thank you so much for joining us.
Heidi (32:42):
Thank you. This has been a great privilege to be with you, Ted. Appreciate it.