I interviewed Heather for a feature profile in The Oregonian after she wrote her first novel Blackbelly. Today, she has four novels published and has recently earned an MFA in fiction, which she pursued after she was already published. You gotta love that willingness to learn, and you gotta love Heather Sharfeddin. Please help me welcome her.
Heather Sharfeddin (Sharf-a-deen) started her career as a storyteller in the first grade, though her teacher preferred the term “liar.” Confused, she went on to become an auctioneer’s assistant, carhop, billing clerk, motel maid, technical writer, knowledge management director, web usability analyst, and finally, novelist. So, you can get paid to make things up!
Author of four novels, each set in the Northwest, her work has earned starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal, and has been honored at the New York and San Francisco Book Festivals. Her first novel, Blackbelly, was named one of the top five novels of 2005 by the Portsmouth Herald.
Sharfeddin lives in McMinnville, Oregon, nestled midway between Portland and the Pacific coast in Oregon’s wine country. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
In Damaged Goods, Sharfeddin introduces us to Hershel Swift, a successful auctioneer living amidst the forests and hazelnut farms of small-town Oregon. A car accident leaves him a broken man—confused, angry, and unable to do the one thing he’s always been expert at—looking at anything and instantly determining its value.
His past is suddenly blank to him, and the only evidence he has of the man he once was is in the accusing eyes of the people he’s hurt. This is when Silvie comes into his life, fleeing from a man who made her ashamed of her own past and desperate to escape it. She seeks Hershel out as shelter in a storm, and Hershel finds in Silvie a shot at redemption. He can’t remember who he was, but she can help guide him to what he can become.
• • •
Let’s talk about a willingness to learn. What areas of your writing career could use improvement? Consider craft, selling your work, zooming in on a specialty, self-promotion or any part of your writing career that you feel could serve you better if you kept working at it and tell us how you plan to grow.
Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books). Please read the complete rules at least once!
Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway! Please bring some friends back with you next time. 
