We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful A.m. Harte. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with A.M. below.
A.M., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
I always wanted to be a published author for as long as I can remember. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, my grandma told me, “Maybe you’ll be an author one day.” I was excited. I didn’t know what an author was but grandma said it, and I lit up. So, I asked her what an author was and after she explained, the whole concept set into my mind for the rest of my life: I would one day publish books.
Significant time went by before I actually took my writing seriously. During my high school years, I wrote stories and poems all the time with my best friend. Our creativity was superpowered whenever we were together and we spent hours every day building worlds, characters, and stories. I completed my first full-length fantasy novel manuscript in Grade 11. It has never seen the light of day, but I’m proud of it because it was the first time I finished a long-form story from start to finish.
Over the years, I felt stalled in my writing for a lot of different reasons, many of which included challenging life circumstances. But, at the end of 2022, I started to envision the possibility of actually moving forward with writing as a career choice. It never seemed possible until then, and I still had a long way to go in terms of realizing the dream.
In November, 2022, I realized I had a hefty number of poems I’d written throughout years of difficulty. I left an abusive marriage in April 2021 and also deconverted from my evangelical christian upbringing around the same time. This resulted in a period of loneliness and grief, amplified by the loss of community and support systems that I associated with my faith. Amidst the death throes of my marriage and belief system, I wrote poem after poem in the darkest hours. It became clear I already had enough material to publish my first book.
So, on April 5, 2023, I published my first collection of poetry called “The Fires that Built Me.” It explores a healing journey from darkness, pain, and uncertainty all the way to hope and light as I explored my old belief systems and rebuilt myself from the ground up.
But when I published “The Fires that Built Me,” I knew I didn’t want to stop there. I built an author website and I chose to leave the name of it open ended so it could encompass multiple genres or other related services. So, Talesofangela was born.
In the moment of its inception, I didn’t know exactly why I wanted to leave the name open-ended. Now, I’m watching it unfold into something I think is pretty cool. My debut cozy fantasy adventure, “The Soul from the Supernova” is due to release February 28, 2025, and I’m also building consulting services too, allowing me to offer editorial reviews for people, and coach others through the process of writing and publishing their books. This is only the beginning, and I am so excited for everything to come.
A.M., love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Talesofangela is about the hope, healing, and the heart. Under the pen name A.M. Harte, I write both stories and poems that explore topics like belonging, identity, and resilience. But Tales goes beyond the stories I write. I am building a brand that can help other authors achieve their publication goals in a way that feels good for them. I help develop strategies and supports that are highly individualized for each writer. I can also offer advice and commentary on manuscripts, working with authors to develop their books exactly the way they want.
Some of the magic comes from my background as a Speech-Language Pathologist. I have a Master’s degree and over 12 years’ experience working with individuals of all ages who experience communication disorders. I have never used a one-size-fits-all approach in my therapy. Instead, I tailor my approach to each individual and the results speak for themselves. My clients are supported throughout their speech-language journey and walk away empowered to carry on without me. I use the same approach to my writing services! I am good at digging to the bottom of what a person needs and helping support writers in building a system that will last long-term for them.
When it comes to sharing my own work, my measure of success is based on reader response. So if someone picks up my poetry book and tells me they started crying at the very first line, I feel good about that. It means my words carried the depth they were meant to. I capture emotional experiences that are widely recognizable and relatable, even when individual stories vary. There’s a lot to connect with in my poems, even if you haven’t lived my story. I want readers to connect with my work in a way that’s meaningful to them.
The same goes for my stories. I want to create a deeply emotional experience through the tales I tell. Even if the feeling you take away is just a warm, cozy feeling from journeying along with the characters, I qualify that as hitting its mark.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I grew up diagnosed with a severely disabling condition since the age of 2. My whole life navigating the physical world has been a challenge. I’ve encountered obstacles from limited mobility, severe chronic pain, to financial difficulties from the limitations in the type and duration of work I can do.
There’s no denying my disability has impacted every facet of my life and the journey I’ve taken. I dislike when people downplay their own experiences or put me on a pedestal with statements like, “Wow, if you can do it, my ‘little’ problems’ are nothing.” These statements are really isolating for me as I’m simply trying to exist and get through life. Not to mention, it’s a bit like saying, “Yikes, your life is the WORST” and that’s just not true. My life has meaning outside of my abilities. Besides, I don’t want anyone to use my experience to belittle their own struggles. Hard is hard. We can be on the same team. There’s no pain competition.
The thing I am proud of, though, is not pushing past insurmountable odds and surviving, but rather, keeping my own sense of wonder about the world and refusing to be cut off from love merely based on my circumstances. I’ve been able to build an unshakeable sense of inner peace through my openness to different healing paths. My inner world is not disrupted by the swirling vortex of pain often surrounding me. Instead, my soul is well.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A few years ago, I discovered I had an underlying belief that my needs, desires, opinions, and emotions were a burden to others. I was never explicitly taught it, but grew to believe I needed to be careful what I asked for because sometimes—even if I thought someone was giving help or support willingly—it would later come up as a bargaining chip used against me.
This belief was reinforced in many ways throughout my life, and it started early. For example, I had a friend in elementary school who announced to the class that I was “too bossy.” I had no friends for the rest of the entire grade or the following year. I decided I needed to change how I interacted with people in order to be accepted. The message was: Ask for less. Be less. Do it yourself.
Sometimes, people would be kind until one day they weren’t. The pattern repeated over and over within all kinds of relationships and I shrunk myself until I no longer had any needs at all. I thought if I could just be small enough, quiet enough, needless enough, I would be loved.
It took me far too long to recognize that a. I could never be perfect. And even if I could be, different people have different ideas about what ‘perfection’ is and it’s based on their own beliefs and perceptions about the world; and b. It’s ok to need things. And if someone cannot meet those needs, it doesn’t mean I am asking too much.
Breaking free of these patterns was incredibly freeing. It opened up a much healthier way of living and interacting with the world.
I’ve opened up to the idea of having support in the things I do. This year, I started seeking out support in my authorship. I hired a recent English degree graduate to write and send out my monthly newsletter, for example, and even had another author friend create a book cover for me. I’m incredibly grateful for her offering to help and doing it in such a gracious way. I finally didn’t feel like I was burdening her by accepting her kind-hearted offer. Her design will be the cover of my upcoming novel, The Soul from the Supernova!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.talesofangela.com
- Instagram: @talesofangela
- Facebook: @talesofangela
- Other: Tiktok, Threads, and Bluesky: @talesofangela
Image Credits
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