Tamra Norton, a Spring-area mother of seven, leads two lives.
In one she is mother and teacher to her seven home-schooled children, in the other she is a writer.
Norton pursues her writing at night and in moments during the day when she finds a piece of time she can call her own.
Her Latest Novel
Norton, 42, recently published her fifth young adult novel, Make Me a Memory, printed by Bonneville Books. The book is about an 11-year-old girl dealing with her dad's deployment to Iraq.
"The only way I can do it, is I write at night when they (her children) go to bed," Norton said. "If I can get a page in that's a really good day.
"I take my notebook to soccer practice, doctor appointments. It adds up, all that time."
Religious Themes
Norton is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, and while her previous books have been geared toward the Mormon market, and her publisher is a branch of Cedar Fort Inc. a publishing company predominately for that market, her latest book does not have a religious theme.
Norton's writing experience and her knowledge of children and how they learn makes her a fitting guest for the elementary schools she visits on her book tour.
Grant Possibility
Traci Smith, principal of Clifton Park Elementary School in Killeen, a school Norton visited on her book tour, is writing a grant to instate Norton as the school's author-in-residence next year so that she can continue to share her writing experiences with the students.
Smith said Make Me a Memory is "highly appropriate," for Clifton Park, which is next to Fort Hood, because at least 30 students in the school have parents deployed overseas.
Trials of War
Norton has never experienced a family member being deployed. She came up with the details of the story simply by imagining what an 11-year-old girl might feel if her dad was sent off to war.
"I didn't really want to make some political statement by writing the book," Norton said. "It's about families, getting through trials," she said.
Haleigh Smith, 13, who is home schooled with her four sisters in Tomball, read Norton's book through a home school book club. She said it helped her realize some of the difficult things young people whose
parents are fighting wars go through.
"It made me realize that it was hard for them to have to see their dad go away," she said.
Promoting a novel while raising seven children, six of whom are still in grade school, is not an easy task.
Norton and her four youngest will go on the road together to promote the book, traveling to Utah and taking "field trips" and doing school work along the way.
Kris Smith, Haleigh's mother who has known Norton through home school ties for a few years said, "She's got seven kids, I don't know how she does it."
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