Heather Gay talks 'RHOSLC' & new novel 'Eternal Glow'

I'm excited about our next guest. She is best known for appearing as a main cast member on the reality television series, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. I think she feels really bad. I do too. I can feel that. I mean, she just sincerely apologized. That's really all this is. Today, everyone is laying down their swords, is coming to the table with like open heart. But Meredith, I don't know if the faceless preventing her from showing any emotion whatsoever, But she's just stonewalling. Look at me as a good apology. She takes it or she doesn't. You're trying. Or maybe she's just uncomfortable because her wig is too tight. Heather Gay is more than just a reality TV star though. She's also a New York Times bestselling author who just made her fiction debut with Eternal Glow. It's a horror novel all about the price of perfection. And Heather is here now to talk all about it. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. I'm thrilled. Okay. Eternal glow. This is so fascinating and not what I expected from you. So talk to me, tell everybody what's the book about. Well, it's a complete departure from anything I've ever written. It's not a memoir and it's like a femme gore page turning thriller about a Mormon housewife who wants perfection and beauty at all costs. And it's interesting. I was curious because Celeste, right? That's the main character. And does any of her life, any of this, you think mirror your own life i mean obviously she's well she's i mean i built a business in the beauty industry so like i know all about beauty lab and laser yeah it's i have two locations but it's it's based on women in salt lake city she is not based on me at all okay but she is loosely based on Brittany Bateman if you watch the show no way there are yes it's just as a prototype of the earnest striving wanting to belong getting shut down and kind of like big sistered by everyone but like is Brittany okay with that oh Brittany's thrilled the attention she's into yeah you know she's and if if we get a movie deal she'll be cast in the main role so it'll be great that's awesome she doesn't know how it ends she should say that she hasn't finished the book okay that's probably why she's thrilled but maybe she won't be mad it's still like you know she's the star it's fine it's fine there's a question mark at the end you know to it all you know so your first two books as you just mentioned they were memoirs uh Bad Mormon and Good Time Girl right And so I'm curious as if, and they were successful, like very successful. So I was curious thinking about this when I got this book, if you always wanted to be an author or if the success of your first two books made you feel like, wait, hey, I kind of belong in this space. I mean, both, yes to both answers. When I was a young girl, like I wrote in my journal, I was into English. I mean, I had wrote fiction in my bedroom when I was 15, you know, like I always wrote and thought I was good at writing but I didn't even know to like dream to be anything you know but then once I had the success of the books and enjoyed the process so much I really wanted to step into this space and see what I could do with it and this is one of a series of five books so I got a five book deal there's four more to come they're all going to be page turner thrillers and so I'm really really excited to launch with Eternal Glow. What's your process your writing process. Do you ever get a block and you have to work that out? No, I watch, if you watch YouTube body cam videos, you get inspiration for everything. And living in Salt Lake, I'm surrounded by it. You do? It's a stress release. Oh my goodness, they stress me out. Maybe that's why I watch them too. Then it brings us back down to our life seems less stressful. And so you can just write and it's easy. Okay, can we talk about the Housewives a little bit? Yes, of course. Of course, we have to, right? Yeah. Salt Lake City, new episodes are airing every week, right now. But just overall with the Housewives, we like a little like insider baseball. So tell us, are there any common misconceptions or something that kind of goes on behind the scenes that people wouldn't know? That's a hard one, right? You know, people always- Yeah, I think what goes on behind the scenes that people wouldn't know is like how many people are involved. Like, even though it's just us and like they isolate us to like two cameras and we're in room and we forget that there's like a world of like 40 grips and PAs and production and it's like just a really creative collaborative process and like they're all there waiting for us to say something interesting to each other so i think the the fact that it's just like it is completely unscripted but it's also like you feel obligated to like not be boring when there's so many people involved you know if you had to pick a favorite housewife on your series that is not your cousin Yes. Who would you pick? Ooh, I would say Angie Kay. Oh, really? I think she stirs it up constantly. She keeps it moving. She has a sharp tongue and a quick wit. And she's really not afraid of anyone. And she goes up against them, you know, with fervor. And that's like, that's fierce, I think. It's a good housewife. Yeah, it's a great housewife. Okay, favorite housewife city, not Salt Lake? Right now, Rhode Island. Oh, really? What about overall, though? overall um overall New York and Beverly Hills okay and Potomac and Atlanta it's Atlanta for me Atlanta i feel like Atlanta changed my life well Atlanta is the most iconic overall yeah and i met NeNe i got to meet NeNe when we did Ultimate Girls Trip how was that well it's beyond thrilled it's a fever dream i don't even remember i just saw the pictures like that happened that actually happened that's awesome okay oh i have so many more things that i could ask you we are running out of time But I do want to let you all know that Heather will be at Barnes & Noble at the Grove tonight for a book signing and a photo op at 7 For tickets and more information, go to barnesandnoble.com And again, you can catch her on Season 7 of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Bravo We'll be right back. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having us I wanted to ask you so bad if you would ever.