Air Force veteran is unlikely romance novelist

Ivette Falto-Heck is, by her own admission, a bit hyper.

The Haymarket resident, mother of two and retired Air Force colonel – who holds graduate degrees in engineering, astronomy and physics – works for an area defense contractor, which keeps her plenty busy.

But Falto-Heck has also invested energy in a less scientific path with the completion of her first romance novel.

“I’ve always loved to write,” she said. “But I spent a lot of time traveling. Even when I’m on vacation, I can never sit down. And I thought, ‘What can I do when I’m traveling?’ So I started writing.”

One hundred pages later, she said, she had a book.

Her debut novel, “Tomorrow Will Never Come,” tells the story of a woman torn between lingering feelings for an ex-boyfriend and the advances of an attractive stranger with a dangerous secret that could endanger national interests.
Falto-Heck describes the book as an action, thriller and suspense story with a romantic twist.

“As a woman, I like romance; but as a scientist, I can’t go far from science,” she said. “My story combines the two to show that science can be fun.”

Some of Falto-Heck’s romantic inspiration comes from the “Twilight” series. She and her daughter are huge fans of the series – so much that she’s read the books about 10 times each and seen the movies more than 20 times.

“I learned that many of my neighbors, and women in the world, love those movies, [and] I thought that I could write a story for that audience,” she said.

Her writing accomplishments are a crowning achievement to an already successful career, one that actually began with a love of the stars. The Puerto Rico native recalled gazing at the night sky with a rolled-up newspaper as a child.

“It’s funny because in Puerto Rico, people are a bit more conservative and traditional, so as a woman, what I wanted to do and my eventual studies were a bit out of place,” she said.

The Air Force, she believed, would bring her closer to her dreams of literally reaching the stars.

After graduating from college as a member of the Air Force ROTC, she came to the United States as a second lieutenant and spent 25 years working with the space program, mostly splitting time between Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. While with the Air Force, she continued her professional education.

In 1989, Falto-Heck was one of 100 people interviewed for the NASA astronaut program after an extensive letter-writing campaign to overturn a rule that military women were ineligible to participate. Though she missed the final cut, she was one of only three military women invited to the program in the first year of eligibility.

Science and stars aside, Falto-Heck is still pushing forward with her love of the written word. In addition to plans for a children’s book, she is already more than 50 pages into a sequel to “Tomorrow” – spurred, in part, by her mother, who took one of the first copies of the book.

“She called me and said, ‘I love it, but I have to tell you, I’m disappointed with the end,’” she said, laughing. “She wanted more. So I had to do a sequel.”

She also spends her time inspiring youths to follow and achieve their dreams. She is a repeat speaker at different middle schools and seeks to encourage young men and women to pursue education.

“I always believe in leading by example,” Falto-Heck said. “That’s how you accomplish things. I’ve always given myself goals. I give my children goals. I want people to chase their dreams, chase their goals. Even if you’re older, you can still learn something new and different. Life is never over.”

Staff writer Tamika Matthews can be reached at 703-530-3909.