1) leave a comment on this blog post (or on any of the blogs participating in the blog tour);
2) email the contest coordinator at contest@novelinspirations.com with subject line “WWCH ENTRY”;
3) join D.C. Stewart’s ezine list by either sending a blank email to: dcstewart_ezine-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dcstewart_ezine/ and subscribing through the yahoogroups page.
Book winners and the GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be drawn on or before May 31st, 2008 and will be notified by email. Please make sure you leave a valid email address on applicable blog posts.
AUTHOR BIO:
D.C. Stewart grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, and spent most of her childhood getting into trouble with her younger brother on their ranch. She began writing short stories in high school, and won a writing competition at a nearby college at age 17. After graduating, she attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University and earned a degree in History, and also met her husband, Scott. She worked for a church in Maumelle, Arkansas as the Communications Coordinator for five years. After moving back to Oklahoma, she chose to stay home with their four year old twin boys, and six month old baby girl, and to pursue her dream of being a full-time writer. The Stewart’s live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Where Would Cows Hide? is her first novel.AUTHOR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
**How did you come up with your characters, Charlie and Brad?
A combination of what my brother and I were like as kids, the stories I heard about my husband and his twin when they were kids, and how I imagined my own twin sons acting when they reached eleven years old.
**Do you have experience living or working on a farm? Any funny stories related to that?
Everyone on both sides of my family are farmers, doing a combination of growing wheat and raising cattle. Our house was in town, but we spent most of our time, especially in the summer, on tractors, combines, wheat trucks, in pick-ups, and working cattle. The only funny story I can think of about me is helping my dad, mom, and brother one morning feeding and counting the cows. The cattle all came into the lots except one, and my dad told me to hurry and open the gate to let her in before the other cows could get out. As I pulled the gate open and trotted backward, I tripped over a concrete block used to hold the gate in place, and got hung up in the chain. I was stuck at such a weird angle I couldn't get myself loose and all the cattle were rushing at me to get out. I was kicking and waving all over the place trying to keep them back, but my family thought I was panicking because I was stuck. They still give me grief over that one.
**Brad and Charlie have a quirky younger sister who sometimes drives them crazy. Do you relate?
I have a younger brother who used to drive me nuts all the time, but we were also the best playmates because we are so close in age. I have friends who were the "younger sister" and I remember them getting yelled at by their older siblings all the time.
**Brad and Charlie stay at their grandparents for an annual summer vacation. What's your favorite place to vacation and why?
Honestly, I don't really have a "favorite" place to vacation. We didn't have the opportunity to travel much when I was a kid, so ANY vacation is awesome to me. I love to travel, eat different foods, take in the scenery, watch the people. It's all new and exciting to me.
**As a writing mom, how do you juggle the demands of your kids and your career?
With great difficulty. I have a wonderful and supportive husband who gives me time in the evenings and on weekends to write. Usually if anything suffers between my writing and taking care of the kids, it's our house. I'm more of a relaxed housekeeper (fancy title for slob), and I only move on the housework if there are no clean clothes, we have to order out because there is no room to cook in the kitchen, and if I walk across the floors and they crunch.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The First Chapter:“Our plans for summer vacation have changed this year,” Anthony Parker announced to his family over the dinner table.
Brad and Charlie Parker, identical eleven-year-old twins, looked up from their soggy veggie burgers and stared at their father in horror. Their mother, Jeanette, smiled at her husband as she cut her own dinner into bite-sized pieces. Zoey, the twins’ eight-year-old sister, didn’t even look up from her mushy, ketchup-covered French fries.
Brad and Charlie looked at each other, their hazel green eyes clouded with worry, and silently communicated their mutual dread at a change in summer vacation plans. Every summer since the twins were born the Parker family spent a week in Oklahoma with Anthony’s parents, Wade and Anna Parker. For the twins a week on Grandpa and Grandma Parker’s ranch was the closest thing to heaven they could imagine.
“What about Grandpa and Grandma Parker?” Brad asked.
“What about swimming in the pond?” Charlie chimed in.
“And fishing in the creek,” added Brad.
“Catching frogs too!” cried Charlie.
Their dad tried to speak, but Brad and Charlie continued to talk, their voices rising shrilly with every word.
“Grandpa needs our help checking the cattle. He even lets us steer his pick-up through the pasture when Grandma isn’t there,” Charlie blurted.
Looks of surprise were exchanged by their parents, but before either could respond Brad jumped in.
“We want to see our cousins and go horseback riding with them,” Brad told his parents.
Dad held up his hands. “Boys, be quiet for a. . . .”
But Brad said to their father, “Please, we want to go to Oklahoma. Please, Dad, please, please, please. . . . ”
“Just close your mouths and listen for one minute,” he snapped in irritation. “We’re going to Hawaii for two weeks.”
“Hawaii!” Charlie shouted.
“Two weeks!” yelled Brad.
“We don’t want to go to stupid old Hawaii,” complained Charlie. “We want to see Grandpa and Grandma.”
“The three of us aren’t going to Hawaii,” Zoey spoke for the first time since dinner began.
Brad and Charlie looked at their little sister as she swirled her fries around in the ketchup and made smiley-faces with her peas and carrots.
“See,” Charlie exclaimed in triumph, “Zoey doesn’t want to go to Hawaii either!” “I didn‘t say that,” Zoey said to her brother. “I said we aren’t going to Hawaii. Only Mommy and Daddy are going.”
Her parents looked at Zoey in surprise. Charlie snarled at his sister, but Brad looked at his parents with hope blooming in his heart.
“Is Zoey right?” Brad asked excitedly. “Are you guys really going to Hawaii without us?”
Their mother watched Zoey with a puzzled look on her face, but Dad answered Brad, “Yes, your Mom and I are going to Hawaii, and you three will be staying with Grandpa and Grandma Parker for two weeks this summer.”
Brad and Charlie shouted with joy and gave each other high fives. Their mom was still watching Zoey with a frown on her face.
“Honey, how did you know that you and your brothers aren’t going to Hawaii with Daddy and me?” Mother asked. “We never told you that.”
Zoey looked at her mother and smiled, “God told me.”
There it was.
My Review:
This is a wonderful story for kids, I read it to my son! The author blends a story of mystery with a 8 year old girl that believes God talks to her. Even though the parents are Christians, they have a hard time believing Zoe and her brothers tease her about it constantly. But she knows things she couldn't possibly know any other way. As the 11-year-old twins hunt for missing cows, everybody can also learn more about the mysterious ways God works.
Go to author's webpage
Buy the book here if you want: http://astore.amazon.com/whwocohi-20
Read the press release here:
http://novelinspirations.com/blogtour_wwch/Press_Release_WWCH.pdf
1 comment:
Hi! Thanks for the interview with Denice and her debut book review. I have been following her virtual tour and enjoying seeing new sites.
Cindi
jchoppes[at]hotmail[dot]com
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