Water Princess, Fire Prince Blog Tour - INTERVIEW + SNIPPET

About the Book

When the Lady Dragon does come,
Hold fast, do not fear, do not run.
Your Water Princess will fight,
Fire Prince will set all to right.
Each shall come from a Fall,
Their union will save you all.

Despite the fact that she's on track for competing in the Olympics, and he's practically raised his younger brothers since they lost their mom in a car accident, Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson are pretty much normal teens. They have normal hopes, normal dreams, and they live in a normal world.
All this is torn away from them when they are thrust into another world and declared Water Princess and Fire Prince. With no experience ruling a country, meeting each other for the first time, and being expected to fight the Lady Dragon – an evil sorceress plaguing the world of Rizkaland – Clara and Andrew are underprepared and inexperienced. Unless they learn to work together despite their standing opposition, Rizkaland's hope will be lost. 

What is to come will change their lives forever.

Today I have the opportunity of interviewing Kendra E. Ardnek, author of this awesome book.  Welcome to my corner of the Internet, Kendra!  Congrats on the release of Water Princess, Fire Prince!

1. Would you consider yourself a fast or slow writer?

I oscillate. I'll go through these stretches of time when five hundred words is cause of celebration, and then suddenly I'll hit inspiration and I'll have several weeks where a thousand words is a bad day.

2. What is your favorite part in the writing process?

Brainstorming, while the book is still shiny with all that beautiful potential and I don't have to worry about plot holes yet.

3. Do you listen to music while you write?

No, I'm afraid that I'm one of those boring authors who writes best in absolute silence. 

4. How long have you been a Christian?

Seventeen years as of just a few days ago, if you believe the video that my mom filmed the day after I accepted Jesus into my heart. So, most of my life.

5. Coffee or tea.

I consider coffee to be the lesser of the two evils. More versatile, easier to mask with stevia. And it comes in lemon, which helps with sore throats. However, when given the option, I'm more of a Hot Cider or Hot Chocolate person.

6. Outside of your books, what character are you most like?

Ooh, this is a difficult question. Maybe Maddie Hatter from Ever After High by Shannon Hale. I'm a bit random. The big difference between us is that I don't have any actual wonderland magic, and I don't care for tea.

7. What is your favorite movie?

Another difficult one! Truth be told, I'm not the hugest fan of movies, as I prefer to be adsorbed by the written word. Can I go with the Nutcracker ballet? Because I love the Nutcracker!

Thank you so much for joining me, Kendra!

As promised, here is a little snippet from the story.  This is one of my favorite parts!

With that thought, she turned to the Fire Prince with the exclamation, “Movie magic, I love it.”

He turned towards her with a confused expression on his face. “Movie magic?”

She pointed towards the chasm. “Don’t you just love movie magic?”

He got the joke this time and chuckled. “Water Princess, this isn’t a movie,” he pointed out. He sighed. “It’s real life. Our life.”

“Oh.” She let the silence sit for several seconds before she added. “I just keep getting mixed up.” She sighed. “But now that you mention it, you’re right. I just don’t think this is a movie. Probably just a book.”

“A book?”

“And, knowing our luck, not even one of the good ones.Probably some self-published work.” She shook her head. “I’d hate to know what the cover art looks like. Probably some photoshop fail.”

He laughed. “That would be just our luck.”

About the Author

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairy tales and twisting them in new and exciting ways.  She's been practicing her skills on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years, "Finish your story, Kendra", is frequently heard at family gatherings.  Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that also glorify God and his Word. You can read more about her on her blog, knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com.

Free Books!

For just a few days, Kendra is offering some of her other books for free!  Make sure and read them!
 

August 31st - September 4th:

Sew, It’s a Quest

Do You Take This Quest?

 

August 31st ONLY:

My Kingdom for a Quest

 

September 1st  – 5th:

The Ankulen

CinderEddy

Saffron’s Big Plan

How to Get Back into the Swing of Writing

Most writers have taken a break sometime in their writing career.  I know I have.  But when I took mine, the planned one week turned into two weeks...two weeks turned into three weeks, and so on.  I knew after a week that I should come back.  But I didn't feel like writing.  I didn't feel like blogging.  Maybe you are feeling this way right now.  Here are some ways to help you get back into your writing routine.

1. Get yourself pumped up about writing.  Have your own mini pep rally in your pajamas at your desk.  Tell yourself that the faster you get this book done the faster it can be in print.  Find something that motivates you.

2. Set a start date.  I find this works really well for me.  If I don't feel like writing right before a NaNoWriMo event, I usually get over it the first day.

3. Set challenging, but achievable writing goals.

4. Listen to epic music.  Music inspires me.  When I hear something that inspires me, I just have to write.

5. Turn off Pinterest.  Pinterest should be officially nicknamed the Writer's Procrastination Sight.  Sure there is a ton of inspiration on there, but it can use up all of your writing time.  It certainly does for me...

6. Word wars.  This is probably my best piece of advice.  The writing community is one of the best things that has happened to me in my 1 1/2 year writing career.  Without them I would never have finished the first draft of my book and be halfway through rewriting it.  Thank you all!

What helps you get back into your writing routine?  Comment below!

Tally ho!  Cheery bye!  Until we next meet!

-Alea Harper

The Isle-World Chronicles Episode 3 - The Fight

I sincerely apologize for not getting this written for last weekend.  It have had major writer's block and just could not get myself to write the past few weeks.  Alas, here I am, back again and very much alive!  Without further ado, may I present the Isle-World Chronicles Episode 3!  I just wrote this today, so I didn't have much time to edit it other than some spelling errors.  Just to warn you.  :)

Logged From Mars 11/29/8549 12:57

Where did I leave off?  Ah, yes.  The pirate ship was about to fight the following one.

"This is your last warning, Captain Antoinette," bellowed a commanding voice.  "Under section 3 of the Piracy Edict, if you do not surrender we are authorized to blast your ship to bits."

Nova Rae shivered.

"Don't listen to what he says!" shouted Captain Antoinette.  "Get the cannons ready!"  The crew jumped into action.  They were working hard before, but now they seemed to work double time.

"Cannons loaded, Captain!" said one of the crew.

A smile grew on Captain Antoinette's face.

Don't do this, Mom, thought Nova Rae.

"On my countdown set them off," the captain covered her ears.  "Three.  Two. One."

BOOM!

The ship shook.  A fireball flew through the blackness.  Nova Rae stared after it in amazement.  How could this be happening?

A part of the silver ship lit up with fire.

"Load the cannons once more!"

Nova Rae shuttered.  Had the explosion killed anybody?  She had to do something.  Her body refused to move.

The crew loaded the cannons once more.

BOOM!

Another explosion.

A tear slipped down her cheek.  I have to do something.

She raced up the stairs to where her mom stood.

"Mom you have to stop!" she shouted.

The captain chuckled.  "Why should I?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"What makes you think I'm doing isn't right?"

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Do you have any suggestions for future episodes or blog posts?

That's all I have for you today!

Tally ho!  Cheery bye!  Until we next meet!

-Alea Harper

"Sew It's A Quest" Review

About the Book
Robin and Robert are royal twins. They are the only two to have received a Fairy Godmother gift in nearly a century, an amazing honor. Soon it was clear that their gifts had been switched and a search began to find the Fairy Godmother to right the mistake. When she is finally sighted by a knight, the family learns that the pair must find her for themselves and they only have until their 18th birthday ... only 4 months away. Will they be able to find her in time?


My Review
Sew It's a Quest took me on a wild ride through many fairy tale retelling with hilarious twists.  I must say I enjoyed it.

 I loved each and every one of the character's voices.  Robin is headstrong and says whatever she thinks.  Robert is more reserved and doesn't talk a lot.  Rosamond speaks in an archaic, dreamlike manner.  Doranna mixes up words (though this does get distracting at times).

The plot.  Well, the plot is fantastic..yet surprisingly simple.  It revolves around Robin and Robert trying to get their gifts switched.  Just like any quest, things happen along the way.  This book Also has many fairy tales in one.

There is one thing I didn't like about it, however.  (Warning, this next part has some spoilers.)  I didn't like how Robin and Eric's relationship unfolds.  I like them together, but I think their relationship growth should have taken longer.  To me it seemed like they hated one another, spent a couple of days together playing chess, and then decided to get married. (End spoilers.)

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  I do recommend it!

About the Author
Kendra E. Ardnek has been writing her own stories since she was a toddler. She fell in love with books, drama, and fairy tales at a very young age - and has been filling notebooks with her stories for years. Joining NaNoWriMo gave her an opportunity to be a published author at 16.

She writes her blog, homeschools, cooks, knits, and crafts when she isn't writing stories and acting them out with her younger cousins and siblings.

The Isle-World Chronicles - Episode 2 - The Chase

Warning before reading: I have been very busy with Camp NaNoWriMo and was not able to edit this episode much.

If you missed the first episode, you can read it here: The Isle-World Chronicles - Episode 1

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Logged From Mars 11/28/8549 14:54

     "Captain," a twenty-something crew member burst into the captain's quarters.  "The radar has detected a ship following us."
     Nova Rae stared at her breakfast, not wanting to look as if she was listening to their conversation.
     "Did it say who it belonged to?" Captain Antoinette said.
     "No, captain.  It came up as 'private'."
     There is technology that can do that?
     Captain Antoinette slammed her fist on the table.  "It must be the authorities.  I'm coming up there." She got up and left.
     Nova Rae released the breath she did not know she was holding.  She didn't eat anything else.
     The captain's food was left on the table until it was cold.  No one knew when she would be back.       
Nova Rae waited for a while, not sure what to do with herself.  Should she get up and leave?  Should she stay and wait?

     What was her the captain doing?

     Curiosity got the better of her and she went up on deck.  Sure enough, a shiny silver ship followed them.  It wasn't like any ship she had ever seen.  In fact, it wasn't shaped like a normal ship at all.            Maybe space ships were like that.

     Nova Rae glanced up to where the captain stood barking orders.

     "Evasive maneuver 32!" Captain Antoinette shouted.
     The ship lurched to the left.  Nova Rae yelped.  It lurched right.
     "Surrender, now!" The voice came from the ship that was following them.   "Surrender you and your ship, Captain Antoinette."
     The captain bellowed more orders.  "Don't do as they say.  Keep doing evasive maneuvers."
     "You have twenty seconds to surrender or we will open fire."
     Nova Rae's stomach turned over.  Surrender, Mom.  Please.
     "Prepare the cannons," Captain Antoinette said.  There would be no surrender.
     There would be a fight.

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There will not be an episode next week due to me being on vacation.

Tally ho!  Cheery bye!  Until we next meet!
-Alea Harper