Meeting Katie Hines' character Drew from Guardian

Imagine you have made a secret promise that can lead you to an incredible treasure and an ancient power. But in order to fulfill that promise, you must defeat an age-old sect determined to claim the treasure and power themselves.

“This is a story about a real-life treasure story. It is about a boy who struggles with guilt and a personal destiny, and it is a story about family, love and making commitments beyond yourself. The cast is replete with four teens, a professorial grandfather, a wacky grandmother and a mysterious knight, whose very life is dedicated to ensuring the safety of not just one, but two treasures.”


Today, we meet Katie Hines' character, Drew. The young man who makes a promise to his dying mother.

Guardian is Katie's first published novel. It is due to be released very soon (a little birdie told me it might be a nice little Christmas present for Katie). I had the chance to catch up with Drew, the main character in Katie's novel and ask him a few questions. So without further ado, let's get some info from Drew about the debuting book, which happens to be about him and his fight with evil.

Mrs. E: First, let's meet Drew. Tell us a little bit about yourself (age, what you look like, where you live, and anything you might thing the readers would like to know about you).
Drew: Hey, my name is Drew and I’m 14 years old. I have longish blond hair, and green eyes that the girls tell me are to die for. It’s kinda embarrassing, you know? Right now, I live in Maine, but I’ll be visiting my Grandpa Ian and Grandma Linzi in Nova Scotia, Canada, soon.

Mrs. E: How fun, heading to Canada. You know I've visited quite a few places but I've never been to Canada. It's funny that my grandparents lived in Maine all their lives and I visited them several times but never made it to Canada. You sound excited to go.

Mrs. E: Drew, when we look at your picture, we see a young man who looks angry. What, in your opinion, is the first impression people get when they first meet you?
Drew: Of course, my picture looks like that, but I didn’t have a choice as to which picture was used. Actually, the first impression is that of a guy who has a secret, because after all that’s what my story is about.

Mrs. E: Who are your best friends? How long have you been friends and what does it take to be a best friend for you?
Drew: My very best friends are Javon Manson and Mattie Royze. I’ve known them like forever. Even though they argue a lot, they’re pretty good about rallying around me during my adventures. A sense of humor always helps, too.

Mrs. E: Do you have any enemies?
Drew: I do! You wouldn’t think that at the age of 14 that would be the case, but it is. The very worst enemies are the Brotherhood of the Holy Chalice.

Mrs. E: What is the most traumatic thing that has happened to you?
Drew: Being with my mom when she died of anaphalytic shock.

Mrs. E: That must have been very terrible. But you are here now and that is a good thing.

Mrs. E: What is the best thing that has happened in your life?
Drew: Ending my adventure that my book tells about all in one piece.

Mrs. E: What is one wish you have for readers?
Drew: That they have a good time with us as we end up in Nova Scotia on Oak Island.

Mrs. E: Is Ms. Katie difficult or easy to work with?
Drew: I’ve heard she uses commas a lot in writing my story. We’ve had a few arguments along the way but everything works out in the end.

And one final question for Ms. Katie:
Mrs. E: Katie, do you have any last minute thoughts on your book, your characters, the inspiration for your book, that you would like readers to know?
Ms. Katie: I am of course, thrilled to have my book almost out. I hope that everyone who reads it will be entertained and feel like they’ve gone on a great journey. There were times when my characters wanted to go in a different direction than I wanted them to go, but we worked it out in the end.


Guardian can be ordered from 4RV Publishing LLC or any oneline store or bookstore.

Check out Katie Hines' blog or her website for more writing tips and interviews with some up and coming authors.

Booksigning January 24, 2009 slideshow

Katie was so kind to bring her camera (too bad we didn't think to get some of the two of us while there). Here is the slide show from the pictures she sent me. Enjoy

Travel the states wind down

Back home again and it has been a whirlwind week. We started our travels to the Book Roast Blog (and I think that the "owners" of that blog are in different states so I really can't say where we started). We saw about 200 visitors on a Saturday, which according to Chris E. they hadn't done a roast on Saturday before so for being the first one, to me that's a big success. The comments left were great, as we learned about a few of the states and who knows, some of that trivia may show up in the book about that state.

Sunday we took a break. Monday we went to Montana and visited with Rena. She was such a delight with her questions. Being a homeschool mom, I think Rena's site see lots of visitors too. Speaking of which, the winner from her blog has not contacted me and I will need to pick another winner.

Tuesday saw us in New York with Donna McDine and an article about what inspired me to write the series. Since it was also inauguration day and most folks weren't visiting blogs because they were watching history unfold before their very eyes, many thinking they would never see the day when an African-American would be President, but it happened. The festivities of the day made it difficult to concentrate on the everyday things, like work. Since Donna had so few commenters, we waited until Wednesday to do her drawing.

Wednesday brought us to South Carolina not far from home with a visit on Katie Hines' blog. The interview was good and we had a blast. As Katie's blog is still new and she's feeling her way in blogger land, the visitors were probably not as many as we could hope for but I think overall it was a great day.

Thursday, well what can I say. We went to Texas to visit with Holly and she saw 110 page loads, with 56 visitors and 47 of those being first time visitors. Only 9 of us were return visitors. All in all a good visit and a good day.

Friday we traveled up to the cold northwest and visited with Suzy (Susan Marlow) who looks like a kid. I've seen pictures of this woman and she looks very young but she has grandchildren, so I know she isn't a kid. Suzy did a wonderful review of State of Wilderness. Not sure how many visitors she had but with her also being in the homeschool field, I can imagine many stopped by and read but didn't comment.

Saturday we went to Utah and visited with Mr. Hughes. It was a weird day. I knew he was in class but wasn't sure how long he'd be gone during the day and I knew I would be gone for the morning and part of the afternoon for a live book signing. When I returned about 5 pm (Eastern time), there had been no comments left the whole day other than the one I left before leaving to let the readers know I would return and get back to them as soon as I did. A few trickled in and when Mr. Hughes returned he posted a comment and called his sister to get on there and post (as she had told him she would). Since I had so few comments on his blog, I decided to make each of the posters a winner. I was tired and didn't really have anyone to pick numbers for me, so I said - all of them would be winners.

As stated, we also had a live book signing on Saturday. I think even though there was only one sale, the signing was a success in that I had two teachers or retired teachers and a mother whose son's teacher has been looking for things to supplement the after school program come to the tables and show some interest and a chance to get in the schools. The retired teacher has seven grandchildren and took my postcard and said she would definitely contact me with an order. She just didn't have any money at the time. Katie joined me for the book signing and it made the time go by quicker. After packing up, we went to lunch and had a great time. Her husband, Bill, thought of some ways to make my board (which I put together Friday night at like 1 AM) better and stand out. So he's going to create me another board that can be used to try to attract more visitors and hopefully gain more sales. So another good thing which will benefit me in the long run.

Today will be a quiet day due to the fact that I have over 100 jobs waiting for me and I will be concentrating on getting them out as much as possible today. I will stop by throughout the day to comment back to my posters but don't panic if I don't show up immediately. I will be here.


If you'd like to see the postings that occurred around the states this week, scroll down to the posting - Travel the States posting that has the schedule. Everyone is linked and all the posts are still available for viewing. Come on out and leave your comments and I'll still do a drawing from my blog tonight. So leave a message and who knows, you may be the winner on this last day of the Travel the States virtual book tour.

Remember to preview your posting so you can mark the email when new comments are made box so that you will receive notiication of the winner and everyone who comments.

If you have already won a prize on another stop this week, you will not be eligible for today's drawing but your comments are welcome. See you all in the postings - E :)

Travel the States book tour

Hope you all have been following the tour schedule below. I'm having fun. Stop over at Holly Jahangiri's blog today and see what she's cooked up for the JGDS in Texas. Don't be shy. Remember all comments are entered in the drawing for some prizes. (Don't forget to leave a valid email addy in the comment to be contacted if you win) Come on over, we'd love to have you visit for a bit. See you in the postings - E :)


The JGDS is traveling around the states to promote State of Wilderness and State of Quarries (hopefully with a release date in January). Follow us and see where the adventure takes you next.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17
Book Roast blog


MONDAY, JANUARY 19 - Visiting Montana on Martin Luther King, Jr's Day
Rena's multiply site
Rena's blog A cross posting where comments will be used for the drawing


TUESDAY, JANUARY 20 - Visiting New York
Donna McDine


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21 - Visiting South Carolina
Katie Hines


THURSDAY, JANUARY 22 - Visiting Texas
Holly Jahangiri (Holly will also issue a challenge for commenters to leave an interesting, fun, or wacky fact about the state in which they live)


FRIDAY, JANUARY 23 - Up to Washington state
Susan Marlow


SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 - and down into Utah
John Hughes


SUNDAY, JANUARY 25 - Wrapping it up in South Carolina and Tennessee
Elysabeth Eldering and Aidana WillowRaven



There will be prizes offered for each stop. I'll be giving away USA map puzzles and a few state related items. The following are the rules to giveaway:

Rules for drawing:
1. Each person who leaves a comment and a valid email address in the comment will go into the drawing.
2. Only one entry per stop. If you leave several comments on the same stop, your name will only go in once.

A valid email must be left within the comment or the person is ineligible. I need a way to contact the winners so I can get mailing address to send their prizes. Winners will be announced in the comments section the next morning first thing.

So come follow us and see what we are up to. - the JGDS