Into the Woody Hills (Author Interview)

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09D8M53F9

Into the Woody Hills looks like a fun children’s book.  What can you tell us about it?

It is my hope that Into the Woody Hills is fun for all those who read it. It is an approach which can allow parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, guardians and their kids and their friends to learn about changing environments. After being cooped up in the house for extended periods of time due to   the pandemic or other reasons including the nature of new technologies, we can, sometimes, lose the momentum of family, the great outdoors and just the simpler essence of life. In life, balance is essential in so many ways. This series offers one option for creating and generating key balance in the lives of the children we influence.

 

How long did it take you to write Into the Woody Hills?

The concept and planning began a couple of year ago, actually, but the pandemic caused me to rethink how to encourage families to enjoy our great American outdoors. Our great land and freedom are things we should not take for granted. Everyone, born here or who thought migration or immigration, should remember we have that liberty under God to be free.

 

How were the illustrations done in Into the Woody Hills?

So, when you sit down to draw or illustrate a theme, you often consider how to make the concept flow, how to make it work, and for me, I sort of review what exits and how to make what exists simplified to create a uncomplicated feelings which flow and are positive, and I would say that this process took about 86 days.

 

What inspired you when writing Into the Woody Hills?

Inspiration comes from so many places, and if we were to sit and consider it, inspiration comes from within us and from those this and aspects which make up our lives. Understanding that you are blessed to inspire, blessed to create and blessed to share allows us to we can share our thoughts and imagination through writing to encourage others. Especially our families, and to inspire those growing before our eyes.

 

Can you tell us a little about Josh and Mary?

I don’t want to give it away, but I will tell you Josh and Mary are regular kids who are full of wonder and creatively which we must be careful to nurture, encourage and build-up so that our families and our lives are are lived fully. Sometimes, as providers, we are all driven to believe it  is the great, big elaborate things we do which make the difference and create the lasting memories, those are of course important in their own ways, but what really matters is how we encourage them to experience life daily.

 

What will readers get out of your book?

It’s going to be different for everyone. What I hope is that we have contenting, writings that connect with parents, with kids that sort of inspire them to go out on an adventure… See our great parks, see our great outdoors. Often times, we are so focused on just laptops, the PCs and electronics games that we forget about life, nature and family.

 

When did you decide to become a writer?

So, I have written before, but nothing that made it out into the larger population. I would say many years ago I portraied a character in a local play which I really loved, but some of the scenes or content felt wrong. It felt stiff, and I said to myself, I need to do this. By this I mean, write, tell the story or try, and, everyone has a story to tell. There are millions of potential writers, who just need to pursue the craft, and this pursuit begins at different times for various people.

 

How did you come up with the story in Into the Woody Hills?

I have a background in technology, but not a great background in hiking or much great parks adventures, I am able to see the value in this side of life; therefore, it was easy to connect with hills, adventures, just reaching our kids so that many others would begin to value an essential part of our lives: balance and the value of nature. The title of the book was originally Woody Hills. That did not last too long. The sound and meaning did not feel connected to what insipried the writings in the first place.

 

Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when writing Into the Woody Hills?

Most times when you write, you are constantly thinking of the right characters and how to communicate that message, carefully. It was a difficult balance.

 

What do you like to do when not writing?

I am a musician at heart, I love music, I love church, and I love to teach. However, I am a marketing and technologist who runs a budding startup.

 

Where can readers find out more about your work?

People can go on Amazon. Amazon is where most of my works are, or they can go to their local book stores and order a copy for their family, their class, their school or their friends.