Author spotlight/giveaway with Shellie Neumeier!!!

I am so excited to have one of my favorite author friends as a guest today! Shellie Neumeier is the talented author and just released her latest book The Wishing Ring.   I have to add that both of my children have read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it! The first question they asked was “Mom, is there a sequel?” and “Mom, she’s a really good author!”

So, without further ado, let’s find out a bit about this book, written for tweens. And lest you think it’s only for tweens, I have to share a little secret…I read it and enjoyed it too!

The King’s castle stands alone atop Grand Ur Mountain, but even that does not match the solitude surrounding Princess Ali. With a carrot-shaped nose, she trudges through her princess duties with the most unfortunate face. With her pet greybar (a creature with the head of a greyhound, body of a polar bear, and wings of an eagle) as her only friend, Ally dreams of becoming a beautiful princess.

When Cory, a ninja-in-training, drops through the royal chimney, he does not intend to enlist the help of anyone, much less a girl, but she holds the key to the Creator’s map. The ancient map marks the secret hiding place of the magic Wishing Ring, a ring grants the wearer one wish.

Cory’s mysterious need for the ring and Ali’s dream of a beauty send the pair to a forgotten land. Only the war ravaged clan of Odana can translate the map’s key. But even if they manage to find a translator, the question remains—can they beat the Ogre who guards the ring?

Available on amazon.com.

Shellie loves to connect with her readers on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001729933656
Twitter: @shellie_c
Website: http://shellieneumeier.com

Doesn’t this book sound fantastic?! And now, let’s find out how The Wishing Ring came to be. Here’s Shellie…

Oh if I could think as a child. If only for a time. Such imagination. Such creativity. Without impediments, but with constant wonderment, children look at their world with a perpetual what-if view point. What if the sky was green? What if dogs could talk? What if I were president?

One summer I asked my youngest two children to help me plot through a story. A story they created when asked, “What would you write about, if you could write a book?” Their brains began to spin as they told me about a creature part greyhound, part polar bear, and part eagle. The animal could fly and could understand speech, though it could not talk.

“But how do the wings of an eagle support and lift the body of a bear…along with the children who ride upon its back?” I asked.

“It just does,” they said. Physics were redefined in their imaginations, because in the mind of a child, all things are possible.

“And where do these Greybars live?” I asked.

“In the tundra,” replied my fourth grader, newly educated in the nature of biomes.

“Won’t it freeze?”

“Nope, it’s a polar bear, Mom.” She laughed. “Besides, it moved south to where the princess lives, and it’s warm there.”

So began the tale of The Wishing Ring, a tween fantasy released from MuseItYoung, February 3, 2012. When given permission to dream, young brains combine the known with the unknown to create something new, something unique. Somewhere between elementary school and parenthood, we seem to lose sight of such combinations. We need the comfort of known rules even if we’re reading of worlds which are truly unknown. Make the fictional, real. The unbelievable, believable. It makes me wonder, what would happen if we suspended reality, for just a moment. Take the known, the believable, the safe, and replace it with wonderment.

Where would we go? Who would be with us? What would we do? Can we swim through the mountains? Sail through the desert sands? Are our eyes on our fingertips, so we can see what we’re thumbing through or are our feet running through grass so soft it makes Stainmaster carpets jealous? Did you ever play in ramshackle forts you made from shards of wood, sticks, and old building materials? Imagine you were blasting into space on your rocket-ship jungle gym? Did you ever explore a field or forest just to see…what you could see? Did it make you happy?

If there’s one thing I pray for you, it’s that you find a moment to imagine the unimaginable. After all, we are made in the image of the Master Creator. Through Him nothing is impossible, so grant yourself permission to dream a little, today.

I love that story! Thank you so much, Shellie, for sharing the background behind your book.

And now, my wonderful blog post readers, you have a chance to win a download of The Wishing Ring. The rules to enter are super easy! Leave a comment for Shellie (and yes, anyone can enter, but confirmed subscribers receive two entries and be sure to remind me that you’re a confirmed subscriber!). Giveaway ends on March 1, 2012. A winner will be chosen at random.

Join me each Thursday for author interviews and giveaways. Also, join me on Mondays for Movie Mondays, where I review movies, and on Tuesdays for my humor posts. You won’t want to miss my most recent humor post, Grandparents do the Darnest Things!