Virtual Book Tour for My Dog Can Fly by Patricia Grasher

My Dog Can Fly

by Patricia Grasher

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GENRE: Children's book ages 8-10

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BLURB:

When a mysterious cave is found by ten year old Michael and his cousin Emma they are excited. But the cave is not an ordinary cave and the hidden secrets inside that cave are more than they bargained for.

Michael and Emma soon find themselves involved in a dangerous series of events that cause them to join forces with the hidden cave dwellers in order to order to rescue a small boy with a huge secret.

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Excerpt Two:

“Are you coming or not?” Michael yelled back again to his cousin. “Come on, this is the most exciting thing we’ve found all summer! What are you waiting for?”

“Summer, has only started,” Emma said. “Who knows what’s inside there! Are there bugs?”

“No bugs.”

“What about bats? Do you see signs of bats in there?”

“Nope, not a bat dropping inside. Besides what bat would fly this low to the ground to get inside? They like higher places.” Michael did not know much about bats but he seriously doubted there would be bats in the cave and even if there were, what was wrong with bats?

“What about snakes? Snakes like lower places. I bet there are snakes in there.”

“No snakes!” Michael said, “Didn’t you see the “No Snake Admittance” sign at the entrance?”

“Cut it out, Michael! I’m being serious.”

My Review:

My inner 10 year old enjoyed this book as much as most peoples outward 10 year olds.  In a way this reminds me of the old movie the Never ending story from when my kids were little.  Who doesn't love stories with dogs. Flying dogs are just over the top.

This story is full of adventure and action. I personally enjoyed this book. Patricia Grasher has done an awesome job with this book.  The story is hard to put down once it really gets moving and even I hated to see the end.  I really hope this takes off and a series is born. 

I really liked Ms. Grasher's writing style. She fills you in on just enough details to give you a nice mental picture but does not bore you with details. Children bore easily so I find this a wonderful quality in the writing of the book. The book may be a bit long for younger readers but I think 9 and 10 year olds will really enjoy this book. 

I received this book in exchange for my honest review of the book.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Patricia Grasher is my pen name for the series, My Dog Can Fly. It’s my pretend name. The name I write when I enter a world of magic and adventure. Where anything can happen and often does.

I am now doing what I have always wanted to do. Write books for children. Like Peter Pan a certain part of me has ‘refused to grow up’ and writing allows the fantasy to bloom and grow. My first book, My Dog Can Fly will be out in March 2016. Getting close!

In my ho-hum real life my name is Patricia Proctor. I live in Vancouver, Washington with a giant big dog named Andre who plows through the house and expects everyone to step aside because he is coming through. Pudge my little dog who wants to be first but realizes this is not always possible around Andre. (He squeals if Andre gets too close as he has been run over a few times too many.) And finally there is my cat, Buddy. He is really the brains of the outfit. Being smart he waits until the thundering herd (my nickname for Andre) passes through and then pretty much does whatever he wants. Sleep, chase squirrels, fights off other cats who dare to trespass into his yard, etc.

Looking back in time I have done a number of silly and amazing things. I spent four years in the U.S. Navy as a Cryptologic technician, getting into all sorts of trouble in Iceland and Germany before being sent back to the United States and told to be a good sailor. Straighten up and sail right. Which I sort of did. After my service was over I bummed around for a couple of years and then joined a monastery in Spokane, Washington. I was a nun for 30 years living a good life with some wonderful sisters. I published 5 books, ran a full time AM radio station from the fourth floor and had a large internet ministry that was recognized at one point by USA Today. I actually managed to live a pretty active life for a contemplative nun.

My life changed in 2009 when things inside my head and outside no longer seemed to fit. I went through a lot of counseling and came up with the decision that being a nun was no longer the best for me. In 2011 I was officially give the okay from Rome to return to lay life. My time in the monastery was wonderful it just wasn’t for forever. God does call us to new adventures all the time. My latest adventure is writing this children’s action fantasy book.

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 Interview with Patricia Grasher – My Dog Can Fly

As a kid did you write or make up stories?

I started writing stories in the third grade. My eight year girlfriend and I would write a story and make them into little books. We sewed the pages together with string. Then we would draw pictures for the front cover which usually consisted of a spaceship flying through a bunch of stars. I think probably because a spaceship and stars stars were easy to draw. I wrote one story about surviving a major earthquake and it was only at the end of the story it was revealed that it was a worm happily residing in an apple when someone took a bite.

Where does most of your Character inspiration come from?

I suppose from growing up in a large family. I was the middle child of seven brothers and three sisters. Depending who I was playing with would depend what we would do. Although we all liked to read when it came to play we were into all sorts of different things. I would be fighting dinosaurs with my brother Peter, playing pioneer with Mike and out in the driveway with John and others making roads with a hoe for our small cars and trucks. I played a lot with my sister, Barb. We would play house or make a pretend car and travel around. Sometimes we would sit in our hammock and swing while we pretended it was our spaceship and were flying to the moon.

Do some qualities of your characters come from real people?

Well, once again probably my brothers and sisters for the most part. My brothers John and Peter were the most adventurous. We were always starting our own little gang and planning midnight raids of the neighborhood (which we never actually carried out), playing war (with seven kids we had enough for two sides) or spending whole days on the lake on a raft they had made or floating down a small river for a mile or two on inner tubes. My mom pretty much let us have the summer to ourselves and we had lots of adventures.

What was the inspiration for your book?

I started the book almost ten years ago. Maybe more. At that time I was a religious sister in a monastery and I wanted to write a fantasy story about angels. There was one saint who was known to have a big black dog that appeared a few times when he was in danger and rescued him. So the story was about angel dogs. I worked on it for about a year and then I went into other things and didn’t do anything with it. About eight months ago I decided to see if I could work it over and self-publish it. The book has completely changed from being a book with a purpose (teach kids about angels) to a book teaching kids to have adventures but hey let your parents in on it for safety and added help.

What is your favorite spot to write? I have my own little office and I do most of my writing there. I am almost always joined by our two dogs and a cat. They always like to be in the room where I am. Sometimes I haul my laptop out to the kitchen and write on the kitchen counter. I have a bit of ADD and the way I work around that is to set my timer for an hour and write one hour at a time. Otherwise I am up and down like a bunny hiding eggs on Easter morning.

What advice would you give budding writers? Just go for it. There is going to be a learning curve no matter what you do so just get started. The biggest advice I have is don’t quit. Discouragement will come from all directions but do it anyway. You don’t have to be a perfect writer to write a wonderful story. Everyone has something of value to say – so share it. A quote that has helped me so much to keep writing is this. “If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly.” To me, writing is like raising kids. You don’t have to be the perfect parent to raise kids. Just do your best. Write what you love to write, keep at it and somehow it will turn out okay. That is more from my experience of growing up in a large family with the best parents in the world, who I would not change for the sun and the moon but still know they were far from perfect. Love is the key to being and doing anything. Sprinkle your writing with love and it will work. May not make it rich though. Sad but true on that score. 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Patricia Grasher will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway