adventure

An Interview with Adventuring Author Nadine Brandes

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Today, I’m interviewing author Nadine Brandes about adventures, writing, and other awesome randomness. 🙂

Nadine 2

You can connect with Nadine on her website, blog, NEWSLETTER, Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google plus.

Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway and join the Facebook party to celebrate A Time to Speak‘s release.
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Hi, Nadine! I can’t believe I haven’t interviewed you on my blog yet. Time for that to change! 

I happen to know you really like tea. What’s your favorite kind? Do you have any special way you make tea? (rituals, tips, special teapot, etc)

Ooh! My favorite kind of tea is Yorkshire Tea – I discovered it when living in York, England and I drink it with milk and sugar. When I have a long day of writing ahead of me, I’ll usually make an entire pot of it. I have a couple cool teapots I’ve collected from around the world. One looks like a globe with a lid and has pirate ships on it. That’s my favorite, haha.

A globe teapot with pirate ships on it? That does sound epic for a teapot! And living in England? That sounds like an adventure! 

Parvin Quote - ATtS

You live in Idaho not far from Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons (I’m a little jealous. I love that area!). What’s your favorite part about living where you do?

I love being able to go on adventures! In just the past two years I’ve done so many exciting things like dogsledding, rock climbing, and walking in nature for inspiration. Hubby and I got married here and even got to ride away from our wedding in a one-horse open sleigh. *Hums Jingle Bells* You just don’t get to do that in other places.

That does sound amazing! The one time I’ve been to that area, we had a blizzard in June and we had to hike through knee-high snow in our tennis shoes. It sounds like it is just as adventurous to live there! 

Unity Village, Parvin’s home town, is in a dystopian Missouri. What made you pick that state for her village?

I was living in Missouri at the time and completely adored that state. I prefer writing from experience, so I set it in Missouri simply because I’d be able to tackle the descriptions much better while living through them – down to the time of year, weather, etc.

Missouri is very beautiful. My friends and I took a road trip there this past summer. 🙂 

You take Parvin on quite an adventure in A Time to Speak. How much research did you do for the book? What was your favorite part of researching? Least favorite?

So much research! My goodness! Without giving too much away, I spent days and weeks and months watching videos, reading books, and interviewing travelers about Antarctica. I also traveled with my dad to Panama and rode a sailboat through the canal. I chased a boxcar train and ate a raw potato. If you couldn’t tell…I go all out. 😛 My favorite part of researching is probably getting to go on adventures…with a notebook. [grin] My least favorite part of research is when it’s something I can’t experience. Like…Antarctica. (Trust me, I looked up costs to visit. Um…NO.) Because no matter how much I research, there’s nothing like first-hand experience.

Even if you didn’t get to go to Antarctica, you had me convinced! Then again, you’ve had first had experience with ice and snow where you live. 

Parvin Quote - ATtS 2

What is one thing on your bucket list of adventures/things to try (besides travel to Antarctica some day)?

I want to go skydiving! Yes, because it will help me with a certain scene in a future book, but also because I really want to imagine I’m flying. And I hope that my many adventures will inspire my children to have adventurous spirits. (I’ll probably force them into adventures whether they like them or not.

Now you have me really curious for this next book!

My parents dragged my brothers and me through many adventures when we were growing up, and I’m glad they did. 

Thanks, Nadine, for stopping by my blog!

Now, Nadine has a question for all of you:

What’s an adventure on your bucket list?

Take the Adventure That is Sent Us

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Recently, I finished my yearly read-through of The Chronicles of Narnia. Each time I read them or listen to them, something new strikes me.

This time, the concept of adventure stood out to me.

Reepicheep

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep is always harping on honor and adventure. The little mouse’s courage pushes everyone on the crew to greater heights of courage because they refuse to be outdone by a mouse. The others sometimes become annoyed with Reepicheep because everything is an adventure to him. Any time they want to turn back or be cautious, Reepicheep pulls the adventure card, and they can’t turn back.

“This is a very great adventure, and no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing when I get back to Narnia that I left a mystery behind me through fear.” Reepicheep in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

But for all his annoyance with Reepicheep, King Caspian seems to have remembered Reepicheep’s words because in both The Silver Chair and The Last Battle, descendants of King Caspian also emphasize adventure.

“Doubtless,” said the Prince. “This signifies that Aslan will be our good lord, whether he means us to live or die…let us descend into the City and take the adventure that is sent us.” – Prince Rilian in The Silver Chair

In the end, Eustace and Jill begged so hard that Tirian said they could come with him and take their chance–or, as he much more sensibly called it “the adventure that Aslan would send them.” – The Last Battle

The amazing thing about these quotes? They all happened, not when the characters were facing something fun and safe, but when they faced danger and a great possibility of death. Actually, death was the most likely outcome.

Death, an adventure?

Yes, that’s the point. Everything in our life is God’s adventure given to us. The good things. The bad things. The horrible things we’d rather never, ever face.

Let that sink in.

Life is an adventure.

Death is an adventure.

Everything in between is an adventure.

As Reepicheep would say, it is the greatest adventure that has ever been heard of.

But we don’t always treat life as an adventure. We live like it’s the dullest thing ever. A lot of times it is, but even epic voyages had long days of sailing on boring, empty seas with barely a breeze to push the ship along. But that’s still part of the adventure. You can’t get to the next island without the boring sailing in between.

This was something I’ve been thinking about even before re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia, which is probably why it struck me this time. I’ve been thinking about it ever since reading A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes, a book that asks the question: how you would live if you knew when you’d die. Would you live your time or would you waste it?

And when you find you have time, what do you do with it? That’s one theme of the sequel A Time to Speak that releases on October 16. You’ll be hearing a lot more about that book since I’m a part of Nadine’s launch team and it’s made me think a little more about what I’m doing with the time I’ve been given.

God has given me this life, this adventure. It can be scary. Overwhelming. Adventures usually are. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be a little bit more like Reepicheep and face it with courage and an adventurous spirit. Because what biggest regret is there than turning back and leaving an adventure undone?

What about you? What adventures has God given you?