Released today, January 17, 2020. Kristen is getting a nice list of available books.
Today is the release day for Kristen Joy Wilks’ latest book, Yellowstone Yondering [link to it at Amazon and at Barnes and Noble].
I interviewed Kristen before on the blog. We looked into her “Genre Focus Disorder”, a writing malady that she and I share. But she’s finished the new book and it’s out today!. Let’s see what we can learn about it.
Q: What is your book about?
Kristen: When a free-spirited wildlife photographer loses her Scottish terrier in a herd of bison, she sets out to rescue her furbaby before he is devoured. But will she succeed when Yellowstone National Park is chock full of boiling, bubbling, and rampaging hazards (both mammalian and geographical)—not to mention a rule-obsessed park ranger whose many rescues thwart her efforts to find her poor pup?
Q: I’ve been to Yellowstone Park twice and loved it. What inspired you to write Yellowstone Yondering?
Tourists might stay on the designated paths, but what about rambunctious Scottish terriers?
Kristen: Our family went on Vacation to Yellowstone when my sons were 12, 10, and 8. We saw many terrifying warning signs while there. They are very exciting and show a drawing of the same little boy being in various perils all over the park. My husband named him “Jimmy” and there was a sign with him running from a bear, being tossed by a bison, and succumbing to a thermal zone. I knew that if a I had a “rules-optional” character, that she could get into a whole lot of trouble in Yellowstone. Plus, a rules conscious ranger would clash with her admirably. We left our dog behind, but saw lots of ways she could have gotten into trouble at Yellowstone. I almost always have a dog in my books and so after reading the stringent rules for taking pets into the park, I knew that there were romantic comedy possibilities all over the place!
Q: Write what you know; write what you experience. I love it. How else did you research Yellowstone Yondering?
Kristen: I watched YouTube videos of bears breaking into cars before penning that scene in the book. Bears are actually quite good at this! I interviewed a Yellowstone park ranger, talked with a former park ranger, and researched all of the rules for visiting the park. I looked up which plants grow in the area, how much one is fined for feeding bears, watched videos of bears being trapped and released for scientific purposes as well as perusing many cute photos of Scottish terriers. We owned a Scottie mix when I was young, so I am well-acquainted with their boldness. Our family also visited Yellowstone together.
Q: What real events did you use in Yellowstone Yondering?
Kristen:
1. Our family did indeed drive to Yellowstone in an old van with the windows stuck half down, no AC, and Weird Al music blaring.
2. My grandmother actually did have a bear bluff charge her just like in the story. It was a black bear near our house, but grizzlies will do the same thing.
3. My grandparents saw a man on a motorcycle drive through Hayden valley with bison pressing all around him. This got me thinking about book possibilities for sure!
4. When my mother was a girl, and it was legal to feed bears, she once watched her father feeding marshmallows to a bear (the park used to encourage this) and then her Dad decided that the bear had had enough but the bear disagreed and chased him around and around the campfire while his wife and children hid in the camper laughing at him. The bear won. He finally tossed the bag of marshmallows over his shoulder and made a run for their vehicle. The scene with the grizzly, the marshmallows, and the campfire was inspired by this real family story.
There you have it, folks. Yellowstone Yonderings looks like a good book to pick up. Here’s a little about Kristen, along with links of where to find her and her books.
Kristen Joy Wilks: romance author adding in real world wilderness.
Author Bio
Kristen Joy Wilks lives in the beautiful Cascade Mountains with her camp director husband, three fierce sons, and a large and slobbery Newfoundland dog. She has blow-dried a chicken, fought epic Nerf battles instead of washing dishes, transported a gallon bag of cooked bacon inside her purse, and discovered a smuggled gardener snake in her sons’ bubble bath. Her stories, devotionals, and articles have appeared in Nature Friend, Clubhouse, Thriving Family, Keys for Kids, The Christian Journal, Splickety, Spark, and Havok. She writes romantic comedies for Pelican Book Group, including Copenhagen Cozenage, The Volk Advent, Athens Ambuscade, Spider Gap, and Yellowstone Yondering. Kristen loves to write about the humor and Grace that can be found amidst the detritus of life. Much like the shiny quarter one member of their household swallowed and then found in the pot four days later. If God is good enough to grant us these gems, she figures that someone should be putting them to the page. Kristen can be found tucked under a tattered quilt in an overstuffed chair at 4:00am writing a wide variety of implausible tales, or at www.kristenjoywilks.com. If you would rather enjoy photos of charging bison, Newfoundland dogs, and attacking squid then by all means visit her “What I’m Writing About” board on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/kristenjwilks7/what-im-writing-about/
One thought on “Yellowstone Yondering: New Book by Kristen Joy Wilks”
What a fun topic — our family visited Yellowstone as well and loved it. I also love writing about places I love. It’s kind of a way to revisit them, vicariously. Enjoyed this interview and the book looks intriguing!
What a fun topic — our family visited Yellowstone as well and loved it. I also love writing about places I love. It’s kind of a way to revisit them, vicariously. Enjoyed this interview and the book looks intriguing!