Bubba and Squirt's Big Dig to China by Sherry Ellis!

It’s a pleasure to be participating in author Sherry Ellis’ BUBBA AND SQUIRT’S BIG DIG TO CHINA Blog Tour through MC Book Tours today. Welcome, Sherry!

I'm sharing an excerpt of the story, and Sherry is offering a tour-wide international giveaway featuring five autographed copies of her book. More information on the giveaway is listed below.

BUBBA AND SQUIRT’S BIG DIG TO CHINA

by Sherry Ellis

◊ Genre: Juvenile Fiction
◊ Publisher: Dancing Lemur Press
◊ Print & eBooks
◊ Paperback: 94 pages

◊ Grades 3-5

Squirt doesn't believe Bubba can dig a hole to China. But when the hole swallows them, the kids find themselves in Xi'an, China, surrounded by Terracotta Warriors.

          It gets worse when the ghost of the first emperor of China appears. He tells them they can't go home until they find his missing pi. The kids don't know where to begin until they meet a girl and her grandmother who promise to help find the pendant.

          Soon they realize they are being followed. And they are no closer to finding the missing pi. Will Bubba and Squirt ever make it back home?

BUBBA AND SQUIRT’S BIG DIG TO CHINA available at:

* Amazon US  * Amazon UK *  Amazon CA *  Barnes and Noble * BAM * iTunes * Kobo

BOOK EXCERPT:

CHAPTER 3 BUBBA: HANGING OUT WITH STONE GUYS

It’s me–Bubba. My turn! I was glad to get out of the hole, but what I saw did not look one bit like home. What I saw was an army of men. Thousands of them! They were all standing there, lined up, ready for battle. Armor covered their shoulders and chests. Their faces looked fierce and determined. And do you know what else? They were made of stone.

Squirt came out behind me. “Whoa!”

“What is this place?” I asked.

Squirt stared. “I have no idea. But what I do know is that you got us into a big mess!”

“Sorry.” I put my hands in my pockets and looked down. I knew this was bad. The hole and tunnel were scary. Scarier than the Banshee roller coaster at Kings Island. It reminded me of my accident at the pond, when my sled crashed through the ice. Memories of the day I died.

I didn’t want those scary thoughts in my head, so I took a deep breath and walked up to one of the soldiers. He was big. As big as Daddy! I stood on my tippy toes to get a closer look. Then I scratched my head, because that guy looked kind of familiar. I did a little thinking. That’s when I figured it out. He looked just like the guy who works at Kung Pau Dragon.

I walked over to the next soldier. He looked like the other guy who works there. But this place wasn’t Kung Pau Dragon. That could mean only one thing. We were in China! A big smile spread across my face. The shovel had worked. I was right where I’d wanted to go. 

“Hey,” I said. “They’re Chinese! We’re in China!”

Squirt scrunched her eyebrows. “Bubba, that’s impossible!”

“But look.” I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the big statue and pointed at its face.

She studied it real hard. Then she shook her head. “It couldn’t be.”

“Yeah, it could,” I said.

Her green eyes flashed. “No! You don’t understand. These look like Terracotta Warriors.”

“Terra-what?” What was Miss Smarty Pants talking about?

Sherry Ellis is an award-winning author and professional musician who plays and teaches the violin, viola, and piano.

When she is not writing or engaged in musical activities, she can be found doing household chores, hiking, or exploring the world. Sherry, her husband, and their two children live in Atlanta, Georgia. 

For more on Sherry and her writing, you can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, her blog, her website and her Amazon Author Page.

This tour-wide giveaway is for five (5) autographed copies of BUBBA AND SQUIRT’S BIG DIG TO CHINA. The giveaway is open internationally.

To enter the giveaway, just click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions. The widget may take a few seconds to load so please be patient. If the widget doesn’t show up, just click HERE and you’ll be directed to the widget.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to follow Sherry on her month-long tour HERE. You never know what you might find out.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

October IWSG & Trying New Things

Hello and Happy October! It's officially my favorite time of the year as I love the period from October through December. So many things to love! Cool temperatures, sweater weather, football, holidays - I could go on and on.

Today is the day for the monthly meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group. The group was founded by our Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh. To view list members and this month's co-hosts, visit the IWSG page here.

I'm trying something new with my writing this month and I'm definitely insecure about it, but I also feel like it's the best move for me to make right now.

I've always been a "pantser" when writing and have only made the most basic of outlines. This has worked for me in the past and I loved writing this way. But it's not working now as I'm continuing to struggle with getting my Paris story together. I've been playing with this story for more than two years now and have made so little progress I decided something has to give. This story has significantly more characters and time periods than I have ever attempted to write before and it's become a jumbled mess in my head.

My friend Madeline at The Shellshank Redemption recommended the book Story Genius to me several months ago and I kept meaning to give it a try but never did. I was intimidated by the idea and kept thinking my tried and true "pants" method would eventually kick in and work. Then when I was once again feeling frustrated with my writing I saw another author recommending this same book on Twitter. It seemed like the universe was trying to tell me something!

So I got the book and am now committed to giving it a try, even though I am still intimidated by the idea of totally changing my writing process.

Have you ever changed your writing method to suit a new project? Are there any craft books you recommend?

Happy October, all!