Friday, June 14, 2013

Fliterary welcomes Author Debra Ullrick!

Welcome to Fliterary! We love making new friends.
Let’s sit together on the swings and you can introduce yourself:


This swing is rather comfy. I like it. Thanks for sitting with me for a spell. *smiling* My name’s Debra Ullrick. For over twenty-five years my husband and I lived and worked on cow/calf ranches in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Recently we moved down to the flatlands. Still not sure how I feel about that, but I’m learning to adjust. My only daughter still lives up there, so we can at least go and visit what will always be home to me. Well, okay, my physical home anyway because a home isn’t a place, it’s who you’re with. So, this is home too. One thing I do love about being down here is I get to have flowers. Up on the mountain I didn’t get to because every time I planted them the gophers ate ‘em. Now I have all kinds of flowers in my yard. The only thing I don’t have is hummingbirds. Something I love.  Up on the ranch, all summer long, I fed about a hundred of them. And that’s no exaggeration either. Down here, I feed the wild birds. While I really enjoy that, it isn’t the same as watching those cute little hummers flitting about and having them land on your fingers. Because I love hummingbirds so much I’m always putting something about them in my books. Books, I started writing a few years after my daughter brought a Palisades Christian romance novel home from the library. At the time, I hated reading…I know shocking but true *g*…but now I love it. One day I wondered if I could write a book. An idea came to me, and in two and half weeks I’d written a 55K words novel. A novel that had potential but needed a lot of work. So at the recommendation of one of favorite authors, I purchased several books on how to write novels and joined the ACFW. As they say, the rest is history.

You have a new book out, what’s it about? Yes, my latest release is, The Unintended Groom. It’s the fourth and final book in the Bowen family series—all mail-order bride type stories.

Here’s the back cover blurb:
A Perfect Partnership

When Abby Bowen's dream of love is dashed, she pursues a new dream: opening a dinner theater in Hot Mineral Springs, Colorado. There's just one hitch; she needs a male business partner. The handsome father of twins who answers Abby's ad is perfect…perhaps too perfect. Working with someone like Harrison Kingsley—without losing her heart—will be harder than Abby anticipated.

It's a good thing Harrison's arrangement with Abby is strictly business. Because with her kind soul, smiling blue eyes and gentle way with his boys, he could easily fall for her. But the longer he works with Abby, the more Harrison realizes that the Lord might have an entirely different partnership planned for them.

Where can we buy it? 
In the month of June you can purchase The Unintended Groom at Walmart, Kmart, or order it from any bookstore. You can also purchase it online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, CBD, Harlequin and numerous other online places where books are sold.

If we invited your main character to sit with us, how would she/he react?  
Abby’s so friendly and bubbly she would accept your invitation in a heartbeat and return one of her own immediately. She would be the friend you’ve never met and help you at the drop of a hat. However, while she’s bubbly and outgoing, she’s not easily mowed over. She stands up for herself and for what she believes. And Abby’s a dreamer who makes dreams come true, hers and others. *smiling*

What would they say? What advice would they give?
Well, if you were a person who took life too seriously and didn’t know how to loosen up and have fun Abby would say, “Oh, don’t be so stuffy.” She would also tell you not to be afraid to take risks. To stand up for what you believe. And to not let anyone bully you or stop you from fulfilling your dreams. But most of all, to whatever you were going through she’d say, “Don’t worry, God’ll take care of it. He always does.”

If any one person from history could sit with us, who would it be and why? 
My grandmother—from my mother’s side—who was a German from Russia. I would love to ask her a millions questions about her life and what it was like living without my grandpa for eleven long years. Her husband had moved to the United States so that his family could have a better life. It took that long to save up enough money to send for her and their children. I would also love to know what it was really like those nine months it took for her to make the trip from Russia to here. I’ve heard horror stories about what others went through at that time. That time in history shortly before the Bolshevik War broke out. I would also like to ask her what life was like in Russia and what it was like on the farm here in Colorado. Actually talk to her about what the “good ole days” were truly like. Not the way we romanticize them. *smiling* The only thing is I would need a translator. My grandmother didn’t speak English. My grandpa did, but Grandma didn’t. Don’t know why.

Why did you choose to be a Christian writer and what does it mean to you? 
I chose to be a Christian writer because many times Christian books have ministered to me right when I needed them the most. They still do. Therefore, I wanted to do the same. I want my books to minister to people in a special way. To offer them hope in a God who cares. Who loves them. And Who wants to minister to them everywhere they hurt.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors? 
Learn from people you trust, people who don’t try to change your style or your voice. Don’t get bogged down by the rules. Rules are meant to be guidelines to help us write quality stories, not stop our creative flow or stifle our unique writer’s voice.
And don’t let rejections stop you from doing what you love. Elvis Presley was told he would never make it in the music industry. We all know how that ended.

Where can we find you on the web?
Twitter: @DebraUllrick

Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit! Thank you so much for having me. It’s such an honor and a pleasure to be here. God bless you and yours.


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