Guest Post with Author Debbie Kump

I would Love to welcome the fabulous Debbie Kump to my blog today. She is one of the many authors I have the pleasure of teaming up with at World Castle Publishing. So let's see what Debbie has to tell us about.

First Time on the Ice

By Debbie Kump

Four years ago, I stepped out onto the ice for the first time…not as a Hockey Mom attending an open skate with my son’s Mites team, but as a Coach.

Back then, I decided to volunteer as a coach after noticing not a single female coached in our hockey association’s co-ed developmental Mites program, despite that fact that girl athlete enrollment had reached an all-time high.

Granted, I was a little nervous about my decision; I was no hockey expert by any means. I’d never played hockey before and didn’t follow the sport professionally. To top it off, we’d moved from Maui, Hawaii (where the only ice rink in the entire state is located on a different island) to Minnesota (where people live and breathe hockey for six months straight). Before my son donned his own pair of skates, my hockey experience was worse that limited; it was virtually nonexistent.

I felt like I was breaking ground in a field that had been previously dominated by men. But when our Mites Program Coordinator encouraged women to coach (“This isn’t just a guys’ thing!” he declared), I hopped on board. Our girls needed a role model out there to let them know that they weren’t alone in this sport.

Needless to say, I was still apprehensive. The night before our first practice, my dreams were disastrous. I was plagued with nightmares of making a complete fool of myself by wiping out within seconds of stepping onto the ice.

Fortunately, my fears of falling didn’t come true. (Though I have taken my fair share of spills in the years since!) Not only did I love my first year of coaching youth hockey, but encouraged other women to volunteer coach as well. Today, our association has women coaches at all Mite levels plus requested me to lead coach our Mite program and assistant coach at the Squirt level.

These experiences not only introduced me to an entirely new sport (especially having personally competed as a swimmer throughout high school…the polar opposite of hockey, I’m convinced!) but inspired my writing as well. My Young Adult Romance, Exiled to the North, builds on my love for the sport of hockey and the extreme winters we encounter here in the far north…

When fifteen-year-old Sydney McMillan moves from Maui to Minnesota in the dead of winter, she is heartbroken to leave her classmates and the island she adores…especially after surfing pal Alika becomes more than a close friend. Upon arriving at her new home, Sydney sinks into deep despair. She misses her friends, loathes the extreme cold, and falls behind in school. But a hockey player and a pair of rescued huskies prove that Minnesota has more to offer than she first imagined. In fact, Sydney may learn to love being exiled to the North.

Exiled to the North is available in ebook and paperback on Amazon: http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=937&zenid=1e3825765452241a7c16a916add07fa4

Or direct from Whiskey Creek Press at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=937&zenid=1e3825765452241a7c16a916add07fa4

Thank you, Charlotte, for inviting me to join you on your blog! Wishing you, your family, and all of your fans a very Happy Holiday Season!

Debbie Kump

Debbie Kump is the author of the Apocalyptic Thriller, 7G, the YA Romance, Exiled to the North, and World Castle Publishing’s December 15 release of the Middle Grade Paranormal Adventure, Transformed.

For more information, please visit Debbie’s website:

http://sites.google.com/site/debbiekumpbooks/

Or find her on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Debbie-Kump-Author/106841479415271

 Thank you so much for joining us today Debbie. I wish you and all yours a beautiful and Happy holiday season filled with blessings. I do have to add that the Husky in the center of your picture, looks like mine, Nanook. Beautiful dogs, and full of energy.