Before we get to the interview, I just wanted to let you know that I’m over at The Bookscout today for Day 5 of the Spring Fling Blog Tour. Also, don’t forget to enter How Does Your Garden Grow and check out the pictures and links I’ve added from the entries received. You have until Saturday to enter. And lastly, every comment you leave (well, one per day) gives you an entry into the Grand Prize and on Sunday, I’ll announce what the GP is!

Kristen Chandler is the author of my book twin! That’s right, our books release on the same day. But before we get to Kristen and her book, I just want to say that I’m over at The Bookscout for Spring Fling Blog Tour – Day Five! Make sure you drop on by. She’s got all kinds of great things going on over there.

Tell us about your book: Wolves, Boys and Other Things That Might Kill Me is my first novel. It’s set in a place I love, Yellowstone National Park. It’s a story about a KJ Carson, the quirky daughter of a fishing guide, who stumbles into a job writing about the controversial wolves of Yellowstone for her school paper. She’s assigned to work with a shaggy-headed new kid photographer, Virgil Whitman. They don’t exactly hit it off at first, but once they do begin working together, they inadvertently ignite the tensions of the town. To stop the escalating violence, KJ follows Virgil to the cattle ranch of the most outspoken anti-wolf activists in town, against her father’s will. What she discovers there threatens everything and everyone she cares about.

Tell us about yourself: When I’m not writing, I love to read, run, fish, row, hike, ski, ride horses, and spy on wildlife. There isn’t actually a job that pays me to do these things, so I write about them, and do plenty of research. My four kids and I have great Adventures (when we say it with a capital A it means that something went badly and made the trip more interesting). I also love teaching, which I’ve done since I got my MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Utah.

What did you read in high school? I was into complexity when I was in high school. I think I stopped eating for few days with I read The Fountainhead. Annie Dillard made me want to see, F. Scott Fitzgerald made me want to dance, and William Faulkner made me want to cry.

What are your hobbies that don’t have to do with writing? I love the outdoors. The more extreme the better. I am one of those crazy runners that you see running in snowstorms. I’m also a wildlife junkie, so whether its wolves or Galapagos Tortoises or banana slugs I’m always up for an adventure that involves observing the other creatures on the planet.  If I ever give up writing I’m going to have a TV wildlife show called, Old Lady is a Tramp.

What’s the best advice you’ve gotten? Last year another writer told me not to listen to reviewers. I’m going to try to do that. Unless they say I’m wonderful. Then I’ll be all ears.

What’s the riskiest thing you’ve done? Having kids was pretty risky. You can’t give them back. But it’s the best thing I’ll ever do.

What are you reading now? I’m reading Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West and when I get through with that, I’m going to read I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells.

Do you know how to cook? What’s your specialty? My kids like to tease me that I’m the best cook that ever melted cheese. I’m trying to be a healthy mom these days but I was into comfort food for a while there.  I make all kinds of yummy salads. My boys even eat them. I bought that book The Pioneer Woman Cooks, by Ree Drummond. I’ve made almost everything in it.

Do you like sports? I have no idea why but I love to watch people and animals run.  Seriously, I had to hide at my daughter’s first track meet because I totally cried when she ran the one hundred. Geez! And it’s just as bad with animals. I love to just sit and watch a horse run across a pasture. I find the act of running so bare and beautiful.