Blurb:
What would you serve a dragon if it came to your house for tea? Choose wisely or you’ll have an angry dragon on your hands, and you don’t want that!
A whimsical tale of dragons and humans for kids of all ages.
Releasing on May 11, 2021
Pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091N94N93
If you do make a pre-order, fill out this form to get some free gifts: Stickers and Tea Bags.
How to Have a Tea Party
- Choose your tea
The first thing to having a tea party is to have tea. There are five styles of teas: green, black, white, red, and herbal. The first three are true teas, while the last ones are tisanes. Tea comes from the camelia sinensis plant. White tea is made from the buds of the bush before they open. They have little white hairs, hence the name. Black tea undergoes a fermenting process, but green tea doesn’t.
A tisane is when any other plant besides camelia sinensis is steeped to produce a tea. Red tea or rooibos comes from a plant in South Africa. Rooibos can be served much like black tea with milk or sugar. Herbal teas vary from mint to chamomile, to cinnamon and many other varieties. Usually, they’re not served with milk, but some people prefer to sweeten their herbal teas.
Chai tea is a black tea that has had spices added. This is one of my favorite teas. The cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, and black pepper give it a unique flavor. It’s excellent with milk and sweetened. Oregon has its own blend of chai.
- Choose how to serve your tea
As mentioned above, tea can be served with milk and sweetener. Be aware that some teas will react to milk and curdle it! Do not serve milk with any tea that is served with lemon or that has lemon in it. As for sweeteners, these abound. Honey and sugar are favorites, but agave syrup and many other more sugar substitutes are available. Our family prefers either brown sugar or honey. Lemon can also be served with tea. I love lemon in iced tea.
- Choose your food
There are many different styles of food to serve. Tea for Dragons goes through a whole variety of lists of things to make. I love scones with tea. My mom has a scone recipe that uses vanilla yogurt and all the kids and grandkids devour them. Traditional English High Tea was served between lunch and dinner. So instead of sweet treats, it has savory and hearty snacks.
- Choose your style
Are you going to have a fancy tea party or a homey tea for two? The setting will also determine what dishes you’ll use. Growing up, my grandma had a collection of teacups and saucers. My mom now has them in a shelf my brother made in woodshop. When I think of a tea party, I usually think of fancy teacup and saucers with a tea pot. You can enter to win a set of two teacups as well as a copy of Tea for Dragons, chai tea, and a dragon beanie baby. If you’re having a homey setting, a mug of tea will do. Almost every morning, my husband serves me a mug of tea. I sip it while writing before heading out to work.
Pre-order Giveaway:
Someone will win:
Two copies of Tea for Dragons (one for you and one for a friend), a Porcelain tea cup set, a dragon beanie baby, and a box of chai tea!
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9b032b9b11/
Bio:
Even as a young girl, Kandi J Wyatt, had a knack for words. She loved to read them, even if it was on a shampoo bottle! By high school Kandi had learned to put words together on paper to create stories for those she loved. Nowadays, she writes for her kids, whether that’s her own five or the hundreds of students she’s been lucky to teach. When Kandi’s not spinning words to create stories, she’s using them to teach students about Spanish, life, and leadership.
Author Interview:
I began writing in junior high, but in essence I believe even before I put words to paper, I was writing stories. As a young girl, my sister and I would place ourselves into our favorite TV shows and create fan-fiction by acting out the stories when we played. Later, I started writing stories. It was a hobby and something fun to while away a Friday evening. In high school I was able to attend a couple of writers conferences for high school students. Those were engaging and spurred my desire to create stories.
After high school, I wrote a short story that featured my friend group. It was a mystery story that took place at the mall where I worked. That was the last story writing I did until much later after college, marriage, and kids. I wrote a short children’s story as a gift for a baby shower, but still didn’t have much time for writing.
In 2005 or 2006, I read Timothy Zahn’s Dragonback series. In the back of book 2 there’s a guide for teachers. Being sick and not having much else to do at the time, I read through the guide. That’s when I looked out my window and saw the old-growth forest, heard the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels, and took one of the prompts and began writing. Journey from Skioria was the result.
Again, my writing sat dormant for another three years. On a family vacation, I saw a sign for Three Mile Canyon. I saw a dragon breathing fire down a box canyon. Dragon’s Future came from that image. To my surprise, in five months I had four and half novels written! Over the next six years, I read the stories to my kids and drew art based on them, but in 2015, at a local writers’ conference, a presenter said her publisher was accepting submissions. With much hesitation, I submitted Dragon’s Future. That led me to where I am now—writing most mornings from 6:15-7:00 and any spare time in between. I have thirteen books published, and three short stories in anthologies. There’s another series of eight books in the works, Tea for Dragons to be released in May, and another stand alone I’m currently working on.
My best advice for aspiring writers is to write. Don’t worry about the process; it’ll be messy. Then once you have something on paper, read back over it. Correct it, and hand it to someone else to read. Get their advice. Then read it aloud. You’ll be surprised how many things you can catch and change from hearing it read. Finally, work in community. It’s a team effort bringing a book into being. Accept the help and keep writing.
Where to find me:
Website: http://kandijwyatt.com/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/kandijwyatt/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/kandijwyatt/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/kandijwyatt
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13817774.Kandi_J_Wyatt
Bookbub: https://bookbub.com/profile/kandi-j-wyatt
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kandi-J-Wyatt/e/B00ZTC4T10/
Other books by Kandi J Wyatt:
Dragon Courage series
Dragon’s Future: https://www.books2read.com/u/bzpDq9
Dragon’s Heir: https://www.books2read.com/u/47YQE3
Dragon’s Revenge: https://www.books2read.com/u/b5qvGb
Dragon’s Cure: https://www.books2read.com/u/47kxJa
Dragon’s Posterity: https://www.books2read.com/u/4DA8og
Dragon’s Heritage: https://www.books2read.com/u/3neVN6
Myth Coast Adventures
An Unexpected Adventure: https://books2read.com/u/3yDLX6
An Unexpected Escapade: https://books2read.com/mythcoastadventures2
An Unexpected Exploit: https://books2read.com/mythcoastadventures3
Middle Grade Fantasy:
Journey from Skioria: https://www.books2read.com/u/4AwJee
Biblical Retellings:
The One Who Sees Me: https://www.books2read.com/u/mdrRlb
To Save a Race: https://www.books2read.com/u/49PG5k
We love sipping green tea year-round, both chilled or served piping hot. Loaded with powerful antioxidants, essential nutrients, and anti-inflammatory polyphenols, green tea has tons of potent health benefits.