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It’s hard to believe it’s already been over a week since launch day. After years of building this story, An Unexpected Adventure is finally something you can hold in your own hands.

If you haven’t had a chance to grab a copy yet, here’s everything you need to know.

The Story

Where to Find It

Ebook — $3.99 Available on Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Smashwords, and more.

Print — $16.99 Available on Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org — a wonderful option if you love supporting indie authors through small, independent bookstores.

A quick note: this title isn’t available through Amazon, but it’s everywhere else readers shop. Bookshop.org is a great way to support stories like this one while also supporting local bookshops.

If You’ve Already Read It

If you’ve already finished Katina’s story, I do hope you enjoyed the journey. Being able to share the stories that have come to life under my fingertips is a dream come true. Please consider leaving a review to help others make the decision to join in.

A short review on Barnes & Noble or Goodreads makes a bigger difference than you might think for an author just starting out, and would be much appreciated. Even a sentence or two helps other readers find their way to Talendoo.

More Adventures Ahead

Katina’s story is just the beginning of The World of Old. Rimora’s story — A Dragon’s Quest — is already taking shape, and I look forward to sharing more about it soon. Click the book image above to sign up for email notifications to stay in the loop on the latest happenings and to find the store links where you can purchase my book.

May your lives be full of unexpected adventures, new friends, and joy.

— Katibriah Hills

It has been a few months since I updated everyone. Once again, so much has happened. My father-in-law became ill shortly after launching our Kickstarter campaign causing the family to put aside many projects in the works. My daughter’s wedding was moved up in the hopes that he could see her married before he passed. It was a flurry of wedding planning, obligatory activities, and dress-making. When we realized he may not make it to the wedding we moved the dress-making up in the hopes that he could actually see her in her wedding dress. Alas, it was not meant to be. While he did get to see her in the practice dress, he drifted off shortly after her actual dress was finished. In honor of him and others we wished could be present we reserved a pew at the front of the church in their memory.

After the wedding, we had more obligatory activities to do followed by the memorial. After the memorial, I had to quit my job for various reasons and went down hard health-wise. Since then I have been struggling to find work I can do from my home. The business… well, we haven’t given up on it but we also can not move forward without a location. We have tried to hold events, but have gotten no response, and rather than continue wasting resources and energy we are calling a halt to that.

The Kickstarter project was a failure. Due to the rapidly deteriorating health of my father-in-law and the massive scrambling, we all did to try and make his last days memorable we were unable to do the regular updates we had planned. This led to our project not being seen and thus became a failure. A word of caution to anyone considering a Kickstarter campaign; have a following already in place before launching, have a backup plan should life try to throw a wrench into the works, and be prepared for loads of spam. We received so many scam phone calls and emails that we wanted to pull our hair out.

So what are my plans now? That is a good question. I have some opportunities opening up. Thankfully they can be accomplished from my home. I am turning my attention and focus on my writing and herbalism studies while I wait for my daughter to graduate in three and a half months. Then with her ability to help more, we will see what we can do to move our business forward. Until then, I will go back to my dragons and seek solace there as I let their tales unfold at my fingertips.

Until next time, may your holiday season be full of enjoyable memories, good eats, sweet treats, and a host of house elves to help with the residual mess.

As I said a few days ago, we have had much going on in my neck of the woods. One of the many projects in the works is the business my daughter and I have been trying to bring to life. We have run into many roadblocks and have been told on many occasions that while our idea is amazing it is not feasible to fund.

Challenge accepted! We began brainstorming and decided to crowdfund. However, we learned there were many different types of crowdfunding. We didn’t care to ask for donations or give pieces of our business to investors. We liked the idea of using a project to help fund our business. Being writers, my daughter and I have many books waiting in the wings to be published. We wanted to self-publish and offer our books in our brick-and-mortar shop, so this seemed like the best place to start.

Finally, after much contemplation, planning, and all that other backend stuff you have to go through our project is off and running. This project is a collaborative novel written by myself and my daughter. We hope that sharing this fun story will bring joy, fun, and many wild adventures to our readers while at the same time bringing us the support we need for our business. Wish us luck on this new journey and please take a moment to support us. You can find our project at

Until next time, may the dragons you find be ever-friendly.

Greetings Everyone!

So much has been happening since I last posted. What has it been… almost 2years! Yikes! I dropped the ball here. My deepest apologies for falling off the face of the planet. I believe the last time I posted, I talked about relaunching An Unexpected Adventure with a few tweaks and corrections to improve it. As well as some added features.

As you can see that unfortunately did not happen. I ran into some roadblocks that I was unable to move past for many different reasons. I am still working toward a relaunch but the new relaunch date has yet to be set.

So, to catch you all up on what’s been happening. First, because of the health issues, I delved deeper into my herbalism studies as well as studying the human body so I could better understand what was going on with my own. (It has not been a fun time for this old body of mine.) It has been an interesting journey and I am continuing those studies in my own way because I enjoyed it so much. However, I discovered that while I love learning, I do not make for a very good traditional student. This small epiphany led me to not return to the local community college and simply pursue that knowledge through other means.

I returned my focus to the relaunch only to run into more roadblocks of all types. This led my oldest daughter and I to brainstorm, discuss, and finally decide to try opening up our own business which once again sent me back to school to gain some insight into some areas I had no clue about. That was fun, frustrating, and interesting. But it was mostly fun. I enjoyed the experience greatly and gained some wonderful support from some of my instructors. FullSail was a wonderful experience. I was extremely grateful to my daughter for suggesting I try it. I am proud to say I am a FullSail graduate now. That is an awesome feeling.

During my last few months of classes, I developed complications that required yet another surgery which I am currently recuperating from. This is a small tidbit of what has been happening in the realm that is my life since I last posted. I intend to jump back into the relaunch of An Unexpected Adventure along with the other goals that I hope to fill you all in on as I progress through them. In the meantime, I hope all of you are having your own wild adventures and amazing journeys that you can share with your friends, family, and anyone else who will listen.

Greetings Everyone!

Summer time! We have daylight for longer periods of time. The weather is nicer (except for the really really hot days). Kids are out of school needing lots of attention unless you are homeschoolers at which point maybe you guys school all year long and you are use the kids being constantly underfoot with loads of questions almost hourly.

So far this summer has been a whirlwind of decisions and activities. June was hit with all kinds of setbacks in the relaunching of An Unexpected Adventure. The illustrations and maps are not quite done yet. Sometimes, no matter how ready you are, if the ones you are counting on do not follow through it can cause a cascading effect on every thing else thus resulting in a delay. As you know, my kids were going to be working on providing me with illustrations and maps for An Unexpected Adventure. They have been able to partially follow through, however, a couple new jobs and school assignments later, we find ourselves three months behind schedule. We hope to get back on track during the next two months.

In my last post, I talked about delving back into my fictional reading materials. Oh what fun that has been. I haven’t been able to finish a book yet due to my crazy schedule, but I have enjoyed dipping backing in to the world of swords, dragons, and adventures.

I don’t know about you all, but I enjoy holding a print copy of any book while nursing a cup of coffee or tea and diving in to world’s known and unknown. The excitement of getting to know the characters, watching their stories unfold and following them through the trials and achievements is a feeling that I will never forget or want to lose.

Share your favorite adventures with me in the comments. I would love to hear from you.

Until next time…

Hello everyone!

You are probably wondering why you haven’t seen or heard anything from me. Then again, perhaps you aren’t. It is no secret that my online presence is scarce. This is because I have always felt that my first responsibility is to my family, friends, acquaintances, and work. I feel it is far more important to cultivate in person relations over the impersonal feel of texting or social media platforms. It is far to easy for misunderstandings to happen through impersonal contact.

That said, I also recognize the importance of keeping in touch with those who support my writing through means they prefer. For this, I am truly sorry for not keeping all my supporters up to date. I hope and pray you will forgive my lapse.

Now, for the update. Since I last posted, the doctors found two masses in my body. One of which we found out later turned out to be cancerous. Thankfully, the doc was able to remove it completely and now I must go in for regular checkups to be sure it doesn’t come back. During the long drawn out wait, from the time the masses were discovered and the time they removed the one that caused concern, all I could think about was spending as much time with my family as I could. Wondering what they would do if I was no longer around.

When I was told the mass was indeed cancerous. My thought process changed. My thoughts went back to my father and when he told me he had cancer. He said what he wanted most was to build lasting memories with his loved ones so they would have something to hold on to when he was gone. This got me to thinking that I would like to do the same. Thus began the many brainstorming sessions I had with myself and my family.

We have many things in the works. One of which is the relaunching of An Unexpected Adventure, which will (God willing) be followed by several other books in a series of books that have been waiting for their turn to shine. My kids are working their artistic fingers to the bone to come up with some good illustrations, one of which I will choose for the new cover for An Unexpected Adventure. Watch for the unveiling!

Mid-February I finished the book publishing course I was enrolled in. There is so much involved in the publishing world that it makes my head spin! I am also studying graphic design and marketing (Again so much to it that it makes my head spin!) so I can have a successful book launch. The goal: to launch sometime this year with consecutive launches for the other books over the next couple of years.

I will be posting monthly updates on our progress. I hope you will continue to support not only me but also my family with prayers and encouragement as we continue this crazy adventure of truly understanding the publishing world and what it takes takes for all of us poor introverts to succeed in our memory building goals.

Many blessings to all my current and future supporters!

Watch for my next update in April!

It has been a while since I posted anything. So many things have happened the last few months. So many changes and different directions being taken. I myself have been immersed in being a grandmother. Watching my granddaughter grow, develop and change has been amazing. I now remember why my house was always a mess despite my best efforts when my kids were little. Phew! This kid can make the biggest mess in the shortest amount of time. This young grandma has trouble keeping up with her sometimes.

Currently I find myself drawn to merely watching her as she makes new discoveries. I love watching the gears in her head turn. Her needs are so simple. Now I am seeing signs of something quite interesting. While her simple needs are met and she is usually happy with this, there are times when even though she has everything she needs she still gets so upset and gets frustrated when she can’t get us to understand what she wants.

How often do we find ourselves doing the same thing? Even though our simple needs are met we crave more. We try to get others to understand what we are looking for but, because we each have a different idea of what would make a person content we do not always understand what the other is saying. This often leads to so many misunderstandings, hurt feelings, anger and possibly even lashing out.

I do not know what the solution is to this. This post is merely the ramblings of a doting grandmother. While I do not know the solution, I can share what what I do know. Through all the years I have lived; I have gone through my fair share of hardships, selfish thoughts and actions, and then putting self aside to serve others. What I found that helps me be content with my family, my surroundings, my co-workers, my friends and acquaintances despite what is going on around me… is my faith. I can’t explain it and I won’t even try. A person’s faith is…. personal. It is something that is solely between the two beings involved. To me it is the very essence of ones relationship with the world’s creator and savior.

I wish there was a way to snap my fingers and make it to where everyone is able to find contentment quickly and easily, but alas that is not something I can do. Each person must find their own contentment. I can not force it on them. That road is rarely an easy one. A person must discover who they are or aren’t and what they especially believe in. Some people go their whole lives unable to find any form of contentment. This concept saddens my heart.

I think Paul said it best in his letter to the saints in Ephesus, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”

I pray that you, who are reading these rambling thoughts from a doting grandmother, can find the contentment that Paul found and that I too have found.

One of the hardest things to do is step back and trust God to take care of things without our personal involvement. I have had to learn this over and over. Each time He patiently teaches me this lesson. I’m sure every time I revisit it, the Good Lord is up there shaking his head saying, “Okay. If you need to learn this again then here we go.”

As I am watching everything that is happening in this country, it is hard not to put my two cents worth in. Then I think, “Why do I need to do that? Does anyone really care about my thoughts or opinions?” Nope. Folks are often to busy worrying about their own thoughts and opinions. So I have to consciously sit back and say, “I know you’ve got this Lord.”

It is hard though. Especially when I see my kids suffering because of bad decisions on someone else’s part. Again, I have to consciously sit back and say, “I know you’ve got this Lord.”

Recently, I have had two people that I am fond of get Covid. One has ended up in the hospital. I find myself gritting my teeth and saying, “You got this Lord?” His response. I get a text from my brother;

“Hey, Sis! Whatcha doing Columbus day weekend?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

Then my brother proceeds to tell me that he is going to be ordained as a pastor that Sunday and that as his first pastoral act he would like to full fill his promise of baptizing my youngest daughter.

Yup. I’m pretty sure God’s got this despite all the craziness that surrounds us right now.

Thank you, Lord.

Have you ever sat and watched a squirrel? They are fascinating. From what I have seen they rarely stay in one place very long; bouncing here and there, running from one place to the next, they are simply going going going. That is the way my blood pressure was a couple of months ago. It would go high, then low, then high, then somewhere in the middle, then high again. It was crazy and I felt absolutely terrible. Of course it would have to happen when the Covid19 crisis had just swung into full gear. Doctors weren’t letting patients come in. Everyone was being told to stay home. What was I to do?

My sweet worried husband got me in to be seen with a wonderful doctor who was kind enough to give us the green light to come in. So into the doctors office I go. It was almost like walking into a well regulated ghost town. Never had I seen it so quite in those facilities. The staff was there, of course, and few patients could be seen here or there but the usually bustling building was eerily quiet.

Fast forwarding a month, the medication the doctor prescribed me was wonderful. It took two weeks for my blood pressure numbers to stabilize, but once they did the numbers quit bouncing around all over the place and finally settled down into a nice steady regular set. Unfortunately, while the medication did what it was suppose to do, right from the beginning I developed a most annoying side effect… a dry cough.

Now, normally this wouldn’t bother me. However, when one of the main symptoms of Covid19 is a dry cough it proves to be quite bothersome. The looks I would get when I had to get out to take care of business were not nice ones and yes, I wore a mask. People were not so nice to anyone who had a little cough and understandably so, but still…. come on!

I was very happy when the doctor changed my prescription to something else, but it had its own side effects that my body just wanted to try out it seems. Whew! That was quite the roller coaster the new medication put me on. While it is stabilizing a bit now I don’t think I will lose all the side effects the new medication has to offer.

I do appreciate the medication and its control it has over my squirrelly blood pressure, my hope is to one day rid myself of it. Who has time for twirling beds, nausea, and swollen ankles. Not this gal! I’ve stories to write, hiking to do, and dragons to chase down.

Until next time…