Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author

D.C. Rush~Don and Cathy Rush, writers and creators of the Robby’s Quest children’s storybook series

Meet the writing team of D.C. Rush

What are reviewers saying about one of the books in D.C. Rush’s children’s storybook series?

“Robby’s Quest for Seed by D.C. Rush is an entertaining tale filled with humor and adventure which are cleverly used to teach children about friendship and teamwork.”

“This could easily be a five-star best seller and a future children’s classic.”

Welcome, Don. It’s great to have you with us at 4writersandreaders blog. Tell us a little about D.C. Rush. 

My wife Cathy and I wrote and published the Robby’s Quest children’s storybook series. We write under the name D.C. Rush, short for Don and Cathy Rush. I was born in Cleveland and Cathy was born in Chicago. I spent most of my working life, over forty years, in the manufacturing sector, working my way up from machinist to plant manager. I’ve spent most of those years working in aerospace at AlliedSignal then in the recreational vehicle industry in Minnesota producing hardware for ATVs, Snowmobiles and Motorcycles. Cathy is a pharmacy tech, retired and currently a homemaker. We met and were married in Phoenix back in 1985.

Tell us about your family.

Cathy and I have been married 27 years. we have two daughters, Becky and Tiffany, both new mothers. So that means we are new grandparents. Becky’s three month old daughter is named Abygail and Tiffany has two children, Rylie her two year old son and her two month old daughter Aubree, the newest addition to the family. Becky lives close by so we see her often and we babysit for Abby once a week. Unfortunately Tiffany lives in Minnesota and we don’t get to see her often enough. I also have a brother who lives close to us but most of my family lives in Ohio.

 How long have you been writing and what type of writing do you do?

Cathy and I retired and moved back to Arizona in 2009. We began playing with the idea of writing a children’s book in 2010.

Our books are fictional stories about a group of birds, life-long friends, who travel across America searching for new adventures and making new friends. Written for early readers, they also make excellent bedtime stories for the little ones.

Can you give us a brief synopsis of Robby’s Quest for Seed? 

Robby the robin, his brother Ricky and their flock of feathery friends decide to fly south for the winter. Also in the flock are three mourning doves, a family of six sparrows and one lone blackbird. Robby is the group leader; however, he believes in and promotes democracy. The birds vote on most major issues. During the trip south, Joy the youngest sparrow wanders from the flock and lands in the backyard of a very determined and hungry cat named Hershey. The other birds must form a search party and save the little bird. When the group arrives in Florida, they discover their winter homes were destroyed by a hurricane. The birds face a dilemma. Should they stay in Florida until the waters subside or travel west to Arizona? Robby’s Quest for Seed is a story about teamwork, leadership and friendship that children are sure to enjoy.

What prompted the team of Don and Cathy Rush to become writers?

We wanted to leave something behind for our children and their children. We really did not expect to publish our story. The manuscript sat on our hard drive for over a year before we were persuaded to self-publish. The birth of our grandson gave us some added incentive to publish and we dedicated the first book to Rylie. After we wrote and published the first story, it seemed natural to write a second story. We never expected to write four books , but it seemed we had more stories to tell.

Do you have a favorite line from the book? 

There are many passages I really like. This one is from the first book.

“Today was a very special day. Today was the day when all the birds would begin the journey south for the winter. Once arriving at their destination, it would be like spring break for birds.”

Look and listen…

Who is your favorite character and why?

I like Robby the robin. Over the years, I enjoyed being in management. Robby has my management style. He enjoys being the leader; but he also enjoys empowering others. Robby seeks agreement from the group for critical decisions and listens to others when they try to help. Robby is dedicated to the flock and would not let anything bad happen to anyone.

What was the hardest part about writing your book? The first book took a long time to write. We really struggled with the plot and how to actually form a story. By the third chapter we had an idea where we were going with the storyline so things began moving along. One problem was that we kept going back correcting our grammar and we weren’t really getting anywhere. We decided to just continue to write then we would go back later and check for grammar, punctuation, etc. It’s best to get your thoughts down on paper as soon as you can.

Do you do anything besides write?  I spend most of my time marketing our books. Social networking takes a great deal of effort. My first priority is our website www.dcrushbooks.com. This is our main advertising hub for all our social networking efforts. We also have a Facebook Page www.facebook.com/dcrushbooks and we are active on Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest. We also have a WordPress blog  that we are still tweaking. I enjoy surfing the internet and looking for new ways to promote our books. Cathy enjoys Facebook and she helps with ideas for the blog and website.  We also enjoy watching action-adventure movies and crime-drama television shows like Criminal Minds, CSI Miami and Law & Order.

How can our readers get copies of your books? 

Our first three books are available in eBook and paperback editions. The first and second books are also available on audio. We found a wonderful narrator from Los Angeles with voice-over experience on radio and television. Tracy does an amazing job. You can find all the links to every book and every format on our website www.dcrushbooks.com. On our website you can also watch any of three book trailers and listen to samples of the audio books.

Here are the eBook, Paperback and Audio Book links to Robby’s Quest for Seed

eBook on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009V7GZ2K

Paperback on Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4257882

Audio Book on Audible.com: http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B00D8HWUEG

What’s next for Don and Cathy—D.C. Rush?   

We are kicking around the idea of a picture book for the little ones, but we really need to get the Robby’s Quest series in front of more readers. We like to visit local hospitals and give the children a paperback to read; but again, we need to begin selling our books in order to continue doing this. We do have a new publicist who will begin a marketing campaign starting January 1st for Book One, February 1st for Book Two, etc.

It’s been a pleasure learning more about D.C. Rush and  Robby’s Quest for Seed. Thanks so much for joining us here today. — Bette A. Stevens at http://www.4writersandreaders blog

Where to find D.C. Rush:

Website: www.dcrushbooks.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dcrushbooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dcrushbooks

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dcrushbooks/

Blog: http://dcrushbooks.wordpress.com/

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