It’s always fun to have a new author on my blog!! Today, I’ll be facing-off with the author of 4 novels, father of two kiddos and husband to ONE lovely lady! All of his books have incredible reviews and there is so much buzz about this author, I couldn’t wait to have him as a guest!! He’s a country boy at heart, so let’s see if I can get him off his porch long enough to answer my questions…
Billy’s new release, 
Let’s play this game, shall we?
The rules are simple. I ask Billy some random questions. He replies and then I give my answers. Each winning answer is worth one point and I get to decide whose answer is better.
It’s my blog.
Here we go!
1. Best part about living in Virginia?
Billy – Oh wow. The history? The people? The natural beauty? Let’s go with all three. Let’s also go with the fact that there are half a dozen major universities within fifty miles of my house, yet the lead story in our Sunday paper last week was about a group of people looking for Bigfoot in our woods. The dichotomy is fun, but it can sometimes make your head hurt.
Charity – HA! Did they find him??? That would be pretty sweet if he has been living in your backyard all of this time?!?!
I would have to agree with you. Virginia is amazing. I live in the Historic Triangle area and absolutely love it!!!! I’m a major history nerd, so….there’s that. But, it’s beautiful. We have all 4 seasons and I love it.
— Tie
Charity 1 / Billy 1
2. Have you ever been in a rodeo?
Billy – In? No. I’ve been to many, though. Rodeos are the best, but I watched a guy get thrown from a bull and trampled during the first one I ever saw. That pretty much cured me from ever participating. My son used to get on a sawhorse and pretend that was a bull. I did do that a few times. It was fun.
Charity – Yikes! That’s so scary!! Why would anyone do that. crazy. I have never been in a rodeo, obviously. I am a princess, in real life. I have only been to a rodeo at the state fair when I was a little kid. I did enjoy it, but not enough to get my princess self on a sawhorse.
— You totally get that one.
Charity 1 / Billy 2
3. Biggest phobia?
Billy – I an handle snakes, spiders, bats, heights, closed spaces, the space under ladders, and the number thirteen, but if I see a clown, I start weeping like a baby.
How could you hate this guy??
Charity – OMGosh. I love that you added “the number thirteen”! haha!!
I am so scared of the dentist, it is ridiculous. Those drills….and scratchy tools! ahhhh!!!!!
— Tie
Charity 2 / Billy 3
4. What’s the best fireworks story you have?
Billy – When I was a kid, there was an old farmer down our road who lived alone. He would go out in his fields every July 4 and let off the most amazing fireworks anyone had ever seen. You know the ones – so illegal it would have landed him in jail if anyone would have cared to arrest him, which they didn’t, because the cops would be with everyone else on the side of the road, watching the sky explode. The farmer died one year on July 2. Everyone was sad for him, for his farm, and for the fact that we’d never see his fireworks again. Come the night of the Fourth, we started hearing these huge booms outside. Everybody around gathered at the edge of the road and watched those fireworks go off. To this day, no one knows who did them.
Charity – Ok, you are a good storyteller. That gave me goosebumps. I’ve got nothing.
Charity 2 / Billy 4
5. What’s the worst thing you have ever eaten?
Billy – A ham casserole. It was the first meal my wife ever cooked for me. I remember trying to get it down (and keep it down) and thinking, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do for the next fifty years? But I asked for seconds, and now she’s the best cook in the world.
Charity – You asked for seconds?? ahh! Now, that was just too nice… And, no you didn’t just throw your wife under the bus!!! At least you added a short little phrase at the end saying she is “the best cook in the world”. Kinda redeemed yourself.
I want to say…Fried Snickers. Maybe not the WORST, technically….but, disgusting, nonetheless. We ordered one at the county fair a couple years back. It sounded like such a train wreck, hubs and I had to try it.
Here is the hubs. He’s just moments away from the big purchase. You like his corn dog ears? Total accident!
— I think that the story of your wife’s first meal just, narrowly, beat out my fried Snickers bar.
Charity 2 / Billy 5
6. Did you ever want to go on the show, Survivor?
Billy – I don’t know that I’d do all that well on Survivor. Too much backstabbing and lying. I’d end up being the guy who just went off by himself and told the others to come visit once they got hungry.
Charity – Well, maybe you would win because they would forget to take you to Tribal Counsel!
I would love to be on it…under certain conditions. 1. I would be allowed to wear a moo moo. America would be scarred for life if I was traipsing around in a bikini. 2. Well, that’s pretty much it.
— I totally get it!
Charity 3 / Billy 5
7. Worst country song you’ve ever heard?
Billy – Here’s what’s so great about the majority of country music: it’s story-driven. Most of the songs you’ll hear on the radio are about people just trying to get by, trying to make sense of things, trying to raise a family and make a life. But of course there are a whole lot of songs that have nothing at all to do with any of that, and the two that come to mind first are “Red Solo Cup” and “Achy Breaky Heart.” Please don’t make me pick one. It’s too painful.
Charity – Well, thanks so much for getting Achy Breaky Heart stuck in my head. The two that come to mind for me are the Brad Paisley one where he’s talking about picking ticks off of her. In no way, NO WAY, is tick picking romantic. barf. Secondly, Boot Scoot Boogie. You’re welcome for getting it stuck in your head.
— Tick Picking is gross.
Charity 4 / Billy 5
8. How do you strive to bring God the most glory in your life?
Billy – It begins with being the best father and husband I can and goes from there. Whether you call it fair or not, I think a lot of people’s impressions of their heavenly Father are influenced by their impressions of their early ones. I take that as a great responsibility with regard to my children. I try to bring glory to God in my books, too. I write about some tough themes with tough people and tough situations, but that’s what I feel led to do. There are authors who write novels to hopefully help people escape from reality for a bit, and authors who write novels to hopefully help face reality for a bit. I’ll never begrudge a writer who does the former, but I’ll always be a writer who does the latter.
Charity – Love it.
— God Wins!
Charity 4 / Billy 5
9. Most embarrassing thing that you are good at. (ie…juggling, crabwalking, singing opera…)
Billy – I can spit a watermelon seed thirty feet on a straight line. Not the most exemplary of acts, but it ain’t easy, either.
Charity – OMGosh. How did you even come up with that answer??? haha.
— You get it for sure!
Charity 4 / Billy 6
10. Which person in the Bible are you most excited to meet in Heaven someday? (God doesn’t count! That’s a given)
Billy – Wow. In no particular order, I want to: have a catch with Babe Ruth, dinner with C.S. Lewis, go for a walk with Andy Griffith, have a conversation with G.K. Chesterton, and see my grandparents again. There are two dogs waiting up there for me, too.
Charity – I am confused which one of those was in the Bible again? Probably Andy Griffith. 😮
Can’t wait to meet Job and David. I mean, God called Job His “friend”!! Can you even imagine!
Final:
Charity 5 / Billy 6
So close!
Thanks, Billy! 
That was a blast!! It was fun getting to know you a little better. I had some readers swooning at the thought of you being on the blog! ha!!!
Guess what?? He has agree to do a giveaway! WOO HOO!! All you have to do is head on over to a Rafflecopter giveaway and start entering!
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