Behind the Scenes of The Chronicles of Alcinia
Book I of this trilogy, The King’s Daughter, first came in a dream. It was a very persistent dream of a man who resembled a Roman general saving a girl in a slave market. I had literally NO idea where that originated. At the time, I was a busy social worker with a husband and five stepchildren. I wrote and published poetry because it didn’t take as long as writing a book. I didn’t have the time required to write a novel, though somehow I always knew I would.
Then, tragically, I had time. My husband died and the children were on their own. And I kept having that dream. I had life insurance I could have used for some sensible purpose—a down payment, additional education, things most people do. Or, I could buy a plane ticket to Ireland, where I didn’t know a soul, and go over there and write a book.
If you’re reading this, you know what I did. The King’s Daughter was written in bed and breakfast rooms, pubs, on the Cliffs of Moher, in Killarney National Park while feeding the swans, and in one particularly spectacular sheep pasture with a view of the ocean. I wrote longhand on the ubiquitous yellow lined legal pads you can get everywhere—thousands of words in longhand. Ireland reached down into one side of my family roots and dragged that book right out of me. I came back to the States and the first publisher to read the full manuscript took it.
I began the sequel, Heart of the Earth, immediately upon returning. It was only some years later that I wrote Ice Maiden in answer to readers who kept asking me, “What happened to Tia’s son?” Now all three books have reverted to me and I have published them in both print and ebook. They can be purchased individually or as a set. They are dramatic books, set against scenes of war and deprivation but also a truly memorable love. One of my reviewers said it best, “These books are about love, not romance.”
Thank you for hosting!
ReplyDelete