The Vikings Are Coming!

Everyone comes from somewhere.  My ancestors on my father's side came from Cajun stock.  My mother's ancestors hailed from Scots-Irish and Cherokee blood.  All my life I was made well aware of where I came from.  The only problem...I spent many years not quite knowing where I was going...

I kinda like the history of the Vikings.  Yeah, there is that whole bloody pillage thing, but when you get to know them a little bit better you find they were a vibrant people with a strong definition of both where they came from and even better, where they were going.  And where they were going was into the great unknown where they had the chance to change the course of history.

Kinda sounds like the life and times of writers, doesn't it?  I mean, if we truly want to call ourselves writers, we must be willing to step out into the unknown.  To step foot on that ship bound for publication and eagerly travel uncharted waters in search of a way to leave our mark on the world.  

The vikings encountered adversity and so will we.  It just comes in a different form.  Writer's block, insecurity, rejection letters, deadlines...the list can be endless and yet, so can our faith in ourselves.  Faith in our ability to charm the world with our words.  Faith there is indeed someone out there who believes in us as well.  Faith that one day we might do as the vikings did when they conquered new lands and step into our own new worlds as published authors.

Let's just not get too carried away...

We All Be A Wee Bit Irish Today

On Saint Patrick's Day I think everyone has a little green flowing through their veins.  I have been told that I am Scots-Irish, among other things.  I used to think that meant it was kinda like the Hatfields and the McCoys where someone among the feuding clans somehow managed to find true love long ago and one of my ancestors was a product of that ill-timed love affair.

You either just bought that story I was trying to sell ya, or you figured out I must have kissed a Blarney Stone or two in my youth.  Here is a more famous "blarney" joke for your enjoyment:

O'Gorman jumped up from the card table white with rage

'Stop this game!' he shouted. 'Fitzgerald is cheating!'

'How do you know?' his partners asked with concern.

'He's not playing the hand I dealt him!'

The Irish are very proud of what they consider their national treasures and so should they be!  Here are a few little known facts about the history and culture of the lovely Irish people:

1)  The national emblem of the country is the Celtic Harp, not the shamrock as many believe. No other country in the world has a musical instrument for their national emblem.

2)  Bram Stoker , the author of Dracula was Irish.

3)  Saint Patrick's true name was Maewyn Succat

4)  There are no known snakes  living in Ireland.

5)  4 Irish authors have won the Nobel Prize of literature .

Ireland is also the home of many Irish Children's Book Authors.  Here are just a few:


Roddy Doyle...The Giggler's Treatment


Patricia Lynch...The Turf-Cutter's Donkey


C S Lewis...The Chronicles of Narnia


Eoin Colfer...Artemis Fowl series


Marita Conlon McKenna...Under The Hawthorne Tree


Padraic Colum...The King of Ireland's Son


Pat O'Shea...The Hounds of The Morrigan


Kate Thompson...The New Policeman


James Stephens...Irish Fairy Tales


Siobhan Dowd...The London Eye Mystery

Nowhere else in the world could you find such a beautifully rustic writer's retreat.  Can't you just visualize a highland romance or a wee fairy tale just waiting to be born there?  Or, if you are interested in writing on a grander scale...