Okay. So every now and again I get a whirlwind of inspiration to try something new. Such happened about a week ago when, thanks to the example of Marc Gunn, I decided I’d like to plan a trip to Scotland focusing on the history and mythology in our fantasy series Rowan of the Wood.
Before I spend a great deal of time, energy, and money, I’d like to see if there is a general interest among our fans, friends, and followers to accompany us on this journey.
I’ve put together a *very* preliminary itinerary… this is so very subject to change, as I haven’t gathered any prices for the hotels/areas or even seen if they have availability.
Day 1: Edinburgh
Day trip down to Rosslyn Chapel. Filled with Green Men. Also featured in The Davinci Code.
Evening in Edinburgh
Day 2: Isle of Mull
Drive to the Isle of Mull (approx. 4 hours + ferry ride)
(here we might also look into stopping in Argyll on the way…LOADS of pictish sites there)
Check into Hotel (either on Mull or at the Argyll Hotel on Iona)
Free Afternoon/Evening
Day 3: Isle of Mill/Iona
Visit the Loch Buie Stone Cirle, Mull Where Rowan and Fiana were wed/tragically separated.
Visit Iona Abbey. Built in honor of St. Columba, the converter of the picts and mentioned in the books.
Day 4: Loch Ness & Aviemore
Visit the infamous Loch Ness (about 3.5 hrs from Mull) and try to see Nessie!
Continue onto Aviemore to the Rowan Tree Hotel, where we will stay for two nights (if we can get in). It’s near The Cairngorm National Park in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. Perhaps there is even a Rowan tree there!
Day 5: Aberdeen & Stonehaven
Day trip to Stonehaven (2 hr one way) – optional. Here we see the remains of Stonehaven Castle. Part of Zefferelli’s Hamlet was shot there.
See the Picardy Stone, one of the oldest Pictish stones. Carved in the 7th c… 100 years after Rowan.
Visit an Ogham stone in Brandsbut, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. One of the very few left in Scotland.
** Here is where there is a choice. Would you rather pack up and leave to a new hotel each night for Day 4/5 (staying in Inverness one day and Aberdeen the second) or stay at a centrally located hotel. It’s about the same amount of driving, maybe more to stay centrally located.**
Day 6-8: Edinburgh
After a 2.5 hr drive from the Highlands (perhaps with a stop in Perth for more history stuff), spend the rest of your vacation in Edinburgh. Lots of free time to do what you want with optional group events.
National Scottish Museum (their Early People section would cover the Celts & Picts)
Edinburgh Castle
The Edinburgh Dungeon
So much more!
Again, this is just a very preliminary sketch. The final tour might not resemble this one at all. It all depends on the feedback I get from those interested!
Other options: include some Macbeth & Harry Potter stops… other literary interest?
This is staying at the Rowan Tree Hotel or something similar in the middle with day trips to Loch Ness, Inverness, Stonehaven, and Perth… The other option is driving that route and staying in Inverness & Aberdeen at different hotels.
Preliminary quotes using a UK tour guide came back at around $2500 per person based on double occupancy, land price only. This did include meals, however.
The exchange rate from $$USD to £GBP is astronomical at nearly two USD to one GBP. Makes for an expensive trip.
I, however, am determined to get a better rate than that. The more information I have regarding what interested guests might want, the better chance I have of planning a trip that would work for all. Just while composing this blog, I found this: Edinburgh 5 Day Excursion to Mull, etc. This is already less.
CONTACT ME if you are interested and answer the following questions:
1. How much are you willing to pay (land price only) for a Rowan of the Wood themed vacation to Scotland?
2. Would you prefer a program of 5, 7, or 9 days?
3. Do you want it to include meals if possible? (Breakfast & Dinner)
4. Would you rather travel more, moving to 4 or more hotels over the 8-9 days (for example) or travel less, staying in 3 or less hotels over those days? Like perhaps staying only in the Isle of Mull and Edinburgh and taking day trips from there.
5. Would you rather see actual historical sites, even if it means more time on the road? Or would you rather see most of the historical sites in museums & go to places with gift shops and such, staying mostly in Edinburgh and either Mull/Iona or in the Highlands.
6. Do you prefer hotels or B&Bs?
7. Would you prefer April, May, or June for travel?
Please, please, please CONTACT ME if you are interested. I’ll give it until August to get emails from at least 20 interested parties (based on double occupancy) because we need at least 8 (4 couples) to come in order to make this work.
Life at the Rowan of the Wood world headquarters was thrown into chaos three weeks ago when the warehouses ran out of books in the middle of a big promotional tour. We were facing canceled events across the country. Adding to the panic was the rapidly approaching deadline for the sequel’s completion. The publisher was also preoccupied with the eminent release of a different book which took attention away from the Rowan crisis and how to finance the printing of enough books to keep orders filled for the six months it takes before the publisher can get paid for the first printing’s sales.
Can you imagine manufacturing and selling an item then waiting six to nine months for payment?
This is a serious difficulty for small publishers.
Books sell because of publicity. In the big publishing houses, money and resources are allocated for publicity campaigns. Display space is purchased in stores. Ads are placed in appropriate journals. If sales are not strong enough, the budget is cut or even canceled. The book is declared a failure and the publisher moves on to the next book.
Small publishers seldom have the resources for promotion, so it is up to the authors. Most of these are first time and/or part time authors, so their commitment is limited.
Christine and I however made the commitment to be full time authors. So far this has been a success. We are traveling the country doing book signings at bookstores and supporting our efforts through weekend sales at Renaissance Fairs and Celtic festivals.
We are also having a great time doing it.
However the events of the last few weeks made it clear that some reorganization was needed, so we jumped right in and got it done. So, after three weeks of frantic activity everything is once again under control.
Rowan of the Wood is now being published by Blue Moose Press. Copies will soon be back in stores. Back orders will be a thing of the past, and the tour will go on.
In addition we have somehow managed, between panic attacks, to complete the sequel Witch on the Water.
It is even better than Rowan of the Wood. Look for it coming soon to a book store near you, and thank you for bearing with us during our crisis.
During the interim, you can get your copy of Rowan of the Wood from it’s first printing! Only 100 copies are left, and they will go fast… because by getting one, you are automatically entered into our What Would You Do for a Kindle 2 Contest! Details here.
As far as my middle-aged brain can decipher, this fun word came out of the online video game community with a TYPO! Instead of saying “owned” — it was a frequent typo “pwned.”
So it goes.
That’s where the title comes from.
The video is from my husband’s wonderful sense of humor. . . mixed in with a really cheap camera, my sister & nephew, and some fairly decent editing (if I do say so myself), Voila! A fun, 45 second romp!
When I came up with the name Cullen Knight, I had not yet read Twilight. Needless to say, when I read it last fall, I reacted to the use of the name “Cullen” with a sardonic, “You’re kidding me!” Our book had just been picked up by the publisher, and I didn’t want to change the name of our protagonist. I loved the name Cullen Knight, and I thought it was a very unique name! So it goes…
But now, it’s not so bad that everyone is already talking about a Cullen!!
So, Edward Cullen…meet Cullen Knight!
They are nothing alike. In fact, they wouldn’t even be friends. Edward would be unreachable to someone like Cullen, as he is unreachable to most people in his own school. What, after all, would a ninety-year-old vampire have in common with a twelve-year-old geek?
Edward is dreamy. He is the perfect boyfriend: strong, romantic, brave, protective, and a gentleman. What more can a girl want? So he has a thirst for blood! All relationships have their issues. Trust me: I might be pushing 40, but since Edward is still 50 years my senior, I can still squeal and swoon with the best of them!
Seriously, the actor Robert Pattinson is quite handsome and talented. I loved him as Cedric Diggory in my beloved Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (my favorite of the HP movies). The casting director could not have made a better choice for Edward.
Cullen Knight, on the other hand, is not dreamy. He’s kinda nerdy. He’s always a little dirty, probably from walking (not running at the speed of sound) through the woods. He reads whenever he can in his special redwood grove and sometimes even falls asleep in the ferns there. His family is not loving and supporting like the Cullen’s of the Twilight series. His foster parents make the Dursley’s look pleasant! They are quite cruel and, worse, neglectful. Cullen doesn’t have many friends, just two other outcasts: Maddy, a cynical Goth girl, and April, an optimistic blind girl. He’s younger and smaller than everyone else in his class, which really contributes to his constant ridicule.
However, Cullen stumbles upon some ancient magic, and it changes his life forever. He becomes possessed by a powerful wizard who has about 1300 years on Edward. This wizard, Rowan, has a wife named Fiana who has many things in common with Edward, seeing as how they’re both Vampires. Although Rowan spent the last 1400 years suspended in time, Fiana took a long, hard road through history, sacrificing much. Suddenly, Cullen finds himself in the middle of it all, and he still needs to pass English.
We got our bags in today. It occurred to me last week that just having merchandise to sell isn’t all we need. Actually, it occurred to be during ArmadilloCon when someone bought one of my Green Men plaques and asked for a bag, and I didn’t have one. I just remembered it last week, so I ordered some 100% recycled/biodegradable bags. They came in today, so I got to try out the woodcut I made to print on them. I think it turned out pretty good!
This is a stylized Green Man design I made in Photoshop and then cut out of masonite board. It will be part of the “show” at Renaissance & Celtic Festivals where we’ll be doing woodcut printmaking demonstrations.
Stamped Bags
Additionally, here is some of my work framed, two oil pastel (5×7 framed), and my newest painting. (In that order) I think the matted/framed Green Men look very nice! I’m so very pleased with how they turned out.
I also found some 5×7 frames for 3×5 or 4×6 prints, but our 4×6 prints won’t fit into them, so I made some more Green Men with oil pastels.
Here is the latest in artists’ renditions of our main character Rowan from Rowan of the Wood. This painting was done by the incredibly talented Geahk Burchill in Portland. He wanted to do a photo-realistic version of Rowan when he’s faced with the reality of losing his wife, his people, and his entire life 1400 years in the past. Geahk also happens to be Ethan’s half-brother and my brother-in-law. We have quite the talented family!
The Celtic knotwork on the shin guards and detail in the tattoos are especially impressive!
Our “in progress” tent for upcoming RenFaires & Celtic Festivals
So, here it is.
Ethan was going to build one from scratch, but it proved to be too much work with what he currently has to deal with (running two BIG jobs simultaneously), so we went commercial with this sweet little number. It has a renaissance feel to it, and we’ll be doing a few more things to it to enhance it’s periodness.
The lattice on the sides are to hang the Green Man art. Those will be stained darker. I like it dark. Always.
Ethan is hand stitching a “Rowan of the Wood” banner for the sign. I’ll be using a sewing machine to make cloth sleeves to hide the metal poles/connectors. We will be using some of Ethan’s already-cut wood (from the structure he was building) to use as the beams for the roof, so it will have a nice “woody” feel inside with those.
I look forward to displaying the finished tent at MiddleFest later this month.
Which reminds me… IT’S SEPTEMBER! WOO-fricken-HOO!!! The OFFICIAL (well not completely official until Mabon) beginning of AUTUMN! Living in Texas, September always meant the beginning of the end of thedebilitating summer heat! The start of a new semester at college. A new beginning… so, here it is!
Our book is ready to go to the printers! Our wares are ready to be sold! My new class at ACC started, and the students so far seem up to the challenge…. I’ve delved more into the depths of Web 2.0 and am getting more sites working together. I’ve ordered 100% recycled retail bags in which to put our customer’s purchases (I made a woodcut to “stamp” the bags with the name “Rowan of the Wood” and image of a stylized Green Man), and we’ve ordered some handcrafted magic wands to sell. Now I need to focus on details like presentation, matting/framing prints, displays, price tags… still so much to do!
We’re in the Statesman! Even though it’s just a brief mention — it’s great publicity. And it’s all because of Ia’s awesome artwork.
I spoke with the reporter and ensured that he had her name spelled right and everything — and they he didn’t even acknowledge her as the artist… but I ACKNOWLEDGE HER — you rock, Ia!
That’s Ia, the amazing artist who did the character designs, the illustrations for our “Silly” trailer, and our gorgeous book cover! AMAZING… I can’t say it enough. And she painted this for us to bring to these conventions…
Our ArmadilloCon table… NO BOOKS! Since there were no books to sell, due to the pushback, I decided to bring my Green Man art. It at least gets people to stop and look…
