Answers to a few questions and comments I frequently hear.... 
- When did you start writing?
I started when I was 8. I tried my first novel at 10, but gave up when I saw someone had already written 'my' book. It was The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. I finished my first novel when I was 23.
- Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes. Throughout school, anything involving music or creative writing was a favorite.
- Do you work with book clubs?
Yes. Upcoming events are listed on my New and Events page. If you are interested in scheduling a signing, please contact me at laura@bluebellstrilogy.com
- What gave you the idea for Blue Bells of Scotland?
My favorite childhood novel, In the Keep of Time, by Margaret J. Anderson, featured four siblings going up into a Scottish keep in the 1970's, and coming down to medieval Scotland. My book, however, features not just adults, rather than children, but two men switching places-- which led in all sorts of directions I didn't necessarily plan! It is titled after the piece known to all trombonists, Blue Bells of Scotland, and in researching the 'streaming banners' and 'noble deeds' of the song's lyrics, I discovered Scotland's incredible victory at Bannockburn against overwhelming odds.
- Time travel... Scotland... you weren't inspired by Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series?
Not at all. I only heard about Diana Gabaldon and the Outlander series a year into writing Blue Bells, when people at nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) kept asking if my book was somewhat like hers. I have been collecting her books one by one, and love them. Our books are alike only in the themes of time travel and Scotland, however. My time frame is the fourteenth century and the Battle of Bannockburn; hers is the 1700's and the Battle of Culloden, and America around the time of the Revolution. My stories involve two men trading lives, whereas hers focus on one woman moving back and forth.
- Have you been to Scotland?
My husband and I went in 2008. We spent two weeks visiting all the places Shawn and Niall go, with the exception of not being able to follow Shawn and Allene's exact route through the mountains. Even today, there are no roads in some of the places they hiked in 1314. So we drove in as far as we could to get a feel for, and photograph, the area. We climbed Sron a Chlachain near Killin to get a taste of what it is like to hike mountains for four days. We visited Urquhart and Tioram Castles, two of my inspirations and models for Niall's castle, Glenmirril. We went to what is left of the Bannockburn battlefield, and walked all over the town. We visited Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, where Shawn's orchestra plays.
We also just had fun, doing things like taking unplanned trips to the Blair Atholl Highland Games and Linlithgow Palace. Some of the unplanned events became inspirations for Book Two of the Trilogy. It was a wonderful trip, and beautiful country with wonderful, friendly people, and I hope to go again soon.
All the photography on this site is from our trip to Scotland.
- This would make a great movie.
I agree. The music is already in the works. The composer and I have been researching period instruments, and listening to samples of uillean pipes.
- You really have nine kids? Are they all yours? None of them are adopted? Are there any twins?
Yes, I really do, they're all mine, none of them are adopted, and I have identical twin boys.
- How do you find time to write with so many kids?
I write early in the morning, late at night, when the kids are at school, playing, with friends, or running errands with my husband. I write when I have gaps in my teaching schedule. And bit by bit, it all gets done.
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