This week’s inspiration award goes to Gemini Sasson who writes about medieval Scotland.  Welcome Gemini!

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For years I’ve been a fan of Celtic music.  Nothing stirs my soul more than the skirl of bagpipes.  I also have Scottish ancestry on my mother’s side.  The first time I went to Scotland, I felt like I’d come home, even though I’d never been there before.  It was a very surreal feeling.

After seeing the movie Braveheart (yes, I know it’s full of inaccuracies, but it was great storytelling), I was inspired to write something epic.  My curiosity about the rest of the story, beyond William Wallace, had been piqued and so I began to read, and read, and read . . . Four years later I had three books about Robert the Bruce written, although they’ve since undergone many revisions.  In a way, it was a blessing that they didn’t find a home with a publisher right away.  They are much better books now.

One of my goals in writing historical fiction is to make history feel real, exciting and accessible, not academic and boring.  Hopefully, readers will get a sense that history is more than just dates and names.  It’s also about more than costumes and weaponry.  It is about real people who had the same fears and dreams, flaws and ambitions that we do today.  Robert the Bruce was more than a soldier and tactician, more than a king and diplomat.  He endured many hardships to achieve a dream and by conveying some of those trials through storytelling, I sincerely hope that readers will gain an appreciation for his determination and draw inspiration from it. 

The Crown in the Heather – which follows Robert the Bruce, James Douglas and a young Edward II of England – is the first in The Bruce Trilogy.  The second book, Worth Dying For, follows the characters up through the Battle of Bannockburn.  The third and final book, The Honor Due A King, will be released later this year.

Links: http://www.ngeminisasson.com/The%20Crown%20in%20the%20Heather.htm

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And thanks to Suzanne Tyrpak for my own Inspiration Award.  You can find her at:  http://ghostplanestory.blogspot.com/2011/04/big-thank-to-my-fellow-author-and.html