I have never been afraid of hard work and have always been a determined sort. Pretty consistently throughout my life, that work ethic has paid off. That includes my being awarded an international fellowship this year. I have applied to the Hawthornden Literary Retreat three times in the past decade and finally, I was chosen! This spring I will be spending four weeks in a 15th-century castle along with 4-5 other writers from around the world just outside Edinburgh in Scotland. There is no internet or cell service there, so I won’t be able to update as I go, but I will be working on my first book for adult readers titled Silent Nights, along with dabbling in a couple of picture books that have been nagging me to be written. This is such an honor and I am thrilled and excited and, okay yes, a little bit scared, too. The whole flying over the Atlantic Ocean part – with any luck I will sleep the whole time. You can have a look at the castle and learn about the fellowship here: Hawthornden Literary Retreat
Another exciting part of the adventure is that my Scottish ancestors hail from Rosslyn Castle, the ruins of which are a mile away from where I will be staying. But the chapel is still thriving and I will get to go to Easter services there, in the same place where my ancestors did prior to the late 1700’s. Rosslyn Chapel history.
