Blog

Recently someone remarked that I wrote about men who wear skirts. I couldn’t just smile and let him make fun of my Highlanders so I asked him if he thought he could wear a plaid with the same courage and distinction as the Highlanders. He corrected me, letting me know it was called a kilt.

Depends on the time period said I, and therein started the discussion.

In my research I found that there is no reference to the kilt before the 16^th century. Prior to that time it was referred to as the belted plaid. It was about nine feet long and made of heavy wool. It was draped around the body and pleated, the proper way of doing it, no one knows for sure. The plaid also served as a sleeping blanket, a way to keep the wearer warm when needed. If you go back before 1093, you’ll find that short tunics were worn. So basically Highlander men have been wearing skirts for a long time.

As for the first Tartan kilt, it seems that weavers created their own designs and colors using vegetable dyes. Over time specific designs began to identify clans.

Now all this is very interesting, but what I find the most important is that the Highlander warriors look great in skirts, tunic, plaids, kilts; whatever name it’s given the Highlander men wear the garment with courage, strength and pride.

I can’t resist watching a movie about a Highlander. The very first one I ever saw was an old film called The Ghost Goes West starring Robert Donat (1930s I think). He was dressed in full kilt regalia and I was enthralled. My mother loved watching old movies, so I was raised on them, and gratefully so. I think I fell in love with love when I saw Daphne Du Maurier’s, Frenchmen’s Creek (1944) with Joan Fontaine and Arturo de Cordova. Not a Highlander movie, but a romance. And you wonder why I write romance.

Back to kilts. No one can argue how great Adrian Paul looks in a kilt in The Highlander series. I’ve seen every episode several times and they still delight me. Christopher Lambert starred in the move The Highlander and though not bad, he can’t compare to Adrian Paul. Then there’s the movie version of the series The Avengers. Though the movie was so-so, the scene where Sean Connery is dressed in a kilt – was fantastic, but then so is he. And his performance in The Highlander is memorable. Also Liam Neeson did justice to the kilt in Rob Roy. Then there’s Braveheart with so many men in skirts that you don’t know who to look at first.

So I admit that I love men in skirts. What about you? Who is your favorite Highlander in a movie?

If you’ve read my blog before you know that my twin sister and I often shop at the bookstore together. It gives us more purchasing power. I buy four books, she buys four, giving us eight books to read. This also allows for a joint library of massive size. Could also be the reason her husband built beautiful shelving in her rec room.

After a trip to the bookstore one day, and over lunch, we were discussing why we enjoy reading so much. She remarked that she loved to read because it turns off her mind. She loves being swept away in a love story, involved in solving a mystery, amid the danger of a thriller and on and on and on. It allows her mind to escape the everyday  thoughts and worries that can drive anyone crazy.

It’s also why she loves reading at night before bed, as I do. It relaxes you and  makes for a more peaceful sleep, though I don’t recommend horror stories before bed or you might just be staying up all night with the lights on. Something I have done on several occasions. You think I would have put the book down, but I couldn’t, I was much too involved in it.

Even after a long day of writing, I still turn to a book to escape. I need another author’s characters to rescue me from  my own characters who continue to invade my thoughts after I stop writing. I need my mind turned off and like my sister, I do it with books.

I’m like a child with a new toy when I see that a favorite author has a new book out and I can’t wait to take it home and read it. At times that presents a problem for my sister and me, since we have to decide on who gets to read it first. If I’m on a tight deadline, she wins out.

Books have always brought me joy, I can’t imagine life without them.

Do you feel the same?

Imagine you’re shackled to a handsome Highlander and you’re both about to be killed by two of the King’s soldiers. What do you do? Duncan and Mercy face that peril in the first book of the Warrior King series. Not knowing each other but finding themselves shackled together, the pair must make the most of it.

It’s a daring escape they make, which places them in even more peril. Try as they may they cannot find a way to remove the chains that bind them. So with no other option they must travel to Duncan’s home bound together. It isn’t an easy journey for them. They must learn to work together in harmony, especially with the King’s soldiers after them.

Duncan believes the soldiers are after him and Mercy thinks they are after her. Who is that the soldiers hunt and why? And what secrets are the couple keeping from each other?

Bound To A Warrior is due in stores near the end of August. I’ll  be posting more about Duncan and Mercy’s journey and about the Warrior King series itself. The second book as yet untitled is just as exciting. It’s about a death bride, a woman with a hex on her that causes anyone who weds her to die.

And there’s lots more I’ve got stirring and bubbling in the pot so stayed tuned to hear all about it!

Here it is the cover for Ronan’s Tale. I love it. Hope you do to. When its colored in I’ll post it again so you can see the Sinclare brothers in full color. I want to thank again the talented artist Dean Kotz for bringing the Sinclare brothers to life and together on the cover.  And another big thank you to my son Marc, without his talent and help this project would have never been possible.

I owe my son Marc a BIG thank you for all the hard work he’s been doing on my website. He’s been patient in correcting someone else’s mistake and I can’t thank him enough. If it wasn’t for his expertise I don’t know what I would have done.

So a HUGE thank you, Marc,! You’re very much appreciated!

I did not expect the new changes to my website to go into effect just yet, but as you can see they have. This however delays the posting of the cover of Ronan’s Tale. Does anything ever go the way you expect it? I want so badly for you all to see the cover and fingers crossed (been doing a lot of that lately) it should be posted by the weekend.

I also saw a draft for the cover of Bound to a Warrior and it looks great, chains and all! Lots of interesting stuff coming up soon so stay tuned. And you never know things may actually work out as planned. Miracles do happen!