While visiting north of Edinburgh, Scotland this past June, my husband and I traveled to the northeast coast to visit Pitsligo Castle ruin. The keep was built in1424 and modified in the 1570’s by the Forbes Clan. Exploring a well-maintained castle is fascinating and safe. Exploring a castle ruin, where you’re alone with the breezes off the ocean and the flowers growing through the crumbling walls, is thrilling and risky. But we were up for the challenge. There were some measures to save the walls from completely falling in, like scaffolding that had become a nesting place for pigeons. We climbed a mostly crumbled turning staircase to the upper story, walking and touching where ladies and knights of old had been. The breezes blew cold that day, and I could imagine the chill permeating a lady’s cloak as she walked along the battlements looking out to sea. In the quiet I could almost hear the horses’ hooves crunching in the bailey and the shouts of men manning the gate. It was the perfect place for a historical writer to breathe in the details of ancient Scotland, a place to fill her creative well. Something that is always thrilling and a bit risky!
Heather McCollum is an award winning, historical paranormal and YA romance writer. She earned her B.A. in Biology, much to her English professor’s dismay. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood of 2009 Golden Heart finalists. The ancient magic and lush beauty of Great Britain entrances Ms. McCollum’s heart and imagination every time she visits. The country’s history and landscape have been a backdrop for her writing ever since her first journey across the pond. When she is not creating vibrant characters & magical adventures on the page, she is roaring her own battle cry in the war against ovarian cancer. Ms. McCollum recently slayed the cancer beast and resides with her very own Highland hero, rescued golden retriever & 3 kids in the wilds of suburbia on the mid-Atlantic coast.
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