Minnesota: Land of 10,000 Lakes-Resident, Laura Vosika

So our license plates tell us. But that’s only because Land of 11,842 Lakes More than Ten Acres and More if You Count All the Smaller Lakes Plus 6,500 Miles of Streams and Rivers lacks that poetic flow—in addition to not fitting so well on a license plate!

I was born in Minnesota, but within six months had moved (or, being an infant, been moved) to Germany, where I stayed for more than five years. Life in the military followed, but we frequently traveled back to Minnesota for holidays, and weeks before I started 7^th grade, moved to Duluth, on the southern tip of Lake Superior.  I've traveled a fair amount and I still find the North Shore one of the most beautiful places on earth.

I spent high school in the Twin Cities, left for college and the west coast, and finally moved back here in 2004.

Minnesota sits at a crossroads between the older original states and the wild west. While our history, unlike the East Coast where I spent some of my childhood, doesn’t stretch back to the Revolutionary War, we do have history here: the North West Company Fur Post http://sites.mnhs.org/historic-sites/north-west-company-fur-post which takes us back to 1804, Fort Ridgely http://sites.mnhs.org/historic-sites/fort-ridgely with its Civil War re-enactments, and Fort Snelling http://www.historicfortsnelling.org/ just minutes from the airport, which has re-enactments along with a national military cemetery. Duluth https://downtownduluth.com/about/history.php, home to the world’s largest, farthest-inland freshwater port, was once home to some of the wealthiest families in the country, as shipping boomed in the late 1800s.

Culturally, the Twin Cities has a great deal to offer. We have the Minnesota Orchestra, the Jungle Theater, the Guthrie, and for writers, the Loft, Rain Taxi http://www.raintaxi.com/ and numerous other venues.

In my time-travel saga, The Blue Bells Chronicles, Shawn Kleiner, a notorious, young classical musician who has risen to international stature, known as much for his partying, drinking, and womanizing as for his music, hails from Minnesota—Maple Grove, to be exact, where my writers’ group meets and where I teach music lessons every Wednesday. He grew up on the lakes with his father, sailing and swimming, doing polar plunges for charity, and likely skating, skiing, and doing some ice fishing. Yes, we cut holes in the ice here and fish in the middle of winter!

Being in the suburbs of the Twin Cities, he would have also grown up surrounded by cultural and musical opportunities. He may have studied music at MacPhail and played in both the Minnesota Youth Symphony https://www.mnyouthsymphonies.org/ and the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (which I myself did until The Day They Both Had Concerts at the Same Time...but that’s a different story.)

The history Shawn learns throughout The Blue Bells Chronicles, however, is a far cry from Minnesota, as he ends up in medieval Scotland, mistaken for Niall Campbell, Highland warrior, fighting wars with Robert the Bruce and the Good Sir James (or...the Black Douglas as the English have ever since called him.) When Niall—who apart from his looks is as different from Shawn as a man can be—and Shawn meet, they are not terribly impressed with each other.

However, in addition to time travel, adventure, and history, Blue Bells is a story of redemption. While Shawn loves water, Niall’s experience with it is seeing his older brother drown in Loch Ness, on the shore of which his castle home, Glenmirril, sits. Niall’s phobia is seen throughout the five books of the saga; Blue Bells of Scotland, The Minstrel Boy, The Water is Wide, Westering Home, and The Battle is O’er (due out this coming December.) That, and Shawn’s ease on the water—a love learned right here in Minnesota—play into the end of the series.

I currently live in the Minneapolis suburbs with five of my nine children, three cats, and an Irish Wolfhound, reminiscent of the Laird’s great hunting hounds. You can find a great deal of the History Behind the Story at my blog http://bluebellstrilogy.blogspot.com where I post articles on Scotland, medieval history, time travel, and the music of the book, along with posts on the craft of writing and guest posts from other authors.

With that, I’m offering a $10 gift card to Amazon or a signed print copy of one of my books. Check out my work with any of my links in this post and comment here to be entered. Remember to leave a way to find you so we can contact you when you win!

I also host Books and Brews with Laura Vosika on 950 AM here in the Twin Cities, and am a founder of Emmanuel’s Light www.emmanuelslight.com and www.emmanuelslight.wordpress.com, a photographers’ cooperative.

Read my full bio on my blog listed above. 

My books can be found in print or various e-book formats.

Blue Bells of Scotland: http://amzn.to/2buiWBV
The Minstrel Boy:http://amzn.to/2b20AqH
The Water is Wide:http://amzn.to/2blfZ6a
Westering Home:http://amzn.to/2a244vZ

(Info provided by author: Food and Feast in the World of the Blue Bells Chronicles: http://amzn.to/2dW3kZ6)