She
has been featured in newspapers, on radio, and TV, has spoken for regional book
events, and hosted the radio program Books and Brews. She currently
teaches writing at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
As a musician, Laura has performed as on
trombone, flute, and harp, in orchestras, and big bands. She lives in Brooklyn
park with 5 of her 9 children, 3 cats, and an Irish
Wolfhound.
Her latest book is the time
travel/historical fiction, The Water is
Wide.
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Title: THE WATER IS WIDE
Author: Laura Vosika
Publisher: Gabriel’s Horn Press
Pages: 451
Genre: Time Travel/Historical Fiction
Author: Laura Vosika
Publisher: Gabriel’s Horn Press
Pages: 451
Genre: Time Travel/Historical Fiction
BOOK BLURB:
After his failure to escape back
to his own time, Shawn is sent with Niall on the Bruce’s business. They
criss-cross Scotland
and northern England,
working for the Bruce and James Douglas, as they seek ways to get Shawn home to
Amy and his own time.
Returning from the Bruce’s
business, to Glenmirril, Shawn finally meets the mysterious Christina. Despite
his vow to finally be faithful to Amy, his feelings for Christina grow.
In modern Scotland,
having already told Angus she’s pregnant, Amy must now tell him Shawn is alive
and well—in medieval Scotland.
Together, they seek a way to bring him back across time.
They are pursued by Simon
Beaumont, esteemed knight in the service of King Edward, has also passed
between times. Having learned that Amy’s son will kill him—he seeks to kill the
infant James first.
The book concludes with
MacDougall’s attack on Glenmirril, Amy and Angus’s race to be there and Shawn’s
attempt to reach the mysterious tower through the battling armies.
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Thank you for this interview! I’d like to know more about
you as a person first. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Many things! My ‘day job’ is
teaching private music lessons on piano, harp, and a variety of wind and string
instruments. On Sundays, you’ll often find me playing saxophone or alto flute
or reading poetry at an open mic in the Twin Cities. This past year, I’ve
gotten back to some composition, focusing mostly these days on writing new
music in the style of Irish jigs and reels.
In addition to my own writing,
my publishing company, Gabriel’s Horn, is now accepting submissions for an
anthology of classical formal poetry.
Outside of music and writing, I
enjoy getting out for long walks with my dog, an Irish Wolfhound much like the
Laird’s great hunting hounds in my novels, and spending time with my kids. I
have nine, from ages 29 down to 13. Five of them currently live at home and the
rest are around the country at colleges or out on their own. I also have a
wonderful daughter-in-law and grandson, who is a delight!
When did you start writing?
I’ve been writing since I was
eight. I started a novel when I was ten, but quickly realized O. Henry had
already written the same story in The
Ransom of Red Chief!
As a published author, what would you say was the most
pivotal point of your writing life?
Definitely joining my critique
group, Night Writers, in September 2006! This is an amazing group of very
talented writers, the original four of whom have been together more than thirty
years now. They have had a great impact on my writing and on my life, as fellow
authors and as friends.
If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your
next book, where would that be and why?
I would go to the hostel on the
northern end of the Isle of Iona with my laptop and no internet. Iona is often referred to as ‘a thin place.’ Although many
tourists go there every day, the northern end is relatively isolated and quiet,
yet the history of the abbey and church are all quite close and it’s a ten
minute ferry ride to the isle of Mull if I wanted to take a break and see a bit
more of Scotland.
It has been my dream to go back
to Iona and spend two weeks in that hostel writing.
If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?
It depends on the particular day
and what I didn’t get done. Today, I
didn’t get my marketing work done. Lately, I haven’t composed any music or
gotten out for walks with my dog, so I might give two and a half hours to putting
together the music book I’ve been working on and an hour and a half to walking
the trails in my neighborhood.
Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done
yet?
It would be nice to set a story
in a place I know well, such as the North Shore of Minnesota. I also think the
beautiful old mansions of Duluth would make wonderful settings for books.
Back to your present book, The Water is Wide,
how did you publish it?
In 2007, Night Writers was
joined by Jack Stanton, who really talked up the changing world of publishing,
in which it can take years to find a publisher and authors are often being
asked to do more and more of their own marketing, without increasing their
royalties. Eventually, Jack and I created Gabriel’s Horn Press, under which our
own books and some thirty or more others are published.
In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?
The internet is an amazing tool
for research, but there’s still nothing like actually being in a place.
I’ve been to Scotland five times over the course of writing the entire Blue Bells Chronicles. As much as
possible, I have visited the actual locations in the story—Urquhart Castle on
the shore of Loch Ness, which is the model for Glenmirril; Inverness, including
the backstage area of Eden Court Theater where the orchestra plays, the bridges
Amy and Angus cross, and churches where Simon and Eamonn might meet; Mull which
Amy and Angus drive across, the ferries the ride on, and Iona, which is known
to and visited by several people through the whole story.
I’ve hiked the hills as both
Shawn and Amy do, been down to Carlisle and driven up in the Schiehallion Hills
and visited Chesters Roman Fort—all of them place Shawn and Niall travel,
albeit in the fourteenth century, not ours.
Why was writing The Water is Wide so important to
you?
It’s the third of a five book
story, so that made it necessary, in order to continue the tale. So maybe the
real question is why The Blue Bells
Chronicles as a whole was important enough to spend twelve years writing.
I’m not sure I have a good
answer other than, the story was in my head. The people of the Blue Bells world were in my head. They
seemed to need to live in print and need to tell their story. To not tell
the story would have felt like keeping all of these people trapped, somehow.
I suspect many writers feel this
way.
Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that
is?
I’m not sure there’s any one
place. Given I’ve spent the last twelve years on a single story, many events in
those books are drawn from actual historical events—the Battle of Bannockburn,
the laundress who gave birth as an enemy army surrounded Bruce’s men—from
historical finds, such as the discovery of a conduit exiting Carlisle’s walls
from under a monastery, from visiting Scotland myself. Shawn and Niall discover
this conduit in The Water is Wide and
it was a fun scene to write!
Outside of writing this book,
news stories, song lyrics, people I meet, things that are said in passing,
events of the day—all of it is full of ideas for stories.
Any final words?
If you love time travel, if you
love Scotland, stop by my sites. At my Blue Bells Trilogy blog, you’ll
find many articles on Scotland—its history, castles, food, music, and more, including a
series there on Scottish and medieval music played in Scottish (and medieval!)
locations.
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