Hi guys!
Many of you have been writing/commenting lately asking for details about my much-rumored upcoming vacation.
Well, thanks to Maureen Johnson the the cat is officially out of the bag. (Or the leprechaun is out of the suitcase, as the case may be.)
In any case, it’s official. (Cue Charlies’ Angels theme music)
This is the story of ten little girls (or…actually…strong, empowered women),
who rented a castle in Ireland.
To fully appreciate this story I must take you all back to last summer when Jennifer Lynn Barnes talked me into tagging along to the Fangs, Fur, and Fey summer conference.
I don’t write science fiction or fantasy, so I didn’t really know that many people which meant that walking into the evening social hour was an incredibly awkward experience. (Plus, as a rule, if I’m at the social hour, I’m there awkwardly).
I was just about to make my way (awkwardly) to the nearest exit when I heard a charming Irish accent and figured out Sarah Rees Brennan was there! Now, I didn’t know Sarah personally, at the time but I had heard a number of good things about her from our mutual literary agent, Kristin Nelson, and I decided that I couldn’t leave without introducing myself and…you know…welcoming her to the country and all.
The following conversation ensued:
(general introductions and pleasantries, blah, blah, blah)
AC: I really want to come to Ireland someday soon. I even had a trip planned last year, but it fell through at the last minute.
SRB: (in a far cooler accent than Ally’s) Oh, you should certainly come. We should get a group together and rent a castle.
AC: (Laughing.) Yeah. We’ll rent a castle.
SRB: (Quite seriously) Oh no. Castle rental is really quite reasonable.
So later that night, on a whim, I started Googling Irish castle rental and OH MY GOSH it really is quite reasonable!
And from that point on Sarah Reese Brennan, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and I have been obsessed with getting a bunch of writers together to rent a castle this spring.
I won’t bore everyone with the details, but needless to say, we’ve done it and now ten of us will be sharing a lovely Irish castle for one week.
We will write. We will read. We will take minibus trips to cliffs and ruins and cute little villages. We will walk across the countryside and play snooker and wear pajamas by the fire and do other very castle-y things, I’m sure.
And I for one am very, very excited about it.
-Ally
PS…the entire Writing Castle list (please check out these awesome writers and their books)