This won’t be news to you if you follow my other blog, but I’m boarding a plane today and going on an adventure! I’m hopping across the pond, and when I touch down on Thursday, my Thanksgiving meal will consist of a pint of Guinness in a cozy Dublin pub, where I’ll be listening and soaking in and writing, of course.

It’s a bucket list trip – well, one half of it, anyway. I hope to go back next summer and visit the rest of the country when it’s green and the weather’s a little more favorable. Right now is the down season for tourism as the weather is generally cold, wet and slightly miserable, but I don’t mind. Most of what I want to do is indoors (museums and pubs) so a long weekend in Dublin works for me. The big plus is that hotels are deeply discounted and airfare is half the price. Until Disney notices my book and realizes what a brilliant TV series it would make, this is how I roll.

While I’m making my way through the museums, one stop is definitely going to be the National Museum of Ireland, where I hope to find some info (and bend the ear of a museum guide or two) about the Tuatha dé Danann, the gods of ancient Ireland, who feature heavily in one of my next stories. It’s a YA fantasy adventure about a magical kingdom, a lost monarch, and evil forces that plot against the world of men. . .

So one for the bucket list, one for research, and I’ve got two great reasons for visiting the land of some of my ancestors. I can’t wait to sit down with my journal and just write, write, write.

*sigh*

Ireland.

Yeah, baby.