The Waterfalls of The Last of the Mohicans

Dawn Marie at High Falls

I've always loved waterfalls. Standing near the spray brings a sense of balance—peace and tranquility.





 



During a recent visit to the Asheville NC area, hiking to waterfalls was number one on my to-do list.

Blue Ridge Mountains

Driving south from Asheville, we tooled along theBlue Ridge Parkway taking in scenic vistas of rolling mountains.



Looking Glass Falls

Dropping off the parkway, we headed for Looking Glass Falls within the Pisgah National Forest. Although not filmed for the movie, the falls are lovely.

From there, we drove to Dupont State Forest, just north of the South Carolina border.

We put on our hiking boots and walked…

Hooker Falls

Triple Falls

 

High Falls

Hooker Falls, Triple Falls and High Falls—sites for several scenes in the movie, The Last of the Mohicans.

Having not seen the movie, I visited the library after returning home and checked out the DVD. Based on the American literary classic by James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, staring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe, is a love story destined by fate and tested by the ravishes of the French-Indian War. I loved the movie as much as visiting the falls. It was such fun to see the locations we visited in the forest as settings for the movie.

If you are ever in the Asheville area, I recommend visiting the falls.

I've had a Native American paranormal romance brewing in the back of my mind for a while. After visiting the falls and watching the movie, I'm itching to start plotting.

Have you been inspired by a place you visited or a movie you've seen?

~Dawn Marie

btw: For more adventurous pictures of Triple Falls, check out my blog post, Adventurous Characters -- Daredevil Kayakers

Celtic Inspiration

For those of us who write Celtic-inspired romance novels and can't spare the time or expense of traveling to the Scottish Highlands, the Emerald Island, Wales or Brittany, we must find our muse closer to home. Fortunately, it's festival time. Grab a hat and your sunglasses and find a Celtic festival, Scottish gathering or Highland games near you.

Last Saturday was the 33rd Celtic Festival of Southern Maryland at the beautiful riverside grounds of Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum in St. Leonard, Maryland, sponsored by The Celtic Society of Southern Maryland.

So much to see. So much to do. So little time.

Listen to a storyteller: As romance writers, we follow in the tradition of oral storytellers who mesmerize their audience with tales of passionate heroes and their fair ladies. Of course, ever-after might not always be happy. But it's unlikely to disappoint. Storyteller at right is Margaret Chatham.


Watch athletes compete:
In the 56-pound Weight Toss the athlete stands with his back to (and almost directly under) a crossbar. He grasps the weight with one hand, lifts it in front of him, swings it back between his legs then forward and up in a smooth motion to arc over the crossbar. When the weight lands, it is usually at the heels of the athlete. Gotta love those brave men in kilts!

Enjoy music and dance: Cheer for your favorites in the dance, harp and fiddle competitions then find inspiration listening to the many Celtic musical groups such as Iona, The Martin Family Band and The Rovers.


Discover history: Living history groups conduct demonstrations as Vikings, Swordsmen from the Welsh Court, Border Reivers and Highland Regiments.





Check out The Association of Scottish Games and Festivals to find an event near you.


Dawn Marie Hamilton writes Scottish inspired romance stories. You can also visit Dawn Marie at Castles and Guns every other Tuesday starting May 10.

Attitude

I've recently read numerous pessimistic discussions on various writers' loops complaining about the state of the publishing industry. Negativity spawns negativity, and I found myself depressed. Then I remembered an inspirational quotation I kept in my planner during my corporate career. You've probably read the passage somewhere before, but I needed the reminder and wanted to share the wisdom with you.

~~~

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
~
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home.
~
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…
~
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our Attitudes.

~Charles Swindoll~
~~~

One of my goals for 2011 is to maintain a positive attitude.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year--a year where dreams come true. Dare to dream!

Dawn Marie Hamilton

Scottish Heritage as Inspiration

by Dawn Marie Hamilton

Years ago, I traveled to Brussels on business and saw a billboard ad for whisky featuring a braw Highlander. At that moment, I decided I wanted to write romance novels with yummy Scottish heroes. Well, it was years later before I began my first novel, Just Beyond the Garden Gate. A time travel romance, of course, my favorite.

I wanted my heroine to travel to the past from a US town swathed in Scottish myth. I thought the best way to create such a place was to have the town near one of the many Scottish festivals. After much research, I decided on the misty Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and Gathering O' Scottish Clans. And thus, my fictitious village of Anderson Creek and my Garden Gate series evolved, hopefully someday to find a publisher.

This past weekend we loaded up the SUV with camping gear and headed to the Williamsburg Scottish Festival. So little time, so much to see. I thought I would share some of the sights with you.

2010 Wiliamsburg Scottish Festival
Opening Ceremonies

Got Pipes? -- Piper from Clan Hamilton

Brandywine Celtic Harp Orchestra

Athletic Events

Rathkeltair

Albannach

The Inspiration Club

Jack London said,
"Don't loaf and invite inspiration. Light out after it with a club."

Isn’t this being a writer thing an interesting gig? We get to make up stories and entertain people. We also get to blame our Muses for those periods of drought, and inactivity. What if it isn't your Muse who is to blame though? What if it really is you?


One thing we've learned is that you can't just invite inspiration. As Jack London said, you really do have to go after it—guns blazing, clubs swinging, full-tilt boogie! Sometimes the club we use is a writers' weekend. We model this after a weekend our friend and fellow author, J.L. Wilson put together. That weekend at Turtle Lake Casino is a twice-yearly event and involves a lot of work, some fun, and copious amounts of inspiration – sometimes accompanied by several glasses of wine.

Our weekends are now in Texas since we both live here. The lovely city of Waco is the halfway point between us. We’ll find a hotel that has affordable prices and split the cost. We try to find a room with a mini-fridge and microwave in addition to an internet connection. We find that bringing our own food helps defray the cost and allows us to spend more time writing and less time worrying about having to get dressed up and go out to get something to eat.

Once in the rooms we get serious. We unpack the wine, the chocolate and the computers—usually in that order. Generally we have decided what we are going to work on beforehand, though sometimes we’ll find inspiration on the way to the hotel and start on something completely different than we’d planned. One of the pluses of being a writing team is that we can work on more than one manuscript at a time.


The last weekend we had resulted in:

• Over 7K being written on two different manuscripts
• Plotting an entirely new series
• Defining characters for this new series
• Refining some ideas on the new series like who the villain is and who kisses whom—or not
• Inspiration that carried over to the next week

Just like a good book, you have to pace a writers' weekend. Otherwise your Muse may go into Cranky Toddler Mode. That's where she sits and whines if she is not allowed to do anything else. So we do take breaks. We hop on the treadmill. We go soak our heads aka take a dip in the pool. Checking email is a HUGE distraction so we try to limit that—that means Twitter, too, Arwen!


Then when the writing begins, we are ready. Email, the TV and all other distractions get turned off. Cai puts on her headphones for her music because Arwen is one of those who needs silence to write. This is our version of “lighting out” after that inspiration with a club…but the “club” in question is sometimes just the two of us bouncing ideas off one another.

So…how do YOU light out after inspiration? Do you actively seek ways to inspire your Muse to new and greater heights? Do you find your inspiration in music? Poetry? Art? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

By the way, you can read the first chapter of our most recent release here.

Who Is Marilu Mann?

Marilu Mann is a multi-published author with Ellora's Cave. Her latest release, Sex And Trouble, features a brand-new witch and her sexy demon butler. Her next release is part of a multi-author series titled 1-800-Dom-help. Marilu's story, Needing Harte, is a M/M BDSM that proves love sometimes overcomes control.

Cai Smith and Stephanie Lynch comprise the writing team of Marilu Mann. One email series kicked off their first manuscriptwhich they finished as a rough draft (VERY rough draft) in three and a half months. Stephanie attended the RWA National Conference in Denver in 2002, and had the opportunity to pitch that first novel to an editor who requested a full. Not bad for a first pitch,eh? Though it was rejected, they were started on a quest for publication.

Taking the pre-published contest plunge in 2005, they finaled in six contests and won two others with Changing Hearts. That manuscript was requested by two editors and two agents and was eventually contracted by Ellora's Cave along with its prequel, Changing Times. Those are the first two books in Marilu Mann's Lusting Wild series.Visit them at Marilu Mann - Escape Into The Fantasy.