I have had a life-long love affair with mountains since I was a little girl.
I grew up in Maryland, but a piece of me always stayed with my grandparents in the Pennsylvania mountains where I spent part of my summers. When people talk of the traveling that they'd like to do, cities like New York, London, Paris, Venice, and Rome often head their lists. Not me. I've always loved the wild places of the world. My list always started with the Rocky Mountains, Denali (otherwise known as Mt. McKinley, Alaska), and the Alps.
Then I discovered the mountain highlands of Scotland. I had never dreamed such a beautifully wild place existed. I spent hours on Internet photo galleries, looking at panoramas of mountains whose raw beauty was a completely different type than the Rockies and the Alps. How could such relatively small mountains still be so intimidating? How had they retained their uncivilized beauty for so many centuries, when they're so close to civilized England?
This is what inspired me to place my stories in the Highlands.
So I started researching. I researched the Highlands and the history of Scotland. I tried to separate fact from fiction. And, at the same time, I started looking into my own family genealogy. I have always known that my ancestors came from Scotland, just like everyone else with a 'Mac' or 'Mc' last name... but I knew little else about that side of the family.
What did I discover? I learned that the MacIvers were Highlanders 'way back when.' For many years, the MacIver surname was interchangeable with Campbell - they were the same clan, and even the lairds went by the name of MacIver for many years. Eventually the day came, however, when all MacIvers were told to use the Campbell name. Not all of them liked that idea, though, so a bunch of them left Argyll for the island of Lewis, in the Hebrides. This is where my great, great, great grandfather lived before he migrated to Canada in 1841. His name was Iain Beag Mac Íomhair (John Little MacIver - to distinguish from his father who had the same name - in Scottish Gaelic).
Time has only increased my fascination with the Highlands, its people, and its language.
Are you interested in learning more? The Scottish Mountain Photo Gallery is the largest and most awe-inspiring collection of photographs of the Highlands that I've found.