I’m really happy to be back on the Tule blog. It’s release day for The Witch’s Journey, book three in my Witches of Time series and I’m very excited. I enjoyed writing this book so much. It was such a lot of fun. Although I never write anything but historical fantasy, much of this book has a modern-day setting and the heroine’s from the present.
Angelique’s also a witch. Hopelessly unlucky in love, on her best-friend’s suggestion, she uses a spell to summon her perfect man. Little does she know she’ll evoke Captain Faolan Mahoney––an eighteenth century Irish pirate. Angelique originally intends to return Faolan to his time during the next full moon when her magic’s strongest. They just have to fight the powerful attraction and not fall in love in the next four weeks.
It’s not exactly your typical contemporary novel, but it was great to include modern sayings and reference television, movies, songs and technology. It’s especially funny to see Faolan’s reaction to some items or when he tries to figure out what Angelique’s talking about. Her refers to the washer as the spinning machine and calls the TV, the odd shiny black mirror.
Angelique is equally or even more out of her element when they go back to Faolan’s time and she experiences a taste of the dangerous life in the seventeen hundreds. Being a self-proclaimed germaphobe and peace-loving humanitarian creates problems for her with both the lack of sanitation and violence. Together, Angelique and Faolan time travel to three different centuries.
I’m absolutely thrilled with this book’s cover. Although I love them all, this is my favorite of the series. Pink’s always been my signature color with purple a close second so when I saw the mock-up, I was very pleased. I also love how the designer captured several different time periods.
I enjoyed developing the main characters, writing their amusing banter, their emotional love story and including characters from previous books in this Witches of Time series and the Irish Witch series. Another of my favorite parts of writing The Witch’s Journey was creating a little creature called an elgnorf––part elf, gnome and dwarf. He’s Angelique’s magical guide and much like a grumpy garden gnome. He’s cranky, sarcastic and impatient, but when Angelique gives it right back to him, they eventually develop a sweet friendship.
I’ve always loved garden gnomes. There was one left with our house when we bought it. My husband joked that was why I wanted this house. My daughter also gave me another little gnome in a plant one Mother’s Day. Although they’re friendly-looking, not like the elgnorf from my story, both of my gnomes were the inspiration for creating this amusing character.
It brings me joy envisioning and creating these magical worlds, fantastical creatures, interesting characters and love stories. I’ve especially appreciated writing this series during the rigid restrictions during Covid. I could just get lost in my writing and escape the real world. I’m from Alberta Canada. It’s been an especially hot, dry summer here. Having a severe sun sensitivity has also allowed me time to just stay inside and write.
This May my family experienced a tragic loss. My son-in-law passed from cancer only twelve days after a terminal diagnosis. Understandably, it’s been really tough for my daughter and grandchildren who are thirteen and sixteen. There’s never a good time to lose a parent, but the teenage years are especially hard. Even though we’re aware life has no guarantees and we never know how long we have, it’s still such a shock when it happens close to home. So many have lost loved ones due to Covid, also. It’s a stark reminder to enjoy the time we do have which is an ongoing theme for Angelique and Faolan, too.
I’m hoping to find a better balance with my writing and homelife. I provide parttime childcare for my two younger grandchildren before and after school or overnight as my daughter works shiftwork and her husband works away. I also homeschool my eldest grandson, but still I often find myself spending more time with the characters in my books than the special people in my life.
With my upcoming series I intend to focus on treating my writing as a job, not a full-time obsession, although I fully admit when I finished writing book four, I felt lost and really eager to begin the next series. Instead, I had a little fun starting a Christmas story set in a small town in Maine. My sister-in-law has always insisted I write a Christmas book for her. I even have ideas for making it into a series. A lot of interesting characters are just emerging…. as they so often do.
I look forward to being here on the Tule blog again in seven weeks for the October 4th release of book four, The Witches Reckoning, the last in this series. It ties up The Witches of Time series and my original series, The Irish Witch series.
Magical wishes everyone,
Leigh Ann Edwards
Leigh Ann Edwards has always been fascinated by history, magic, romance, witches and Ireland which all inspired her first series, The Irish Witch Series. Growing up in a very small Manitoba town on the Canadian prairies allowed lots of time to create stories and let her imagination soar. Now writing her third series with Tule Publishing, Leigh Ann also loves reading, traveling, spending time with her four grandchildren, doing intuitive readings and reiki.
Leigh Ann lives with her husband, their two very large dogs and two cats near Edmonton Alberta, Canada.
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