MacGregors Despite Them

Can I just say that I’m so so honored to have written Laird of the Mist? It was truly a labor of love. At first, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had studied many of the Highland clans, looking for the one that stood out. I learned much of Scotland’s history and the more I learned, the more difficult it became to write. How would I tell of a land soaked in the blood of its heroes? Throughout every century they fought—many times with bagpipes being played in the distance.  It's romance imbued with sorrow. How could I ever do it justice?

After researching the history of the Clan MacGregor, I kind of gave up a little. I mean, their story killed me. I cried every time I thought about all the injustices they suffered, and mostly because so few people knew about it. Everyone has heard of the Massacre at Glencoe, (and I’m glad they have) but how many have heard of the MacGregor Proscription? But, holy smokes, if I couldn’t think about it without crying, how could I write about it? I put it aside for a long time and wrote a couple of other books.

But Scotland and the MacGregors haunted me.

So with the hope of shining a little light on this seemingly insignificant clan, I set my fingers to the keys. The world came alive for me. It put me on top of mountains where the air was thin and crisp and the wind smelled like heather—to a castle high in the mists of Skye.

"She was certain they had arrived at the end of the world—or the beginning of time—for the brutal grandeur that unfolded before her stilled her breath. The entire horizon was a chiseled masterpiece of jagged, shadowy mountaintops, and white, swirling mist. Her heart wrenched at the intense loneliness of such a savage landscape. Who could survive here, and who could survive without it once they had seen it?"

I didn’t know Callum MacGregor before I wrote him. I knew what he looked like after I almost got run over by a bus introducing Gerard Butler’s face as Attila the Hun on the side.

I knew he’d been persecuted, but I didn’t know how dark his soul had become and why.

"“Callum.” Maggie’s voice shattered on a throaty sob. She swiped her hands over her face. “The blood was on me!”

“Aye, Maggie, I know,” her brother whispered on a strangled moan of his own.

“Nae more!” she shouted. Huge tears teetered on her lashes and her bottom lip trembled. “’Twas on my hands.” Suddenly she ran to her brother and he caught her up in his arms. “Ye must cease! Please, cease!”

Callum held her, but he did not speak and Kate knew it was his own guilt that silenced him. He had caused this terror.

“Cease, Callum!” Maggie screamed and he closed his eyes, helpless to do anything more.

“Oh, dear God.” Kate breathed, seeing the images of what happened that day. Callum carried his tiny sister over his shoulder while he hacked at men from every direction. Nine years of torture, of watching his sister suffer, of hearing her scream, helpless to stop it. He lived in hell and had become a monster painted red with the blood of his victims."

As I wrote him, I knew that if he’d lived in real life he would most likely have been killed at some point. But my hero wasn’t going to die. He and his children and his grandchildren were going to keep the MacGregors’ story alive.

I had no idea that Laird of the Mist would be the beginning of a sixteen book series about this proud, determined clan. (I’m proud to be the author of every single one.) Or that I’d receive a letter from the current Chief of the Clan MacGregor’s wife telling me she’d read Ravished By A Highlander and loved it. Talk about a Wow! Thank You, God moment!

I’m thankful for my hope being fulfilled. More people, who didn’t know about the attempted annihilation of the MacGregors, know about it now.

But the biggest surprise, the thing I’m most thankful for are the wonderful friends I’ve made because of my books.

I want to say thank you to God, to my amazing, loyal readers, and to Callum for starting it all.

Excerpts taken from Laird of the Mist

MacGregor Gathering- Sir Walter Scott

Kill The MacGregors

The Clan Gregor Society