Friday, January 23, 2026

Storyteller's Journey

An illustration by Michael Lindstrom from The Scandinavian Santa
When Fantasy Meets Reality

Last fall, my husband and I booked a trip to Scandinavia. We had hoped to take it in 2023 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, but cancer intervened.


So, we'll be visiting Denmark, Sweden, and Norway for fifteen days in late spring. We also want to research our ancestral roots - mine in Norway and Michael's in Sweden. A final reason for the trip is that the fourth book in my middle grade fantasy series takes place, at least in part, in Sweden. I look forward to researching Varnhem Abbey.

What began as an exciting adventure to anticipate, has now turned into a situation that we must monitor. The current state of affairs with Denmark, Greenland, and our other NATO Allies, has us cautious about visiting that extraordinary corner of the world. So far, I've been able to conduct research in the featured country for each of my books in The Time Travel Tales of Livvi Biddle. Seeing a sign on the news, "Yankee Go Home!" is quite disconcerting...but totally understandable.