What’s in Store

Tomorrow is Flying Day. That means that today is Final Packing Day, and that should tell you the state of my nerves. Nevertheless, I want to sit down and pull my thoughts together. I hope to have a lot to offer you over the next few weeks. Aren’t you dying to know about some of it?

A few things are done and on the schedule (give that word the soft British “sedule,” if you please). I will, after all, be in England, and on a very British cruise.

I have three guest appearances coming up:
Interview on Thursday, March 29 at Alica McKenna Johnson’s blog.
Interview on Saturday, March 31 at RandomizeMe Indie Saturday
Interview on Saturday, April 14 at JeanzBookReadNReview

Thanks to each of these wonderful bloggers for introducing me to your readers!

Here are a few blog-worthy adventures I hope to share with you:

On Tuesday, March 2 7, we’ll be touring the Harland & Wolff Shipyards in Belfast. This is obviously a huge highlight for me, especially since it includes a stop at Dunallon, the house that Thomas Andrews lived in with his wife and daughter. Our tour guide is Susie Millar, great-granddaughter of a Titanic engineer, who died in the sinking. She tells his story in her book, The Two Pennies – A True Story from the Titanic.

A German TV crew will be filming part of the tour, so if you live in Germany, you just might see it!

On Sunday, April 8, we board our ship, the Balmoral, and begin our journey to follow Titanic’s route. This should be a fun day, as we’ll begin meeting all the other Titanic-cruisers I’ve been chatting with on Facebook, for the last two years.

Monday, April 9, we spend the day in Cobh, Ireland, the last stop Titanic made before heading out to sea. Cobh, which was called Queenstown in 1912, has long honored the Titanic dead. Most of Titanic’s Irish passengers boarded from this city.

On the night of April 14-15, one hundred years after Titanic’s collision with the iceberg, we will be at the site of her final resting place in the North Atlantic. This will be a solemn occasion. Even now, I get quiet and still inside when I think about it.

April 17 finds us in Halifax, where many of Titanic’s dead are buried. We will visit the graveyard and museum.

On April 19, we will be in New York, icebergs not withstanding. I’ve never been to this city, so my day will be packed with touristy things. Then we head home!

I will post reports and pictures as often as I can throughout the trip. I’m very excited about sharing it with all of you.

Don’t forget: I’m giving away two copies of Shipbuilder in a Goodreads Giveaway. It runs through April 25, so hop over there and sign up!

There’s also a Shipbuilder quiz over at Goodreads. If you take the quiz, leave me a comment here telling me you took it. Everyone who lets me know they took the quiz will have a chance to win a copy of Shipbuilder.

So there are a busy few weeks coming up. Stay tuned!