If you could pause real life and spend some time living with a family anywhere in the world, where would you go?
How do I choose just one? My first thought is to live in Japan. Tokyo, Kyoto, Shikoku, mountains, city–I don’t care. I will live there, love it, do everything Japanese. Then there’s Tibet. To be in a spiritual place, among beautiful people, something different, something that I have very limited knowledge of… what an experience!
But the fantasy-loving part of me says, “why did you gravitate to Japan so suddenly? What about a castle or a cottage?” So there’s also Ireland, France, Wales, Germany, and Sweden that I want to see. The environments with the old houses, the cobbled roads, the mist the creeps through the air in the morning. These are the images that have inspired so much of my writing. Of course I want to be there.
Then there’s eastern Europe and Western Asia, places that inspired me to add other cultures and very different ways to my world. These are the reminders that so many people know so little about the world, have such limited images in their minds. The world is vast and varied, and Lorata should be too. But it’s also a gradient and a mosaic, not set boundaries. Really, why would I not choose anywhere in the world? Why would I not be thrilled no matter where I was set down (as long as I’m not in the middle of a battlefield), just to be able to experience something new and different, and maybe even help out? I could learn something new, expand my mind, open up to ideas that I never even considered before. Yes, I would love that… but my how I long to visit Japan!!
Legends of Lorata 