Now that I have an actual finished copy of my book perched on my desk (and a few dozen photos of it saved on my phone), I reflected back a little on the long road my little story traveled before arriving here—printed in a fancy font and dressed up in its gorgeous jacket.  I fired up my computer and realized I have 32 different versions of my book saved—each labeled with certain scenes added or deleted and some major changes, like an entirely different ending.  And that’s not counting paper edits.  That sort of blew my mind.  So, I made up a list of a few other things you’d never guess about VALKYRIE RISING (unless you asked me—and please do so, if any other questions pop into your mind).  

So here goes.  But just to keep it interesting, one of these “facts” is A BALD FACED LIE.  Because I’m sneaky like that.  See if you can find it:

1. VALKYRIE RISING was initially titled VALHALLA OR BUST.  My amazing agentrecommended changing it, but that line still found a way to sneak into the book—anyone know who says it?  

2. I have a relative in Norway whose fishing boat sank and he was rescued by a helicopter.  That inspired the fishing boat scene.

3. My grandmother was once a nationally ranked kick boxer, and she’s kind of my idol (yeah, I’m a grandma’s girl), so clearly Ellie’s grandmother had to be tough too.

4. I changed the name of the town in VALKYRIE RISING from Maloy to Skavapollbecause the real Maloy is actually quite a bit larger than the town Ellie visits for the summer.  However, the name Skavapoll came about because it should be my last name.  Apparently my great-grandfather changed it.

5. Every sentence in the book changed at least a little during revisions.  But the first sentence stayed the same.  And the last.

Did you guess number 3?  If you actually know my grandmother, you probably would have believed it.  No, she wasn’t actually “ranked.”  

Just kidding.

While VALKYRIE RISING is obviously 100% fiction, I tried to at least keep the amazing setting factual—I have a deep and abiding love of Norway that I wanted to share with the world.  So, I hope you enjoy your visit to Norway with Ellie and Tuck!  

And Heidi, thanks so much for hosting me and being part of the blog tour!  

Wow! thirty two editions and all those revisions!  Thank you Ingrid for sharing today! 

Please be sure to find out more about Ingrid and her book visit her website, twitter,Facebook and Goodreads.  As part of the tour I get to offer you a chance to win signed copy of Valkyrie Rising.   Just go to the source to enter.