The window next to my desk overlooks a veronica (hebe) bush in the garden border. This flowers almost year-round, and is popular with bees. However, today there are no bees, but there is a pretty butterfly I haven't seen before hovering around the blossom. Interested in the newcomer, I switch from the document I'm working on, and check the internet hoping to discover its name.
I am disappointed to learn that it is a common brown. Apparently it is 'common' in south-east Australia, which is roughly where I live, though my area might be too far north for its usual habitat.. Perhaps it is looking for new digs. I do feel that whoever names these attractive creatures might show more imagination.
For a couple of my contemporary romance novels, I needed to research butterflies. I
always enjoy research, but sometimes I have to make myself stop. There's a need to
compromise, perhaps to be less precise, making sure the information I'm using is essential to the narrative. In Where the Heart is, Cristina describes
the butterflies in Cameron’s sub-tropical Caribbean garden as ‘neon-clothed’. For Silver Linings, I
found out far more than the story needed about butterflies in the Amazon area, fascinating but I am not writing a guidebook!
And now, my garden butterfly has moved on, two bees are circling the veronica bush, and I must temporarily give up watching nature and get some work done!
Enjoy your reading, and best wishes from contemporary romance author Priscilla.
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