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For the past few weeks I might have
been getting on with life here in the present, but my mind has been dwelling way
back in the past, as research takes over my life once again. For some time
people have been asking me when I am going to write a third book in my Settlers series. The early pioneering
days in Australia seem to capture the imagination of almost as many folk as the
early days of settlement in America. I guess most of my fellow writers are just
like me, and can only work out what book to work on next by the voices in our
heads urging us to get cracking and get their story down.
For me I have always needed to know
who the main characters are going to be, which means finding out from those
pesky voices who wants to be the leads. For the hero I had a few choices this
time. There was always Carlo O’Shea, brother of Remy (Book 2) and Bella (Book
1), who arrived in the settlement of Sydney Town in the 1820s, or their younger
brother Bob, who came out as a free settler later on. Bella and Tiger ended up
with eight children so any one of them could be the main character. At one
stage I thought of sending Remy or Carlos back to Spain to trace their father’s
heritage, but no, my mind refused to leave Australia and decided to force me to
remain here and entrench myself back into its past. I guess, in the end, the
best and only choice of hero had to be Tim, Bella and Tiger’s eldest son. I was
there at his birth so know him well. After all, I created him, know exactly
where and when he was conceived and know his parents inside out.
Problem number one fixed, now the
female lead must tell me who and what she wants to be. That has been trickier.
The story will begin in 1840 when Tim is 21. Unlike his ex-convict father,
mother, and uncles, Tim was born free. The Australian continent has changed
considerably in the past 15-20 years. Explorers have ventured further inland,
forging new roads to traverse, finding new rivers that need bridges built
across them. This means a new set of research for me the writer. New South
Wales has a different Governor, rules have changed. Port Philip that will become
Melbourne is a fledgling city. Travellers are setting off across the country in
search of new pastures for their sheep and new lands to claim as their own.
Tim was a small child when his
father, Tiger, decided to embark on the tremendous trek across the Blue
Mountains with Bella and Tim to set up a sheep property on green pastures
around Bathurst so it is inevitable that Tim will have inherited itchy feet—but
which direction will he take, and why? And the woman who travels with him will
be feisty and a tomboy, I know that much by now. No wilting, tittering, blushing
damsel in distress for Tim, she must be his match. Only one small drawback by
this time—she simply will not let me know her name—yet. It will probably come
to me around five am as many of my other ideas do. Mistress Muse seems to work
the best around that hour when I am half-awake. Oh, and there’s just one other small
thing missing—a suitable title.
I look forward to my next journey
of discovery.
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