by Annie Seaton
I am often asked why I write stories. Where do I get my ideas from? And where do I get the inspiration for the exotic settings in my contemporary romances?
Usually my inspiration comes from a place that I have visited, or an experience that Mother Nature has given me. The sound of the waves breaking on the sand, a fluffy cloud scudding across the sky on a windy day, a spectacular sunrise or sunset has inspired many a scene or setting. I am fortunate to live by the ocean and have many opportunities for seeing spectacular sunrises and sunsets, and wild oceans in the winter. All of my books have sunsets, sunrises, calm seas and gardens somewhere in them!
However the inspiration for Her Outback Cowboy came from a very different source. Sure, Mother Nature was there. But even though the paddocks were beautiful, and the outback sunsets spectacular, she also showed me the red dust, the flies and the sharp prickles underfoot in the outback. We have visited a farm out in the Pilliga Scrub since our children were small, and I learned many things about the outback environment from fabulous yarns around the campfire at night. Many of these yarns and outback legends will make an appearance in the Prickle Creek Series.
So Her Outback Cowboy? Where did the story come from? It is the first of four stories about four cousins who come home to the outback to Prickle Creek.
Sitting around that campfire a few years ago, I listened to the story of how the owners of the huge wheat and cattle property met and fell in love. It was in the days before I had started writing, but the romance of their story stayed with me. A beautiful girl from Central London, meting her very own outback cowboy, finding true love and following him back to the outback of New South Wales, and making a happy life and family together.
In Her Outback Cowboy, that became the back story of the grandparents of the four cousins who are summoned home; I loved including about Helena and Harry’s romance from many years ago, knowing it was based on a true story.
Lucy, the first of the cousins to have her story told, hates the red dust, and the prickles and the flies that I experienced on my visit. The last thing she wants is to go home to the Outback, but duty to family calls. At least there’s one bonus—her first love, sexy cowboy neighbour, Garth Mackenzie, is there and the attraction between them is still explosive. But Lucy has no intention of getting stuck in this two-bit town and she counts down the days until she can go back to her real life.
After an engineering degree and working in the mines of Western Australia, Garth has returned to the Outback and is home to stay. His goal is to settle down, start a family, and work his beloved land with the girl he’s always loved. But if it comes to Lucy choosing between the glamour of the city or making a home with him in the Outback—he’d lose, hands down.
I hope you love reading the story of sweet love—across the generations—in Her Outback Cowboy. Come and visit me at http://www.annieseaton.net/ to see all of the other wonderful places I have visited and written about.
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Her Outback Cowboy
By Annie Seaton
Release date: June 19, 2017
Entangled Bliss
The last thing advertising art director Lucy Bellamy wants is to go home to the Outback, but duty to family calls. At least there’s one bonus—her first love, sexy cowboy neighbour, Garth Mackenzie, is there and the attraction between them is still explosive. But Lucy has no intention of getting stuck in this two-bit town and she counts down the days until she can go back to her real life.
After an engineering degree and working in the mines of Western Australia, Garth has returned to the Outback and is home to stay. His goal is to settle down, start a family, and work his beloved land with the girl he’s always loved. But if it comes to Lucy choosing between the glamour of the city or making a home with him in the Outback—he’d lose, hands down.