The Joy of Research

by Annie Seaton

Best-selling and award-winning author Annie Seaton believes in living and breathing her stories. Each winter Annie and her husband leave the beach to roam the remote areas of Australia for story ideas and research.

I love the research that takes place before I write a story. Travelling across and around this beautiful country that we live in, up close and personal. Over the past six years we have travelled the north of Australia to research my settings, and books have been set in the Kakadu, the Daintree, the east Kimberley, and most recently with my new release in the magnificent Whitsunday region. My next two books will be set in very different locations, one in a city and one in the desert, but again with the consideration of issues threatening the landscape, and stories that embed a sense of community and family.

One of my favourite destinations is the Whitsunday region where emerald-green islands sparkle in a sapphire ocean. Secluded beaches, coral reefs and towering hoop pines are all part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area. It is a stunning and pristine landscape threatened by human activity and I thoroughly enjoyed the research here for Whitsunday Dawn.

For me as a storyteller, presenting the authentic settings that I have experienced personally is as important as the historical research of the time periods that I explore. I have been variously described recently by some of my reviewers as an 'eco-adventure author', and an 'activist eco-writer'. I am passionate about the preservation of our pristine landscapes and I enjoy raising a variety of environmental issues in my stories, as well as exploring community relationships and the importance of family.

The research for my current release Whitsunday Dawn was very special. We were fortunate to spend a total of three months (over different periods) in the region last year as I researched. Not only did I explore the setting in depth as we went to the islands, but back on the mainland I spoke to locals who had lived there in the war years when part of the story is set.

https://www.amazon.com/Whitsunday-Dawn-Annie-Seaton-ebook/dp/B079WT4KT7

The locals described for me the war years in Cannon Valley and provided a rich tapestry of life in the region when it was only a tiny settlement of farms and fishermen. The historical research was deep, and I also used primary sources on the National Library Trove site. A recent review says:

"Seaton deserves much praise for her dedication to her research and for bringing these facts to our attention via a compelling narrative."

But so much credit must be given to those I interviewed during my visits to the Whitsundays.

Readers...tell me what is your absolutely favourite place in Australia...and why?

Annie Seaton lives near the beach on the east coast of Australia, fulfilling her lifelong dream of being an author. After majoring in history at university, her career and further study spanned the education sector with the completion of a Masters Degree in Education. Then working as an academic research librarian, a high school principal and a university tutor, until she took up her full-time writing career. Annie's Porter Sisters series is published in printed in Australia and New Zealand with Pan MacMillan, and Whitsunday Dawn with Harper Collins in the Harlequin MIRA imprint to be followed by Shadows of Undara next year. Annie also has many books published digitally internationally across many genres and they are listed on her website.

If you'd like to learn more about Annie Seaton and her stories, please visit her website http://www.annieseaton.net/ and join her newsletter on the front page of the website. You can also connect with Annie via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieSeatonAuthor/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/annieseaton26 and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seatonannie/


I love to love my beautiful family. They are my life and the love of family shines through my stories.

I love to laugh with my friends...and with my characters, laugh until I snort.

I love to learn about our beautiful country, the landscapes and the history. I love to travel in our caravan and learn about new places, and experience the beauty of sunrises in the outback, sunsets over the ocean, and every other beautiful location that our Australia offers.

Thank you, Breathless in the Bush, for having me.

Why Do Writers Write?

by Enisa Haines

Why do writers write? I write because I can't help it. The characters that fill my imagination deserve for their stories to be told. What of other writers? Are they compelled like me or are there other reasons? Is it an outlet for their imagination? Do they want to leave something of themselves behind, or perhaps to educate? I posed the question to five bestselling authors and here they reveal just what it is that urges them to write.

Barbara Hannay, Award-winning Romance Author:

I write because I can't help it. I'm just wired that way. Even before I learned handwriting, I was making up stories for my little sisters - drawings on sheets of paper that I passed through the slats of orange boxes, my version of 'movies'. When I joined the Brownies, the first badge I earned was the writer's badge.Throughout my school days, I wrote anything - poetry, stories, magazine articles, all for my own enjoyment. Later, when my children came along, I made little story books for them, which they illustrated. So, you see, I couldn't help myself and once I discovered the romance genre, it seemed my destiny was sealed.

Available now at: https://www.amazon.com/Country-Wedding-Barbara-Hannay-ebook/dp/B06Y1HVNV5/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Fiona Lowe, Award-winning Romance Author:

I ask myself this question A LOT. Especially when I am starting a book as I don't start well. Many authors are addicted to the start as they get high octane excitement that carries them forward as ideas pop. I, on the other hand, find the start like wading through mud. It isn't until later that story strands come together. I am addicted to the ending and the buzz that comes from a sense of achievement. As the last two books I've written have been 500 pages, I'm a bit in awe that I've managed to write that many words. That's what tricks me into starting again.

OUT NOW: Daughter of Mine: a novel about secrets, lies & family. 

Available Everywhere! Big W, Kmart Target and online

Amazon, iBooks, iBooks AUS, Nook, Kobo, Booktopia AUS

Annie Seaton, Award-winning Romance Author:

Ever since I was a small child, I loved reading. I always carried a book with me and had many confiscated from beneath the desk in my school days. The desire to write blossomed within me as I read, and I knew that I had stories to tell. I promised myself that I would be an author one day. Fast forward many years. The desire to write was overtaken by higher education, marriage, children and career. Six years ago an incident in the workplace led to some deep reflection on what I wanted out of life. I wanted to be in a place where there was truth, integrity and justice. Resigning to take up full-time writing was a very ambitious move for someone who hadn't written a creative word for many years. Six years after that life change I am in the place I want to be, writing my twenty-seventh book and contracted with a traditional publisher. My latest release is Come Back to Me.

Available at: books2read.com/u/3yZ1Zl

Alison Stuart, Historical Romance Author:

I write because I can't imagine myself NOT writing.The compulsion for storytelling has been with me since I was a child and nurtured through school by some wonderful teachers and a like-minded friend. However, it was only later in life, following a ski accident, that I sat down in a deserted ski chalet with snow falling outside and started to write a story that had been tugging at my sleeve for many years. It became my compulsion and my joy as I lost myself in the characters I knew so well. I discovered the delight of building long lost worlds and manipulating the lives of my imaginary friends. This joy and this compulsion is something I haven't lost, even several books later. In short, I write because I love to weave tales...(and I would never have believed that first story I wrote would become part of the Guardians of the Crown trilogy).

Available at: books2read.com/GOTC)

Tess Woods, Women's Fiction Author:

I write because I love story telling. I come from a long line of story tellers, the large extended family I grew up in loved nothing more than to sit around and listen to funny stories and anecdotes told with lots of flair and embellishments. I began creative writing almost as soon as I could hold a pencil but lost the desire late in high school. Then came university, love, marriage, career, babies - lots of distractions. I satisfied my love of literature by reading through those years but something deep inside me pulled me back into writing after twenty years away from it and I'm glad I listened to that inner voice. Because for me story telling is what I was born to do and writing gets those stories out of my head so I can connect with others through them.

Available in bookstores and online: Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Booktopia AUS, Mobile Audible

There you have it. From feeling a sense of achievement to having stories to tell the reasons writers write are many and varied, but they have one common thread. Writers can't not write. Writing is their passion, their joy. It's a need to express themselves that they can't help but fulfill.

Are you compelled to write? Why?

Love to Love: that I'm soon heading off to a writers' retreat!

Love to Laugh: at funny photos

Love to Learn: about the many different ways that writers head down the 'author' path.