Guest Post: Trial by Fire by BA Tortuga

Thank God for Aussie Proofreaders

When I decided to write an Aussie cowboy, I was thinking how much I adore bullriders like Brendan Clark and Greg Potter and Ben Jones. No, really, y’all. That was the extent of my knowledge of Australian cattle culture. I knew ranches were called stations, and that the working conditions were very different than Texas ranches, but that was the full scope of my view.

Yeah, I was in way over my head.

So, I did research. I found out cattle stations are vast. Y’all, I mean huge. So much bigger than even the biggest US ranches. I picked what I thought was a good number of acres for Lachlan’s station, wrote all the fun details, and sent it off to my editor.

Who sent it to a proofer who lived in Queensland and was familiar with the lifestyle I was writing about.

Oh. Oh, man. I had all manner of slang wrong. I had bad geographical references. And the proofer sniffed at my “huge” station and said, ah, so these are poor people with a small station. (Goggle eyes)

So I did more research. I found this fascinating culture that is both the same and completely different than the one I grew up in. I learned a ton of neat slang that went beyond my exposure to Crocodile Dundee and Aussie bullriders. What I guess I’m saying is that cowboys are cowboys no matter what, but that you never stop learning, and you never have a handle on how everyone does it, even if you know how they plan to do things at home…

All I can say about Trial by Fire is that it was a total hoot to write, even if it was tough, and thank God for Aussie proofreaders. They really saved my bacon.

Much love, y’all,

~BA

About the Book: One Aussie. One Texan. One baby. One hell of a fight.

When his sister and her husband are killed in an accident, Aussie cattle station owner Lachlan McCoughey rushes to Texas to rescue their infant daughter, Chloe. He expects to find his niece living in squalor with the Sheffields, a rodeo family. Instead, Lachlan finds Holden Sheffield, a salt-of-the-earth cowboy running a huge business operation. They want to explore their mutual attraction despite the many problems thrown their way, and together, they must find a way to give Chloe a new family and find a love that spans thousands of acres and two continents.

Purchase Links: Dreamspinner Press || Amazon  || Amazon Int’l || ARe || B&N

About BA Tortuga: Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, BA Tortuga spends her days with her basset hounds and her beloved wife, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting and surfing Pinterest in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee. Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has heard the call of the high desert and lives in the Sandias. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery menages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeon-holed by anyone but the voices in her head. Find her on the web at www.batortuga.com.