I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything here, but over the last year, writing ceased to be a priority in my life and, as Robert Burns said ‘the well laid plans of mice and men aft gang agley’ (or ‘often go astray’ for those not familiar with the Scots way of putting things).
Towards the end of last year I thought my historical novel set in the Western Australian gold rush of the 1890s was nearing completion, but I find I still have some tinkering to do.
The story starts as I’d intended, with a young woman arriving at the place that was to become Kalgoorlie, hoping to meet her husband, but the trouble with writing fiction is that the people you invent tend to have minds of their own.
So I’ve spent the last few years trying to control a cast of annoying fictional characters who insisted on leading me astray, far from the simple murder mystery I planned. Even my murderer is now clamouring for attention. He wants more of his story in the mix. Can’t shut him up, but I’m afraid if I give in to the temptation to elaborate on his backstory, I may be letting myself I for a complete rewrite.
Oh, well, I guess I’d better buckle down and get on with it. I still don’t have a title though the working title is Gold Dust to Dust.
Lynne Cairns 