Editing on my Arizona historical romance has proven beneficial in an unexpected way. Always I had known that the marshal in this book, a secondary character, was the ancestor of the later O'Brians both in Desert Inferno and also in Evening Star. He was the one who settled the ranch that family still owned when they had to fight for it again against dangerous smugglers. Randy, from Evening Star, looked like that marshal and even took his career path as a lawman but with cowboy right under the surface.
But I had never figured I'd write his story. I had another hero for this one, and he was the one on my mind. That was true until this final editing when I realized I did know Marshal O'Brian's story and his romance-- even an unexpected connection to the hero of the one coming out in September. Instead of being about the area further south of Tucson and east to Tombstone, this one would go into Tucson's own corrupt history as well as to the southwest to the settling of what became the Circle O.
As a marshal who is disillusioned with the constant battles, Micah (what I think his name will be but that could change) faces trying to find fairness for a town. He is a man who knows the pain of loss as his wife died in Kansas of cholera and he had to leave his daughter there for grandparents to raise as he had no way to do it as a lawman. He makes a totally fantastic romance hero-- as well as a fun way to once again put some history into one of my romances.
Where I had a bit of a problem was coming up with who his woman would be. Once I thought about it a bit, that was also answered in the book I've been editing.
The unfortunate part about this is I am not remotely in a position to start this story. I do though know what it'll be although its title is still iffy in my mind, and I am wondering if this future book might change the title for the book that will lead into it. It would be nice to have the titles fit a bit together as my Oregon series titles do.
My main reason for not starting writing this one right now is my obligation to finish that three book series about the settling of Oregon. I had the first two done and only needing editing, but the third, that one I owe a finish and that will be what I start on right after this book is ready to go. It's been fun though to come up with this new story. Writing new books is a LOT more fun than editing, editing and editing the finished ones.
My excitement though on the plot for this second Arizona story will give me motivation to get busy as soon as I can for the one set in Portland, Oregon, the John Day country, and right after the Civil War.
When writing, often one book leads to another. That's the fun of writing.
