Today’s special guest author is David A Bowles, to chat about the fifth book in his historical Westward Sagas series, Sheriff of Starr County.
Bio:
David A. Bowles is an International Award-Winning author who has published five novels in a series, known as the Westward Sagas. The stories are based on his great-grandmother’s family and their journey from Chester County, Pennsylvania, to Texas. The author is the fifth generation of his family to be born in Austin, Texas. His stories are based on years of historical research. A prolific writer, Bowles has written hundreds of stories about history and the true-life characters he has met and the ones he created.
Please tell us about your current release.
Sheriff of Star County is the fifth book in the Westward Sagas Series based on my great grandmother’s family and their one-hundred-year odyssey to the Republic of Texas. Sheriff of Starr County takes place after the Mexican American war 1848. William Smith a Texas Ranger who was a scout for the U.S. Army was appointed the first Sherriff of the new county of Starr on the Mexican Border. His assignment to keep the peace on the Nueces Strip. He wrangled outlaws, alone in the 1229 square mile strip known as the Wild Horse Desert.
What inspired you to write this book?
Researching my family, I discovered the disposition of my three great grandfathers’ estate (killed by Indians 1841) that his son Will as the family called him was listed as the Sherriff of Starr County. After learning more about him. I had to write his story.
Excerpt from Sheriff of Star County:
Will Smith travels to the borderlands of the Nueces Strip to become the first sheriff of Starr County. He will do what he must to bring justice to the frontier and keep peace between the Tejano and Anglo residents.
(The book is based on the author’s ancestors.)
What exciting project are you working on next?
I have been working on a non-fiction book about the family ranch that was in the family for four generations.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Third grade.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I turned my business over to my daughter Sherri in 2008. To write full time and create the Westward Sagas Series. Yes, I write something every day. My lab Becka wakes me around 5:30AM, we go to the dog park to play fetch and have our breakfast around 6:30. Holly Langford, my virtual assistant, and I have a morning briefing by phone or zoom. I spend at least two hours on emails and social media. I have a Social Media person, but I write all my posts. A writer must make time to write and research. It is not an easy job. Until recently my home was a 42-foot Motor Coach. Becka and I traveled the U.S. and Canada in the RV writing and telling stories.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
When I write a scene I must go there. See the land where the scene took place. “If I write a scene. I have been there.”
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Cowboy