This year, for the annual April blogging challenge A to Z, I’ve chosen to focus on some of the research I do for my books. I’m not a ‘planner’, so I don’t know in advance what types of research are going to be required.

For example, in one of my Works in Progress, ‘A Baby Denied’, a contemporary rural romance novel set in a Victorian country town, the baddie tries to use Top Secret material to frame the hero. ‘Top Secret’ I knew about. What I didn’t know that I didn’t know, was that there is also a classification in Australian secret documents that is ‘AUSTEO’ – Australian Eyes Only. This came to light when some classified material made its way into the public domain in Canberra at the time that I was editing the story. The material was apparently stamped, ‘TOP SECRET – AUSTEO’. So, of course, I had to use the label in my novel.

In deference to those who anticipate a haiku in my challenge entries, I offer the following:

‘AUSTEO’ resonates with
those who hide info –
keeping national secrets.