Another long, gruelling night was coming to an end on the hills of Ladysmith, 125 years ago. All the previous day, shells had been falling from the guns of the besieging Boers, and heavy rifle fire had plagued the exhausted troops in the night. As dawn broke, soldier and civilian alike were fully expecting the day to pass just as every other of the last 118 days. Perhaps it would be their last. 
But as they looked across the misty plains surrounding the starving town, they saw a sight that surely many of them had begun to believe they would never live to see - a long column of retreating Boers. The siege had lifted, and Ladysmith was free.
My great-great-grandmother was one of those civilians. Never very strong growing up, 16-year-old Lillian Johnson had just arrived in Natal with her mother and uncle, seeking better climate and health, and was going to stay with her mother's sister, who ran a boarding house in Ladysmith. They arrived on the 2nd of November 1899 - and were immediately stopped by British soldiers and prevented from entering the boarding house. 

It had a title - it had since the beginning. But that title was not Beyond the Flags. In fact, it would be another two years before that title became official - and in the meantime, I went through more title attempts than I can even remember. I didn't really like any of them. Beyond the Flags was one of the first that I did like, but it wasn't set in stone. Brothers at War was another option that I considered for a while.
And in the meantime, the rewrites began - and it really did need rewrites. Before the first draft was even finished, I was redoing the first chapters. And from there, it just kept going. I rewrote the beginning so many times I lost track. I went through countless drafts, revisions, and total rewrites. I completely changed the ending. I added whole new plotlines and deleted others. The book I have now is very, very different to that first draft. It also grew over the years to be 90k words - whether or not it will stay there, I don't know, because I'm still far from being finished with it. 
​But there was something missing. As I neared the end of another major rewrite, I finally realised what it was. I didn't want to have to say goodbye to the characters, and I didn't want this book to be the end. By that point, I had only a few other, minor WIPs, and I really didn't have any serious projects outside of this one. And I started to realise that once this book was finished, writing would be just about over for me. 
So, the idea was born for a trilogy. And only then did the title Beyond the Flags become permanent, and Brothers at War was established as the series title. 
I was so excited. The idea of three books, one for each major war South Africa was involved in over the first half of the 20th century, was one that I fell deeply in love with. I started planning out some details... and within just a few days, I realised there was still something missing. A trilogy wasn't enough. It would be over too soon. There was still so much story left here - and before I knew it, I had added four more books to the plans. A number which grew as the years went by, until ten full-length books and a growing-out-of-hand number of short stories are what now makes up the unfinished series of Brothers at War.
The plans have changed several times - at first it was a trilogy and a related series of shorter books, then it was a trilogy with a lot of shorter in-between books, and now (hopefully finally) it's one 8-book series with a prequel and a sequel and a short story collection (or two...). As of now, I have the first four books and the prequel written, and am currently busy working on deep edits for Book 2, Beneath Another Flag. The series has shifted and undergone major changes and rewrites more times than I can count. For this reason, I long ago decided I would wait to start publishing any of the books until the whole series was written. And in the meantime, it just keeps growing, and shows no signs of ever letting me go! 

Brothers at War is by far my biggest project, and one that will probably be several more years in the making. I wanted to do this short introductory post about it, and this year, I want to really try and get the already written books edited to the point where I'm ready to go on with the series in 2026.
If you would like to follow along as I work through the revisions and then the writing of the rest of the series, and be the first to know about any updates, I have an announcement!  

I now have an author newsletter specifically designed for WIP-specific progress updates! 
Not just Brothers at War books, but every WIP will be included in this monthly newsletter. If you've been wanting to know more about Her Father Calls Me Tommy or any of my other projects, this is the best way to do that! At the end of each month, a newsletter will be sent out with any writing updates, and a progress report on any book or story I've worked on that month. Newsletter subscribers will also revieve early updates on any major development or announcements, and will get exclusive content during book launches!
If you want to recieve regular updates about my writing, and find out more about my projects, head over to the Subscribe page and sign up for the newsletter. I'm so excited to have you all along for the journey, and I can't wait to see where Brothers at War will take me next! 
​~Lydia

Ray's story was so much fun to write.  When the No Clue Anthology was announced, I knew I wanted to write for it. But I had a problem - I had three distinct story ideas that would fit the theme, and I wanted to write all of them! I took my confused bunch of loose ends to my sister, and after brainstorming for quite a while, we finally tied them into a plot I liked. Ideas kept crowding in, even after I had written the story. In fact I almost completely switched to something entirely different halfway through the process! But I ended up sticking with what I have, and although it turned out somewhat different to what I had planned, I love how many of the original elements I was able to include. This story has some of my favourite tropes and is set in one of my favourite time periods, and I ended up so excited to write it.
I started just a few weeks after the anthology was announced, but it was six months of edits before I was ready to submit it. After my family had read it and I had edited it myself several times, it went to beta readers. This resulted in much-needed changes - I'm so grateful to Courtenay, Faith, Joy, and Hannah for all the work they put into this story.  Courtenay, in particular, helped me research various historical points, and I ended up enjoying that process way more than I would have otherwise! Not to mention, I found out all kinds of interesting facts about the British army and ended up with a much clearer idea of the setting and time period. 
​Then came the need for a title - and that ended up taking way longer than it should have! I normally have a title right from the beginning, and I find it difficult to write without one. But, right up until it was almost ready to submit, this was just "my No Clue story." I toyed with dozens of title ideas, but none of them seemed to fit. Finally, with the help of my sister and my beta-reader Joy, I settled on Awakened in Another War. And finally, it was ready to submit - only a few days before the deadline! 
Writing a synopsis was next, and after that, attempts to design a cover. Finally, working with my sister at Coverbook Designs (also the designer of the No Clue cover), I was able to get a cover that I love. 

Awakened in Another War is a story of war, allegiances, and trust. It can be found in the No Clue Anthology, which is available as an ebook from most online bookstores and as a paperback from Amazon! I just finished reading through the other stories, and I loved seeing the different ways the authors came up with to include the very unusual theme of no clue!
If you've read the anthology, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads. Or let me know what you thought in the comments!
~Lydia

Welcome to Beyond History's Page! I'm so glad you decided to join me on my journey through the past. Expect a wide variety of posts, from book spotlights to writing updates to historical tidbits and more! As a South African, I'm very excited to share little-known sides of my country's history through my writing and blog posts. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss a post! 
​~Lydia