Past, Present and Future...

For the past few years I've been writing contemporary romance for the Harlequin Presents/Extra Mills and Boon Modern Romance lines, but that hasn't always been the case. For many years I wrote factual articles for magazines. Then I branched out into historical fiction. This was in the days before the Internet - and although that makes me sound ancient, it wasn't really so long ago! Instead of using a word processor I wrote all my articles and stories out in longhand. Research meant a forty-mile round trip by car to the county library, with the children. There was no pushchair access in those days, so I had to leave the buggy outside and cart babies and notebooks upstairs. While I worked, they played under the table. They spent so much of their formative years surrounded by books it's no wonder they both grew up with a love of reading. After tagging all the way home again, I incorporated my research into the final draft of my manuscript then typed it up (duplicated with the help of reams of carbon paper) and sent it off to the publisher. After time spent first in the postal system and then under editorial consideration, my editor would ring to discuss any revisions then the original manuscript would be sent back for alteration and resubmission. The whole process took forever, and cost a fortune in paper and postage. Things are so much easier now, with on-line research and virtual documents flying backwards and forwards via email.
Recently, I wrote some pieces on my blog http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com about how things have changed and the revolution of epublishing. I had so many interesting comments and emails, I decided to experiment with the situation myself. The result is the re-issue in ebook form of "Lady Rascal", an historical romance which was originally published only in the UK  and Europe by Harlequin in their Masquerade line. It opens in Paris during the summer riots of 1789. That's a bit early to be called a Regency Romance, but publishers love their categories and 'Revolutionary Romance' doesn't strike quite the right note! Madeleine is a chancer with nothing to lose, who dresses up in "borrowed" clothes. When English gentleman Philip Adamson mistakes her for an aristocrat in danger, Maddy plays along. She hopes to benefit from his good nature, but soon finds his sense of honour has put his future in grave doubt. He needs her streetwise determination as much as she wants his sophisticated charm...

I can remember gazing out of my window at falling snow while I was working on the summer night seduction scene of Lady Rascal. Warm starlit evenings in the arms of my handsome OH seemed an awfully long way away. He was working in New York at the time and the baby was tormented with chickenpox. Writing helped me escape to a time when the countryside was green and lush, with a happy ever after guaranteed. I'm really excited to be bringing Lady Rascal to a worldwide audience, and I hope you get as much pleasure from reading it as I did from writing it. 

Do you have an ereader? Do you think it will ever replace "real" books in your affections? One of the very last signed author copies of the original Lady Rascal paperback is on offer for a comment picked at random.

Christina Hollis is a best-selling writer of romance, who lives her dream life with her family in the middle of an English bluebell wood. You can visit her website at http://www.christinahollis.com, and read her blog at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com


*UPDATE*: Lory's name was first out of the hat in the draw for a signed copy of the original paperback version of "Lady Rascal"!
Congratulations, Lory! If you could mail me at christinahollis@hotmail.co.uk with your snail mail address, I'll get your prize into the post asap.

Thanks to everyone who posted. I really enjoyed our "chat" and your good wishes for the success of Lady Rascal. I hope you can all get to enjoy it, whether by way of ereader, or a good old printed book!
Best wishes
Christina x