Christina Hollis: September—New Starts, Old Friends

I love a quiet life. Writing lets me lead one. When you spend your days in front of a keyboard, the rest of the world passes you by—most of the time.  

My wedding bouquet

Everything changes in September!

For me, this month is on a par with December. There's something going on all the time. Much as I enjoy living like a recluse, there's too much going on over these thirty days to sit at home.

For a start, the birthdays of both my husband and his sister fall this month. When we got engaged, my then soon-to-be husband wanted to marry in September. "That way I'll never forget our anniversary," he said—and he never has.  My sister's wedding anniversary is a few days before us, so there's no excuse for forgetting that, either!

The Society of Authors has a small but lively local group which meets in the next county. I attended a meeting only last week.  I'm also a keen member of the Romantic Novelists' Association. Their local chapter has unmissable meetings too, so I've been to their September session as well. 

I also love cake!

A few years ago, the York chapter of the RNA hit on the great idea of hosting a formal afternoon tea  for people who live in the North of England and Scotland. It isn't always easy for them to make the London meetings of the association. York is much closer for them.  

York's a long way from me, involving a long car journey to the nearest station before a three-hour train journey, but my daughter is very fond of that historic city. She did some of her training as an archaeologist there so three years ago I booked us a weekend break there. She showed me round, and I took her to the York tea. A day's sightseeing followed by cake and fancy sandwiches in great company was a fantastic experience. The RNA tea is now an annual fixture in my diary. 

September is back to school time, of course. In my case it's back to university. I'm half-way through my Masters in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Gloucestershire (you can find out more about that here) and I can't wait to get back to it after the long summer break. I've already been researching some ideas to incorporate in my final modules.

Find out more at mybook.to/BristolWomen

After working on my book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol, I've become interested in the way the simplest advances in technology have made huge changes in the lives of working people. I've taken out an annual pass for the Dean Forest Heritage Museum, and will be visiting it as often as possible to help with my research. The museum and its archive are stuffed with interesting items and books. They even have a miner's house on the site, decorated and stocked  exactly as it would have been in the late nineteenth century—complete with china chamber pots under each bed!

The final thing written in my diary this month is the talk I'm giving to the Bristol and Avon Family History Society.  I met several members at the Bristol city archive while I was researching Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol. They were very helpful, and friendly. Now I've been invited to their family history fair, and I can't wait!

Have you got anything exciting lined up for the last days of summer? 

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Christina Hollis: Happy Holidays!

My Alma Mater—Francis Close Hall at UoG

Next month I'll be returning for my second year as a mature student at the University of Gloucestershire. The terms whizzed by and the holidays passed even faster. I've gained such a lot from the experience, and had so much fun, I think everyone should try it!

I've already passed modules in Creative Studies, Genre Fiction and Phase One of the project that will become my dissertation. This coming semester I'm signed up for Research Methods. Then in the New Year I'll be studying the teaching of creative writing and starting an independent project. 

My independent project will link back to the Research Methods module. I live in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire. The area has a rich industrial past, and the local people are proud of their background. The Dean Heritage Museum is an important resource for historians and writers. It's only a few miles from my house, so I'll be a constant visitor once the academic year begins. 

Find out more at mybook.to/BristolWomen

Building on the work I did for my current release, the non-fiction book Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol, my projects will centre on the big changes in home life over the past one hundred years. I'm trying to gather as much information as I can in advance. This is where you come in! 

Do you have any memories of the long school holidays in the days before mobile phones and laptops? Over on my blog, I'm recalling the endless sunny days and the feasts of homegrown food. What did you and your friends get up to when you were let off the educational leash for weeks on end? 

Christina Hollis's first non-fiction book, Struggle and Suffrage in Bristol is published by Pen and Sword Books. You can find out more about that here, catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Ho Ho Ho Happy Holidays by Jenny Gardiner

Hey there!
This post probably catches you in the throes of the craziness of the holiday season, but I hope you've got a few minutes to read this funny little story that my family laughs about every year.
Here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Kwanza, and belated Happy Hanukkah, a Happy, healthy and safe New Year, and any other thing you might be celebrating, may it be full of love and laughter and family!

    I’m a sucker for the Christmas season. Always have been. Don’t know if it’s the deluded optimism the holiday thrusts upon us, or just a strange affinity for otherwise maudlin songs dressed up as cheerful seasonal chestnuts. I mean, let’s be honest, at any other time of year, who would actually listen wistfully to a yawner like “The Little Drummer Boy”?

    Whatever it is, I have always ensured that my family gets into the holiday spirit, starting with finding the perfect Christmas tree.

    When I was a kid, the search for the ultimate yuletide tree took us to the nearest gas station: hardly a romantic venue from which to choose the centerpiece of our holiday decor. We’d pile into the station wagon for the three-block drive to Buck’s Esso station, spill out onto the oil-slicked parking lot, mull over three or four already-netted spruce trees, and then dad would haggle down the price. End of story.

    Ah, so I was determined to rewrite that tradition with my own family. Early in my marriage, we decided the most festive tree-acquisition could only be achieved by cutting down our own (plus you get the added benefit of the needles actually staying onthe tree all month rather than littering the floor). Because we lived in citified Northern Virginia, the cachet of escaping to the “country”--i.e. the closest remaining patch of farmland untainted by greedy developers--only added to the allure.

    But one year, I found myself almost wishing for the chance to just pop down to the local gas station to buy a tree…

    That year, my husband and our three children, all under the age of four, trekked to the Clifton Christmas Tree Farm, where awaiting us were candy canes, hot chocolate, homemade wreaths and the typical abundance of forced holiday cheer that we craved.

    I had whipped my kids into a tree-chopping frenzy, and so they took their task quite seriously. For forty minutes, we foraged throughout the whopping half-acre “farm” until we found the perfect tree: seven feet of holiday splendor, as wide as it was tall, perfect to fill our cathedral-ceiling’ed living room and flood us with the Christmas spirit.

    The kids took turns on the ground with the saw while my husband supervised the chopping honors. Their excitement was palpable. We dragged the tree back to the cashier stand where the farmer’s son coiled the netting around our white pine. The kids stood by, sucking on candy canes, sipping hot cider and petting the farmer’s dog, who’d recently wandered over. I was just about to retrieve the car to load on the tree, when Fido lifted his leg.

    “No!” I shouted in what seemed like a frame-by-frame slow motion, as a steady stream was released onto our perfect tree.

    For a moment we stood stupefied, not knowing what to do. But we weren’t about to keep a tree covered in dog wee, so we grabbed the kids’ hands to head back into the wilds to hunt for a replacement one.

    Until our kids let us know in no uncertain terms, that this tree was the one, the only. They threw themselves on the ground, flailing and crying, thrashing and moaning, like something from a Greek tragedy. They wanted their special tree, and nothing else would suffice.

    Their wails did not subside until we relented, and agreed to load up the tainted tree.

    The farmer found a makeshift bucket, filled it from a nearby stream and doused the offending urine from the tree. We loaded it onto the roof of the car, and went home.

    I have to admit, I sort of detached emotionally from the tree that year. Couldn’t quite get over the psychological hurdle of having a tree the dog peed on in my living room. Somehow it clashed with the whole festive notion.

    But for my kids, the tree was just about perfect, despite its incumbent flaws. And maybe that’s exactly why I like the holidays so much: because at this time of year, we’re all a little more likely to forgive the small things in order to see the bigger picture.

Great news! I've got another free book for you to try! Falling for Mr. Wrong from the Falling for Mr. Wrong series is now free here:

Kindle
iBooks
Nook
Kobo
Google Play


Also Red Hot Romeo is free! A hot Italian, a gorgeous supermodel, and fabulous wines…what’s not to love?!

You can check out the first book in the Royal Romeo series for free here:

Kindle: bit.ly/RedHotRomeo
iBooks: http://bit.ly/RHRom
Nook: http://bit.ly/RHRNook
Kobo: http://bit.ly/KoboRHR
Google Play: http://bit.ly/RHRgoogle

Check out my Falling for Mr. Wrong series! Falling for Mr. Wrong,  Falling for Mr. Maybe, Falling for Mr. No Way in Hell  and Falling for Mr. Sometimes and Falling for Mr. Right are now available for pre-order.

Lastly, don't forget, book one of the It's Reigning Men series, Something in the Heir, is free here!

I hope you'll have a chance to check out my Royal Romeos series, which is a spin-off of my wildly popular It's Reigning Men series--please do check them out!


Skirt Chaser, Boy Toy and Cabana Boy are available!

Happy reading!

    

  

  

          

Don't be a Turkey! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! by Jenny Gardiner

Hi everyone!

I'm so swamped with a book due tomorrow and SOOOO much more to write! So I'm going to share my favorite pumpkin bread recipe--it is the best, so I hope you get a chance to try your hand at it. I wish I could say where I got this recipe from but I've had it for at least twenty years so I haven't a clue!

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

PUMPKIN BREAD

Makes 3 large loaves                    prep time: 20 mins

4 c. flour

2/3 tsp baking powder

2-1/4 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp allspice

3/4 c. cold water

5 eggs

3-1/2 c. sugar

3 c. pumpkin

1-1/3 c. canola oil

Grease and line bottom of 3 loaf pans w/ brown paper overlapping ends so loaf can be lifted out when done  (I don't do that! I just grease it!)

Sift dry ingredients; beat eggs very well, add sugar and beat well. Add pumpkin, oil and water and beat well. Add dry ingredients slowly (&on slow speed on mixer or it'll splash) and mix well.

Fill pans about 2/3 full. Bake at 325° for 1 hour, until nicely browned and toothpick comes out clean.

Great news! Red Hot Romeo is free! A hot Italian, a gorgeous supermodel, and fabulous wines…what’s not to love?!

You can check out the first book in the Royal Romeo series for free here:

Kindle: bit.ly/RedHotRomeo
iBooks: http://bit.ly/RHRom
Nook: http://bit.ly/RHRNook
Kobo: http://bit.ly/KoboRHR
Google Play: http://bit.ly/RHRgoogle

And on Tuesday, the final book in the series, Big O Romeo, will be released! You can get it here. 

But wait, there's more! ;-) I just started a new series! It's called Falling for Mr. Wrong. And book one, Falling for Mr. Wrong, just came out November 14. And Falling for Mr. Maybe is now available for pre-order.

Lastly, don't forget, book one of the It's Reigning Men series, Something in the Heir, is free here!

I hope you'll have a chance to check out my Royal Romeos series, which is a spin-off of my wildly popular It's Reigning Men series--please do check them out!

Happy reading!

    

  

  

     

Christina Hollis: Thank Goodness For Holidays…

This year started with a bang for me. First, I was asked to write Women Of Bristol for publisher Pen And Sword’s major series on women’s lives between 1850-1950. Then a few weeks later, my crime novel Love Lies Bleeding was accepted by Endeavour. That’s great news, but it means I’m researching and writing non-fiction at the same time I’m trying to create a follow-up to Love Lies Bleeding. Dead Woman Walking is slowly taking shape in the odd moments when I take a break from Women Of Bristol.

OH timed a week’s holiday to include the recent Bank Holiday, and was going to spend it working on the house.  Then the rain stopped, and we had some fine, dry weather. It was too good to waste, so we both escaped into the open air for once. The first thing we did was to go out for our 2016 Christmas dinner. Yes, really! I love partying but OH hates it, so the deal is I drag him to his office’s Christmas party each year, then treat him to dinner at our favourite local restaurant. Work and other commitments (including a tooth broken at the last minute) meant we haven’t been able to have our dinner-for-two until last week. It was well worth it, with four courses of local, seasonal food. Mushroom soup was followed by pigeon, then slowly roasted pork with lots of colourful vegetables and finally cheesecake. 

Find out more at myBook.to/HeartOfAHostage 

After that, our holiday went from good to great. We caught up on lots of reading, took a lot of long walks in the wood with the dog, and did quite a bit of retail therapy. 

I ended the week with a word count of zero, but the garden is looking a lot better as I was able to spend plenty of time outside working on it.

I was a bit worried about the work piling up and deadlines approaching, but it turned out a break helped me focus. I was so keen to start writing again, I soon caught up. 

What’s your idea of a perfect holiday?

When she isn't cooking, gardening or beekeeping, Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women.  Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and she’s sold nearly three million books worldwide. Catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Her current release, Heart Of A Hostage, is published by The Wild Rose Press and available at myBook.to/HeartOfAHostage  worldwide.

Found Time- Between the Holidays

by Joanne Rock

I love the week between Christmas and New Years. The hardcore holiday prep has passed, leaving me with a week of relative quiet to enjoy the family, the décor I worked hard on, the good leftovers and—did I mention?—the relative quiet!

Duchess and I are on the same page.

Ideally, I never plan much for this time of the year. I block it off as holiday time and try not to work much. Lucky me, I know. But I notice even friends with more traditional jobs are often able to take lighter schedules this week. And, failing that, there’s less “work” in that the baking, shopping, wrapping frenzy is over. I love Christmas and the hoopla that accompanies it, but the downtime afterward feels just right—sort of like a quiet scene in a book that follows that big action moment! Both are good, but one helps you catch your breath from the other.

Today, I have a list of minor errands but they can all wait. I have a few Christmas returns, a post office run to make, a prescription refill… nothing urgent. First, I’m enjoying getting back to a routine, something that always comforts me. I like the ease of mind that comes with routine because the repetition lets my mind wander. I don’t need to be terribly mindful fixing my go-to breakfast or doing the laundry, so I can think about my stories and characters in a way that doesn’t feel like work. Basically, I daydream, and that’s always fun for me.

A gift for one random poster

Beyond that, I’m going to have fun searching up new book releases and doing some reading. I have a hockey game to watch tonight (go Pens!) and my dinner is going to be something like Tostitos with cheese since I’ve eaten relentlessly for days and don’t need one more decadent meal. My feet are up and I will check out social media for the first time in days so I can enjoy photos of friends’ kids and grandkids that they snapped over the holidays. A day of perfect aimlessness.

Happy 2017 to you all, my friends. I hope it brings you blessings, happiness and much love.

***

So I’m curious what you’re up to this week. Reading? Playing with something new that was under the tree? Share with me today on the blog and I’ll send one random commenter a prize with SCANDALOUS MISTRESS, a sexy 3-in-1 of stories by Leslie Kelly, Kira Sinclair and me, plus a Desire 2-in-1 with reads from Kat Cantrell and me, and a bonus notebook for your New Year’s resolutions! 

Virginia Heath: Life Through a Lens...

The first time I went to Disney was 20 years ago. I will never forget the experience. My two kids were little and totally believed all the characters in those fancy suits were real. It was, as Disney so often promise, magical.

I especially remember the fireworks. All those twinkling patterns set to music, high above Cinderella’s castle. Next to me was a solitary man who watched the whole display through the viewfinder of his video camera, while his children stood next to him. At the time, I thought it was an odd thing to do. Here he was, surrounded by all this atmosphere, his three children filled with awe and wonder, missing the full experience as he recorded it for posterity. It struck me as a waste of a good memory.

Twenty years later, we visited Anaheim again and just had we had that first time, and on numerous visits to different Disneylands around the world since, we found a spot on Main Street and waited patiently for the fireworks. This time though, we were one of the few spectators in that sea of people not holding up our smartphones and watching the spectacle on the screens.

Back home in London a few weeks later, I was sat outside a café on the banks of the River Thames. To my right was the magnificent Tower Bridge. To my left, the wonderful Tower of London. A group of Japanese tourists walked by, and it struck me that they were all holding selfie sticks, viewing those amazing sights on the small screens of their phones rather than experiencing it in the flesh. Since then, I see this all the time. Every event seems to be so meticulously filmed that the people doing the filming are distanced from the great things happening in their own lives.

My point is this, it is Christmas Eve. A time for sharing all the joy of life with those you love. For the next few days, put down your phones people. Live in the moment. Enjoy it. Those memories will be revisited more often than all those hours and hours of video ever will.  

Happy Holidays!

Virginia Heath writes witty, fast-paced romances filled with feisty heroines and mouth-watering heroes she would want to fall in love with.

The Discerning Gentleman's Guide, is out now.