Jewel Under Siege - My New Release.

Find out more here

I love the quote from writer Norah Ephron’s mother that everything is copy. This was brought home to me when I was researching the life of Robert Curthose for a magazine article. He was the eldest son of William the Conqueror (remember? Battle of Hastings, 1066?). As well as being a chivalrous knight, Robert was the original party guy. He was a lot of fun, but too easily swayed by his advisors. He could never have been a good ruler, and in the end both his younger brother William (Rufus) and then his youngest brother Henry (I)  got the top job  instead.

Robert’s travels took in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), which was an amazing place. The luxurious descriptions of a city at the hub of all the great trade routes made me want to use it as the setting for a novel. People have always been resourceful in times of hardship, and I wondered how attraction would work between two people on opposing sides, caught up in a war.  My notes turned into an historical romance, Jewel Under Siege. Heroine Elena is a young widow who shelters Emil, an injured Crusader. This puts her in terrible danger, both from the authorities and from Emil’s rugged charm. The tension mounts as their attraction for each other struggles with Elena’s guilt at living a lie. Then disaster strikes - and only Emil can save the situation.

Jewel Under Siege was brought out in print by Harlequin Mills and Boon as part of their Masquerade Historical Romance Line, under my pen-name Polly Forrester. Now the on-line market has expanded, the book has been re-edited by Tessa Shapcott, given a great new cover by Samantha Groom at magicat45degrees and is now available as an ebook by clicking here.  

I love the ebook’s cover image, which you can see above. It suggests Elena’s vulnerability, as well as the exotic setting. After all the dreadful weather we’ve been struggling with here lately, the sunlight on the sea is a welcome reminder that warm weather is on the way.

I’d love to know what you think about Jewel Under Siege. If you’d like your name to be entered in  a draw to win a review copy, email me at christinahollis(at)hotmail.co.uk, replacing the word in brackets with @. To find out more about Jewel Under Siege, you can sign up for my next newsletter here.

Getting Published - The First Steps...

By Antonio Litterio

Getting published used to be a case of catching the eye of a respectable publisher, or delving into the murky depths of vanity publishing. The first often meant jumping through a lot of hoops, then signing away some or all of your rights. The latter involved paying a lot of money to see your hard work turned into books - you hoped. The explosion of online possibilities means  you don’t need to develop the skin of a rhinoceros before you get to see your name in print. The curse of rejection is no longer a threat. Anyone with a computer can create, upload an offer an ebook for international sale. 

The downside of all this easy access is that the market has been flooded.  Everyone who can switch on a computer has gone into print. Some might turn out to have the staying-power of Shakespeare, while others should never have been let loose on a keyboard. The more books on the market, the harder it is to make your own book stand out. 

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The most important thing is to write a book of which you can be proud. Pour your heart and soul into your work, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve written the best book you can.    Before you decide whether to publish it yourself, or send it out to a publisher or agent, get a second opinion. Your mum might say she loves it, but it’s better to get an unbiased view from a friend you can trust to tell you the truth–however hard it might be to hear. Professional editing will turn your text into a flawless read, but it can’t do anything for your story-telling skills. 

Invest in some great cover art to make your book stand out. Get names from The Society of Authors, the RWA (US) or RNA (UK), or by asking online in places such as writers’ groups on LinkedIn. Approach several artists, and ask to see examples of their work. Before you decide which one to choose, get some quotes and make sure both you and the artist know what to expect from the transaction. You’ll need to know what rights to the artwork you’ll have, and they need to know your demands will be reasonable and that you’ll be a good payer. Like writing, art is a time-consuming skill and nobody wants to waste precious hours and resources.

There are more tips on my website, and you can sign up for my newsletter here to receive news of my next release, Jewel Under Siege. 

Review - Ship Of Magic by Robin Hobb (#1 in the Liveship Traders Trilogy)

I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads (out of 5 stars), but please don't let that rating stop you giving it a try. If you like fantasy, you'll probably love it: Ship of Magic is well written, the characters are detailed and three-dimensional, and it lays the groundwork for a very popular trilogy. However, the only reason I read it was because I wanted to try something outside my usual field, and DD recommended it to me. I'm a stranger to this genre, so my views reflect this.

As a slow reader with limited opportunities to pick up a book, at first I found this one a real trial. The characters are all very realistic, but not necessarily in a good way. Although I warmed slightly to Kennit and Wintrow right from the start, and was really cheering for them both at the end (despite the fact they're on opposing sides!) I found most of the characters (especially Kyle and Malta)  actively unlikeable. In fact, I  wanted to give some of them a good shake (Keffria for example, and the liveships at their most childish). I haven't felt so annoyed by any fictional characters since meeting Lydia Bennet (Pride and Prejudice) and Dora Spenlow (David Copperfield), but I hope Robin Hobb can take that as a compliment. Malta's deceit about the dress and her awful come-uppance were glorious, and I loved the scenes on board ship, especially the great chase at the end.

The only thing that stopped me giving this book three stars is because my difficulties with reading made me want to give up on it, at least to begin with. I need a book to grab me fast, and never let me go. Ship of Magic didn't really do that for me until page 822, but I have to say that once I got to that point I read the remaining pages in one fell swoop, and asked DD if I could read the next in the trilogy.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5600056-christina-hollis

Three Top Tips To Keep You Writing...

Power of Words by Antonio Litterio

1. These days it doesn’t pay to be a one-hit wonder, unless you manage to land a million-dollar contract at your first attempt. Readers know what they like, and if your work hits the spot they’ll want to read more, as fast as you can write it. Make sure you love your genre enough to produce more of the same, if it catches the public’s eye. Could your current idea be the start of a trilogy, or maybe the first in a long line of single titles with your name on the cover? Think ahead, and always have something in reserve.
2. Make sure you know the “must-have moments” for your genre, and include them in your work.  For instance, category romances need the action focussed tightly on a hero and heroine who meet within the first page or two, and have complex inner conflicts that tussle with physical attraction until their feelings deepen into emotional intimacy. Thrillers need to be a roller-coaster ride of action, with changes of pace, plenty of switchbacks and the occasional untrustworthy witness to keep your reader turning the pages. If your audience is  desperate to find out what happens next, you’ll keep them reading. Whatever it takes, make sure those ingredients are included in your manuscript.
3. It doesn’t matter in which genre you write,  make your characters take the initiative rather than simply react to situations. Make them active, rather than reactive.  It’s a good idea to keep the phrase “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it” in mind all the time while you’re working. It describes your characters’ narrative arc neatly. You deal them  a double whammy.  First they make an active choice, which catapults them into a situation. Then they have to face up to the consequences of that action, and live with the decisions and choices they make.

If you've enjoyed these tips, you can find more at christinahollis.com Visit here and click on the envelope icon to sign up for my newsletter, which will bring news about my next release - and a whole lot more...

Some Good News...

By Andrew Bossi

It was great to discover that the Christmas Tree Festival mentioned in my blog on 22nd December 2013 raised over £2,000. This was more than three times the figure they raised in 2012! It was all thanks to the hard work of many local people, and the generosity of a whole lot more. As well as money, there were plenty of contributions of tins and packets for the local food bank. I hope you managed to visit the church if you were in the area at the time- it was a beautiful display.

During the summer, The Church of The Holy Jesus in Lydbrook hopes to hold a flower festival. After the lovely show they put on in December, I can't wait. When I find out more details about it, I'll let you know. 

If you sign up for my newsletter, you'll be among the first to see the artwork for my March 2014 release, Jewel Under Siege.  To subscribe, just drop a line with "subscribe" in the subject line  to christinahollis(at)hotmail.co.uk, replacing the (at) with @.

New Year, New You?

By Photos public domain.com

The New Year holiday already seems a long time ago. How are your resolutions holding up? Here are some ideas to keep you on track...

PLAN: You wouldn’t dream of setting off on holiday without knowing how you were going to get there. Fuzzy ideas are more likely to fail. Decide exactly what you want from 2014, and write down your goals. Don’t just say; “I’m going to lose weight”, or “I’m going to write a book.” They are nice ideas, but too vague to take seriously.  Turn your dreams into proper objectives. Be precise - “I’m going to lose fourteen pounds in weight by my birthday" or "I'm going to write a full-length romantic novel by December 31st, 2014.” They look both scary and impressive when you put them into words, but that's the idea - resolutions are all about growing and improving. Break your big projects down into manageable chunks, then create “to do” lists to help you whittle away at each one. Rather than endlessly slogging toward your distant target, reward yourself each time you lose a pound in weight, finish writing a chapter or reach some other significant milestone. 

MINGLE: Everything’s easier once you know you’re not alone in what you’re trying to do. Join a group of like-minded people, whether it's WeightWatchers or the Romantic Novelists' Association. Talk about your resolution. If you’ve found something that works, share it. On the other hand, if you’re going through a rough patch, it’s amazing how people will spontaneously supply support and ideas. It's true – a trouble shared really is  a trouble halved.  Don’t take it too far, though. If you abuse people’s sympathy and rely on them to solve all your problems for you, every time, another popular phrase will soon turn into “a friend in need is a blasted nuisance.”

By Dijr

KEEP GOING: Make a note of every single one of your successes - no matter how small.  Whatever happens, keep going. Everyone has times when they let things slide. The important thing is not to let one mistake throw you permanently into reverse. Build on every tiny triumph until you’ve turned your vision from a dream into a reality.  

One day, a building team shoved a single stone block into exactly the right position on the Giza plain in Egypt. All they had to do was repeat that simple action another two million, two hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine times and they'd created the Pharoah Khufu’s Great Pyramid. At 481 feet (147 metres) high, that’s the largest pyramid on earth - and it all started with that single block.

How are you getting on with your New Year Resolutions? Have you got any top tips for success?

Happy New Year!

That was then...
By Cymbella

I hope you had a lovely holiday, and managed to do everything you wanted. Christmas has become so commercialised, it's easy to lose sight of the fun and enjoyment that just spending time with friends and family can bring. Our house was silent for much of the time, as we all love books and everyone received something to read.

The one big racket unfortunately came from me, two days before Christmas. My hand-mixer developed a big, irreparable crack in its plastic housing. It was a present for my 18th birthday and it's been used virtually every week since then so it's done good service. I managed at first by using the manual whisk I keep in case of powercuts, but after a few days of that, I checked online for electric versions. On a quick visit to Cheltenham, I picked up a brand-new Dualit that was on offer in the sales. 

Photo: BBC

For New Year's Day pudding, I created an edible joke for DD, our tame archaeologist. If you ever wonder what the parents and partners of archaeologists do when they aren't ferrying camping gear from site to site, take a look at the "cakes" section of Current Archaeology (yes, really). My cunning plan involved moulding a Charlotte Royale in our digital weigh-pan, which just happens to be exactly the same shape as Silbury Hill. I was going to cover the cake with green fondant icing and add a dusting of icing-sugar snow. The cake turned out beautifully, but it was already so sweet I couldn't face adding any icing. Instead, I just added a little sign for DD's benefit, saying: Micromorph THIS!

The cake was delicious and easy to make, although the process was a bit long-winded. It really put my new food mixer to the test. You can find the recipe I used here, although if you're going to make it in winter it's a lot easier and cheaper if you have home-produced eggs to spare and plenty of home-grown soft fruit in the freezer.