Great to welcome you back to my blog, Christine! Hope you're well - I'm looking forward to catching up and finding out more about your latest release, MY DREAM GUY! Let's kick off with my questions...
1) What is the strangest talent you have?
My OH says it’s managing not to throttle him, in all the years of our marriage! That aside, I can leave my watch off all day yet still tell the time pretty well. I have no idea how this works, although as my time-guessing skills are more accurate outside, it must be something to do with the position of the sun, or shadows.
2) What is the best Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?
I’m a Christian, so I don’t dress up for Halloween.
3) Are the titles of your books important?
Very! Big publishers often supply their own titles, but with my Princes Of Kharova series for The Wild Rose Press (His Majesty’s Secret Passion, Her Royal Risk and Heart Of A Hostage), they liked all the titles I’d used when my books were still works in progress. With My Dream Guy, my working title was My Holiday From Hell. I didn’t particularly like that, but it was a good starting point since the story is based on something that happened to me. When it was finished, I gave my beta readers a choice of titles. They picked My Dream Guy. They had a say in choosing the final cover for me, too! If anyone would like to join my panel of beta readers and get the chance to join in the fun, just sign up for my newsletter.
4)If you’re struggling with a scene or difficult character, what methods help you through it?
I give my brain a break by doing something completely different for a while. Taking the dog for a walk in the wood is my favourite, or going to the gym. Both give the creative part of my brain a chance to freewheel. That usually fixes it.
5) Do you prefer dog, cats or none of the above? I love both, although strange dogs make me nervous as I was attacked as a child. In April we got a puppy, Alex. While he was brought up with cats and loves them, our own cat boxes his ears each time he gets too close. I’m hoping Alex doesn’t give up trying to make friends, but right now it’s hard to see our mutt and mouser cuddling up together on the fireside rug!
6)Who’s your favourite author? Why?
Romance is my first love, but the natural world is my life. H.E Bates wrote both fiction and non-fiction, giving me the best of both disciplines. He produced some of the best commentaries on gardening I’ve read, and also evokes the lost English countryside and its people in books such as the lovely Larkin series, and his My Uncle Silas stories.
7) Do you have a pet peeve? People who think writers have an easy life used to be top of my list, but since we got our puppy it is definitely people who don’t pick up their dog’s poop. It was the part of pet ownership I dreaded, but like nappy changing a baby, the first time was the worst. After that, I soon developed a quick, clean system. It takes only seconds to bag it and bin it. Note the word “bin”. To see heaps of poop left about to fester is one thing. We live in a wood where waste could possibly be ignored, but not when one or two people bag the stuff only to throw it into the undergrowth. When the leaves fall, all those little plastic sacks come into view again. Yuk!
8) Do you remember your dreams when you wake up in the morning? Hardly ever—although sometimes I wake in the night after dreaming up a good idea for a story. A notebook by the side of the bed means I can capture the inspiration fast, so I don’t forget by morning.
Thanks for interviewing me, Rachel!
MY DREAM GUY— BLURB
The sparkle has gone out of Emily’s relationship with Jack. When he books them into a Welsh campsite during the wettest summer on record, it’s nearly the last straw.
Emily thinks the bronzed farmer who was her teenage crush will be the best thing about this dreaded holiday. But time has moved on. She’s in for an almighty shock—and then her boyfriend Jack springs some even bigger surprises.
Can Emily’s holiday from hell ever have a happy ending?
Christina Hollis met her husband on a blind date. She wrote non-fiction for national magazines and award-winning short stories to fit in with the school run, until she had a full-length historical novel, Knight’s Pawn, published by Harlequin. Five more historicals followed under the pen name Polly Forrester. Then in 2007 her first Mills and Boon Modern Romance, The Italian Billionaire’s Virgin, was published. Since then, she’s written eighteen more novels, lots of short stories, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages.
You can find a selection of Christina’s work at http://christinahollis.com, follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ChristinaBooks, like her Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1Ee1urM and follow her blog at http://christinahollis.blogspot.com
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