Today the Minxes are pleased to welcome RITA award winning author, Jessica Hart to blog with us.
The Minxes caught some hugely exciting news, announced towards the end of last year, that Jessica mentions in her interview. Read the details on Jessica's blog here.
1.Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?
Funny how long ago 5 years seems now … I had to really stop and think about this question! I know I’d written over 40 books by then. Christmas Eve Marriage won a RITA® in 2005, and in 2006 Contracted: Corporate Wife won the UK’s coveted Romance Prize, so I was feeling more established and confident as a romance writer. At the same time, I felt as if I’d reached a point of change. I’d finished my PhD at the end of 2004, and I was missing the contrast between my research (into environmental regulation in C15th and C16th York – much more interesting than it sounds, I promise!) and romance writing. It’s taken me a while to actually make that change, but I did get there eventually!
2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?
I usually start with a hook, but in the case of Juggling Briefcase & Baby, the idea was easy. This book is the sequel to Oh-So-Sensible Secretary in which Lex appeared as Phin’s workaholic brother. Lex was so reserved and stiff and focused on the company, he was the perfect contrast to the relaxed and charming Phin, and I started to wonder what would make two brothers so different. I’ve always had a soft spot for the gruff, reserved hero, too, and it seemed to me that Lex was just as attractive as Phin but in a very different way. Even while I was writing Oh-So-Sensible Secretary I was wondering what it would take to break down Lex’s famous reserve and reach that carefully guarded heart …
3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?
I’ve spent the last few years building up what I grandly call a ‘portfolio’ career, although this makes it sound a lot more grown up than it actually is! I work as a freelance editor for illustrated books about institutions like Lincoln Cathedral or York Minster – a wonderful job where I get to tell other people what to write instead of writing myself! - and I teach writing classes here in York and in Tuscany. The more I write, the more interested I am in how and why romance works, so I love teaching too.
I’ve also been writing a mainstream women’s fiction novel that has just been bought by Pan Macmillan as part of a two book deal. It’s a project that has taken me wa-a-a-ay out of my comfort zone, but the challenge has been good for me, I think. Finishing the first book and writing another 150,000 word novel is going to keep me very busy for the next couple of years, and of course I’m hoping that parallel writing career will have taken off in 5 years’ time.
Last, but absolutely not least, I’d like to continue writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon. I’ve been a Mills & Boon author for 20 years now, and it’s part of who I am. I don’t want to give that up. Romances are fun to write – or perhaps I should say fun to plot and fun to have written? The pesky business of actually writing the story can be harder work!
So in 5 years’ time I think I’d like to still be juggling all four strands of my career – and still standing!
4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?
Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase. What a great writer she is – warm, funny, intelligent, and very, very sexy.
5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?
The honest truth is that I never wanted to be a writer. I decided that I wanted to do a PhD in Medieval Studies after reading The Sunne in Splendour (about Richard III), but I had to find a way of funding a return to university, so I thought, ‘I know, I’ll write a Mills & Boon …’ I always feel a bit guilty about having stumbled into a writing career, but I suppose I owe it all to Sharon Penman!
6. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?
Falling in love at first sight. I didn’t believe in it until it happened to me.
7. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?
I had no idea just how much information and support is out there – although I don’t know how much of that was available 20 years ago when I started writing. I’m constantly impressed nowadays by how friendly and supportive romance writers are. I wish I’d known about the need for self-promotion too – I might not have been so hesitant to get involved with technology. Websites, blogs, Facebook … I’m always the last to get there, and it feels like a constant race to catch up. If I was just getting published now, I’d try and be clued up about promotion right from the start.
8. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?
I heard the late wonderful Blake Snyder talking about his book on screenwriting, Save the Cat! and was very struck by his advice to “Embrace the formula”. Or then there’s my mother’s advice, which goes for life as well as for writing: “Just get ON with it!” (said in a Scottish accent for maximum effect!)
9. What does the new Riva imprint mean for you.
The editors at M&B have encouraged us to try something different with this new imprint, and you can see from the covers that they’re hoping to attract a new, perhaps younger, audience who might not realize that romances don’t have to be as old-fashioned as they’re often portrayed. I’ve always thought of my heroines as contemporary women with contemporary attitudes, so I have to be honest and say that Juggling Briefcase & Baby isn’t actually that different from most of my other stories. But I love knowing that there’s scope now to play around with new ideas and approaches, so while these stories will still be first and foremost romances, the new sense of editorial freedom is very exciting.
10. Tell us about your Riva launch release.
Only once has Lex Gibson ever let his guard down, and he’s vowed never to make himself that vulnerable again. But now, 12 years later, Romy is back – and she’s not alone. Romy has a baby daughter, Freya, and between them they throw Lex’s carefully ordered world into chaos!
Juggling Briefcase & Baby is a reunion story, with a baby and an office setting thrown into the mix. I like it when the hero and heroine have to confront the problems between them in the present while still tangled up in the feelings they shared in the past. There’s something very appealing about the idea of a second chance to get things right, after you’ve made a mess of them first time round, and I really enjoyed giving Lex his own happy ending at last!
11. What’s next for you?
Convenient Engagements, a 3-in-1 re-released by Mills & Boon in their By Request series, is out in January 2011 in the UK. Later in the year, my royal duet will be out. I’ve never played with the royal theme before, so that’s been fun. Ordinary Girl in a Tiara will be out in June 2011 in North America and the UK – I was rather hoping William and Kate would opt for a classic June wedding to tie in with its release, but they have selfishly decided on April instead! - and The Secret Princess later in the year.
The Minxes would like to know when on earth Jessica will have time to sleep given her commitments for the next few years, we're in awe!!
