Last weekend, Ian Frazer from the
Townsville Daily Bulletin published a feature story about my RITA nomination. I thought I'd share some his questions and my answers here.
I.F. Can you say anything more about the inspiration for Adopted Outback Baby? When was it written and how has it fared with readers?
B.H. Adopted: Outback Baby was written in 2007 and first published in July 2008. It seems to have been very popular with the readers, selling well in both the US and UK as well as being translated in quite a few languages.
The idea was born during a car trip between Townsville and the Atherton Tablelands. I was brainstorming with my husband, bouncing around rather ordinary ideas. As usual, I was saying: “No, that won’t work.’ ‘No, not good enough,’ and then, like the best ideas, the notion that the hero and heroine should be grandparents just “arrived”. I can’t remember who actually came up with it, but I immediately knew it was the story I wanted to write.
The ideas were further refined when I brainstormed them later with writer friends at a retreat in Queenscliff in Victoria.
For further inspiration, I made a collage of images and word pictures that were evocative of the mood that I wanted for this book. The collage included William Butler Yeat’s beautiful poem He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven.
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.
-- William Butler Yeats
I worked elements of this poem into my characters and into the story itself.
I.F. Does publicity about awards boost sales?
B.H. It’s hard to say. Very keen readers of romance would be aware of the awards. Editors and agents certainly take notice. Within my peer group, being a finalist in this competition is a really big deal.
I.F. Which of your novels has been most popular and how many have you written?
B.H. Outback with the Boss has sold the most copies so far. I’ve written thirty novels and two novellas.
I.F. Do the stories still unfold as you write, as Mary Vernon reported in `05?
B.H. Yes. I have a basic situation in mind and from there I start to develop characters and conflict. But I like to surprise myself as I go. It’s more fun than plotting ahead and knowing exactly what’s going to happen.
I.F. Are you still as disciplined?
B.H. I have to be disciplined. I have deadlines, but some days the words come much more easily than others.
I.F. Do you have time for reading fiction and if so what at present?
B.H. I love to read fiction. I think it’s one of life’s greatest pleasures, but I don’t read so much romance these days, because I’m dealing with it every day. Currently, I’m reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, and books lined up to follow that are Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff.
I.F. Was last year’s US romance writers’ conference the first you had attended?
B.H. No, I’ve attended other conferences in New York and Dallas.
I.F. What was your topic at the writers’ seminar (in San Francisco)?
B.H. I was involved in presenting a workshop with two other authors from the UK and USA, as well as an editor from the London office. Our topic was: Writing romance with global appeal, and as well as giving lectures, we ran group exercises. The groups then pitched ideas to the editor who gave useful feedback. As a former teacher, I enjoy passing on what I’ve learned to aspiring writers. Romance writers are surprisingly generous and nurturing. Perhaps because we’re mostly women??
I.F. Do you usually have any contact with other writers?
B.H. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and email, I have daily contact with other writers. Writing is a lonely job, so this contact is a lifeline. I usually attend the annual Romance Writers of Australia conference, (which this year will be in Brisbane in August) but I also go on an annual retreat with a group of close writer friends. We stay in a guest house, work in our rooms during the day, but get together for meals and in the evening. We’re quite organised and have a list of topics we want to discuss that are related to either our craft or our industry.
I also chat to readers and writers via my blog.
I.F. How many other Harlequin/ Mills and Boon writers in Australia?
B.H. There are over 50 authors.
And this is a quintessential view in Townsville showing the old and the new -- the old Shamrock hotel, with new high rise, another hotel with a funnel on top fondly referred to by Townsvilleans as The Sugar Shaker, and part of Castle Hill which dominates our town, once known by the Aborigines as Cutheringa. This view is from our favourite local fish and chip shop, Simply Tops.
We had the most scrumptious lunch and afternoon tea while we brainstormed story ideas, teased out the subtle differences between the Harlequin lines, considered the benefits of collaging, and nutted out how to deepen story conflict.
s” badges – yes proper fluffy chickens.
es.
Have been busy, busy, busy...not writing... feels bad. I start to get twitchy, but with my mum arriving tomorrow, I probably won't be writing for a while.
There's a famous Australian novel by D'arcy Niland, called Call Me When the Cross Turns Over, which refers to a shearers' saying, I believe. I still haven't read that book, but I'd love to track it down as I adored one of Niland's other books The Shiralee, which has been made into movies with Peter Finch (1957) and with Australia's Bryan Brown.
daughter scenarios have found their way into my books. (In the Heart of the Outback is one, and a new book coming out next year -- The Rancher's Adopted Family, is another -- see how they're gearing us for the American market? One of my heroes, a rancher?)
OK, maybe I went a tad overboard.
Fell over my deadline at 11.17 p.m. last night. After I hit the send button, I felt good for about two minutes before the doubts set in.
I've currently bypassed my TBR pile to return to an old friend -- over one thousand pages of Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher. She's still my all time comfort read. Unfortunately, she's now in her mid eighties and has stopped writing, but did you know she started out by writing for Mills and Boon?
Rosamunde Pilcher via a magazine story about her house, while I was staying in a cottage in France. It was just after I'd sold my first book to Mills and Boon and I'd been to London to meet the editors. I bought The Shell Seekers in Rome airport on the way home. All these details seemed to add to her magic for me -- and then there's the way she brings Cornwall and the north of Scotland to life. Books with a keen sense of place are my favourites. What about you? Do you have a favourite author or type of book that you find yourself returning to every so often, because you love the comfort of their story world?
You may have guessed that my deadline is looming and I have my head down. Can't think of much except what's happening to my characters.
It's too soon to report the latest findings in the Hannay investigation into brain function, writing output and diet...
Coming back to reality after the most amazing quick trip to Brisbane for (squeee) a Simon and Garfunkel concert.
During the applause that brought on two lots of encores, E gave Paul Simon a thumbs up and Paul actually looked E in the eye and returned the thumbs up. Swoon. How intimate is that? It was a night to remember. Occasional notes had been changed to accomodate aging voices (They're 68, after all) but on the whole they sounded as wonderful as ever -- even Art Garfunkel, with all those difficult soaring, high harmonies. Quite amazing really.
The Bridesmaid's Baby is out in October, the second book in my Baby Steps to Marriage duet.
Not just for taking shots of my DH! When we worked out how the stones fitted together (like a jigsaw) I would photograph them in position, but then we had to take them out again, to bed them properly in sand. However, we could refer to the pictures to see how they should go. Worked well. (I've heard since of another use for cameras -- if you take a pic of where you've parked your car in a big car park, it will help you to find it again. Too cool.)
In France, a reprint of one of my personal favourites (of books by moi) A Bride at Birralee is available in this anthology.
