Darklight On... Christina Phillips

Today's Darklight On... is Christina Phillips.

Welcome, Christina!

The Rocky Road after Publication



When the lovely Cher and Eleni invited me back in the Darklight On… chair, I wasn’t sure what angle to take (this is the repressed Brit side of me. Hate talking about myself!!) I’d already answered the Darklight interview back in March 2011 and to refresh my mind about what I’d talked about I read it again.



Turned out to be quite a revelation J



So I thought it might be fun to compare what I said a year and three quarters ago to the reality of now, publishing wise. Did my hopes and plans come true? Or did they go skidding off the tracks, into the forest, never to be heard of again?



In March 2011 I’d just had my second Roman/Druid romance, Captive, published, and was busy writing my first archangel book. Although I didn’t make it public at the time, my publisher had passed on the third Forbidden book, after I had already written almost a third of it.



I don’t think devastated quite covers how I felt about that. Just a few years ago when a big publisher passed on a project mid-series that was it. The book was dead and there was no hope it would ever see the light of day.



Thank goodness those days have gone!



I never gave up hope it would one day find the perfect home. At one point I seriously contemplated self-publishing the next two books, but a year later Ellora’s Cave picked up books 3 and 4, Betrayed and Tainted.



As I was writing the final scenes in Tainted earlier this year I got quite choked up. I’d lived in this mystical world of tough Roman warriors and magical Druid heroines for over four years. I love this world. But the four books I had envisaged before Forbidden sold had finally been realized. It was, in a way, the end of an era.



It took a while for the planets to align before I sold the first book of another series I had up my sleeve – Her Savage Scot, book 1 in my Highland Warrior Chronicles. This book, set in the 9th century and with the lightest touch of fantasy woven throughout, released on 20th November. I’ve just started book 2 and book 3 is a hazy cloud in the back of my mind J



The publisher passed on my second archangel book, so once again I was left dangling. I absolutely adore book 2 and right from the start was determined it would be published one way or another. Five months later it went to contract at another publishing house and although the process has been excruciatingly slow, I’m hopeful the book will be out next year.



So as far as my hopes went back in March 2011 for having three series published… I’m on track, even if I’m a little behind my projected schedule for Total World Domination J



On thing hasn’t changed at all though – my favourite part of the writing process is still reading back what I wrote the previous day!

~

Thanks so much for sharing, Christina. It's lovely to hear about how your writing journey is going - and how you continue to be inspired, despite the challenges that many authors face.

To find out more about about Christina and her books, visit her website christinaphillips.com or her blog christinaphillips.blogspot.com.