As one who makes her living by putting words on paper, it may seem strange to admit that blogging never really appealed to me. Confession number two: tweeting never really appealed to me either, but somehow I now find myself in cyberspace, regularly staring at a blank screen and desperately trying to think of witty things to write. This is the way forward. This is the future of publishing. I must have a presence in the digital age. I must. Blog or die.

So, here I am emptying the contents of my head into a public space, albeit cautiously and awkwardly. These are my baby steps, my toe dip into digital babbling.  I suddenly feel very old.

Now that you’ve read my disclaimer, I think it’s reasonable to state that I plan to use this little white box as a responsible adult – which is to say, here you are likely to find a record of what’s currently newsworthy in the microcosm that is my world, rather than my opinions about the riots, phone hacking, conspiracy theories or other larger issues keeping me awake at night. So, it’s best to start with this:

Last month, my most recent book, Mistress of My Fate was launched with many loud huzzahs. Pictures can be seen here, on Transworld’s website: http://www.between-the-lines.co.uk/?p=1337 And here’s a nifty little preview:

As you will be able to read in the Books section of this site, it’s the first novel in a French Revolution/Napoleonic era series, featuring a female protagonist, Henrietta Lightfoot and her historically accurate adventures. Sadly for some of you, this means she is unlikely to be found swinging from chandeliers with sabers in her teeth. However, there is quite a lot of fast paced fun and some very gory bits about having a woman’s body and attempting to maintain control over it in the 18th century. I’m currently writing book 2 in the series,The French Lesson, which takes place in Paris circa 1791 – 1793. Some of you may already have an inkling of what Henrietta’s likely to encounter there…

In the meantime, for those of you who have already read the book, or if you’re just curious and want to learn more about Henrietta and the series, Transworld have created a Henrietta Lightfoot website, which includes everything from 18th century recipes to fun and games:

http://www.henriettalightfoot.co.uk/

During that week of book launch excitement, I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Jenni Murray on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. If you missed it, you can listen again, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012fqn4

And a few great reviews have also appeared. My favourite was in The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/mistress-of-my-fate-by-hallie-rubenhold-2309808.html

And finally, I can’t not mention Jeff Cotton’s beautiful and informative website, Fictional Cities, on which he has not only reviewed my book but posted a rather quirky interview with me talking about my love affair with Venice:

http://www.fictionalcities.co.uk/venauthors1.htm

Til’ next time!