A Side Trip to Scotland....my novella and me!

This spring my dh and I took a trip to the Scottish Highlands.  Besides enjoying every minute, what a perfect research opportunity it turned out to be!  I collected loads of literature, took hundreds of photos, and picked up all of the local books I could  manage given the luggage weight limits for the trip home.

Here's one of the photos:  of Brodie, the charming mascot of a pub up in the Scottish Highlands.

When an opportunity arose to take part in the multi-author Christmas anthology Sweet Christmas Kisses e-book (which will be out this fall) it seemed like a grand place to use some of that research.  

For the past week, I've been plotting and planning and working on characters, and came to discover two things.


 Though I've done several online serials for Harlequin over the years, writing a novella is a whole different challenge from writing book length fiction or an online series.   And writing a sweet Christmas romance without a gripping  spine of suspense is even more so!

Oh, my story (A Scottish Christmas)  will have a light mystery in it, but what an experience it is to step out of the familiar and to work on something different--just now and then.

What are some of the challenges you've given yourself lately--new things to learn,  experiences to try?  How did it go?

And what is on your bucket list for the future?

Best wishes to everyone!
Roxanne Rustand
www.roxannerustand.com