My security blanket is historical fiction, it's the genre I am comfortable with. The wind buffeting the old dormer window of my office is silenced as I slip back into a bygone era and the characters of The Widow Makers trilogy reveal their lives.
Keeping abreast of the many new inventions of the mid-19th century as the industrial revolution moved on a pace does require continual research and readers should expect facts to be accurate. Research slows down progress dramatically.

So coming to a genre, where it would seem wise not to reveal new technology for fear of dating the book has simplified the writing. But building characters, making them three dimensional is more demanding without the wonderful backdrops of gorgeous mansions, and the poverty of old cottages. A bricks and mortar suburban house requires a dollop of colour. Tensions and emotions of modern life would seem to be different too. There's a lot less of the stiff-upper-lip, just get on with it attitude we are used to reading about our Victorian forebears. The research for a contemporary book is easy peasy.
So has writing a modern fiction drawn me away from historical? I can't honestly say. The jury is still out.