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Sunday, April 01, 2012

Back to Normal . . .With Kate Walker

Last month I told you all about the chaos I was living in.  There was the work on the kitchen,  the wall knocked down, the new space crfeated, the new cupboards and fitments, the flooring ..  . It was all at perhaps the craziest stage this time last month and  the Babe Magnet and I were feeling very close to the end of our tether as we began to wonder whether it would ever be finished.

And that was before they started work on the bathroom.  . .No shower, no toilet upstairs, no water a lot of the time . .   and the noise, the dust, the mess. . . I was actually heard one morning saying was it too late to say that I'd changed my mind?

But today I sit here  - at last  - in peace and quiet. The kitchen is finished, the bathroom installed, the builders  have packed up therir tools and departed, the last skip of subbish has been taken away and we can pause, draw breath and look around us.  We've  actually been able to cook a meal again after weeks living on microwave food or salad. We've been enjoyin having showers and baths again  in the lovely new bathroom. The cats - Flora and Charlie - have decided that they're not leaving home after all. What started out looking like this  (left) now looks like this (right). (We were still in the middle of cleaning and sorting when I took that picture!)

Already the memories of the cold and dirt, the non stop noise are starting to fade, and all we can remember are some of the trickier bits -  as we sit back and enjoy the final result, the lovely new creation that is so much better than we ever anticipated. It's very much  - as someone once said - like giving birth when  you soon forget all the pain and struggle because the ened result is so worth it.

Or the way I feel when a new book is finally on the shelves in the bookshops, and no matter how much I had to struggle with it, no matter how many rewrites, revisions, tweaks there were to do, I always look at this brand new novel and think it's a lovely book - one of my favourites. No matter how much I may have cursed it, or muttered that it just wasn't working - that maybe I should scrap it -now I'm glad to see it  finally appear and I forget all about the  struggle to get it done.

So perhaps it's appropriate that just as I'm sitting back and enjoying the new kitchen, and the bathroom,  I'm also celebrating that other moment of feeling the achievement of having my latest brand new book out in Presents Extra this month.  The Devil and Miss Jones is published on April 4th - next week. And  that sort of feeling is happening with this one too.   I know I had  some revisions to do on this book. I know there were tweaks and tightenings and general reworking that my editor asked me to do - but as always I can't quite remember them.  The book is  complete,  it's out there ready for readers to try it.  My 'baby' is born and I just hope that everyone loves it as much as I do.

UK readers really seem to have enjoyed it - there are several 5 star reviews on the Mills & Boon web site   and one reader said :

This is a little gem - everything a Modern M&B should be which had me wanting to cheer at the end!
So I'm hoping that American readers will take my sexy Argentinian hero Diablo  and his Miss Jones to their hearts as much as the UK readers have.

And now that I have time to breathe  and to enjoy the publication date of this latest book, I'd like to celebrate with you - and I'm offering a signed copy of The Devil and Miss Jones as a giveway on this blog today.

Spring has sprung - at least it has here with the sun shining and Easter just around the corner so why don't you tell me what you're looking forward to for the holidays? Will you be having afamily get togther? Or eating far too many chocolate egss?  Putting bunches of daffodils all over the house? Or just curling up with a great book? (Which one is next on your TBR list?).

Let me know and I'll get Charlie the Maine Coon to pick a winner from everyone who comments.

Me? I'll be choosing colours and painting all the walls - and the ceilings - and the woodwork . . .


And Happy Easter to everyone when it comes - I hope you have a lovely time.

The Devil and Miss Jones is published in Presents Extra on April 4th . You can keep up with all my news  on my web site, and the latest  happenings are over on my personal blog.


So - Charlie has picked a winner and the name he chose is - Chrisbails! Christine please email me kate at kate-walker.com with your postal addrss and I'll organise your prize for you. Everyone else - have a  fabulous Easter holiday.

14 comments:

Linda Henderson said...

I don't think we have anything big planned for Easter weekend. I believe we are having a cookout and hiding eggs for the kids, everybody enjoys that. I'm not supposed to be eating candy so unfortunately I can't stuff myself with Cadbury eggs filled with caramel like I'd like to, sigh. Allergies have my eyes all yucky so I haven't been reading as much this week as I'd like. Right now I'm reading a Harlequin Blaze, Claimed by Vicki Lewis Thompson. I always love your books so I always look forward to a new one coming out. I hope you have a wonderful Easter.

seriousreader at live dot com

Chrisbails said...

We are just doing something for Easter with my immediate family. We are going to do a sunday easter brunch somewhere. Do a small easter egg hunt for my kids and give them their easter baskets.
Love Kate's books and would love to win and read this book.
christinebails@yahoo.com

*yadkny* said...

I actually took this week off from work, so I could kinda do it all:) Planning the family Easter egg hunt, eat way to much bad food, reads as many books as possible, take the truck in to get serviced, take clothes to the dry cleaner and also tackle the mountain of Spring cleaning I've been meaning to get to since last year! I guess by the end of the week we'll see how much of it I actually got accomplished.

Glad to see you finally found your peace and quiet, Kate! Gives me hope for my own:) And CONGRATS on your upcoming latest release!

yadkny@hotmail.com

Laney4 said...

Congrats on surviving the renovations!
I will be doing our income taxes all weekend :(

Di said...

I went thru a major renovation 2 yrs ago - isn't it great when it's done - and the memories of the aggravations do tend to fade.

It'll just be two of us for Easter this year, so if it's a nice day we may take a drive thru the back roads & then look for a casual place for dinner. See what's open for a fun browse.

Or maybe I'll make an easy dinner with a lot of veggies & something yummy for dessert (probably with chocolate).

Hi to Charlie - I love those big cats!
sallans d at yahoo dot com

Kate Walker said...

Hi Linda - now you have my sympathy! No chocolate - and no reading! Well, I coul.d cope with no chocolate, I'm actually a strange person who isn't addicted to it - but reading is something I'd hate to be deprived of! But it sounds to me as if the time and fun with your family will be well worth celebrating.

Mary Preston said...

I had my bathroom & kitchen done years ago, the scars are still present.

It's Autumn, so it's time to settle the garden in for the Winter. I have family visiting & then after Easter I will be going up to the Sunshine Coast to visit more family.

Kate Walker said...

Christine - your Easter sounds just perfect to me. Spending time together, egg hunts - brunch. I hope it will be lovely and that you'll have great weather for your family day

Kate Walker said...

Oh yadkny - your life sounds like mine. Too much to do, not enough time to do it in. Taking that week off sounds like the best - the only ? way to get it all done. I hope you get so much, maybe even all of your To Do List crossed off so that you can get to get through lots on your TBR pile too in the peace and quiet you'll deserve. If you do read The Devil and Miss Jones and enjoy it please let me know

Kate Walker said...

Hi Laney - yes we survived - and it has all been worth it! Doing your taxes? Wow, you really know how to live the high lige ;0)

Kate Walker said...

Hello Di - you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. It is a struyggle at times when you;re goign through it but the end result has been so great that we are quickly forgetting the difficult times. I think your Easter plans sound lovely - so relaxed. We will have easter on our own but then visitors are arriving that night for a couple of days. Charlie sends purrs bacl - he knows he is handsome" And BIG!

Kate Walker said...

Marybelle - I forget that it's the oppopsite season for you living on the other side of the world - for me it would be so strange having Easter in autumn - it alsways feels to be connected with spring and reawakening, not 'settling the garden for winter'. I hope the result with your kitchen and bathroom was worth the scars! I know I love both the rooms we've now created. If only I could find a colour for the paint in the kitchen

Kate Walker said...

So - Charlie has picked a winner and the name he chose is - Chrisbails! Christine please email me kate at kate-walker.com with your postal addrss and I'll organise your prize for you. Everyone else - have a fabulous Easter holiday.

Maria said...

It's good that everything is getting back to normal at last.