Autumn (Fall) the book season - With Kate Walker

As I write this, the evening is starting to draw in.  It’s not nightfall yet, but it’s coming over the

horizon.  We’ve had a lovely warm and sunny day,  one that still felt like summer – but the   gathering evening is definitely a hint of Autumn – or Fall.

And I love it.

We’ve had an up and down sort of summer – some very long, hot days – just what you really want from summertime – and some very very wet days (that seemed even longer!). Unfortunately the long hot days were when I was teaching – or writing – or revising. And the long wet days were when I was supposed to be holidaying and sightseeing.  

But this sort of just heading into the next season is what I really love.   I’ve always loved the whole ‘New School Term’ feeling about everything – with its excuses to buy lots of stationery and  notepad and pens and pretty pencils. In fact, I usually have a sort of ‘New Year’ around September  - it works much better than in January.   And I have several courses I’m teaching coming up, so I’ll need those pens, and the notepads .

But the best thing about the slow fade of summer into the Fall is the way that it always means more time, more opportunity, more pleasure – from books.  When the days are still light and bright but not too warm , I can settle down at my desk without feeling too hot  and without missing the sunshine too much.  And as the evenings close in then I don’t have to feel that I should be gardening or anything out doors – I can curl up with a book and settle in for the evening.  And after my trips to Wales, Harrogate, York, Malvern . .  . I have lots of books piling up on my To Be Read shelves.    But even if I do manage to read my way through them, by  the time the bad weather comes, I won’t even have to go out shopping for more – just a few clicks on Kindle and I’ll  be able to replenish my stock.

So I can settle down and read and read as the light fades outside and the days settle into dusk.   Reading is a delight – and an inspiration - the more I read, the more I feel ready to write my next book. And before the bustle and excitement of Christmas overloads and distracts me  I have time and  energy to focus on the world I’m  creating in my stories.  Which is just as well as my editor has just accepted my latest book – that one that I was revising – and I’m preparing the next story.  My editor wants a book that follows on from A Question of Honor, so that’s what I’m focusing on. Another great thing about being a writer in the Autumn – as the days cool down, I can imagine myself in a distant Arab kingdom where the sun blazes down and the heat sizzles in the air (as well as between my characters)

So although some people may regret the passing of summer and miss those long hot days (not so much the l-o-n-g wet ones!) I’m already falling in love with Autumn – for me, it’s the real book season and I’m so looking forward to it.

I've just had my latest title accepted and scheduled so Olivero's Outrageous Proposal will be 

published in Harlequin Presents in  April 2015.

A Question of Honour  - or A Question of Honor depending on whether you're reading the Mills and  Boon Modern edition or the  Harlequin  Presents one  is out now .

And the new, revised and updated Kindle edition  of Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is now available on Amazon  at a much lower price than the old paperback.

You can find out more about Kate Walker and her books over on her web site  which has just been updated with new information added.

And there is all the up to date news on her blog   or Facebook page