The Gift of Books by Kate Walker

I had a birthday last week. That’s why I’m a bit late writing this blog today – I lost track of time – partly because I was celebrating, there were visitors coming to the house – my DH and I went out f

or a couple of days – and then my son and his fiancée came and we all went out for a meal together. It was lovely. A real family time and just the way to celebrate a birthday.

I was going to say the perfect way  - but there was another bit that was needed to make the birthday week (it stretched into a week – aren’t I lucky?) . What made the difference? Books of course!  Lots of books – in different sizes, different types,  different reasons for them arriving. And one that was planned for the future that was one of the best of all.

I suppose it’s inevitable, that people give me birthday presents that are books. After all, I’m a writer, my husband’s a writer, my friends are writers – and we’re all readers.  We’re book addicts and proud of it as the badge that came on one parcel said.   My son knows just the sort of books to pick for me – he’s very good at selecting novels that I’ll enjoy and he doesn’t just choose the ones that he hopes I will pass on to him when I’ve finished them. His book reading habit is worse than my own.  But he chooses  great ‘women’s novels’  as well as the psychological  thrillers we both enjoy.  My husband  - obviously – loves books too but I think he also loves them because they’re easy to wrap, because wrapping is not his very best skill!

I don’t mind! I love to receive a gift that is so obviously a book – another one to add to the TBR  pile. (We won’t mention the TBR list on my kindle – it would be too embarrassing.)    I even got an adult colouring in book   as an ‘anti-stress aide!’  That a wonderful multi-coloured  pack of felt-tip pens and it’s like going  back to childhood.

So, as if I didn’t have enough  books  to read in the birthday celebrations – the next thing that arrived was  a series of packages of my books – books I’ve  written that have been translated into other languages. There was the Russian edition of A Question of Honor, the Dutch version of the same book, the Danish – Norwegian,  Swedish and Finn translations of A Throne For The Taking.  But perhaps the best ‘present’ that I had where my books were concerned was the acceptance of my newest and latest novel – the one I’d been working on the revisions for in the run up to my birthday.  So just before the ‘big day’ dawned I got the wonderful

 news that my editor  had loved the revisions – she loved the book  - and she was accepting it for publication. So my 64th title  Destined For The Desert King will be published in December.

And – do you know what made the whole set of books , books  and more books even more perfect ? That’s the fact that because  this book had been accepted – it meant  that I now have a bit of breathing time – a free space  to settle back and actually read to my heart’s content. Just for this week. I’m loving it! 

Now that’s a real gift to give a reader.   But I’m  a writer too – and  I’ve had the time to relax and read and  . . .guess what . .  there are a new hero and heroine who are  whispering in my thoughts and  demanding that I think about telling their story . . . So  that’s the end of my peace and quiet . But I suppose I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Books – I just love them, whichever way they come into my life and fill up my days!

The 63rd book of mine  Olivero's Outrageous Proposal was out in April.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle.  And I've recently revised and republished that in a brand new paperback edition that's cheaper than the original one.

You can catch up with all of Kate's news on her website  or on her blog.  You can also find her on her author page on Facebook.