That C Word (Christmas that is!) with Kate Walker

OK I'm going to admit to thinking about it already - Christmas that is!  Every year I watch to see

when the first Christmas products arrive in the stores. Or the decorations/tree goes up in the shops.  The Christmas adverts are always a tradition in the UK  with firms vying to be original/magical/sentimental  with this year's event. Some of them are  real stories in their own right -  the rabbit and his friend the bear  who hibernated through the winter and so missed Christmas. Or the little boy who wanted a friend for his toy penguin . . . this year we have a little girl who sends a  telescope to the lonely old Man in the Moon. 

It's all started happening  now, everywhere I go I see  red and green and gold displays (or silver and white ones)  and I'll admit I've started 'making a list and checking it twice'.  Next week my DH and I are going on a long weekend trip to York where hopefully the buying of gifts and little extras will be a pleasure rather than a chore when we  try to cross  presents  off our lists while shopping in this beautiful mediaeval city.

One of my favourite parts of this Christmas shopping is to plan  for  Christmas Stockings for my family.   Yes, my son is grown-up with a fiancée  and a home of his own, but be honest which of us is so grown up that they don't love the  thrill of a stocking stuffed with silly little treats and jokes gifts. Every year I know my grown up son will look at something I've bought and say 'Mother - how old am I?' but I also know he wouldn't want it any other way.  So I can buy  a whoopee cushion, or  a bubble shooting gun  or some  sill Star Wars socks and know that he'll love them. The cats will love chasing the bubbles too -  and they'll have a small stocking each with little extra treats   and some cat nip to drive them crazy.

One of my favourite stocking fillers is always a  much wanted, brand new paperback book - in the old days  this book was a yearly annual - Dr Who or something similar and the idea was that the Offspring could stay in bed and read that and so save us from having to wake up ant 6am when he was bubbling with excitement on Christmas morning.

So this year it's an extra thrill that the books I can pop in the stocking  for my son's fiancée or for my sisters is one of my own  romance.  They're just the right size  to slip into the stockings we have (ones I made years ago when my son was small) and there's a special delight in sharing  this special gift with everyone.  So this year  copies of Destined For The Desert King will  be in several family stockings - and it has a really lovely  red and gold, Christmassy looking cover that fits right in.

What about you? Do you have someone special who you'd like to give  a stocking filler  of one of my backlist books to?    I can't give away Destined to The Desert King just yet as it's not actually published until the end of this month.  But if you tell me in the comments about someone you'd like to give a backlist title too then I'll get Charlie the Maine Coon  to pick a name and you can have a gift for a friend  - or a  sister - or your mother . . .  

Just let me know and I'll get Charlie to play Santa Paws

 . Coming on November 17th   Destined For The Desert King  

A queen of convenience? 

There's no doubt that their marriage is one of convenience and political maneuvering. But shy beauty Aziza El Afarim secretly hopes that her husband—the boy she once idolized—remembers something of the closeness they shared as children.

Except Sheikh Nabil Al Sharifa is far from the boy he used to be. The weight of loss and power has changed him beyond recognition. Where once there was warmth and generosity, now only a ruthless passion burns. He'll give Aziza everything…except his love.

But as pressure to produce an heir mounts, could there be more than duty in the marriage bed?

Then there's the  12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, the newest edition of which is available on Kindle or a revised and updated paperback edition now available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Kate Walker's web site is here   and the up-to-date news can be found on her blog or her Facebook page.