Ch-ch- changes with Kate Walker

Sometimes life just goes along as it always has – and sometimes things happen that are unexpected.  New things, different things happen, old – often loved things disappear and

for a while you can feel as if it’s never going to  settle down.

Summer – specially the month of July  - always seemed to be such a settled – and full month.  I had the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference at the start of the month.   Then we would travel to Wales to teach at the fabulous Writers’ Holiday – add in a wedding anniversary to celebrate  and life was pretty full.     But this year, as I got to look at July,  it seemed so much quieter.

There is still the RNA Conference – I’m in the middle of packing and heading out for that as soon as I finish this post.  And (thank heaven!) there is still our wedding anniversary.  Officially it’s a ‘Sapphire’ anniversary, apparently – I know it’s a l-o-n-g time. (If you look up that ‘sapphire  anniversary it’s 45 years!! )  Sadly, the summer   Writers’  Holiday is now no  longer in existence so at first it seemed that there would be a long stretch of July that was going to be empty – calmer, but a hole in the year it seemed.

Until my DH wrote a book (with a friend who is an ex Met Detective )  called  The Crime Writers’ Casebook and he and the detective have been asked to do talks on this book in so many places. So after the conference  we’ll be heading to a couple of those talks. Not in Wales, but Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.  And  the publisher of that book asked me if   he could publish the 12 Point Guide to

Writing Romance  which I’ve been self-publishing for a while.  That has worked well, but it has been tricky for some people to get hold of it – so I’ve worked with Emerald publishing and the new edition is coming out this month. I decided that this was a really good time to look at the original – which, amazingly,  came out  over ten years ago.  There was a lot of revising and updating that needed doing – so  I wanted that done before the new edition appeared.  

It’s all been done now and the new, revised and updated edition  has just been published.  It  will be in paperback and ebook format  - I just checked on Amazon  and they finally have it up on their site.  So one of the new things this month – just yesterday in fact – was an exciting book box delivery of the new edition.  I was thrilled to hold it in my hand  - it seems to be thicker and fuller – or perhaps that’s just the better paper and the binding.

I shall be running a few celebration posts on Facebook and my blog – so if you’re a writer who hopes to be published in romance, look out for those – there should be the chance of some giveaways.

Now I’m heading off to the RNA Conference. Tonight I’m  talking at Leeds Library on  a panel discussing  the Bronte Sisters and

Romance.  This is because of a book I wrote back in 2011  called The Return of The Stranger which was  a reworking of Wuthering Heights.  This has just come out in a new republished ebook format with a brand new cover   to match with the ones that Harlequin UK has recently updated.

See -    nothing stays the same.    There are always changes to look out for.

Another change coming up will be  soon - hopefully - when I get my web site revised and brought up to date. You can find the latest news on my blog and my Facebook page too.  And if you're interested in winning a  new copy of the 12 Point Guide  keep your eyes on those places too.

Sometimes life just goes along as it always has – and sometimes things happen that are

unexpected.  New things, different things happen, old – often loved things disappear and for a while you can feel as if it’s never going to  settle down.

Summer – specially the month of July  - always seemed to be such a settled – and full month.  I had the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference at the start of the month.   Then we would travel to Wales to teach at the fabulous Writers’ Holiday – add in a wedding anniversary to celebrate  and life was pretty full.     But this year, as I got to look at July,  it seemed so much quieter.

There is still the RNA Conference – I’m in the middle of packing and heading out for that as soon as I finish this post.  And (thank heaven!) there is still our wedding anniversary.  Officially it’s a ‘Sapphire’ anniversary, apparently – I know it’s a l-o-n-g time. (If you look up that ‘sapphire  anniversary it’s 45 years!! )  Sadly, the summer   Writers’  Holiday is now no  longer in existence so at first it seemed that there would be a long stretch of July that was going to be empty – calmer, but a hole in the year it seemed.

Until my DH wrote a book (with a friend who is an ex Met Detective )  called  The Crime Writers’ Casebook and he and the detective have been asked to do talks on this book in so many places. So after the conference  we’ll be heading to a couple of those talks. Not in Wales, but Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.  And  the publisher of that book asked me if   he could published the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance  which I’ve been self-publishing for a while.  That has worked well, but it has been tricky for some people to get hold of it – so I’ve worked with Emerald publishing and the new edition is coming out this month. I decided that this was a really good time to look at the original – which, amazingly,  came out  over ten years ago.  There was a lot of revising and updating that needed doing – so  I wanted that done before the new edition appeared. 

It’s all been done now and the new, revised and updated edition  has just been published.  It  will be in paperback and ebook format  - I just checked on Amazon  and they finally have it up on their site.  So one of the new things thins month – just yesterday in fact – was an exciting book box delivery of the new edition.  I was thrilled to hold it in my hand  - it seems to be thicker and fuller – or perhaps that’s just the better paper and the binding.

I shall be running a few celebration posts on Facebook and my blog – so if you’re a writer who hopes to be published in romance, look out for those – there should be the chance of some giveaways.

Now I’m heading off to the RNA Conference. Tonight I’m  talking at Leeds Library on  a panel discussing  the Bronte Sisters and Romance.  This is because of a book I wrote back in 2011  which was  a reworking of Wuthering Heights.  This has just come out in a new republished ebook format with a brand new cover   to match with the ones that Harlequin UK has recently updated.

See -    nothing stays the same.    There are always changes to look out for.