It's an ill wind . . .

Some years ago . .  .eek! It was back in 2004  - so that means those 'some years' were in fact    fourteen years ago . . .

Anyway,  fourteen years ago I wrote a  How To Write Romance  Guide  called  Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. It started out as a  small,  self-produced pamphlet of just 24 pages  - that I had printed myself and took to the courses I ran so that  students could take it home with them when we had finished.

The original 12 Point Guide  was first published in 2004 and  it seemed that everyone had been waiting for it – and they found it so helpful. In that first year it won  2 awards from the Cataromance   site  - - the Reviewers’ Choice Award and the award for the most helpful book for writers.  I was thrilled when several newly published writers  - India Grey – Natalie Rivers – Natasha Oakley – Michelle Styles – all told me  that they felt  the 12 Point Guide had helped them on their way to publication. Since then there have  been almost 20 more. 

When the book went into its second edition  I  wanted to add a special section with advice from other authors – after all, my way isn’t the only way to do things!  So I asked around amongst friends who were fellow writers and I was so thrilled to find how many of them responded. As a result of their generosity in  sharing their experiences,  the From The Authors’ Desks section was  created and added a LOT to the original Guide.

But  there were problems with the distribution of the book.  Writers in America, Australia etc were having difficulties getting their hands on copies,  and when they did the books were very expensive. It was when the publisher was reluctant to produce ebook versions  that I decided to take things into my own hands. For a while I self-published the book, but still distribution internationally was a  problem.

But one thing that did come out of that was the fabulous new cover that the wonderful  Lee Hyat (the lovely lady who runs this blog  and Author Sound Relations  and who helped me set up  the new edition, the kindle edition – and most of all designed that amazing cover – thank you Lee!

That was when my husband started working with Emerald Guides (he wrote a Crime Writers’ Handbook  for them with a friend who was a detective in the London Met) – and the publisher asked it he could take over the 12 Point Guide – and all the distribution.  I was delighted to have that responsibility taken out of my hands -  but I realised that before they could publish the book it really needed to be revised and brought up to date.

   There were a lot of romance lines that were no longer published,  lines where the names had been changed . . .

So I revised the whole thing, added more details about how to submit by email,  tried to include all the new names for the lines-  but those can change so fast that I’m not holding my breath everything will stay bang up to date for ever!

The brand new, revised, updated edition is out now  and on sale  in both paperback and ebook form. It   still has that fabulous cover (again -  thank you   Lee!)  and  I took delivery of my author copies just before the RNA Conference last month.

But . .  . and here’s where the ill wind  bit comes in.  You probably can’t see but when I received my first delivery, I looked at the cover  where there is a fantastic quote from the great Michelle Reid . . .

“ A must-have for any aspiring romantic fiction writer. Brilliant. . . A page-turner all on its own.”  She said .

  Except that on that first delivery  there was a misprint and what it actually says is:

“ A must-have for any inspiring romantic fiction writer. Brilliant. . . A page-turner all 

on its own.”

Err. . .  No!   So the new printing had to be started again.

But it left me with some not-quite-perfect copies to  find a good home for.

Would you like one/ I have  a copy to give away today. If you don’t mind that small mix up on the front cover -  everything else is just perfect inside –  honest!

 So if  you’d like to tell me what you’re writing and why  you  think the 12 Point Guide can help you with your journey to publication . . .then leave a message in the Comments section below and I’ll get Charlie the Maine Coon cat to pick a winner on Monday morning.

You can read more about me and my books on my web site and my blog -  and catch up with me too on my Facebook page

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.

My 10 'determinations' for the year

Happy New Year  - rather belatedly.

 But then everything has been rather belated recently. What with Christmas and New Year  - which were preceded by an unexpected and unwanted stay in hospital  - convalescence  that took longer than I expected – then a family birthday – and revisions on the latest book . . .  everything has  become chaotic and  disorganised  as a result.  I’ve only just managed to catch up on anything (not quite everything yet!)

Anyone who’s read my posts at this time of year regularly knows I’m not a fan of New Year ‘resolutions’. I don’t like the thought that we’re telling ourselves that what we are is not good enough. That  we need a whole ‘new me’  and to reject the person whose got us this far in life. So my DH and I had one resolve – no resolutions.  

But we did have a talk about the way we’d like the year to go  and  the things we’d like to include in our 2016 as it unfolds. I found that I was on the same lines of thinking as another writer when I read in the Sunday papers of her determination to have  small positive  steps of happiness. I can go along with that.

So here are my happiness steps for 2016

1.     1,  Spending more time with family and friends. The loss of one very dear friend two years ago taught me that we need to hold on to the people we value in our lives – they’re not always here for ever.

2.   2    Work will never love you back – see #1 to reinforce this. Another book – or two – is an achievement I’d like to enjoy  but not at the expense of people I love.

3.  3.     Getting out and about  into nature if possible helps boost my mood – and goes some way towards dealing with the curse of writers’ bottom. (I went someway towards dealing with these 3 points at the weekend when the Babe Magnet and I spent the weekend with our son and his fiancée and the new member of the family – the ‘grand-dog’  Lola a 17 week old golden retriever. Taking her out for a l

Lola on the beach

ong walk on a blustery, rainy beach ticked off all those 3 points in one!)

4.   4    Writing etc keeps my mind open and busy – but I love to challenge it in  other ways. So the Babe Magnet and I want to keep up our Saturday morning coffee shop and cryptic crossword dates! We have a record to keep up – with almost 3  years undefeated  completing it now.

5.   5    Reading – I’ve not read as much or as widely as I would like for a time. Writing tends to get in the way of reading. And I want to read different things. The unexpected time in hospital might have been unwanted but it made sure I had time to focus just on the book I was reading and nothing else. So I realised how much more reading I got through if I found the time.

6.  6     I’m going to put this in as a separate point though really it’s part of #5 Reading again – but I want to find new authors I can try and  maybe fall in love with. This will also mean that I can hope to reduce my TBR piles  ( the one by my bed and in my office ) – and my TBR library (the one on my Kindle.)  So far this year  I’ve read  the new to me Kate Mosse The Taxidermist’s Daughter  and the psychological thriller Only We Know by Karen  Perry whose The Boy That Never Was, was one of my favourite reads of 2015.

7.  7     Teaching – courses and workshops.  I love meeting new writers  - and past students who have become real friends  after coming on one of my courses so I want to keep teaching as much as I can. But I need to keep a balance so that  teaching doesn’t take over from my writing. But the courses I run for Writers’ Holiday and Relax and Write boost my ideas and the discussions and retreats revive

my interest in writing too. My 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is still helping would-be writers and they keep sending messages to let me know how much they've learned from it. That makes me happy when I can reach the writers who can't get to my classes.

8.       8.Theatre – 3 years ago my DH and I resolved  to see as much live theatre as  we could fit in and we’ve kept to that.  The last trip was to Nottingham to see a production of Mack and Mabel and we’ve mixed classic plays with musicals, London productions with local theatre and provincial tours. Now I have the fun of studying the new theatre programmes for 2016 and planning where we’re going

9.     9.Food – no I’m not talking about diets or restrictions or clean eating or  paleo or whatever is the latest  wonder plan. Just to keep on enjoying what I eat  - but making sure it’s ‘real food’. Luckily I don’t suffer with a sweet tooth and I’m really happy with lots of veggies – so this will be no hardship.

110.   Looking after me. This includes several of the points above – food, exercise (I can’t wait to walk Lola again) but also those little pampering treats that we can often forget. I was shocked to realise that some on the perfume I was given last year was still unopened, the same with a lovely body lotion that was a birthday gift.  My husband’s grandmother once had a chest of drawers filled with things that she ‘kept for best’.  I’m not going to head that way.  So – the best time to use these treats is now.  Because as that saying goes :

Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present

And -  I know I said my 10 points but here’s the last and perhaps most important one – to value the present and everything it brings. I’m still not making resolutions to make myself ‘better’ some time in the future.

What are your plans and hopes and reams for this coming year?  I don't think you need to list losing ten pounds or running every day - I think you're fine as you are!

My most recent book is Destined For The Desert King  - out in Harlequin Presents in December.  I'm busy finishing the revisions on the latest novel

where my brooding Spanish hero meets up again with Rose  the girl who knocked his life off balance ten years ago,

And I'm thrilled to be able to say that my other 2015 title,  Olivero's Outrageous Proposal has been re released in the Mills & Boon collection The Best of 2015.  That's a way to start my new year off just right!

If you want to read all my latest news then visit my web site here   and there's my blog too (when I get caught up and organised!) That's here 

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.

Song for two heroes - or heroines . . . Kate Walker

I’m  on a deadline right know. OK, to be honest, I’m rather over that deadline.  I have too little ti

me left and too much book  to write – so I’m fairly pressured for time. Add into that the fact that I’d forgotten to add in the time I needed to run a writing retreat in Swanwick, Derbyshrire  (that’s pronounced Swannick Darbyshire in Brit English of course, not the way it looks on the page!)

So I’m a bit late getting back  home, unpacked, sorted out, and at the keyboard  to write my blog.  And then of course I had to think of something to write.

Now there’s a problem – I’ve been writing blogs -  my own, Tote Bags, Pink Hearts . . . for so many years that sometimes it’s really hard to think what I should talk about. What would be interesting? What would be current? What would readers Actually want to read about?

It’s a bit like the eternal ‘where do you get your ideas from’ question that  writers are asked so often.  That’s the question I usually answer ‘from life’ when I’m asked it.  Well, it’s true -  life is the  one great source of inspiration that comes at us day in and day out, bringing new events, new people, new possibilities for stories, or blogs – sometimes.

I have an idea for my current story, obviously, which is a good thing  - because of that deadline, obviously, but I’m really a bit apprehensive  about getting to the end of this book , this deadline, and starting tom look around for another brand new  exciting and interesting  idea for next time. 

Because I don’t just have to find an idea for this book, but  this one and another one as well.  Because when I was in London last month   for the annual author party, I was talking to my editor about what

might be coming up and she said ‘I’d really like to see a duet.’  And before I knew what had happened I’d opened my mouth and said ‘Fine. I can do that.’

Fine? What’s fine about it? A duet is two books. Two linked books.   I have to think of not one story that excites me and makes me want to write it. One idea  ‘with legs’ that  will have enough interest and depth to develop into  a full length book – but two s

uch stories – and they have to be linked in some way so that they create a ‘duet’.  Eeek!

I have written duets – and a trilogy before.  So I know it can be done. 

There was The Alcolar Family (just republished as   The Notorious Alcolars in Australia). That came about by accident. I was asked to write a free on-line story for the Harlequin web site  so I created Alex Alcolar  and at the end of his story his two half-brothers  Joaquin and Ramon and his half-sister Mercedes appeared and everyone wanted to  know their stories it seemed. So I set to and The 12 Month Mistress   (Joaquin’s story) , The Spaniard’s Inconvenient Wife (Ramon)  and Bound by Blackmail  (Mercedes).  The link between them was  easy – they were all from the same family.

wrote

Other connected books – duets have happened  almost by accident.

I wrote The Sicilian’s Wife in 2002 as a standalone story. But in the closing chapters of that story, the hero’s  half brother Gio appeared  and soon he was demanding his own story. I wrote it –(he didn’t give me much option – he wouldn’t go away until I did!) And so A Sicilian Husband appeared a year later.

Then there was  the Sicilian Brothers duet  which was actually planned as two linked books. Guido and  Vito Corsentino were inspired by a some emails from an American fan who told me about her brothers  with those names and the names were so great – such obvious ‘hero’ names that I had to write their stories. They appeared in Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride and The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge in  2007.

So now I need some new ideas for a new duet. I’d better move away from any more Sicilians – they seem to have had their fair share of  linked stories for a while – do you think?  And Spaniards. The Alcolars have had four books after all.  

But how should I link them?  I’ve done several brothers or half-brothers stories.  There’s even a sister in there.  Family links obviously work well -  but should I write about heroes who are brothers or heroines who are sisters?  Then there’s the possibilities of heroines who work together  - or work for each other. Would that - er  work?  Or heroes who  are best friends – or twins – or . . .

My mind is almost spinning with possibilities but I’m having to shelve the real work on coming up with these new plots until I finish the current story and send it off to my  editor. Then I can start really planning and thinking and imagining.

What about you? Do you like linked stories that form a duet? Or do you prefer a standalone story?

And what sort of links do you like to see in a linked series of books? Family connections?   Brothers? Sisters?  Twins? Friends? Enemies?  Or is there something else entirely, something new that you’d just love to see in a pair of linked books?  Any clever ideas?

In the meantime I’ll  keep my nose to the grindstone and work on – and hopefully finish very soon – this new story. And then I’m going to be brainstorming ideas and plans to see what to write next.  

I just hope I can come up with something soon!

(And if you have any ideas or questions that would create interesting and new blogs, that would be great too!) 

 . Coming next  Destined For The Desert King  which is published in December this year.
  

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.

Looking forward to autumn with Kate Walker

Almost every morning before I get to my desk, I go for a walk in the local park. From there,  there’s a path that leads to the woods and I walk all round the woods as well. It’s a lovely way to start off my day. I have some peace and quiet to think. I get my exercise – essential seeing as the day job usually keeps me sitting most of the day – and I get to see the changing seasons up close.  The past few weeks have been lovely and mild so that I got to see the rabbits frolicking in the sunlight, or the squirrels running up the tree trunks.  Robins, magpies, crows, sparrows, all fly about the woods and I can hear the woodpecker hammering away at a tree trunk up above my head.

But this morning it was a very different sort of day.  There was a chill wind and a lot of rain. Suddenly it was so obvious that the season was changing. Summer is over and autumn is on its way in.  There was a sort of melancholy feel about it, but at the same time there was an excitement and anticipation of the new season that’s starting.  

I’ve often talked about how I love this time of year. New Term. Back To School. New (School) Year – all these things mean that there’s the anticipation of new beginnings and all the shops have  lots of lovely stationery and pens to mark ‘Back To School’ time. But there are other reasons why I love this time of year. Reasons I’m looking forward to Autumn -  So I thought I’d share some of them with you.

I’m not really very good with a lot of heat. Sunshine, yes, but hot days really exhaust me so I’m haf bach mihangel – Michael’s Little Summer – St. Michael’s Day being on 29 September) but it is rarely as hot as the height of summer. And I love that.

happy about the cooler days. We might still have an Indian Summer (or as we used to call it when DH and I were at university in Aberystwyth in Wales 

The changing colours. I love to see the way that the trees start to change colour – to turn from green to gold to brown.  I’ve always loved the ‘autumnal’ colours so I shall wear some of those too.

Shoes – and boots – I love boots -   high boots, ankle boots, black, burgundy . . .  I just bought myself a wonderful pair of flats in metallic leather – can’t wait to wear them with opaque black tights. My sandals don’t feel right any more and I can’t wait to get into boots!

TV  - I’m in the UK  so this will be slightly different here – but  the autumn schedules start – last weekend we had Lady Chatterley’s Lover ( Richard Madden, James Norton) coming up  are the new series -  Dr Who. Downton Abbey,  Sherlock,  Strictly Come Dancing, Jekyll and Hyde. (And meanwhile  Aidan Turner is filming the second series of Poldark and James Norton is working on  Grantchester 2) These are good ways to spend darker cooler evenings. And that’s before I consider films – the live broadcasts of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet – Tom Hiddleston as Hank  Williams.

Or theatre – so far I have tickets for The Importance of Being Earnest, Mack and Mabel,  Kiss me Kate . . . I  will be spending most of Autumn watching great acting!

Real fires. We’re lucky enough to have a real fire in our living room. It hasn’t been used for five months – I can’t wait to lay the wood, add the coal, strike a match . . . and the cats just love to curl up in front of it.

And if the fire’s lit and I’m not watching TV – there’s always the bundle of new books coming out.  The fire in the hearth, a cat on my lap – a good book . . .

Autumn is also a time when I go to London to meet all my friends and fellow authors  at the Association of Mills & Boon lunch. This time it’s extra exciting as  for the first time we’ll get to see the brand new M&B offices  in the News Building in Central London .  

October I’ll be running a guided retreat  Focus on Writing Romantic Fiction. This means I get to spend the weekend at The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick Derbyshire – and I’ll

meet up with students, some of whom are already friends – and get to spend the weekend talking about writing – what’s not to like?

Oh, and I seem to have a lovely set of books  coming pout this autumn too. There’s the Australian collection of my 3 books about the Alcolar Family  called The Notorious Alcolars. A brand new  English Manga Comic edition of The Greek Tycoon’s Unwilling Wife.  And the one I’m most looking forward to of all – the publication of my newest title Destined for The Desert King.   (I just love the Presents cover for this one!) 

All I need to make my autumn complete will be to have written – and had accepted  - a new book ready for the new year. I’m working on that one. And that’s the other great thing about autumn. Because it’s not so warm and because of that ‘new term’ feeling, I always write so much better and more  concentrated in autumn. I’m hoping to get this new book  (Rose and Nairo’s story) to my editor very soon.

So that’s why, although I’m sad to see the summer fade, I’m also excited by the prospect of this new season and I’m, really looking forward to Autumn and all the promise  that it holds.

What about you?  Do you love autumn – fall -  whatever you call  it?   Or are you dreading the darker nights and the cooler days?  I’d love to know what you’re looking forward to.  But let’s agree not to talk about the C word - Christmas -  just yet!!

My  latest romance  is Olivero's Outrageous Proposal published in April in Harlequin Presents and Mills and Boon Modern Romance . Coming next  Destined For The Desert King  which is published in December this year.
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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.

Refilling the Well - with Kate Walker

I’m  a bit late with my blog post for Tote Bags today – but I really believe that my excuse is that it’s for the best possible reason.  Honestly. I was so busy today – though I suspect that other people seeing me and  how I was spending the day  would have said that I was actually  just relaxing.

I  spent a large amount of my time curled up on a cushion in the sunshine with my nose in a book.

Yes – I  was reading. I was reading, deeply involved in and thoroughly enjoying a book that I just didn’t want to put down. I  was almost halfway through this story last night when I found that I really just couldn’t stay awake  and reluctantly put it down as my eyes were closing.  Then I couldn’t pick it up again this morning as I had to get the grocery shopping done, visit a friend, feed my son ‘s cats (he and his fiancée are away this weekend).  But as soon as I got a moment I grabbed the book again (well – I grabbed my kindle again) and lost myself in the world of the mystery and the emotions of the story I was being told.

It can be hard to lose myself like that. Writing fiction for a living makes you too critical of other people’s  novels. You can  begin to see where the story is going, start to question why the characters are behaving the way they are, find the pace begins to lag . . . So it’s wonderful when you feel the ‘can’t put it down’ experience that keeps you intent on the pages.  

It’s special in several ways. Because it relaxes and absorbs you. Because it reminds you of just what you’re aiming for when you’re writing yourself (something that needs bringing home to every author  because there’s always the temptation to write fast  and get the story out , not thinking about the way to keep your reader hooked)  And then there’s the need to ‘refill the well’ - to  feed your own imagination,  take you away from the worlds you build in your own books and into someone else’s stories  so that your imagination has a feast of new experiences and  from those experiences new ideas grow for my own books.

I  usually find that books that are very unlike my own novels are the best ones for feeding my imagination this way.  Contemporary romances or  even historical ones are often too like the books I write so that I end up thinking ‘I wouldn’t have written this that way’  or ‘I would have made  this character do this-  or that. . .’   So I’ve been lucky for the past few weeks. I’ve read some new  books, discovered  some new authors I’ve enjoyed – and who have written  several books that I now want to get hold of and see what the  rest of their output is like.

So there was In The Woods by Tana French  - a gripping murder mystery where the present day mystery  links the detective’s past experiences to add an extra dimension  to the story.

Then there was Amy Snow by  Tracy Rees. This was a historical novel with a  mystery and a 

‘treasure hunt’ at its heart.   Cryptic messages and a journey across  England  leading the heroine to . .  well,  that would be giving the story  away.

Letters to the Lost is by Iona Grey who I know as India Grey who used to write for  Harlequin. Her first single title is a lovely debut  - like the Tracy Rees book, who can resist a mystery that is slowly 

revealed by letters  - though this one links the present day with a   tragic love story from the past   set in 1943.

And today’s book  - my excuse for being late with this post – was A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke. OK, I admit I guessed what the twist at the end was going to be – but that was why I had to keep on reading. I wanted to know how the author would make it work and what would happen when . . . .  It didn't disappoint. 

I’ve had a great time with these  books – all of them  different, all of them absorbing.   They’ve relaxed and refreshed me, intrigued and taxed my imagination – and made me want to get down to my latest story and see just what is going to happen when  my hero and heroine meet up again after five years  apart and realise that they are very different people from the ones who originally met. . .

Have you read anything you’ve really enjoyed recently?  Any good recommendations to add to my TBR pile?  (Not that I need any suggestions – the pile/list of kindle titles is more than full – but a few more won’t hurt!)

My  latest romance  is Olivero's Outrageous Proposal published in April in Harlequin Presents and Mills and Boon Modern Romance. Coming next  is Destined For The Desert King  which is published in December this year.

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.

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.