Family Reunions with Kate Walker

I’ve just come back from a family reunion that was a very special event.  I come from a family of five sisters.   (I come right in the middle of them if you’re wondering.)  My eldest sister is living in Australia  so she’s sadly thousands of miles away, but the next eldest sister – the one between her and me – is having a big birthday this year.   And she invited all the rest of us -  and the next generation – and the one after that – to come together for a very special family  party and overnight stay.

W

e had a wonderful time. We all live in different parts of the country, have different lives, but it was as if time and distance hadn’t existed.  So there were my other sisters, two husbands, one sister’s daughter, and the birthday girl’s son, his wife and two daughters. So that’s  three generations. And to add to the celebrations, there were two more about-to-be members of the family as my niece and my nephews wife were both expecting babies due to arrive in September.

Since I came home and I looked at all the photographs – specially one that had all of us, each generation, arranged on a flight of steps, it made me think about families both in reality and in books.  And it got me wondering about the families in some of my books.

I’ve now been published for over thirty years, so some of the babies  conceived by or born to past heroes and heroines will be about the age to become heroes and heroines themselves.   The b

aby that pushes Pierce and Natalie into marriage in  The Unexpected Child would be twenty years old now – just old enough to have her own story. And so will the little girl   Rosie who appeared in His Miracle Baby.

Sometimes I create characters who are connected by family or place and  then if I revisit that place, that family,  there is a chance to catch up with the story of the original couple and see how their life has progressed. I did this with  A Question of Honour where the hero and heroine  - Karim and Clemmie  later appeared – with their children -  in Destined For The Desert King .   And  Nabil, who was to have been Clemmie’s original bridegroom in that story, is the hero of this second book, with his new bride Aziza.  I remembered these books particularly as the story I’m working on will  take my new hero and heroine from their homes in Ireland to the kingdom of Rhastaan  where they may well meet up with Karim and Clemmie, Nabil and Aziza . . .and who knows how many children now?

So that made me wonder.  Do you like books were past characters appear, and you learn about their lives later on? Do you enjoy finding out about what has happened to them since their ‘happy ever after’ ending? Are they in fact ‘happy ever after’?  (I should hope so as I try to write characters who are just made for each other.)

Thinking about these earlier books has made me wonder whether it might be interesting to revisit

What do you think?  Do you like to read books like this? Are there any books - mine  or any other  author’s  where you’d like to know what happened to a younger character – or just another person – in the future?

families and give them their own family reunion  and a story for the next generation.

I  know I’m looking forward to revisiting old friends in Rhastaan as I take Adnan and Ciara out to that country on their rather unusual honeymoon.

I don't have a new book out until January next year but you can  keep up to date with all my news on my web site blog page  or my Facebook page   where you can find out when I have new books appearing in the shops.

The delight of giving unexpectedly - With Kate Walker

Happy December!

 It is for me now.  But there was a point when it didn’t look as if it was going to be. Two weeks ago, at almost exactly this time, I was suddenly and ridiculously dramatically taken ill.  I started to day fine – started to feel a bit ‘off’, the found I was shivering and shaking and  feeling dreadful. Long story short - it turns out I had septicaemia with a very high temperature from some nasty infection and I was taken into hospital in a rush and given IV antibiotics for days until the blighter gave in and left - hopefully for ever,

I was lucky enough to have  little bit of brain still working before I left the house so I managed to grab the absolute essentials  - clean pyjamas – and my Kindle.  So at least I had something to wear and something (OK – a lot)  to read.  Both proved very useful  as I was attached to a drip and had to stay put for far too long.

But I was the lucky one. In the ward, as I started to feel a lot better, there were other women all brought into the hospital in something of a rush and most of them had just the barest essentials  - some not even that.   More than one of my fellow patients were feeling totally bored and upset with nothing to distract therm.

This was one of the occasions when I really felt there’s an extra-special  little bonus that comes from being a writer. When my husband came to visit on the first day I asked him to bring me a bundle of my backlist books  - and titles – any dates – and leave them with me, For the rest of the week+ I was in the hospital, I had these books available for anyone who wanted therm.  If someone was bored – would she like something to read?  If someone was feeling really low – perhaps a romance might distract her?  In the end even the nurses and one of the female doctors spotted the pile of books on my table  and  asked about them – then took away one of them for their day off or  to relax when they got home.

I really felt like Santa as I watched  people open their books and settle down to relax with them. At one point I was sitting in the middle of the ward with my kindle while everyone else in my bay (7 other women) with their nose buried in a copy of one of my books. I’ve never actually sat and watched so many  people read my stories   all at one time. It was so great to see their enjoyment.

This really brought home to me something about giving at Christmas. I have gifts for my family and friends – well, just two more names on the list and I’m done – but there was something very special about being able to give to someone who wasn’t expecting it and who I wouldn’t have known about if we hadn’t ended up together so unexpectedly.   So that’s when I decided that today I was going to  do a small giveaway – with a difference. 

This is really a continuation of the post I wrote on  November 12^th – the one I never got round to answering  after I wrote it last year.  Then I offered a copy of my book as a stocking stuffer – and  life dumped on me so hard that I never got back to declare the winner of that.

So  Barbara T  - can you contact me  through my web site – kate at kate-walker.com and I’ll send you a copy of one of my backlist books for your cousin

And for today’s giveaway – is there someone you feel needs a little boost, like those ladies in the hospital? Someone who perhaps needs their day brightening a little – or some chance to sit back and relax for a while? Tell me who you’d like to make a gift to and why and I’ll put your name in the draw and you might win a copy of A Question of Honour for her.  A Question of Honour is the first part of the Rhastaan Royals  duo.  My current book , Destined for The Desert King  out now, is Part Two of that set.

And this time I’ll try not to disappear into hospital before Charlie the Maine  Coon has picked the name of the winner!

Out Now:  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 Az

iza 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.

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.

A New Beginning and A Special Anniversary

My family has an usual approach to their careers, the jobs they do in life.   I have four sisters and

not one of them is in the job they first started out in – five of us if you include me in that number, as you need to do.

The thing is, we all seem to get to a certain age -  around early thirties is the common number – and  then we launch into a new career and  it’s not the one we  originally planned.  My eld est sister trained as a radiographer.  That was the job she qualified in, the one that took her from the UK to work in Canada – where after some years she changed her career path completely.  She went to university, studied archaeology and anthropology and ended up teaching in the u8niversity where she had her degree. (She later changed again when she went to live in Australia – and went back to being a radiographer so came back to where she’d started).

The next sister never really settled to anything early on so she was a stay at home mother to her  two boys  - until they grew up more, and she got to that  just after thirty age  when she trained to be a librarian -  which was the job I’d had . . . but then I changed mine!

My younger sister (I’m right in the middle) was a medical secretary but she left that job (quite early for one of our family!) and joined the army in the army.  After she married she went back to being a secretary  - another one who went full circle.  And then the youngest of us  started out, like my eldest sister, as a radiographer.   Some years later she went to work in Africa on voluntary service  - and when she came back she completely changed her career and became a social worker.

And me? Well, you should be able to guess this one – you have a few clues!  As I said, I started out as a librarian. I went to university, got a ;librarianship qualification,  got a job as  the local Children’s Librarian – and I loved it -  but then when my son  was  born,  I decided to try for the dream job I had always wanted – that of being a writer.  I didn’t actually know what sort of books I wanted to write then, but when I picked up a romance after years of not reading them, I knew I’d come home. And you know the rest . . .

As I was writing this post, I began to wonder if perhaps it might not be better to plan this one for January – new  year, new beginnings and all that  - but then the thing that got me thinking about this special new beginning of mine is that fact that this month marks a special anniversary -   December 2014 marks a special anniversary for me. It’s 30 years since my very first book – The Chalk Line – was published   way back then.

And I’ve never looked back since. I found what I really most wanted to do  - and the  copies of my first book was my  best ever Christmas present back in 1984.    I’ve never wanted to go back to being a librarian and I’m so happy to look back and see the 62 books that have been published in those 30 years.

So to share the celebrations of my special anniversary of my brand new start I’m  wondering what you’ve always dreamed of doing -  perhaps there’s some dream that you might want to consider  starting afresh to try for as that stroke of midnight sounds out at the end of this month.  If you had a mid-life change, where would you head next?   Or perhaps  you’ve already got your best dream – I’d love to know that too.
Let me know in the comments and I’ll get my cats Charlie the Maine Coon and his apprentice Ruby the black and white rescue kitten to pick a winner each – and I’ll send each winner one of my backlist  titles so you can share in my special 30^th celebrations

So now, this week, I’m celebrating the 30^th anniversary of my very first published  book – and I’m looking forward to the publication of my  62^nd  (Olivero’s Outrageous Proposal) coming in April and working on the next one with a handsome sheikh hero who first appeared as a difficult 19 year old in A Question of Honor (or Honour if you're in the UK.)

I don't yet know what the UK cover of my next book will look like - but I can share the Harlequin Presents cover with you for the first time today. 

My latest releases are two reissues -  first there's Kept For Her Baby which is out in the 3 in 1 By Request  called Secret Love -Child.  

And coming up next, there's the reissue of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  again in a 3 in 1 collection - His Revenge Seduction.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle

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.

Connected Characters - with Kate Walker

I wrote the first pages of my newest book this month. It’s just over a month since the revisions for

the previous story were accepted and the book scheduled, under the title of Oliver’s Outrageous Proposal, for next April 2015.  I was so busy through the month of September, travelling to Wales where my husband was speaking at a book festival about his latest book, then visiting London for the Association of Mills & Boon Authors annual lunch and a get together with all the editors from the Richmond office.  Back home, I had just time to unpack and do the laundry before I set out again for Weetwood Hall  in Leeds  where I was  running a Writing Retreat on Romantic Fiction for the weekend.

It was just the pause I needed, the chance to take the time to draw breath after a hectic summer and take the time to think and plan ahead. While everyone else was working on the writing tasks I’d set them, I was able to follow my own advice on planning and starting a book and make lots of notes and write several pages of the new story.

Another thing that helped was that I’d ‘met’ this hero before. When I wrote A Question of Honor which came out in the summer this year, my editor loved the book, but she was also intrigued by one character in it – Nabil, the bridegroom Clemmie should have married if her arranged marriage had gone ahead. What happened to him after A Question of Honor ended, she wanted to know – what was his life like after that? And how did he end up with his happy ever after?

The answer, then, was that I really didn’t know. The only thing I was sure of was that he had a lot of growing up to do. He was only young, little more than a boy really – just 19  - so he needed to mature if he was to become the hero of his own book. And a lot of things had to change.  I didn’t know what had happened in the time after one book had ended and a new one (Nabil’s story) began – so I waited, wrote Olivero’s  Outrageous Proposal, and waited to see what would develop.

It turned out that lots did! Nabil waited  until  Dario Olivero’s story was finished – just – before he began to start dropping hints about his own romance.  Then, all the way through that journey to Wales, and in the lovely quiet, sunny days when we were staying in a beautiful Welsh manor house, and again in London,  he started putting ideas into my head so that I knew I just had to go ahead and write his story.  So this book, one that is loosely connected to A Question of Honor had been burning inside my head and is  pushing to be written – now!

I don’t often write books that are connected. Some authors set out to plan and write series in which characters who had appeared  in the first story have their own romance told in a later book, but I have only deliberately planned to do that one – in The Alcolar Family series  where the stories of two  brothers and a younger sister followed on from the story of Alexander Alcolar in the novella Wife For Real.  A couple of other times, the hero of one book has had a brother and I’ve told both their stories (Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride and A Sicilian Husband are an example) but these  second stories usually grow out of the story and I don’t know it’s going to happen until I realise that I just have to write them.

But there’s a special pleasure in writing these connected stories. It means I get to develop the personality and story of someone who only briefly appeared in the original book, and then I get a chance to go back and revisit the hero and heroine whose story was in the earlier novel. It’s fun to see them again and to get to know what’s been happening to them as well as the hero and heroine of the new story.  This new book starts on a very special day for Karim and Clemmie from A Question of Honor and it was lovely to be able to celebrate with them, and see what’s been happening to them too in the time that has passed since their happy ending. I’m enjoying writing this connected book, and building on the original story I wrote before.

What about you? Do you like connected stories? Do you like it when a character who has a ‘bit part’ in one story then becomes the hero and heroine of their own romance? And do you like catching up with past characters, so that you can see what’s been happening with them and how they’re getting on?

 

My next title out  is - as I said Olivero's Outrageous Proposal which is published in  Harlequin Presents and Mills and Boon  Modern in April 2015. But before then there are 2 reprints coming out - Kept for Her Baby will be in a 3 in 1 collection  His Secret Baby and The Konstantos Marriage Demand will be in His Revenge Seduction in  November 2014.

Meanwhile, the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is available on Kindle
Details of these books and all the latest news are available on my web site and on my blog.

 

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

A Change in the Weather by Kate Walker

We’ve had a lovely warm summer – at times it has been a really hot summer. The sun has shone, the sky

was clear bright blue, rarely a cloud in view. When I was teaching in Wales last month – and travelling on my way to get there – it was hot and humid, and being in a workroom, even talking about writing romance, was hard work at times.  We went through jugs of water and had all the windows open.  The slight breeze from the sea helped.

It’s been warm since we got back – which was just as well, because I had all the washing to do – and get dried – after we unpacked and before we  repacked set off again. This time on a special trip for my husband’s birthday treat to the old spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. We had sunshine  almost all the time we were away. One rainstorm and that was it.

But this week has been so very different.  Apparently we’ve been hit by the tail end of   Hurricane Bertha and – well, I’m glad it was only the ‘tail end’. My heart goes out to everyone who has to endure the real thing – we had huge thunderstorms, lashing winds, torrential downpours, flash floods. . .

And then today is just beautiful. The day is calm, the sun, shining, the sky is back to that wonderful clear blue – and all the heavy, humid heat that had built up has cleared. We have warmth, but it’s  fresh and enjoyable, not  heavy and close and almost unbearable.

Of course, being a writer, I’ve been looking at the weather and thinking how closely it reassembled one of my books.  There was the long , hot build up, the way that things grew stronger and stronger.  Then there was the  way the heat got  heavier and  close to unbearable, the way that we knew something had to break  - it could almost be felt coming closer and closer.  The dark clouds gathered, got darker . . .blacker. Until with a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning  everything seemed to explode around us. The heavens opened and the  rain  bucketed down, drenching everything in its path.  It’s  a real image of the way I try to build the tension in a story , cranking it up higher and higher until that ‘black moment’ when everything comes to a head  and all  the tension blows up right in my characters’ faces.

And then there is the calm after the storm .  The time when with a fresh new day, a clearer, calmer way of looking at things, they can resolve the problems that caused so much trouble and go into a future together, and hopefully to that happy ever after.

So it’s interesting that that’s exactly what I’ve been writing over the past few days. The weather outside has almost mirrored the scenes and the ‘emotional storms’ between my characters. It’s been fun watching that happen . . . and now I have to give them their happy ending and the bright sunny day.  I’ll enjoy that too.  And I was wondering if it’s the stormy  moments that readers enjoy reading in  my books – or is it that ‘calm after the storm ‘ that you’re looking for and enjoy reading most?

What do you think?

I hope you’re having peaceful weather right now – whether hot or cold -  and that the sun  keeps shining for the rest of the school holidays so that everyone can enjoy them.  And if a bit of rain is falling – I hope it will pass quickly .

My  latest title A Question of  Honor  is on sale in Harlequin Presents.

You can find out more details about it on my web site   and read all my more up to date news about my books and what I'm doing on my blog   or my Facebook page.

Escapism - Kate Walker

It’s been a difficult couple of weeks.

Ok,  who am I kidding – it’s been a tough  couple of months  - and the last two weeks have been particularly hard. One of those times when life  gets up and bites you and turns the peace and quiet you’d been hoping for upside down.

My dearest friend – we’ve been friends for over 33 years  and we met when our sons were both in playgroup -  has been fighting breast cancer for  almost 3 years.  But she’s  been losing that fight recently and  3 weeks ago she had to go in to hospice care where she could get the best possible help. At the same time I was called up for jury  service . This meant a long train journey  to travel to the court – sometimes with a long wait between trains if the timings were wrong. Then there were  long difficult hours  in the court.

Sometimes these were spent  waiting and waiting for something to happen. And at other times the jury was actually in the court – and that was not exactly fun by anyone’s description.

Rarely, if ever, have I been so grateful for a good book.  There was all that extra travelling. When I’m used to getting dressed, making a cup of coffee and walking through a door into my office, the trip to the railway station,  train journey, walk to the court – and back at the end of the day, seemed  really long and tiring ion contrast.  The sitting about waiting for something to happen  - well, I’d been warned, so I had preloaded my kindle with plenty to read.

And then at the weekend I was warned that my friend had taken a turn for the worse.  Sadly she died two days later.  I’ve been  feeling lost as so so sad at this and once again I found that the only way to escape from the miserable day was  to bury myself in a book.

So I’ve read plenty -  Last Year’s Bride by Anne McAllister and  Second Chance Bride by Trish Morey were great company in the jury room.  Liz Fielding’s  For His Eyes Only and  This House is Haunted by John Boyne   helped those train journeys  pass. And  a great psychological thriller Precious Thing by Colette McBeth  kept me focusing on its mystery and tension when I couldn’t cope with much else.

If ever I wanted a classic example of why ‘escapist’ books are so valuable – contrary to the opinions of those who  might look down their noses at ‘light reads’.   These books were friends when I needed them, distractions when I needed distraction, and fillers of empty spaces of time when I wanted  that.

Some years ago I received an email from a reader  who wrote to tell me how much she had enjoyed one of my older books – His Miracle Baby. That’s always a welcome event but this time it was particularly lovely to read this one. The book had originally been bought by this reader’s mother who then passed it on to her

daughter when she had to get on a plane to visit her sick father in another state in USA.  Knowing her daughter was fearful of flying, she gave it to her to read on the flight, and it distracted her from the worry she normally felt.  That was good enough for me but there was more.

At the hospital, waiting for news of her father, she finished the book – shared it with her sister, her aunt, even her male cousin. It helped distract them from their worries,  fill those anxious hours.  And then, when everyone in the family had read it, the nursing staff – particularly those on duty at night – were able to share it and relax during their long shifts in the dark hours. 

Luckily my reader’s father recovered, which was great news. But as a writer the great news for me was the way that my light romance novel provided the perfect escapee from stress and worry for people who needed it. I’ve experienced that for myself this past few weeks and I’m truly grateful to the people who wrote the books who helped me through some difficult days.

It’s another reason why I’m proud to write what I do – why I’m never insulted or feel criticised when what I write is  described as escapist. That’s fine by me. And if I what I wrote helps someone through a hard time then I’m doubly pleased – couldn’t be more so.

What about you? Have  you read a particular book that helped you through a bad time?  Or is there one you turn to again and again knowing it will cheer you up when you’re feeling down? I hope so.

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

Books in my Past - And Present with Kate Walker

If you were to take a look at my (overcrowded ) bookshelves, you’d find, in amongst all the  romance novels, the detective stories, thrillers, historical novels,  there’s a very small separate section  that has  three – no four books all on the same subject.

There’s A E W Mason’s   Clementina  ( A grand Tale of Loyalty and Betrayal).  Then there’s The  Escape of The Princess by Jane Lane.  These two are fiction. There are two other, factual titles. One is The Life of Chevalier  Charles  Wogan ,A Soldier of Fortune [1922] by  J.M.Flood and another, reproduced in a modern paperback but that is a copy of the original  dating from  1719. It’s called  The Rescue of Princess Clementina (Stuart): A 1719 Adventure of the Irish Brigades – and this one was written by Charles Wogan himself.  I’ve collected these books over the years and I keep them on my ‘specials’ shelves.

Why? 

  Well, the answer to that is that the Charles Wogan that these books are written about – or who writes his own version of the story in The Rescue of Princess Clementina (Stuart)  -  is a long ago ancestor of mine. My mother’s family is descended from the Wogan family and I’ve grown up with the story of this Irish soldier  whose tale is something of a delight for any romantic novelist – here is a brief summary.

"The Chevalier" (Knight) Charles Wogan was born in Rathcoffey.   Wogan was a staunch supporter of the Stuarts. He initiated the alliance which led to the marriage of James Edward Francis Stuart (the Old Pretender), son of Charles II, to Clementina Sobieski, daughter of John Sobieski, King of Poland. She was apprehended, however, on her way to marry the Prince in Bologna. She was held captive in Innsbruck in the Tyrol. Wogan arranged false passports with the Austrian Ambassador and along with a small group feigning to be a Count, Countess, the Countess’ brother (Wogan) and her maidservant, managed to gain access to the princess. Following a quick exchange of clothing between the princess and the maidservant, the party escaped in high winds and blinding snow through the Alpine passes into Austria.

It’s rumoured that in fact Charles Wogan and Clementina fell in love on their journey but that his loyalty to his king meant that he didn’t press his own claim for marriage.   

I always felt it was sad that if Charles and Clementina did fall in love, that his loyalty and sense of honour meant that they had to be separated so that he could fulfil his duty to his king. For a long time I’ve wanted to rewrite the story so that Clementina and Charles could have that happy ending.  

Charles Wogan

This is the story that was at the back of my mind when I wrote my current release for Harlequin Presents -  A Question of Honor.  Instead of Charles, I have Karim who is sent to bring Clementina home to go through with the marriage that has been arranged for her  ever since she was  a child.   Karim thinks that this will be an easy  and quick job  - until he meets Clemmie.   That’s when sparks start to fly.  And things get a whole lot more complicated.

But I was determined that Karim and  Clemmie had their happy ending – so if you want to know how that happened, you’ll need to read the book.

The trouble is that  now I’ve been talking about this past story, it’s made me want to go back a reread all the historical stories I have about my great – great- great ..  (I don’t know how many greats!)   long ago

Clementina Sobieska

ancestor.

Do you have any interesting stories from your family’s past?

PS I’m so glad that the designers of the cover of A Question of Honor didn’t ask me for a picture of the original Charles Wogan. He might have been a hero, but neither he nor his Princess Clementina were exactly lookers!

A Question of  Honor  is on sale in Harlequin Presents  this month.

You can find out more details about it on my web site   and read all my more up to date news about my books and what I'm doing on my blog   or my Facebook page.

Whatever the weather . . . with Kate Walker

I spent almost all of yesterday on a sun warmed terrace outside a villa in Tuscany.  There was a swimming

pool  nearby, just down a flight of stone steps, and a panoramic view of rolling hill and green fields. The sun was warm and comforting  and the birds sang.  . .

 . . .Er – not! The truth is that yesterday was cold and windy and wet. Wet, wet,  wet.  Rain lashed against the windows, the wind buffeted the garden and the cats refused to go out.   The Tuscan villa, the swimming pool, the sunshine – they all belonged to my characters. The Villa   D’Oro was where my hero Dario had taken his newly married wife of convenience  for their honeymoon. So they got to enjoy its delights while I just got to dream. But at least  I got to enjoy them in my imagination – and it took my mind off the cold wet day outside.

One of the great things about being a writer is that when I’m creating worlds for my characters to live in I can make them whatever I want, put my hero and heroine wherever I want. I can put them in an English village – or out in a desert kingdom. I can even create my own country for them to them to live in and for my hero to rule as King – as I did in A Throne For The Taking. 

And the weather can be whatever I want  or need it to be for the story. The funny thing is that I never – well, rarely ever create the same weather for my hero and heroine as I’m actually experiencing as I write. Yesterday’s downpour is a case in point . And it made me remember  the way I was feeling when I wrote my next book  - the one that’s coming out in June.

This book is called A Question of Honor  (or A Question of Honour if you live in the UK!) and my hero, Karim Al Khalifa is the son of a sheikh.  You’d think that would be the perfect cue for a hot, dry day amongst the desert sand. Well, yes that may be where he lives but at the start of the book he has been sent to find the runaway  bride Clementina  Savaneski and take her to her fiancé when she’s to be married.  The problem is that Clemmie has run away to a small English village  and it’s the middle of winter.  In fact the weather is so bad that my characters are snowed in.

And I was writing this on one of the hottest weekends of the summer! I was trying to imagine how it felt to be freezing cold, with snow falling down outside and having to light a fire to keep warm – while all the time I was fighting to keep as cool as possible, with all the windows open and a fan blowing next to my desk. It’s a good thing I’ve got a vivid imagination.

This made me wonder if as readers you really notice the weather/heat/cold  climate  in which a book is set. Does it matter to you – would it increase your enjoyment if  the book  was set somewhere  very hot. Or do you perhaps love it when the hero and heroine are snowed in together like Karim and Clemmie?  I know lots of readers have favourite settings – but do you have favourite climates? I’d love to know.

Well, it’s time I got back to Dario and Alyse. The sun is still shining on that terrace but they’d better enjoy it for now because I’m sending them back to cold rainy England in a moment.   And guess what – as soon as they head for London and get caught in a rainstorm, the sun has started to come out here in Lincolnshire. I

can’t win!

My atest Harlequin Presents title is– A Question of Honor  which is published  on May 20 th

I've also revised and republished a Kindle edition of the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance which  is now  available on Amazon.co.uk  or Amazon.com

You can find out more  about me  and my books on my web site or on  my blog where the latest and most up to date news is posted.

Achieving a dream? with Kate Walker

When you were young,  you have a dream of what you wanted most  from life? Was there a job you wanted

to do?  A special type of  man you wanted to marry? A certain number of children you wanted?  

Well, when  I was small – almost from the moment that I could write anything  down, I wanted to be a writer –a novelist, with my name on the jackets of books you could find in the shops.  I used to make up stories all the time, sometimes when we were on car journeys – to help to pass the time, sometimes when trying to get to sleep, sometimes (and I admit I sometimes got into  trouble for this) at school in classes  when I wasn’t interested.   I told anyone who would listen that I wanted to be a writer, but  no one was ever encouraging. In fact, some people were really  the opposite – telling me to stop dreaming and to  plan on having a ‘sensible’ career.  Perhaps, like my mother, I could be a teacher?

Well, I took their advice – to start with.  I worked hard at school, studied at university, gained  degrees and a professional qualification – as a  children’s librarian. Not a teacher. I hated the idea of being a teacher. It was  not what I wanted to do!   

And then – well, as  you all know, I became a writer. I have 61 books with my name on them.  And this year I’m celebrating  the 30^th anniversary of being  first published.  I achieved that dream.

So I did both –the dream and the sensible option -  and I  escaped being a teacher – didn’t I?  Er – no.

Well, that number of books should be 63 books with my name on them. Because only this last week, I realised that, in spite of everything. In spite of never ever wanting to do it,  I’ve  become a teacher – and I’ve gained quite a reputation for it.   I started out giving talks about my writing. Then I did  short talks about How to Write Romance. Those turned out to be very popular  so I ran a few How To Write Courses . . .  The next thing I knew, I was being asked to do more. . . and more.  And when people wrote from USA or Australia and asked questions about what I taught in those courses ,  and said   how much they wished they could come on them, I wrote a book  called  The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance.  That was published in 2004.  And  that first edition sold out. So I wrote a second edition . . .and a third.

It’s not 10 years since that book first appeared. In that time I’ve been asked to run more and ore courses. I have to be careful not to do too many or they’ll   interfere with writing the novels! I started with running a 

course at the week-long Writers’Holiday. Then they added the weekend course in February – both take me back to Wales, which I love. (After all I went to university in Wales and I met my husband there – so obviously it’s one of my favourite places!)  These are my ‘regular’ courses, I would teach others during the year but nothing else so regularly. But now I’ve been asked to run some course for  Relax andWrite  which aims to – well, to do exactly what it says on the tin.  Again, I started with plans for one weekend course. Then two – now there are two courses, a writing retreat, and plans for more . . .

Hmm – it seems I’ve ended up being a teacher after all. And  the courses are almost always sold out.  When I asked some students to comment on how a course had gone, one student told me that: “coming on your courses is like a blood transfusion, minus the blood!”

So this year, I’ve decided to admit that perhaps I  do want to be  teacher– at least when I’m teaching the thing that I love doing – and that’s writing romance.  Because of this, I wanted to take that 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance and make it available to more people. There wasn’t an ebook – and the book was difficult to get if you were in America or Australia or Canada . . . And it was expensive!

So I got my rights to the book back and I decided that I would  self-publish an ebook  edition – and that I would make sure that this time the book was easily and cheaply available to everyone who wanted a copy.  I didn’t know what I was doing  but I needn’t have worried – I had fantastic help from  the lovely Lee Hyat here at   at Author Sound Relations – who also designed me a fabulous cover. And so this last week, I finally published the Kindle edition of the 12 Point Guide. At the moment it’s on a special introductory price of  

$0.99 . And the new cover looks like this:

The book has been flying out of Amazon, so it turns out    that perhaps I have become well known as a teacher too after all! Oh well, my mother  and the teachers at my school who said I should do that will be delighted! I’m happy to have achieved both my dream of becoming a published novelist  - and this ‘sensible’   achievement of being a teacher as well.

Special thanks must go to Lee Hyat for helping me with this. And to everyone who bought a copy of the 12 Point Guide this week – or at any time in the past.

The special introductory price comes to an end this weekend – so if you want to grab a copy while it’s on sale, you want to move fast. Bit afterwards it’s still only going up to $3.99  which is a tiny price compared with the   $16  I’ve seen quoted for  the past paperback  (or even  - eeek  ! -  $93  used!)

And, I know it’s a long shot but – if you should ever want to come on one of my courses, then you can find the details on my Events page. on my web site.

That's where you'll also find all the news and updates about my books - including the new title out in June - A Question of Honor - 

And all the latest news and interest is on my blog page there.