Celebrating with the Queen by Kate Walker

 As  you probably know, here in the UK there have been extended celebrations for   the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.

 Because she has both an actual, personal birthday ( 21 April 1926)  and an 'official birthday' this weekend, these celebrations have  gone on for rather a long time. But after the  special service  of thanksgiviing, the Trooping of the Colour and the official 'street parties' this weekend I think that most of the official celebrations are  now complete. But these celebrations and  all the programmes looking back at the past 90 years  made me wonder just how many Harlequin/Mills and Boon  romances had been published in that time - which set me looking at the  past covers and the way they've changed. If you've seen either The Art Of Romance or the brand-new Mills and Boon Colouring book, you'll  be able to find lots more of these  - and as I'm short  of space here I thought I'd just  select one cover from each decade to  illustrate that period - so  here  you are - Ninety years - nine decades   of romance novels so I thought I'd share with you a  cover from a best selling author of each decade:
1920s   The Fortune Hunters by C.N. & A.M. Williamson



1930s - Nobody Asked Me by the great Mary Burchell
Ida Cook (24 August 1904 – 22 December 1986) was a British campaigner for Jewish refugees and a romance novelist as Mary Burchell.
Ida Cook and her sister Mary Louise Cook (1901–1991) rescued Jews from the Nazis during the 1930s. The sisters helped 29 people escape, funded mainly by Ida's writing.   Ida Cook's story  was  written in  Safe Passage in 2008.

I actually have a copy of Nobody Asked Me in my 'antique' Mills & Boon Collection - found in a junk shop long ago.

1940s - The Reluctant Orphan  Sara Seale




1950s    - Romance Goes Tenting by  Phyllis Matthewman



1960s Mystery at Butlins - another one I have an old copy of  - and it's a gift to someone who worked as a 'Redcoat' at Butlins, signed by all her friends!

1970s -  The Devil at Archangel  this one has a very special importance for me as it's a favourite book by a favorite author. I read this before I was ever published and know this was the sort of  romance I just wanted to write. Thankfully, Sara Craven is still  writing!






1980s - I hope you'll indulge me if I now pick some of my own covers. It's amazing to see the way that covers have changed even in the time I've been writing.  

So I start with my very first title ever - The Chalk Line - published in 1984

I can still remember how,m in the week before Christmas 1984, I  opened the very first ever box of my books  in published form. It was such an excitement -  and not even the fact that my hero (Leo Dane Vincent) had jet black hair  and this cover image  was of a very blond hero could spoil it!

In the 1990s  the covers went through  quite a few changes so that there were different designs -  perhaps the most interesting ones were the 'half a heart' design where  one book would have an image in the right hand side of a heart shape and another would have the left hand side - so that when put together they made a complete heart!

 So here we have two  covers to  show that - No Holding Back  1995 and Flirting with Danger 1996.

In 2000   there was one of my favourite covers ever - for Constantine's Revenge. I  think this must have been a very popular cover for everyone else as this book  has sold one of the most copies in all of my career - and it's still selling as  a 'Vintage Modern' in ebook form.

Another really successful title was The Konstantos Marriage  Demand - published in  2010. This book was  the title that won me a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for that year.


So  that brings  me right up to date. As I said, if you'd like to see some more classic vintage  cover artwork, check out   The Art of Romance 

or if you fancy a little relaxing 'art therapy'  there is the   other 'Art of
Romance '  - the Mills & Boon Colouring book.

Oh -  no - that's not quite 'right up to date.'  There is one more cover I want to share with you adn that's the brand-new cover for my  next book, coming  at the end of September.

I don't have the UK cover yet  - but I can share the USA Harlequin Presents cover with you for the first time now.

What do you think?

Here's to the next  decade  of covers and great books.

PS If you were wondering why the Queen has an 'official birthday' in June, it's supposed to be to ensure that there will be better weather for the celebrations - er . . . I think the hundreds of rain-soaked picnickers on the Mall will   think that that's not worked out too well!

But all the same - Happy 90th birthday to the Queen

If you want to see any more of my colovers, old and new - check out my web site   and for all the really new ones and up to date info  there's my blog  or my Facebook page

The Friends I’ve Met Along the Way - Kate Walker

As some of you may already know, this year I’m celebrating 30 years as a published author. It’s really a rather special occasion – and one I’m not quite sure how I got here! I was a child author,

of course!  Born with a pen in my hand and graduating to a keyboard before I could walk!    People often ask me how I managed to write so many books (63 and one on my editor’s desk  if you count the romance fictions stories--  another 2 if you take into account the  ‘How To’ books.)

The answers to that one’s easy (well – easier to answer than to managed) I wrote these books one word at a time – and that’s how I’ll continue to do so while I still want to write and people still want to buy my books.

So, last month, I received a box full of my newest book – Olivero’s  Outrageous Proposal – and if you’re one of the ones who gets hold of a copy early through the Book Club you’ll have seen that it has a very special dedication to a very special friend of mine.  My dear friend Pat who  had been a vital part of my life for 35 years lost her battle with cancer last year.  She left a huge gap – one that I will never truly fill.  Pat was one  of the very few people who knew that I was writing when I was just aiming for publication - so she and another long-term friend Noelle  have very special

places in my heart both as a writer and  a woman. But  this made me think about other friends being a writer -  friends who are an unexpected bonus  as a result of this writing life.

Because romance books are so well known all over the world,  one of the surprises that writing for Harlequin brought me was meeting up with people who read my books –and/or wrote their own – from  so many different countries.  For example - he reason I’m on this blog is because of one of those  readers. Lee Hyat came to visit my brand new web site and told me how much she enjoyed my books –  that’s always a great start!  I think she wrote first because of Constantine's Revenge  - We’ve been friends ever since.  And now here I am writing on Lee’s web site!

Regular readers of my blog will know that Michelle Reid and Anne McAllister are  writer friends pf mine – writers whose books I’ve enjoyed and then met the authors and enjoyed being with them too.   Well, actually the list of authors I now count as friends has grown too long for me to list  here – I’d only forget someone. But I do have to  mention my ‘twins’ – Holly Jacobs and Donna Alward.  We didn’t know we were twins until we met at a RWA conference. (What do you mean you can’t have 3 twins – we can!)

There’s a special place in my friends list for people who have come to my courses to learn about writing romance. Some of them  I’ve met on line – Julie Cohen, Anna Louise Lucia  and Abby Green  were all people I’d chatted with in forums or on line writers classes and  Abby came to my course at Writers’ Holiday. Now they’re all published authors with thriving writing careers behind them.

And that’s another reason why friends have been on my mind, Tomorrow   I’ll be heading to Weetwood Hall  in Leeds (UK)  to run another course – this year’s Writing Retreat.  I’ll meet up with a bunch of people who were originally students but now are affectionately known as my ‘Stalkers’!  I’ve had the great thrill and privilege  to see some of my students progress from studying writing to being successful at it – the latest student to be published had been Rachael Thomas, brand new Harlequin  Presents author. She is the 14^th of my students who has gone on to be a published writer. 

So now I’m hoping  to see another one – perhaps one of this group in Leeds – become the 15^th!  There are a couple of people I have hopes may well make it soon (fingers crossed) and that being so I’ll be delighted to in traduced them to you over on my blog.  But in the meantime I’m looking forward to spending this weekend with them – and  meeting up with some I know as friends

already and getting to know newer friends better as the weekend progresses.

Friends are important. I knew that with my dear Pat and I lost her way too soon. So I’m grateful for all the other friends – writers, readers, students . . .  I’ve made as  a result of  this writing game!  So that’s why Olivero’s Outrageous Proposal is dedicated to Pat. 

Thank you to all my friends – and to the readers out there  - too many to list – who write to me and tell me you enjoy my books.  You’re an important part of my life even if we’ve never met. And I’m so glad you’re there.

What about you? Do you have one special friend or a gang of friends?  Are your friends all close to you – or, like mine, spread out all over the country – the world. Tell me about a special friend and I’ll get my furry friend – Charlie the Maine Coon  - to pick out one comment so that you can give your friend a present of a  Kate Walker backlist book.

The 63rd book of mine  Olivero's Outrageous Proposal will be out at the end of March /early April.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle. (I hope to have some extra news about that 12 Point Guide - for people who prefer print books - very soon. Watch my blog for that.)

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.

Happy July - With Kate Walker

It's the first Sunday in July - it hast to be as  I write all my blogs for Tote Bags 'N' Blogs on the first Sunday of the month! But the  first Sunday of july marks a month that's always rather special for me.Rather special and rather busy!

I've just done the revisons on my latest book - fingers crossed that my editor like them  - and now I can look forward to the rest of July as I do every year.  What's so special about July? Well, apart from the fatc that  we do usually - well, sometimes, finally get the summer weather we've all been looking forward to, there are some event s coming up this month that I look forward to.

For a start, tomorrow is the Men's Final day at Wimbledon.  For years my Sunday afternoon treat has been to watch the men's final, together with a bowl of strawberries and ice cream as I do some heavy duy research by watchig the strong, fit men wearing white shorts and tee shirts and pounding up and down the green of the tennis court. Some years I've been really enthusiastic, strongly supporting one player or another but this year I don't really mind who wins -  I'll just enjoy the event. (It's probably just as well I'm not supportign anyone as when I do, I tend to get over-enthusiastic, yelling  'Oh yes Rafa or Roger or  whoever - more! More! This can get slightly embraarrassing when I realise that the windows are wide open and the neighbours can hear every word - but then they know I'm a romance writer so they expect me to be a bit crazy!)

In a normal July, the first event I usually get to is one I'm going to have to miss this year - the Romantic Novelists' Association has its annual conference  from July 8th - 10th. This year I'm not going to make it.   I wish I could be there to catch up with everyone and meet friends I don't usually see except at this one event.   Maybe next year.

But July 14th is one date I'm not going to miss. On that day The Babe Magnet and I will have been married for years and years and years  - I was a  child bride, honest!  I remember we just picked the date out at random - three weeks after we left university.  It's a very special date obviously and one well worth celebrating.

Then at the end of the month  the Babe Magnet and I will head for one of our favourite places in all the world -  Caerleon in Wales. This is where we take part in the fabulous Writers' Holiday help in part of the University campus there. We've been going for - I think it's ten years now, and we've only missed it once. Our year just didn't feel the same that time.  We both have a very special place in our heart for Wales because it was while we were both at university there that we met for the first time and so in many ways it fels a little bit like going home.

We are both teaching a course this year - I'll be teaching Writing Romance based on my 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance. And the Magnet is teaching Writing Poetry. We'll also have several clear days when we can read and relax - there is always someone interestign and fun to talk to at Caerleon - and there  are some wonderful speakers, a poetry reading . . . the Welsh Male Voice choir. I can't wait!

And we always add on a day at the beginning and the end of the visit to Writers' Holidays - staying en route at the lovely town of Great Malvern - we've done this every time we've been to Wales and we love Malvern with it's steep hill, lots of interesting craft and jewellery shops  and - most importantly for my husband, a fabulous second hand bookshop where he can spend hours just investigatig the shelves and always fnds something that's just fascinating -  and that he claims will help him with his research into his own writing!

Oh now that I've told you all about my July I'm gertting even more excited at the prospect - I just can't wait to  pack the cases and head off for Wales.

So what about you?  Are you doing anything special in July? I know that so many of my American friends and readers will of course be celebrating on Monday - so can I take this choance to wish you all the very happiest Fourth of July  - I hope you have a wonderful day!

My latest novel- The Proud Wife (Presents Extra)  is still available  on Amazon or eHarlequin.com and   my 2000 title Constantine's Revenge has just been reissued as an ebook. Coming up next will be The Return of the Stranger which is out in September (UK) and October in Presents Extra in USA.

You can find out the most up to date information and all about these boks over on myweb site  or on my blog

Oh and over on My Tote Bag - there's a contest to win a couple of  my  backlist books - this month its The Antonakos Marriage and  Bedded by The Greek Billionaire.  Good luck!