A Surfeit of Delights - Kate Walker

I’ve just had a birthday – well, it was five days ago to be exact  but the time in between then and

now seems to have disappeared in a flash. We’ve had the decorators in, the  old wardrobes in the bedroom ripped out, new ones put in, and today the final stage was completed as the carpet was put down and the room is  complete at last. (OK  well it will be once we’ve hung the curtains again – but that’s a minor point after all the upheaval!)

  So I’m only just finding time to breathe and take stock again after the bustle and  fun of the last week.  And if I’m honest I’ve only just managed to take stock of the lovely  birthday gifts I received. My friends know me so well –  there are books – and more books – and stationery.  A belated package arrived  today with not one by two beautiful notebooks in it  - believe me, I’ll  won’t need to find myself a new notebook  for – oh, at least until next birthday that’s for sure!

And then there’s the ‘book’ that’s sort of a combination of  a note books and a book. Did you know that Mills and Boon have brought out a colouring book with pages of classic Mills & Boon covers  to 

colour in? And of course if you have a colouring book then you have to have lovely coloured pencils to fill the pages with.

I admit that I’m a stationery addict but now I’m looking at this wonderful pile of notebooks, pencils,  colouring pages . .  and wondering where I start to use them. Are you like me that you  have to have a particular notebook for a particular  use – the one in my handbag, or the one by my bed? The one that I use to plan out a story -  that one has to be a big, A4 pad so I can make lots of fast rough  notes-  and there has to be a selection of freshly sharpened soft HB pencils ready to scribble down ideas as they come.

Then there are the books that I want to read. I want to read ALL of them. Well, yes you see that’s where having lovely understanding and generous family and friends is both a blessing and a curse. Because  they listen when I tell them what books I’d love to read  - and then they buy them for my birthday. And so I have all the new novels I’ve wanted to put on my TBR pile, a couple of fascinating books on Irish History (I’m going back into my family’s past and investigating the time when my mother was growing up in Dublin).  And a couple of fascinating biographies that I’d been dying to read, but they were too expensive to buy for myself . . . but not too expensive for a lovely birthday gift!

With the upheaval of the bedroom decorations I haven’t had a moment to sit and read in peace and quiet, but now that that’s completed I might actually have some time to settle down to these.  So which one do I start on first ? This  novel -  or the biography? The history . . .or perhaps some colouring in??

HAWORTH VILLAGE

Oh, no I forgot. I can’t quite start yet. This weekend I’m meeting up with a friend of 40 years  (I know – it doesn’t seem possible!) and we’re celebrating my birthday with a trip to Haworth where the Bronte sisters lived and wrote. That’ll be such fun as  she has never visited the village before and I’ll be showing her round. The trouble is that there is a new collection of the childhood writing of Charlotte Emily and Anne that I’ve been just longing to get my hands on and of course it will be for sale in the Parsonage bookshop . . . One more for the TBR pile.

I’m not complaining! It’s a wonderful selection of delights I have waiting for me. I can’t wait to dive in – but I want to read them all at once!

And – oh dear -  when I get back from Haworth, then my priority will be to finish planning out and writing up my next novel for which the deadline is fast approaching. .  .

Oh well, that’s a use  for one of these  lovely new notebooks. 

But which one shall  I use  this time?

My most recent book is Destined For The Desert King  -It was out in Harlequin Presents in December. The next title will be Indebted to Moreno - where my brooding Spanish hero meets up again with Rose  the girl who knocked his life off balance ten years ago. And that's out in October

The next one I'll be working out in detail just as soon as I can decide which notebook to use  for the ideas and scenes planning.

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.  

All my most recent news and book details can be found on my web site here or on my personal blog:  and my Facebook page

Getting Organized - Liz Fielding

I'm deep in revisions for my new book - the one about the sheikh and his temporary princess - which have to be on my editor's desk on Monday.

Due to all manner of "stuff", this has taken me a very long time to write and when I send it away at the end of March (my ed had a two-week holiday and flu between then and now so she's taken a long time, too) I was heartily glad to see the back of it.

A few weeks break - in which I got into a short story (more ice-cream but not finished yet) and a ton of reading - and the characters, the story have come back to me with a freshness that has made the revisions, the careful reading to see where I can strengthen motivations, give the story extra breadth and sizzle, has been an unexpected pleasure. I hope, next month, to be able to give you a title and a publication date.

In the meantime I've been catching on a "new thing" via writing mates Ally Blake and Anne Gracie - the bullet journal. This is something that calls out to my love of stationery, notebooks, pretty sparkly pens and stickers of all kinds!

Bullet journals are all about organization and if the last year has taught me anything, it's that I need to be more organized.

Obviously I had to research all the gorgeousness of bullet journals on Pinterest but before I embark on the extravagance of a Midori Travel Journal I'm going to have to see one, hold one and that will require a trip to somewhere that offers "serious" shopping. Hello, Bath...

Meanwhile, I've resurrected my old Filofax to give it a go. It's black and boring - I'm already coveting this pretty purple one -  and I have a birthday very soon. Maybe this year, when my desperate family ask me what I want, I'll have a list!

It's a Whole New Year! :: Anne McAllister

My favorite "new year" growing up was probably when summer began and I had days of freedom to explore and read and pick strawberries and raspberries and go to the beach.  And every year, I looked forward to it eagerly.  

Even the summer chores didn't seem particularly onerous, though one of mine was to crawl along the brick edging of our yard and cut the grass that grew up alongside it after my dad had finished mowing.  

But I have to admit that I also had a soft spot for that other "new year" that came at the end of summer -- the ones that meant we were heading back to school.  I liked school.  But more than that, I liked paper. I liked pens. I liked notebooks. And erasers.  And pencils. And rulers.  You name it  -- if you could get it at a stationery store (or the local dime store -- do they still have dime stores?)  I was a fan.

And I've noticed that my grandkids are fans, too.  I got a picture the other day of a couple of feet in new shoes -- all set for school.  I heard about the new backpack one of the six year old's got, and the notebooks his sister is sporting this year.  I did my part and tracked down red polo shirts and blue polo shirts so, presumably, someone can tell the ten year old twins apart (but since they tend to wear the same color on the same day, I wonder at the wisdom of this).  

Even the college senior is excited to go back for one more year before he hits "the real world."  He just got home from summer baseball today, and tomorrow he's heading back to the house he shares with friends near campus, ready to find his books and pens and make sure he's got a back-up drive for his computer this year (hard-earned wisdom).

And I'm getting ready, too. Well, I've been getting ready all summer.  I'm working on a new set of books set in a mountain valley in Montana.  I prowled around it in the spring, making notes and conjuring up scenes. I took a ton of pictures and I'm stitching them into collages on the computer.  I have also prowled lots of "people" places looking for ones who "speak to me" and give me ideas as well.  

And I've been learning how to use Scrivener in case I get brave enough to switch from the Word Perfect software I've been moving along with for the past 30 years.  It appears that you can teach an old writer new tricks. But I'm not entirely sure I'll make the switch for good. I may work between the two.

But I'm glad I've done it. The energy that comes with learning something new is always a boost.  It makes the brain turn over. Sometimes it makes the words flow.  

And right now I need to get back at it or there won't be a story come October when there is supposed to be.  

What are you doing to get ready for the "new year?"  Do you like this time of year?  What's your favorite?

Stationary Stationery

by Anna Campbell

When I was a little kid - I'm going back to primary school here - I thought the most boring presents in the world were toiletries and stationery. Which was a pity because the relatives used to give me toiletries and stationery in droves.

Switch forward um, 20 years or so (please, humor me!), and two of my favorite things to receive as gifts are, you guessed it, toiletries and stationery!

I must admit to being a bit of a stationery nut anyway. A real treat for me is a visit to OfficeWorks, our local warehouse office supplies company. Amazing what interesting little doodads you can find in those long corridors smelling deliciously of paper. Little doodads you had no idea you wanted until you saw them in front of you begging to be bought. 

I thought today I might share some of the pretty stationery in the stationery cupboard. This year, I've made a concerted effort to write more actual letters. There's a reason the universe is showering me with all these pretty notecards.

Actually I really enjoy writing letters, but it's something that requires a bit of a mental shift, doesn't it? It's so much easier just to shoot off an email. But I think people love getting actual mail in the post - I know I do. And I'll keep letters, whereas it's just so easy to hit the delete button when it's electronic. 

I also love buying pretty stationery for people - clearly so did all those aunties and cousins when I was a wee gel! There's something really pleasurable about looking at gorgeous printed cards and thick creamy sheets of paper and wrapping them up as a present.

Luckily, my critique partners love buying people (me!) stationery, often as souvenirs of their wonderful overseas trips. Both the New York and the two Rijskmuseum sets in this blog came as booty from my friends having exciting times far away from me.

Hold on, that didn't come out quite right!

The Liberty set was a birthday present this year from a fellow historical romance writer who understands my taste to a T.

And the beautiful romantic Victorian set of notelets, a very welcome Christmas present, came from another romance writer who I know has a wonderful time picking out nice stationery as the perfect gift. We've both admitted that we tend to buy what we'd like someone else to buy for us as presents! Often those are the best gifts, aren't they?

So do you write letters still? Or have you gone completely e in your communications? Do you like stationery? Do you have a favorite style of stationery?