Celebrating . . .

This post should actually have been written last week but somehow last week got away with me. There was a last week - right? Or maybe I blinked and I missed it. Travelling, visitors, more visitors, Christmas shopping - which involved more travelling . . . And today we're setting off again for an overnight stay and Airedale Writers' Group Christmas party . . . and then back home for more visitors. So I have a suspicion that this week is going to get away with me too if I'm not careful.

So - Celebrating.

Of course, so many of you are celebrating right now. Whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa - or whatever the holiday season is here. But I have a very special reason for celebrating this time. And the logo on this post - together with the banner that lovely Heather of We Write Romance has made for my web site - will tell you just what I'm talking about.

This month I'm celebrating 25 years of being a published writer. It was in December 1984 that my very first book ever was published. That was The Chalk Line and when I first held that book in my hands, I had no idea that it would mark the start of such a long and wonderful career as a writer. All I could think of was how wonderful it was to have achieved my long-held ambition to have a book I had written published. I never imagined that 25 years later I would still be writing, have 56 titles published or accepted and awaiting publication and be the author of two guides on how to write romantic fiction as well.

So because this is such a special anniversary for me I'll obviously be celebrating and I'd love to have you all share in the celebrations with me. One of the ways I'll be doing this is by running a couple of contests – well, contests and polls really – and there will be - suitably enough - 25 prizes to give away.

I'm asking my readers to help me celebrate my silver anniversary by letting me know what the very first ever Kate Walker title you read was- if you can, give me a little information about where and when you found it - and I'll be publishing some of those stories on my blog. And then I'd love to know which are your Top 5 Favourite Kate Walker stories of all time. Everyone who enters will have their name put into the prize draw with a chance of winning one of the prize

Here are the details that are now up on my Contest page

I want to mark this special anniversary and celebrate 25 years as a published author, and when I celebrate, I love to share with my readers. So here’s how I’d like you to join in and maybe win yourself a prize by doing so. I have 25 prizes in all to give away – one to mark each year that I have been published.

So here’s how to enter – there are two ways to win.

1. FIRST BOOOKS
Can you remember the first Kate Walker novel you ever read? Were you right there at the beginning with The Chalk Line? Or have you discovered my books much more recently?
Tell me about your first time – the first Kate Walker you read. What book was it and what was happening in your life when you found it? Did you pick it up in a shop, find it in the library – or perhaps a friend or member of your family suggested you try it?

Let me know about the first book you read and I will publish the most interesting ones on my blog. I will also give a prize to anyone whose story I publish. You can win a signed copy of one of the backlist books I have a available, together with another small gift to celebrate Christmas and this special anniversary.

Send your First Book stories to me – see the email below – with FIRST BOOK in the subject line. Closing date for all FIRST BOOK stories is December 31st 2009. But I’ll be posting some of the titles and stories before then.

2. TOP 5 TITLES
Which of my books are your very favourite novels? When I was celebrating 20 years published, I ran a poll for readers to nominate their top five favourite Kate Walker books. I collected up all the votes and the result was like this:

1. A Sicilian Husband

2. The Italian's Forced Bride

3. The Sicilian's Wife

4. Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride

5. The Antonakos Marriage

6. The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife

7. Wife For A Day

8. Desert Affair

9. 12 Month Mistress

10. The Hostage Bride

Of course, since then I’ve had quite a lot more books published – and you might find you’d prefer some of those. Or you could have changed your mind about which book you like best. So why don’t you join in this new vote, help me discover which of my books is now the No 1 favourite – and again put yourself in the running for one of my special 25th anniversary prizes.
What you have to do:

List your top five Kate Walker books in order 1 – 5
Send your list to me with TOP 5 BOOKS in the subject line on the email.
And I’ll do the rest.

Again, the closing date for this poll is December 31st and I’ll start off my special celebration year by publishing the results in January so that everyone will know which book was voted top.

And as the votes come in, I’ll get Sid to pick a couple of winners every week so that some of you will win a prize of a signed book and an extra little gift for helping me out with my poll.

Over the coming weeks I'll be taking a look back at those 25 years and the books that were published during them - and I'm hoping to have some of my writer friends and other friends in the romance world come along and blog about their favourites too - so let's celebrate!

PS I'm late with this too - but if you check out the link to the Harlequin Site in the sidebar, you'll find lots of very special deals for the 12 Days of Christmas

And over on the Mills and Boon Site, there's a very special Advent Calendar Contest with a prize on offer every day. Just answer a simple question and you're in with a chance to win.

Finally - if you wanted to pick up a copy of my Bedded By The Greek Billionaire, perhaps to put in someone's stocking - or even your own - then this best-selling title of mine is on sale here at a special offer of 40% off - that's $2.85 instead of $4.75 - that's a real bargain.