Anniversary celebrations

No - not mine this time -

Six years ago - was it really six? I  spotted a request for writers to be interviewed/contribute to the launch of a brand new books & reviews site Romancing The Book.
I had  a lot of fun talking to visitors to the site  then, and three years later, to celebrate the site's 3rd anniversary - with its owner and  organiser Jen Karalfa.

So I was thrilled to be invited back again - another 3 years later - to celebrate their 6th anniversary.  Jen asked me to write about my Top 5 list,  and I was looking for a subject for that list .  As I'm celebrating a special anniversary of my own later this year , well, to mark this special anniversary celebration, I thought I’d talk about my Top 5 Writing Celebrations. And of course the publication of A Question of Honor.

So that's what I've done.  I'm also offering a giveaway for people who come along and visit and comment  - so I hope I'll see you over there to get this celebration off to a great start.

Is it really 2 weeks since I posted?

I've been  too long getting to posting on this blog again  - life sort of blew up round me and I have been running really hard just to stand still - apologies for the absence.

It isn't going to get much better for the next month either.  I am committed to something that will take me away from my desk for the next two weeks - then, hopefully, a moment to snatch a  breath, turn round, plan a course, pack - and head out to Fireguard where I'm teaching Writing Romance at Writers' Holiday  again.

I can't wait for that - a chance to meet up with dear friends,  talk about writing,  drink a little wine - maybe even find sometime to stare at the sea if  the sun  shines and  I get a chance to sit on the balcony to my room - every other time I've been to Fishguard it has been February so  I've usually had to stare at the sea from inside my room.  This time will be the first time I've been there in the summer.  I shall miss being at Caerleon but I'm looking forward to being part of the new Fishguard Writers' Holiday.

I've been working on plans for more courses - so hopefully they will be coming up soon and I'm hoping to get my web site updated to include the information. So if you're interested in writing romantic fiction, look out for those.  (You can find the preliminary information here)

I was tagged in a post  on Facebook  to tell readers about my WIP (work in  progress|) - answering that was rather tricky as the book is currently with my editor and I don't yet know what she thinks of it. But in case you haven't seen that Facebook post  - here are my answers:

Anne McAllister has tagged me to share five things about my Work In Progress . . .but . . .

 She tagged me ten days ago when I was waiting to know if the WIP was actually in P – ie progress – because it had left my desk and headed for my editor’s. However, I still don’t have a verdict on this story – so * don’t know if it’s in progress, progressed or not going anywhere at all – so I’m not sure if I tell you anything that it might change . . .

 But, as things stand:

 1. The heroine is Alyse, the hero Dario – I hope! Alyse is named for a long ago friend of my mother’s.

 2. They meet at a charity ball in London when in fact each of them is looking for the other, though they don’t know it.

 3. The phrase that sums up my hero is ‘I don’t do family’

I’m going to complete the 5 things by giving two other things about the book I’m planning out because that’s the one in my mind:

 4. The book is a sort of a follow on from the current ‘A Question of Honor’ so that there is a chance to catch up on the lives of the hero and heroine of that story – and one other character.

 5. As a result, this book has to be set 10 years after the ending of the first book because one character in particular has to change a heck of a lot from the way he was before. Well, the truth is that a LOT has changed since then!

The Story Behind the Story

Part of the dedication to A Question of Honour   reads like this:

To my who knows how many 'greats' back ancestor Chevalier Charles Wogan whose real-life story was the inspiration behind my fictional version.

Several  people have asked what this dedication means - and who exactly is the 'Chevalier Charles Wogan' I'm talking about.

I've mentioned the story in a couple of places  on my blog tour, but if you want the full story so that you know exactly who he was and what happened, then  a couple of posts around now will  give you the story.

If you look over over on I Heart Presents  today, you'll find the true story of Charles Wogan and the Polish princess  Clementina.

And on the Tote Bags 'n' Blogs  post  from yesterday there is a bit ore about other books that have been

written about this  hero inspiration, together with a couple of portraits of Wogan himself - and his Clementina.  Though I have to admit that neither of them look very much like Karim and Clemmie  on the cover of the Harlequin version out this month.

So if you've ever wondered about the answer to that question I'm always being asked - 'where do you get your ideas  from'  then here's one example of where mine come from.

There's a chance of winning a giveaway copy of A Question of Honor too if you comment  over at I heart Presents. 

I Heart Presents

Well, I was going to let you know that I have a post over on I Heart Presents on Friday (Friday 13th . . .hmmm .  .was that a good idea?)

Anyway,  that was the plan - along with a reminder that I have my regular blog on Tote Bags 'N' Blog on the 12th (tomorrow)

But then when I went over to check on the link to I Heart Presents, it seems that there is already an advance post for  A Question of Honor up there now - that was a surprise.

So - there is a long extract from A Question of Honor posted on I Heart Presents right now, my personal blog - about the story behind this book  ( from my own family history) will be there on  Friday.

And tomorrow I'll have a blog up on Tote Bags 'n' Blogs when I'll be talking about - something  . .  don't quite know what yet! Any ideas/suggestions anyone?

Spotlight on A Question of Honor

I've had problems getting my time zones sorted out for this extra  blog - dealing with days away from my desk, plus thunderstorms, plus visitors - but I'm here now to let you know about the special Spotlight on A Question of Honor over on  Romance Book Paradise.

With special thanks to Nas Dean for organising this as part of the mini book tour to celebrate the publication of my latest book.

Mini Book Tour

I'm a bit late mentioning this - but the post is still up  - so
As part of my mini blog tour to mark the publication of A Question of Honor, I have a blog today over on
Romance Reader.

I'm talking about that important word honor - or honour!

Note to all the winners from my recent giveaway   - and the generous people who  placed the winning bids on my Brenda Novak auction lots - all the necessary packages have gone in the mail so I hope they'll reach you safely and soon.

Huge congratulations to everyone involved with      Brenda Novak's Auction for Diabetes Research  - which raised $406,000   this year. That's a huge achievement!  

Pink Hearts Day

Today is the day for my regular Date With Kate  post over on the Pink Heart Society blog.

Today I'm talking about heroes - and specially  the hero in my latest release - A Question of Honor

What makes a hero for you?  Come along and let me know what you think.

Giveaway winners -

So Charlie has generously done his duty and forced himself to eat 10 cat treats from the ones arranged with entries' names on them - and the winners are:

Diane Spigonardo

Amanda Shivrattan

Gillian Emans

Jan Van Engen

 Nova Conover

Helen Lowry

 Lyn Moon

 Cheryl McMichael

 ala.bodle

 Nikki Cole

 Emails have gone out to all the winners - hopefully I'll run another giveaway soon.

I also have another craft post up as part of my mini blog tour for the publication of A Question of Honor – you’ll find my hints aboutShow don ‘t Tell over on Kelly  Steel’sblog.

Tomorrow is my day for blogging at the Pink Heart Societyblog – maybe I’ll see you there?

Publication day

It's publication day for A Question of Honour - or  A Question of Honor depending on where you live - you take your pick!

Well, it's the official publication date - but I'm not really sure whether anyone sticks to the official date any more!  For a start  this book has been on sale on the Mills & Boon  website for the past month - and it's been at #1 on the bestseller list there for over a week.  But them M&B have the books out a month early anyway.

Amazon etc deliver the book from the 20th May (USA ) of 1st June (UK)  but I've seen physical copies of the book  one sale in UK shops for almost a week now - including special 2 in 1 editions in Tesco/Asda  where A Question of Honour is sold together with   Kim Lawrence's The Heartbreaker Prince.   Unfortunately this means it doesn't have the grea

t cover that's on the UK edition -  I really like this one.

There are some great reviews coming out for  A Question of Honour -  you can see some of them on the Mills & Boon site - and there are another selection  here - at Romance Book Haven's Reviews section

But on checking out Amazon to find out  A Question of Honour, I also found some good news of another publication date -  an edition I didn't know anything about. So I'm celeb rating that too. Remember the English Manga edition of The Return of The Stranger  - the 'Harlequin Comics version?  Well there's now another of my books brought out in this unique format.

This is the English manga version of The Hostage Bride.  I mentioned this some time back  when I talked about the Japanese version - now there's this really great version in English as well.

So there's a lot to celebrate - Oh and I should have said that I now  have a brand new Author Page over on Facebook - so if you're on Facebook, please come along and join me there - maybe 'like' the page. That's where I'll be posting the news and  daily events if I don;t get time to blog about everything.

You can find my Facebook page here. 

And  talking of up to date news -  when I opened this page, I talk about celebrating with a book giveaway so  I'm going to do just that - and seeing as I have  a lot to celebrate, let's make it a great giveaway.

So - I have 10  signed books to give away

4 copies of A Question of Honour to mark its publication day - and  6 books from my backlist.
To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is to send me an email with A Question of Honour/Facebook in the subject line, and I'll get Charlie on to the task of picking 10 winners.

(For email see the link below - or Kate (AT) kate-walker (DOT) com)

 If you already have A Question of Honour do let me know and I'll put you in the draw for the backlist books.

This giveaway is only for today to mark the publication of A Question of Honour  - but I'll keep the entries open for 24 hours (from now - 10 am UK time - to 10 am UK time tomorrow) so that everyone has a chance to read this and find out how to enter.

But you only have 24 hours
So - ready  - steady - Go!