Catching Up

I made  a mistake this week - I decided to tidy up and sort out my office . . . . That will leave me ready to focus totally on the book I'm writing - once I've organised my teaching notes (and  prepared the hand-outs for the Relax and Write course on  Before You Submit Your Novel - The Practicalities  at Weetwood Hall next weekend. )  But organising my teaching notes led to organising every  last file of hand-outs, course notes, writing exercises . . .

OK, it was a great excuse to buy some new stationary and lovely coloured files   . . . but it still took up too much time and - well, do you know that time when things get worse before they get better? That's the way things look this morning! The Babe Magnet is also preparing for a course on Writing  About Your Life - so he has hand-outs to organise as well.

But there's one thing about being busy in a practical sense - it leaves my mind free to think and plan the new story (working title currently  The Wrong Bride ) so I'm also scribbling down notes and making plans as I put papers in  files and plan work on synopsis, first chapters, opening lines  . .etc for the 24th- 26th.  And the story is growing as a result.

Other book news -  I was looking on Amazon  last week and discovered this cover. It's for a 3 in 1 By Request collection of past titles reprinted in one volume. This one - Secret Love-Child  - is coming out at the end of October. The title of mine that's in it is Kept For Her Baby.  Not exactly a 'secret love-child' story.  But definitely a novel in which the love of a baby is very important!
The other two novels in this volume are by Catherine Spencer and Tina Duncan

I also spotted another 3 in 1 volume coming out in January: His Revenge Seduction -   this time my novel The Konstantos Marriage Demand (the book that was awarded Best Presents Extra by Romantic Times in 2010) is I  the collection with books by Melanie Milburne  and Elizabeth Power.  I don't have a cover to share with you yet  -0 but I'll post it when I see it.

If you haven't already noticed, there is now a brand new Facebook page for all the Harlequin  Presents Authors. Lots of news,messages, and interest for anyone who loves reading Harlequin  Presents (Mills and  Boon Modern)

. Why not come along and 'like'  it - and join in all the fun.

Tote Bags 'n' Blogs Day

Today is the 12th of October so it's my regular day for posting over on the Tote Bags 'N' Blogs  site.

So that's where you'll find my post about writing about connected characters  - meeting up with characters from past books and seeing what's happened to them in the time since I last 'met' them.

Do you like stories where a character from a previous book reappears and gets their owns story?  Are you interested in seeing how other people from past stories have been living and getting on since the end of their own story?

That's what I'm looking at today and I'm thinking about one of the minor characters from A Question of Honor.

Last Course of the year

Just finalising the details of my next course at Weetwood Hall in Leeds at the end of this month, and Lois Maddox tells me there are still some  places available on this course if anyone is interested - if so contact Relax and Write  for details 


The course is this:
Before you submit your Novel - The Practicalities with Kate Walker
Get your novel ready to send to a publisher.
This course will cover the preparation needed before  submitting your novel to a publisher:  
• Writing a synopsis that sells your story.
• Polishing those first three chapters. 
• What to include in your covering letter – introducing yourself to the Editor (or Agent). 
• Pitching the unique selling point of your story 
• Pinpointing the type of reader and the market you’re aiming at.


or you could try  this one - running at the same time:

Write About your Life - build your anecdotes into memoirs/short stories with Stephen Wade
 
After this, the next course coming up in Leeds will be March 2015.
There will be the Advanced Course in Fishguard in February but I believe this is already fully booked.

Weetwood Hall Leeds 13- 15 March 2015'Write a Mini-Memoir in a Weekend' with Alison Chisholm

'How to Self-Publish Your Writing' with Malcolm Chisholm

'Write Romantic Fiction' with Kate Walker

'Write the Past' with Stephen Wade

Further details of all courses are on my web site Events Page.
 

Cats and Computers and Pink Hearts

I had a wonderful, fabulous time at the Writing Retreat  Focus on  Romantic Fiction  and enjoyed every minute of it. I had a great group, the surroundings were lovely, the weather great. It was wonderful to talk to students about their own writing in the one-to-ones, see light bulbs go on in their eyes,  and then watch them go to different corners of  Weetwood Hall - to their own single rooms, or other spots - at a table in the lounge, a settee in a quiet corner, or a table out in the sunshine . . . and write.

Me too - because I do all the writing exercises I set people to show that they work - or try them out to make sure they work.   So I came back with pages of notes and ideas for the next book, made while I was sitting waiting for   anyone who needed help to seek me out.

There was wonderful food, wine, and company. So thank you so much to Lois from Relax and Write (the  focus is in the name) for all her organisation and efficiency, and to Jo, Claire, Marie, Linda, Penny, Sallyann, Melissa, Emma  for being in my group. I hope I'll see you again soon.

I know some of these students have signed up for the  next course - The Practicalities of writing - so  I'll see you then.   Meanwhile, we're planning courses for next year - March first. . . then others
. Watch this space.

I'm lucky to be back blogging here as  when I got home it was to find that Charlie the Maine Coon had ripped open his neck and had had to have stitches and now  needs to wear a plastic collar/cone/to protect his wound. Luckily The Offspring and his lovely fiancée were on hand to make sure he got to the vets.

Then I switched on my computer - or, tried to - nothing! It was dead!  Totally . Several expensive days later - new computer, the work of the computer technician to save as much as he could - I'm back up and running. But I'm still finding things have gone missing - including my whole address book. So if you were expecting an email from me and haven't heard - that's why.
So it's a good thing that I was prepared ahead of things and I wrote a blog for the Pink Hearts Society before I went to Leeds. Because today is the day for my Date With Kate over on the PHS today. It's   Time Out Thursday so I'm talking about what I do to relax - with talk of some of the wonderful theatre treats I've enjoyed recently..