A happy anniversary

I've 

sort of lost track of things and Christmas planning / organising seems difficult rather than joyful - but at least today has a happy memory attached to it. Five years ago, I visited the local Cats' Protection rescue centre and was adopted by a tiny bundle of black and white fur. 

Ruby has been a delightful part of our family ever since - less than half the size of her big brother Charlie but with a personality and a purr to make up for what she lacks in size. She runs to welcome us as soon as we walk through the door and her joyful presence is a delight that brightens some difficult days. She has the Babe Magnet wrapped round her paws and knows exactly how to work on him to get the maximum number of treats out of him.

So glad you chose us to live with Ruby! It's true what they say - nothing makes a house into a home so much as the presence of one small cat.

Advent Calenda6

Do you have an Advent Calendar in your home? One that you hang on the wall and open a numbered door each day marking off the dates from the 1^st of December  up to the 24^th – and Christmas Eve – to countdown the  days until Christmas?

I always loved to choose one of these when my son was small and it really helped him wait more patiently for the big day to arrive. At  least he knew when it was getting nearer and that there were -  twenty – fifteen – ten days left before he could put out his stocking and  leave a mince pie for Father Christmas, together with a carrot for Rudolph the reindeer to eat when they visited.  (There was always just a few crumbs left on the mince pie plate and the end of the carrot – nibbled by strangely human shaped teeth!) Opening the day’s door on the calendar became a special little ceremony  just before he went off to bed  - to dream of Santa’s sleigh and the sound of reindeer hooves.

So in the past I have tried to plan a book Advent Calendar to share  with friends and readers who visit my web site, my blog page, my Facebook page.  I   had planned to do this again this year but  several things got in the way. It has been a difficult week with sad news reminding me that not everyone will be celebrating a happy and joyful occasion just because it’s Christmas.

As a result, my planned posting of the Advent Calendar giveaway got shortened into a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway instead. And I’ll be hoping to post the 12 Days giveaway  for each day (or at least every couple of days) from now on.  But  because I’m well aware of the fact that not everyone is enjoying the  lead up to Christmas  and for some it is a very difficult and even sad time, I want my first 12 Days of Christmas post to be a traditional one that I’ve posted in the past and been able to bring just a little bit of brightness into someone’s life.   So this is what I’m going to do today.

What happens is this – you can nominate someone you know and care about who needs a little treat to bring some light into their days right now. Let me know who you would like to send

an extra little gift to – a giveaway of a book that I’ll donate in your name. And I’ll include an extra little Christmas gift in the parcel to hopefully bring some lightness into their day as well.

So – in the comments-  post the name of someone you’d like to treat – and add the reasons why you have chosen this person – and I will get Charlie the Maine Coon (who has his own Advent Calendar to open with treats in the pockets)– to pick out a winner  or two to send them a book from you – and from me.

Christmas time

I'm not quite sure how it got to  9th December already -  that means it's only a couple of weeks to the big day!  I'm not at all   ready and  I still have so much to do that I'm running around like crazy and trying to wrap  and post parcels, write cards, send them in the mail.

Tomorrow my dear brother in law is coming to stay for a couple of days so we are having a

n early 'mini Christmas ' to celebrate with him.

While we're doing that, I'll be posting up a little Christmas readers' giveaway  for the 12 days of Christmas - more details of that to come asap (hopefully tomorrow  before the visitor  arrives!)

So while I was planning and trying to get organised with that, I also checked out Amazon  and was delighted to find that they're running a small sale on some of my books  in the last minute Christmas deals. Not sure how long for, but if you're quick and want to grab a kindle edition of these titles, you can get one  for £0.99

 Titles available are:
Kept For Her Baby
The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge
Bedded by the Greek Billionaire
Constantine's Revenge
Wife for a Day
No Holding Back
Flirting with Danger

Oh, and the complete Alcolar Family trilogy (3  books in one)  is available for £1.99

Finally - if you are interested in learning about writing romance, then   Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is on sale  with 11% off the paperback   bringing the price down from  £11.99  to £10.62 - maybe you know someone who'd like to find a copy n their Christmas stocking or under the tree?

Want to write a romantic novel?

Unexpectedly I've just heard that 3 of my students who had booked for the Advanced Romance Writing Course at Fishguard with Writers Holiday have had life changes, events that have meant they

have had to cancel their places for next February 2019.

So for the first time in  ages I have three places available for anyone who wants to join us on the course - lots of discussion, learning, fun, laughter. . . oh and a total focus on writing the best romance novel you can create. This is an advanced course so if you're looking for a basic 'starter course' then perhaps it's not for you but this is a rare event - I'm usually turning people away when they've booked before leaving the last course in February this year.

So if you're interested check out Writers' Holiday. net and grab a place while they're still going. I'll be happy to meet some new students.

Or if you don't want to write romantic fiction - there are also courses on

Poetry, 

Short Story Writing, 

 Travel Writing, 

The Novel or even 

Painting and Drawing 

 available on the same weekend.