Great Big Blog Party #52 and #53 Winners - and of course Sid

I'm late posting today - that's because I've been doing my accounts (yeuch!) so I'm staggering in her with a frazzled brain and a blank mind - but the accounts are done!! And they've left the building so that my accountant has them all to play with - and I'm sure he'll enjoy the experience much more than I did.

It just made me think of that question - the one that people always ask me - 'How long does it take to write a book?'

The honest answer is 'I write 3 a year so that's one every four months - unless one of those months has an accounting date in it.'Then the darned accounts take up most of my time.

But they're done - I'm up to date even for part of next year! So I can relax a while. And I can celebrate by announcing some Great Big Blog Party winners.

Firstly, prizes from Samantha Storm and/or Chaoscat

She (they?) said:

I had a grand time hanging out at your blog. Loved reading all posts! Thanks for having me! And can't wait for your 100th book celebration!

Okay dokey I picked two winners:

Peggy - won a package with a four reads from the RJ book vault.

Sabrina - won a print copy of Eye of the Storm.

The winners can email me at chaoscat @ romance junkies .com with their snail mail addies

Peggy and Sabrina can you cc me in on your notes to Cat so that I know the prizes are sorted.
Thanks! And I hope everyone checked out Romance Junkies - it's a great site to visit and their Writing Contest always attracts a huge amount of interest.

And a second prize announcement from Anna Campbell (ably assisted by Sid the Cat)

Sid says he totally understands the way that creatures turn up at Samantha Storm's house - after all, that's the way he came to live here - I just opened the door and he walked in.

But when it comes to eating crunchies off a piece of paper with a name on it then the name was brownone and her turtle.

brownone will you email me with your postal address as Anna is at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference right now - so I'll collect your details and send them on to her.

Sid says he's never seen a turtle but of course all creatures listen when you talk to them! They just don't think you're talking very much sense unless you're saying how handsome and wonderful they are or announcing that very important moment of TEATIME!

Finally, on the post about Sid yesterday a sharp-eyed Rachel spotted something on my desk that had clearly been entertaining Sid and so in the Comments section she said:

Dear Kate,I think Sid is telling porkies. looking closely he's been up all night reading a very good book-just what is that intriguing pink book under his right paw?Rach

Well, Rach that book is a copy of Call Up The Storm by the late and great Jane Donnelly. I found 3 copies of her books when I visited Hay on Wye when I was in Wales. (More on that later) And as my friend Anne McAllister collects Jane's work, I picked them up in case she didn't already have copies of them.

But I was also going to post a scan of that cover on a blog that would follow on from our discussion of covers after lee's Guest Blog on that subject yesterday.

This is an example of that terrible moment When Covers Go Bad!

To me, the intense, passionate, Alpha hero looks like nothing so much as camp comedian Julian Clary right down to the head cocked slightly to one side - and I'm saying nothing about that yellow-brown suit!

Great Big Blog Party 53 Anna Campbell

So, as I said, today's Guest Blogger is another friend from downunder - she's Australian author Anna Campbell.

Anna is also one of my ex 'Virgins' from the RNA Conference in Leicester in 2004 when she came over to visit then. I also met Anna again on my own trip to Australia when we were both at the RWAus Conference in Coogee Beach. That was before she was published.

Since then she has had her first historical romance title - Claiming the Courtesan - published. (No prizes for guessing where my copy is - on the TBR mountain, scaling which has had to be suspended as I concentrate on writing my own next book). Her next title Untouched is due out in December this year. In June I was able to meet up with her again in York where she was staying as part of a research trip to England. A day that Anna describes in her post. That was also the Day of The Rain - the day when the rivers rose and the floods started. I shall never forget the torrential downpour in which we travelled to York - and the even more torrential downpour in which we struggled to get home, ploughing through floods along the roads, and praying we'd get back OK.

But it was worth it. Anna was as warm and friendly as ever and the few hours we spent talking as only writers can talk about books and writing and history passed in a flash - a warm, dry, interlude in a day when the rain never let up!

Anna must have been considerably warmer and drier - here ->
where she is pictured at the Literacy Signing at this year's RWA National in Dallas.

So here's Anna Campbell :

Firstly, a huge congratulations to the fabulous Kate Walker on the release of her 50th book. That’s a huge achievement in anyone’s life (said she, from the perspective of one book published, one book in the wings and one book still being polished). You’re an inspiration, Kate!

Thank you so much to Kate for asking me to be part of the party. I’ve been travelling which explains my late appearance at the fiesta. So glad I made the celebrations! I did however manage to meet Kate and her lovely husband Steve, who is a fellow history nut, on my jaunt. We had lunch at the famous Betty’s Café in York on the day in June when half of Britain decided to go underwater. I think we all had interesting journeys that day! At one stage, I thought I might be swimming to Edinburgh, my next port of call!

What I’d like to celebrate in my blog is the worldwide community of romance writers. Something I realised on my trip is that thanks to writing romance, I now have friends all over the world. That’s an amazing thought. But it’s true. And it’s always a treat to catch up with these clever, warm, wonderful women. My only regret is that you all don’t live closer. Mind you, with the way the weather has been in the UK lately, I’m sure at least the British contingent would like to live next door to me, at least until the downpours subside! I’m sending you all a nice bit of Aussie sunshine – I hope the postman delivers it soon!

After four wonderful weeks in Britain, I went to America where I also met up with so many romance friends. I went to the huge Romance Writers of America conference in Dallas which was so exciting, especially for a girl who usually sits at home in her ratty trackpants staring at a computer. It’s wonderful to catch up with old friends, make new ones and meet in real time people who I’ve only interacted with via the Internet. How did writers survive before email? And now I’m looking forward to the Australian conference in Sydney which is only a few weeks away. Whoo-hoo!

I do however have one regret about my British visit. I didn’t get to meet Sid the Cat!!! Whaaaah! Hoping for a Sid encounter was why I sat in a flying tin can for so many hours. But he was playing hard to get when I was around, that international man of mystery. I’m hoping now that he will deign to choose a winner for the signed copy of my historical romance, CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, which I’d like to give to someone who comments on this blog.

I grew up with animals. No, not my family! Hmm, we mightn’t look too closely at that statement. I mean, I grew up with lots of pets, although these days, I tend to borrow other people’s pets because circumstances just aren’t practical for me to keep an animal. I’d love to hear about a pet or an animal that has been important in your life. A childhood pet? A current creature? Someone else’s dog or cat who took a shine to you? An animal in a story. I personally still have a great fondness for the Silver Brumby!

Sid’s favourite comment wins my debut book from Avon and a signed coverflat for my second release, UNTOUCHED, which comes out in the US in late November. Good luck!

And congratulations again, Kate! Here’s to 50 more!

Best wishes.

Anna Campbell http://www.annacampbell.info/

GIVEAWAY QUESTION:

I’d love to hear about a pet or an animal that has been important in your life. A childhood pet? A current creature? Someone else’s dog or cat who took a shine to you? An animal in a story.

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:

Signed copy of Claiming the Courtesan, my debut book from Avon and a signed coverflat for my second release, UNTOUCHED, which comes out in the US in late November.