It's that day again

It wouldn't be the 12th October if I didn't post the traditional -

To wish Mr Hugh (in a towel) Jackman, inspiration for so many heroes in so many books over the years, a very happy 42nd birthday.





<- This picture inspired the work on creating a hero at my workshop in Halifax at the weekend. And this --> is just . . . inspiring

I'm totally sure that Anne McAllister will also have posted a selection of inspirational images as well to mark today - after all, she is the person who stole my original version of H-I-AT when we were together in Australia.

And if it's Hugh's birthday, then I need to wish a very happy birthday to Lacey too. You're in great company Lacey!

It's Hugh's Day and blogging around

It's October 12th and that has traditionally become Hugh's Day on my blog and over on Anne McAllister's blog too.

Hugh Michael Jackman was born 12 October 196. And coincidentally today is the Canadian Thanksgiving Day - well, I know a lot of romance writers who'll be giving thanks in a whole different way for today and the hours of inspiration that have resulted from it!

I'm desperately busy with a late dreadline thanks to the flu - but as a picture paints a thousand words then here's a couple of pages for you:

Happy Birthday Hugh

There will be more words later as I've been invited to join the fabulous Writers at Play to celebrate the Presents EXTRA publication of my October release Kept For Her Baby. So later to day there will be a long interview with me and a chat about that over at Writers at Play blog.

See you there.

Hmm - come to think of it, the hero on the fabulous cover of Kept for Her Baby looks remarkably like one H Jackamn - don't you think?

Happy Birthday, Happy Hugh Day and Happy 50th

It's September

and that means that it's the Pink Heart Society's Birthday

So Happy Birthday to the Little Pink Dancing Guy.

And because we PHSers know how to celebrate in style, the birthday means that it's also the one and only official Hugh Jackman Day - the day we run the official Hugh Jackman Tour.



If you want more details - go here

And then follow the tour blogs from there. you can also add your own pics to the tour if you want.







So - because a picture is worth 1000 words - here's a whole chapter or two:

And of course you can't improve on the original Hugh-in-a-towel . . .

And Happy 50th? Well that's books, not birthdays. All this week I'm guest blogging with Jessica Hart to help her celebrate her fabulous fiftieth title Last Minute Proposal. (It's sitting on the top of my TBR pile, tempting me right now)

I'm talking about what keeps bring me - andhopefully you - back to romance novels again and gain. So why not come by and join in the discussion?

Everyone who posts will be in with a chance to win my new title Bedded By The Greek Billionaire as well as a copy of the Centenary novella The Duke's Secret Wife. And Jessica is running a contest to win that very special 50th title - so what are you waiting for? Come and join us.

Happy 50th Jessica- and many congratulations on this sepcial book.

Great Minds Think Alike

Anyone reading this blog can't have missed that Anne McAllister is one of my great friends. In spite of the fact that she borrowed Hugh-in-a-towel so often on our visit to Australia and New Zealand that some people there tend to think that he's HER H-i-a-t. Which of course he is not.

But we share. Friends can do that.

In the same way that it now seems we are sharing another hero - after I showed her my inspiration for Santos she went off and did some more research and now her Sebastian has morphed into Santos (or the guy who inspired Santos). But he won't become a combination of the two - a Santostian - they'll be totally separate heroes and each will be distinctly an Anne McAllister hero and a Kate Walker hero.

But last month when I was talking about Anne's great current book, One Night Love Child, I forgot to mention the one hero we share and who always remains exactly and undeniably himself - a hero who along with Flynn Murray plays a very important part in the book. But he was not the Groom so I couldn't mention him in the posts when we were talking about Here Come the Grooms. This Alpha Hunk appears in several of Anne's books, he also appears a lot in my life (though he has had his nose put out of joint by a certain Flora the Floozie just lately.)

He is of course Sid the cat - sorry - Sid The Cat. The capital letters are important.

And Sid has a starring role in One Night Love Child. He is, he would say, the second lead. The First Cat as you might say. And Sid would like me to point out to you that this is another very good reason for buying Anne's book. He has had walk-on roles, even a small speaking role, in other books, including the book that started of Sara and Flynn's story way back in 2002 - The Great Montana Cowboy Auction. And he was very pleased to find that his starring role in One Night Love Child had not been edited out. He didn't expect that it would be because, of course he is the perfect Presents Cat - tall, dark and alpha - and very very handsome - just ask Flora. Sid is also very glad that Flora does not have a role in Anne's books (yet). He likes the fact that Elmer, Montana, is his own very special place where he can go without being followed (and bounced on) by pestiferous floozies.

He gets about in Elmer, he has lived in various houses in that town, but when Flynn goes back to find Sara after he finally receives her letter, he finds not only Sara but his five year old son - and Sid who is now living in Sara's house.

Sid hasn't yet appeared in one of my books. Perhaps I'm too close to him to portray him properly. Or my characters live in countries he's not sure he wants to visit . He's not keen on the heat and prefers to stay in the shade in summer, so he wasn't too sure about being sent to Spain to appear in Spanish Billionaire. Innocent Wife. But he's sort of considering he might like to branch out a bit, travel further afield.

I told him that if he was to make his home with Santos then he might end up being called El Sid. He liked the sound of that.

And those minds thinking alike? Well, when I got up this morning with this post in my head, I checked out Anne's Blog - and guess who's guest starring over there as well - along with Santostian?

El Sid himself. But then of course Anne has very good taste in cats as well as heroes.

Happy Birthday Hugh!

I've been a bit slack on the blogging front recently - I've had one of those 'when did I ever have the time to write' weeks since I sent the latest book to my editor.

But I have to blog today to mark the birthday of the inspiration that is Hugh Jackman.

12th October 1968 is the date that Hugh Michael Jackman was born and as the recent annual Hugh Jackman Fest on the Pink Heart Society, and the following report on the Legend that is Hugh-in-a-towel that followed, shows this is an auspicious and important date in the catalogue of inspirations to many many romance novelists the world over.

So Happy Birthday Hugh - and thank you for all those wonderful ideas! And as Anne McAllister says, if a picture paints a thousand words then I can go about my even more busy day today secure in the knowledge that I have 4000 brilliant words on my blog at least!

And it will have brightened the day for many visitors today too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGH!

H-I-A-T or That Man Again

OK so here's a day when I expect my blog hits counter to spike wonderfully. A day like the Pink Heart Society Hugh Jackman Tour day. A day when women of taste all over the world come to visit my blog - and my friends' - because of the legend that is

HUGH IN A TOWEL

Over on the PHS blog, Anne McAllister has written a post about the Legend of Hugh in A Towel, recalling the days when she and I used underhand means to win the largest possible audiences for our talks at the Australian and New Zealand Romance Writers' Conferences.

Our secret weapon was Hugh-in-a-towel projected life-size - on occasions more than lifesize (some of the audience are still recovering) on a screen at the front of the room. Since then the legend of H-I-A-T has grown and is now known worldwide, for reasons Anne has explained brilliantly.

There were other pics of Mr Jackman on display, at least at the RW NZ conference where I was talking about Alpha Heroes. I needed illustrations for the Alpha (guess who - or should that be Guess Hugh?) but I also needed, for comparison, the Beta Hero - ->

And I needed an example of the Gamma Hero

<--

But H-I-A-T was the one that everyone talked about afterwards.

Well, perhaps not everyone. I do remember one lady coming to me after my talk (I think this was the one on the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance - see, H-I-A-T is adaptable, he can be used to illustrate any point and I believe he was - all 12 of them. Well, maybe not the Heroine one . . .) Anyway, this lady came up to me afterwards and gave me a little note. It read 'I don't like your round-shouldered hero. He looks as if he has psychological problems'

Ah well, you can't please everyone - even with H-I-A-T.

On her blog, Anne remembers the Journalist from Christchurch (the one who, for the record, described me as having a barmaid's bosom! I have given it back to the barmaid since then). This man was so sure he had unearthed a cynical conspiracy to brainwash and delude poor gullible women (barmaid's bosoms - gullible women - can you see the level at which this guy saw the female sex?) Why was he so sure that we intelligent - he allowed that we were intelligent - cynical types were out to delude these women out of their money?

Because we told them the terrible lie that tall, dark, gorgeous men were devastatin

gly attractive - and we put up pics of H-I-A-T to prove it.

Shocking! You really needed to be brainwashed before you could think that - didn't you?

You poor, gullible women who enjoy category romance.

Well, deluded or not, gullible and brain-washed or whatever, the legend of H-I-A-T has grown so much that now, whenever I give a talk or a workshop - or any sort of an event - no one believes that it is a Kate Walker event without the guest appearance of H-I-A-T.

So much so that the writers' weekend at which I celebrated my 50th title had to have H-I-A-T right there too. I have illustrated this point with a photo of H-I-A-T with the lovely Julie Cohen because the truth is that I owe the original inspiration for H-I-A-T to Julie who found him as a special treat for me during her Writing The Sexy Bits talk at the RNA Conference in 2004 after which I took him off on his world tour to Australia and New Zealand.

And if you think that H-I-A-T at Auckland or Sydney was wonderful - just imagine H-I-A-T together with Julie's other aids of chocolate and strawberries.

Chocolate, strawberries - H-I-A-T. . .

And people keep asking what do women want?

The Hugh Jackman Tour 2007

I have two facts for you this morning -

1. Writing - as I'm sure you know - is hard work. And doing research for a book is really really hard work :O )

and

2. I love the Pink Heart Society Editors very much indeed - and I love the PHS and everything they've done with it. So when they ask me to join in with things, I'm so veryglad to do so . . .

But they are such hard taskmasters . . . (Taskmistresses?) They demand so much of me.

Take today for instance - they want me to share in the 2nd Annual Hugh Jackman Tour.

And in order to do so, this means that I have to do some pretty heavy duty research - I have to hunt the internet for photographs of Hugh Jackman.

Hugh was the PHS's very first Male on Monday and the event was so popular that contributions to the Hugh Gallery appeared all over the internet, on blogs and websites all over the world. So this year as part of their 1st Birthday Celebrations, the PHS Eds in their wisdom - and very wise ladies they all are! ; O) - have declared the Hugh Jackman Tour an annual event.

So I not only have to go looking for photos of Mr Jackman - I'm supposed to display my favourite.

Favourite?

Can the man take a bad photo? Is there a mood in which he looks better - best?

No - can't be done - and this is why the annual tour was inaugurated so that we can share the hard done research and the important inspiration that reults from it.

So here are my contributions for this year. If you want more, head for the PHS and check out the comments section in the Male On Monday post today and you will find the other blogs that you can visit on the HJ Tour

Enjoy!

But can I just remind you that, no matter what Anne McAllister, she of the wonderfully revamped website, may post on her blog today - Hugh in a Towel is mine -( with a little help from Julie Cohen who first drew my attention to him) Thank you Julie - I always knew you have wonderful taste.

And I posted Hugh in a towel yesterday so to include him in the tour, just scroll down to Sunday's post

Top Ten Books and Winners - and more

I have a lot of bits and pieces to post today so let's get started

Sid thanks everyone who sent him birthday wishes. He has celebrated his birthday by enjoying cat crunchies and picking winners:

So the very last, final prize for the Great Big Blog Party Caerleon Special goes to Kimberly L

Kimberly please send me your snail mail address and copy of Jane Wenham-Jones' Perfect Alibis will be on its way to you. More winners in a moment.

Next piece of important news - Anne McAllister has had a total revamp of her website and the wonderful new look is up now. The new look is to celebrate the publication of Anne's latest book The Boss's Wife for a Week which is out now in the UK and in October in Presents. I'm lucky enough to have my own copy already on my TBR mountain - all I need it a little extra time and no deadline to be able to read it. (Now where have I heard that before?)

Other important new - the Pink Heart Society birthday celebrations will be going on all month so keep an eye on their blog to find out what's going on. There's a whole lot of wonderful things lined up for your entertainment and delight and fabulous prizes to be won. Things start in fine form - in very, very, very fine form - with the annual (well it is now) Hugh Jackman Tour 2007 . You'll need to check out the PHS blog again for the details but just in case anyone else tries to jump the gun here then let me get in early and stake my claim.

No matter what others - who call themselves my friend - people with brand spanking new websites - may claim - Hugh in a towel is mine. I just let her borrow him every now and then.

Still on the topic of PHS, I have to apologise to Jenna who came over here hotfoot to see the famous pink shoes that I was wearing all day to celebrate the Birthday - and life had swamped me so I didn't get around to posting a pic of them. So - just for Jenna - here are the perfect pink shoes ---->

What next?

Oh yes - I have the final results of the

TOP TEN KATE WALKER NOVELS

as voted for by the readers. Actually, this is the Top Twenty.

Out of interest I've put the results from the last time I did this (2004) in brackets alongside so you can see that some books have held their places . Someof course weren't around then

A Sicilian Husband (The Twelve Month Mistress)
The Italian's Forced Bride (Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife)
The Sicilian's Wife (A Sicilian Husband)
Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride (The Sicilian's Wife)
The Antonakos Marriage (Wife for a Day)
The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife (Desert Affair)
Wife For A Day (Their Secret Baby)
Desert Affair (Bound by Blackmail)
12 Month Mistress (The Christmas Baby's Gift)
The Hostage Bride (The Groom's Revenge)
Bound By Blackmail (The Hired Husband)
At The Sheikh's Command (The Hostage Bride)
Fiancee By Mistake (Constantine's Revenge)
The Married Mistress (His Miracle Baby)
Leap in the Dark (The Married Mistress)
The Christmas Baby's Gift (Her Secret Bridegroom)
Their Secret Baby (Saturday's Bride)
Constantine's Revenge (The Unexpected Child)
Rafael's Love- Child (Game of Hazard)
The Hired Husband (Give and Take)

(Looking at this list, all I can say is there must be something about those Sicilians. Even though it's only just published, The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge came in a #21 this time, just missing this list by a vote.)

Dis also picked the final set of winners from the voters and the lucky winners are:

Jean M from Broomfield Colorado
Lily D from Canada
Donna Howard from Van Buren Arizona
Peggy Q
Gail H from Junction Kentucky

I'll be emailing the winners but if you spot your name here then please send me your postal address so I can organise your prize for you

Great Big Blog Party 57 - Anne McAllister

There is another great writer friend that you must very important to me. And if you don't then you haven't been paying attention and Sid at least will be shocked to the ends of his whiskers. Because not only is Anne McAllister a very special and Dear friend of mine, she is also the Cat of Superior Breeding's beloved Lady Across the Pond.

The lady who knows just where to rub his head in exactly the right place, who brings him treats of salmon and occasionally greenies when she comes to visit. She is also the LATP who appreciates the long emails he sends her and replies to them in person.

Anne is another author whose books I 'met' before I met the author herself. And I loved those books.Again I still do. Anne is an author who can put a subtly different slant on a Presents book - she creates a hero who is so clearly an Anne McAllister hero. (To those who say that the books are all the same, I'd suggest you take a look at these two special authors -Anne McAllister and Michelle Reid and see how differently that Alpha hero can be created). And not just in the Presents novels -Anne's Code of The West books for Silhouette have that unique, individual slant that marks out a brilliant writer in my mind.

As a friend, Anne is another for whom the term 'soul mate' was invented - and the scary thing is that without the internet she and I would probably never ever have met. And so our husbands would never have met - perhaps and even more scary thought because if they hadn't then who would they ever have talked to quite so much!

If you check back in this blog you'll read about trips I've taken with Anne -research trips but at the same time trips that have been so much fun as we investigated either her ancestors or the Prof's - or occasionally mine. Seeing things through her eyes is a great way to refresh my own ideas and to look at things anew. As a result, I can never ever drive through the nearby village of Spital in the Street without thinking of explaining to Anne where the name came from

( The first part of its name, "Spital", comes from the ancient hospital for the poor which was situated there, this had its origins in a Hermitage. The Hermits or “Eremites” dwellers in the Eremos or wilderness, commonly placed their Hermitages in remote spots, often on lonely highways in order to extend hospitality to travellers)

Anne is the friend I shared a wonderful tour of Ireland with, who shared a fantastic seafood meal with me (and Marion Lennox) in Coogee , Sydney, Australia - And of course Anne is the other half of the Hugh-in-a-towel promotion campaign.

If you want to read more about my meeting with Anne then you'll find it here when I celebrated her books and our friendship back in 2006. And if you visit the Pink Heart Society today you'll find that she's writing about some of her favourite writing books in her first article as a PHS Columnist who's topic this week is FindDaBoo .

And here's Anne McAllister herself

(Kate crosses fingers that the paragraphing in this post works out right)

It all began with a castle. Maybe it was in Scotland. Maybe not.

It was close to ten years ago now, I know that. We authors had a Mills & Boon authors loop going and we were heady with the ability to finally contact each other instead of living in our isolated little garrets where we wrote our books and never saw another soul (well, another writerly soul at any rate). And in this headiness of instant contact, I asked for recommendations of castles to visit in Scotland as a son of mine was looking to visit Britain and thought focusing on castles would be a good way to go. Actually, I believe he thought focusing on whiskey would be a good way to go, but he didn't tell his mother that.

Anyway, I asked. And this Kate Walker person answered. I had known Kate's books for years (we began writing for Mills & Boon at about the same time), but I didn't know her personally. That began to change with the castles.

Then it turned out that we shared a childhood obsession with actor Robert Fuller in his role as Jess Harper in Laramie (and if you share a hero with someone, it means that you are On The Same Wavelength for sure), and since this has now evolved into an on-going international involvement with a certain man known as Hugh-in-a-towel, it's clear that Our Wavelength is strong indeed.

It also seems that we married men who never say a word to anyone for a year at a time (well, the BM basks in the glow of his admirers' fond glances and smiles, and even speaks to them, I suppose), but the minute they get together (hers and mine), they Never Shut Up. They have talked their way around England several times, from Guildford to York, from Millom to Bole. They have talked their way around a very large pond (a very large pond indeed) in New Zealand while mine was getting progressively later for a plane he had to catch. They have endured RWA and RNA conferences together. They have even talked all the way from Chicago to Denver (in a car, not on a plane) -- and all the way back. They apparently have a lot to say (to each other). Who knew?

So, this has given Kate and I even greater cause to bond. And talk to each other.

I have met a lot of wonderful writers and friends over the course of the last 25 years. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all of them. But there are some -- like Kate -- who stand out as the ones who will be life-long friends, who have a generosity and kindness and enthusiasm and genuineness to make you thank God every day for bringing them into your life. They enrich your life in ways you never imagined (who'd have thought that I'd have a several volume correspondence with a cat, for example -- or an overhead projection of you-know-who-in-a-towel or memories of wandering up and down the hills of Millom and going into the bookshop which was formerly my gg-grandparents' house or of a house party in an Irish manor house that brought my book to life). Kate is responsible for all those things . . . and many many more.

There are far more than 50 reasons that I'm delighted to call Kate Walker friend -- and I can get there without even mentioning those 50 wonderful books. Congratulations, Kate! Here's to many many more -- and many more years of friendship as well.

ps: if this doesn't paragraph, would you please go back and put in the Hecks' "nevertheless" between each of them. It's a brilliant idea. Tell Sidney he deserves an extra cat crunchy (or ten) for that suggestion.

GIVEAWAY QUESTION:
pps: I have just realized that I need to come up with a question. So here it is: You are an an Irish manor house having a weekend houseparty. You can invite whomever you want (up to ten people). Who would you invite? Why?
Yes, I know it's two questions, but I'm always interested in the reasons (what writer doesn't want to know about motivation and inspiration?). And who knows, I might want to invite them to my next houseparty!

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:
Two winners will get copies of the book that started my latest mini-series, The Antonides Marriage Deal.

Anne's next book is The Boss's Wife For A Week which is out in September. You can read more about it on her web site or on her Blog

Great Big Blog Party 51 Ally Blake

I have a very special reason for posting today's Guest blogger on August 1st (who would have believed when I started this back in June that we would still be partying as August dawned?!). But we'll come to that in a minute. For now, let me introduce you to Ally Blake.

As Ally describes in her post, she and I first met at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Coogee Beach in Sydney. The BM and I were invited to a fabulous lunch by the management of HMB Australia and for me it was like my own personal idea of heaven with some of the most famous - and my most favourite names in romance writing in the same room. I was there with my friend Anne McAllister, I sat next to Emma Darcy, laughed with Marion Lennox, laughed some more with Trish Morey, and met Miranda Lee for the very fist time. And on the way back to the conference hotel, I shared the taxi with lovely Ally Blake.

At that stage Ally was just starting out on her career as a published author - she's come a long way since then! Now she's into double figures for published books, she's busy creating her own brand new hero or heroine and looking forward to the birth of her baby later this year - and together with Trish Wylie she's one of the founder members and editors of the fabulous Pink Heart Society.

And this is where I get to make my personal special announcement - and that is that as from today, I'm thrilled and honoured to be included amonget the newly-appointed Pink Heart Columnists. I've always thought that the PHS was a brilliant idea, and I've supported it from the start. So I'm delighted to be officially linked to it from now - and I'll be posting regularly over on the PHS site.

But let's get back to Ally Blake:

When Ally was a little girl she made a wish that when she turned twenty-six she would marry an Italian two years older than her. After it actually came true she realised she was onto something with these wish things. So, next she wished that she could make a living spending her days in her pyjamas, eating M&Ms and drinking scads of coffee while turning her formative experiences of wallowing in teenaged crushes and romantic movies into creating love stories of her own.

The fact that she is now able to spend her spare time Googling pictures of handsome guys for research purposes is merely a bonus!

Ally's Post:

Fifty books. Fifty books. I am in utter awe of such an achievement. Especially when I can’t quite believe that my current release is my tenth.

Ten! I can’t have possibly written ten books, can I? Did Kate really say fifty?

Anyhoo, moving on… I’m one of the lucky ones who has not only been able to get to know Kate through the web, through her constant encouragement of new authors at eHarlequin and doing so much for us over at the Pink Heart Society blogazine, but I shared a taxi with her once.

Her and the BM. Beat that!

It was my second ever Romance Writers of Australia conference, only a few short months after I had sold my first Harlequin Romance. Kate and her hubby were in town as special guests, and we all met up at the Harlequin Authors lunch; always a posh do at a lovely restaurant overlooking the water. Think dressing up, champagne, laughter, catching up with friends you only get to see once a year, and lots of industry gossip.

Needless to say I was a tad overwhelmed being included in such a stratospheric bunch. Anne McAllister, Marion Lennox, Helen Bianchin, Emma Darcy. All there. All clapping and whistling madly as I received a crazy huge bunch of flowers as congrats on selling my first book

.After a blur of a lunch we all headed back from the gorgeous restaurant to the conference hotel and when the time came, Kate, the BM, my flowers and I managed to squeeze into the back of a cab.

What I remember most about Kate was her generosity. She was so encouraging, so excited, so lovely, so smiley. She made the excitement factor of that sale, those flowers, and a career to come feel like something very real and very possible.

And the next day she showed a room full of us a larger than life-sized picture of Hugh Jackman in a towel… Yep, I was actually there at the unveiling.

And what a moment!Thanks Kate! For the encouragement. The creative excellence. And Hugh topless.Here’s to another fifty!Love Ally

GIVEAWAY QUESTION – Okay, now I’m looking for the perfect man on whom to base my next Harlequin Romance hero. Hugh Jackman in a towel aside, which actor, of any era, do you think is the epitome of the charming, tall, dark, handsome stranger?

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:

My fave answer wins a signed copy of Getting Down to Business, my first Modern Extra Sensual novel, not yet released in North America! And if I’m impressed enough, may even get their man a guest appearance in a Harlequin Romance novel!

PS from Kate:

- What the heck - any excuse . . . . .

Great Big Blog Party 39 - Winner - and a Kate Bit

Well, Hunkthighs and Shoulderman got you talking - as I thought they would. I was so glad to see these two wonderful hunks back in circulation - it's been too quiet without them! Welcome back Clint and Troy!

I hope that soon either Clint or Troy will pick a winner of Anne's prize - but in the mean time, I have another winner to announce for you.

Elizabeth Oldfield has read all the answers to her question and she emailed me with her response :

I thought the responses to the blog were all interesting - and I agreed with so many - but my choice as winner is Yvonne Lindsay. I still have a copy of Mary Wibberley's 'To Writers With Love' on my book shelves, together with classics by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Daphne Du Maurier. There's a wealth of literature out there

So Yvonne - congratulations - you win a copy of Vintage Babes. Please contact me - I think I still have your address somewhere but if you could send it to me then I'll be sure I have exactly the right one. (and for those who didn;t win Vintage Babes this time - I have a second chance to win coming up soon)

I too have a copy of Mary Wibberley's To Writers With Love on my shelf - on I was thrilled to have her sign for me personally when we both were at a Writing Day in Eccles where I was giving a talk. It's a writing book that's fun just to read as well as passing on information. I haven't read it for a while so I don't know if any of that information has dated since it came out in 1985 - but there's one thing that hasn't dated and that's her list of excuses (a 'Baker's Dozen' ) for not writing a book when you say you want to. Each and every one of them is dealt with and demolished.

And there's a point in there where she says 'What are you doing reading when you should be writing. Put this book down now - at once- and write!' It used to work every time.

Finally - thanks to Lidia and many others who have emailed me privately to check that the BM and I - and the cats of course - are still OK in spite of the deluges and floods that we have been experiencing in the UK -for ever it seems though it's probably ju st a month or so.

Luckily, where we live in Lincolnshire we are on the top of an escarpment and so safe from the waters of the River Trent and the electricity and the fresh water supplies have been fine so far - fingers crossed for the future. Many many people have not been so lucky and my thoughts are with those who are facing the ruin of their homes or are enduring life without power or fresh water. What a summer! Luckily today the sky is blue and clear and the sun is shining in it - so there will be a little respite from the rain and hopefully a lowwering of the dangerous water levels - I hope!

Perhaps we could send in Hunkthighs and Shoulderman to join the rescue efforts - I'm sure they'd be wonderful.

Any excuse to show the pic of these two great hunks!

And as someone over on the comments section suggested a 'towel-off' between Clint and Troy and another rather attractive Aussie - what better excuse for:

Hugh in a towel