Pink Heart Day

Today I'm over on The Pink Heart Society  with my  post for the day.  And I'm celebrating.

Celebrating what?  Well, the acceptance of Destined for the Desert King  obviously  but today'[s a special day ( and no I'm not talking about Polling Day in the General Election) 

Important note  though -

I may be celebrating but in Nepal there are people who are just hanging on to  being alive after the devastating earthquake there.   Authors For Nepal is a collection of writers who are all offering  signed books etc for auction to make a  contribution  to this vital cause.  

The auction is on ebay and you can find my lot  - three books and a copy of the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance here and the whole auction - now live - can be found here.  Take a look at the great lots on offer - make a bid - and you can help the people of Nepal as well as  getting yourself some great signed books, critiques etc,

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..

Pink Hearts again

November? Really ?  How did that happen?

I have a confession to make - I've been so busy that I only turned over the months page for September on my office calendar  a couple of weeks ago. So I'm really stunned to find that I have to do it again today   and find myself facing the month of November!

Which means that it's the first Friday  of a brand-new month.;
Which means that it's my day to write a blog over on the Pink  Heart Society blog.  I only just remembered that it time!

Anyway, that's where I am- Pink  Heart Society blog - and A Date With Kate.

Now I'm going to make myself a stiff coffee as I adjust to the fact it's November!  Still not sure how that happened.

Pink Heart Day

It's the first Friday of the month so that mneans it's my Pink Heart Society  day for blogging in my Date With Kate Column.

So that's where you'll find me - with the So You Think You Can Write  contest in mind, as a special  request from PHS editor, Michelle Styles, I'm talking about choosing just which type of romance writing will suit you best.

See  you there!

Where did the week go?

This is a bit late as Blogger wouldn't let me on until now  . . . but better late than never.

It's been a hectic week. Life continues to be complicated, and I've been concentrating hard on 'tweaking' Carlos Diablo and Martha - aka The Devil and Miss Jones. It's been one of those sets of revisions where you 'tweak' something somewhere and it has such an effect further along that the result is more of a rewrite in places. So that's where my attention has been.

But today is the 30th June - so that makes it the day when over the Pink Heart Society site The Proud Wife is their Pink Heart Pick for June - and I'm blushing at the wonderful, generous review that Donna Alward has given it.

It's such an honour when another author, one who knows what writing romance is all about and how difficult it can be at times, says she enjoys your book - but when I found that Donna has said that The Proud Wife 'is right up there as one of my favourite KW romances' then it has just made my day.

Donna even says that my hero, Pietro 'is giving Guido (from Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride) a run for his money as my fave KW hero. Maybe it's a Sicilian thing?' and I know how much she loved Guido so that's quite some achievement for Pietro even to challenge him!

But most of all, it means such a lot to me when a fellow author's assessment says, on the subject of heroes : 'My favourite heroes of Kate's are the ones who appear uncompromising and domineering on the outside but are really intensely emotional and tender on the inside - and the books that do it best for me is when that is immediately apparent to the reader.'

That's exactly what I try to aim for when I'm creating a hero. And I think it's specially important when creating a Presents Alpha - getting that balance between the uncompromising and domineering outer mask and the inner emotional and tender person behind it. So I'm thrilled that that's exactly what Donna found.

Anyway - the discussion is open over on the PHS site so if you've read The Proud Wife maybe you'll join us over there. I know Donna and most of the Pink Hearters are over in New York and the RWA national conference - so I'll try to visit through the day - in between adding what I hope are the final tweaks for The Devil and Miss Jones (well - a girl can hope that will be the title!)

A Date With Kate

It's the third Friday in the month so that's my day for blogging over on  The Pink Heart Society in A Date With Kate.

Today my blog is  about A Question of Balance - Why Too Much (Even of a Good thing) can be just too much. So I hope I'll see you over there.

And tonight I'll get Sid the Cat to pick some winners of a copy of The Proud Wife so that you can join in the PHS Book Club on the 30th. So you can still add a comment on the post below to be in with a chance of winning.

Win a copy of The Proud Wife

So, as I mentioned,  my latest book - The Proud Wife - is the Pink Heart Society's Pink Heart Pick  at the end of the month - June 30th to be exact.

If you don't know about this then what you need to now is that every month the Pink Heart Society web site editors pick a particular book for the Book Club to read and then join in a discussin about it on  the blog at the end of the month.

And this month's pick to read is my own The Proud Wife.

That's both a  lovely honour and a little bit nerve-wracking. The thought of everyone discussing my book does make me a little apprehensive, I'll admit. But of courtse in order to discuss the book, you first have to read it - and as the UK paperback isn't easily available on Amazon - the kindle edition is there of course, and the paperback is on the Mills & Boon site - I promised I'd offer you a chance to win a copy to read so that you can join in the Book Club discussion.

So -  all I ask is that you post a comment to say why you'd like to win this book. Or what you're currently reading - just come by and chat for a moment  - and in a couple of days' time -  on Friday -  I'll get Sid the Cat to pick a winner or two so that there is still time for you to read the book before the end of the month.

I just posted off a bundle of prizes  after a special Newsletter contest (you can join using the link at the bottom of the page) so while I'm in prize-giving mood, here's your chance to win a copy of this best-selling book! And all you have to do post in the comments.

New Cover

My editor sent me my new cover last week, and then I discovered that it's on Amazon.co.uk now too - so here it is -   The Return Of The Stranger   - coming on September 2nd

The shading is slightly funny on this Amazon reproduction so he looks a little redder in the face than in my copy  so if I can get a better version, I'll put that up as soon as I can.  (PS Have now amended the coer so it looks better - and less red!)

And here's the blurb:

Standing high on the windswsept moors, the lone figure of Heath Montanha vows vengeance on the woman who destroyed the last fragments of his heart.

Lady Katherine Charlton has never forgotten the stablehand with dangerous fists and a troubled heart from  her childhood. Now the rebel is back, his powerful anger concealed under a polished and commanding veneer.

When ten years of scandal and secrets are unleashed with a passionate, furious kiss, Heath's deepest, darkest wish crystallises . .  .

Revenge - and Kat - will be his!

Just one little point - this book is part of the The Powerful And The Pure  miniseries - where the four books in the series are  inspired by some of the Classics of romantic fiction.  There seems to be some confusion on the part of some readers that this is 'stealing'  from the originals  - but right from  the stories of Cinderella and such, plots have always been taken and reworked,  turned into something new.   So  just to repeat  - these boks are inspired by the Classics - because it's as I'm always saying in workshops etc, that we could all be given the same hero, heroine, setting and start to a plot and we would all come up with something new.

So the books in this mini series - The Forbidden Innocent (Sharon Kendrick)  - Jane Eyre

In Want of A Wife  (Cathy Williams) - Pride and Prejudice

 Mr and Mischief (Kate Hewitt)  Emma

and my The Return of The Stranger  - Wuthering Heights

 are all inspired by the spirit and the characters of the originals and then as authors ourselves, we created a brand new story as a result.

I'll be blogging more about how I worked on The Return of The Stranger  when it gets closer to September.

And talking of my books reminded me that I promised  to run a contest so that a couple of you could win a copy of The Proud Wife in order to join in the discussion on the Pink Heart Society where it's their Pink Heart Pick for June.

So I need to think of a contest to do that - watch this spaceThen you'll have time to read it before the discussion starts on June 30th.

Just discovered . . .

I've been focusing on the new book, persuading Diablo to co-operate (not an easy task!)  so I've not been wandering around the internet much.  But this morning I found something I wanted to share with you.

Over on The Pink Heart Society site, every month they have a special read and review section - the Pink Heart Pick  where the editors of the PHS pick a particular romance title, Donna reviews it and anyone who had read it can come along to discuss the book.

This morning I discopvered to my surprise that, at the bottom of the discussion about this month's pick -  Texas Heir by Linda Warren  - I discovered this -

And now for the June pick.....The Proud Wife by Kate Walker! It was just out in April in the US and Canada and in March in the UK, so you should be able to find it at online retailers in print and at the Mills and Boon site, eharlequin, and any other e-book retailer in digital.

We'll be back to chat about it on June 30!

What an honour - but ooo-er - the thougth of everyone discussing my book next momth is a bit awe-inspiring.  But I know a lot of you have already read The Proud Wife so I hope you'll come along and join in the discussion.

Just one little thing -  I noted today that the UK  version of  this book is sold out on Amazon.co.uk  and on The Book Depository. So if you want to get your hands on a copy,  you'll need to visit the Mills & Boon site or download an ebook version. The American edition  is still available on Amazon.com   or eharlequin  in both print and ebook formats.

I'll hope to see some of you on the PHS site on June 30th to chat about The Proud Wife.

And if you haven't managed to get your hands on a copy yet, then as soon as I get away from Diablo, I'll run a quick suprise one-day contest when you  could win a copy in time to read and join in the discussion - to watch this space.

Back to my sexy Argentinian hero  - he's just about to learn something that will really make him mad!  I'm going to have fun writing this bit.