Advent Calenday Day 5

I've been busy today - doing what I call 'maintenance'  - or  sometimes I call it the Forth Bridge project. ( For those of you who  don't know that reference,  the huge Forth Bridge  is so big that people say if they started to repaint it, they'd barely get to the end before they had to begin again.)

It's just  fate that means a lot of my annual/biannual  checks have fallen in the past week or so. Last week was the dentist, today's was the eye test  - but I have to admit I'm glad that I've got them out of the way now - and  even better to know that  nothing has changed - so no expenses for new lenses/frames. That pleased me a lot.

Now I can concentrate on the nicer, pampering side of preparing for the festive season.  I have a hair appointment booked - and today, seeing as there isn't going to be the cost of new glasses, I decided to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure just before the big day.  If we're not careful, the build up to Christmas can be all about planning, preparing, organising, wrapping . . . .  And let's face it, often the women are the ones doing most of it.  (Though I have to say that my son  is amazingly good at buying gifts -I'm impressed.)

So today's question is all about you - do you have a  preparty/pre Christmas bit of pampering that you enjoy?
Or one that you just  dream of?
Would your fantasy be a full day spa package (OK - we can dream - we'd need the time off to achieve it!)
Or do you  choose something nice to wear and go with that. (Don't go into details on the 'something nice to wear' - that's for tomorrow's question!)

And today's give away prize -

Yesterday's giveaway was an older book - so let's come up to date.

Today I'm giving away a copy of my latest title - The Devil and Miss Jones . This was out in March 2012.

Martha Jones has never taken a risk in her whole life. Until the day she runs out on her wedding and succumbs to the magnetism of a man she has only just met! A man she knows only as Diablo.

Lone wolf Carlos Ortega won't promise Miss Jones more than one searing-hot night. Yet Carlos is shocked by Martha's sweet innocence. This runaway bride is a virgin, and it seems the repercussions of their sizzling encounter could last forever . . .

Let me know what your  'pampering' is - even if it's just a mug of hot chocolate or a glass of wine while you're writing the Christmas cards!  And I'll  send someone a little extra treat in a signed copy of this book.

Oh - and the winner of Advent Calendar Day 4 is Eli Yanti
Eli please email me with your postal address so I can send your prize on to you.

Tote Bags 'N' Blogs

It's the first Sunday in July, so  of course I'm blogging over on Tote Bags 'N' Blogs - talking about the month coming up in What I'm Doing on My 'Holidays'.

And as I know everyone's looking for a 'beach read' - or an  armchair read - for the holidays - I'm giving away a copy of  The Devil and Miss Jones to one commenter - just as soon as I get Charlie the Maine Coon to come back in from the garden. It's actually not raining at the moment so he's having a lot of fun out there - climbing trees, hiding in the bushes - jumping on the bird table . . .

Or perhaps I'll wake Flora who's sleeping on my desk . . .

See you over at Tote Bags N Blogs!

The Lost Week

I can't believe that it was Saturday 24th  when I last posted.

Well, yes,  actually, I can  now I think about it because this week has really been the lost week.  Just when I thought  the stresses and chaos of the renovations were behind me and that I could relax and enjoy the improvements  (Oh the delight of being able to have a shower again!) - that was when the Babe Magnet went down with a vicious dose of the flu.

And being the generous sort of man he is, he then shared it with me. So we've been sneezing and cooughing and spluttering in stereo. I lost my voice completely,  and I've  not managed to keep up with anything all week.

But now I'm trying to catch up again.  And today being the first Sunday of the month, today I'm blogging over on Tote Bags 'n' Blogs - and as it's April I'm talking about the publication of my latest book. Which is, of course, The Devil and Miss Jones which will be published in  Presents Extra on April 4th.

I'm also celebrating the end of the renovations and the fact that the builders have finally moved out - so to mark this occasions I have a giveaway to share.

See you there!

Winners and blogging elsewhere

We have winners for the Here Come The Grooms Contest -
My winner is  - Natalija Shkomare
Anne McAllister's winner is  Colleen Conklin
Liz Fielding's winner is - Carol Woodruff

Each of these winners will receive a copy of all three books -
The Devil and Miss Jones by Kate Walker
Savas's Wildcat - By Anne McAllister
Flirting with Italian - By  Liz Fielding

Congratulations ladies!

Today is the first Friday of the month so I'm blogging at one of my regular spots - today it's over on The Pink Heart Society blog.  I'm talking about why this Sunday is special for me - and  about one of the ways I learned about writing at a very early age. 

See you there?

Happy Saint David's Day!

The Here Come the Grooms Contest has closed now -  Charlie has picked my winner, but I need to wait until Liz Fielding and Anne McAllister have  selected their winners too. Just as soon as they give me the details, I'll announce them here and the books will be on their way to the lucky winners of these three books:

The Devil and Miss Jones by Kate Walker
Flirting With Italian by Liz Fielding
Savas's Wildcat by Anne McAllister

It's March 1st - St David's Day - and of course St David is the patron saint of Wales.  So what  better way to celebrate his day with the details that I promised of my return to Wales and the wonderful Caerleon Writers' Holiday in July.

There was a  bit of a mix up with the arrangements this year - and the courses have been changing as so often happens, as speakers find they can't  be at the event etc.  But after talking to Anne and Gerry at Fishguard, we've planned for me to teach at this years' Writers' Holiday - and link this course again to the Advanced Romance Writing in Fishguard next year.  So for everyone who's asked about it - here are the details . . .

Caerleon Writers' Holiday -

I will be taking course 2...replacing  what is currently listed  as Mitzi Sereto's erotica. 

Title: A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION TO WRITING ROMANCE

As with all courses at Caerleon this will be a 5 session course working through the basics of writing romance  and giving students a grounding in all the skills needed to  create characters, build plots, create pace . . .

My course will only be one of 14 courses on offer - you can choose to do Writing Romance  and one other in the week. And of course there wil be lots of special guest, main speakers, after tea sessions. Oh, and the trip out on the  Wednesday afternoon when you can visit Cardiff,  the 'book town' of Hay on Wye, or even go down a Welsh coal mine. And then of course the whole event is rounded off  by a wonderful evening of music with the Cwmbach Male Choir. 

Fishguard Writers' and Artists' Weekend

And of course this will prepare anyone who's interested for the  the advanced followup at Fishguard next year.  I don't have the dates for the Writers and Artists' Weekend  confirmed - though I expect it will be 15th/16th/17th February 2013. The venue will, as usual, be at the  Fishguard Bay Hotel, Fishguard, Wales  Pembrokeshire

If you book online for either of these events you will save £10 off the cost.

Maybe I'll see you there.  Or at one of the other courses that I'll be posting details  soon.

New Cover

Look what I found while browsing Amazon at the weekend - it's the Presents Extra cover of my next book - The Devil and Miss Jones.

It's a good cover - and it shows the Argentinian estancia setting of the second half of the book - but I was hoping for a cover with the evocative scene at the opening of the story  - the one that gave me my title for this novel.
But maybe the UK cover will come closer. I don't have any copy of that cover yet to show you - but I'll post it here as soon as I do.

You may have seen all the fuss and excitement about Sweetie and Sunshine, the two giant pandas and their arrival at Edingburgh Zoo. The TV coverage has been extensive - and Charlie the Maine Coon has loved every minute of it! He sits up and takes notice when ever the panadas appear on the television, watches intently while they are on - and goes back to sleep when the next item appears.

I wonder if Sweetie and Sunshine know that they have such a great feline fan. We'll have to hope that they do mate so that he can have some baby pandas to watch in the future

And the good news is . . .

. . . I get to keep my title - that title!   Everyone in editorial agreed on it, America OKed it and so my newest book, out in March 2012 will be called The Devil and  Miss Jones. I am so pleased - it's the first time in ages that a title I've suggested has been used - and it's a long way from the  Billionaire's Revenge on the Vrgin sort of titles which can only be a good thing.  I just checked and the last time a title I suggested was used was with The Antonakos Marriage  and that was back in 2005!

Have you noticed the new banner up on the top of the page now? I think it's great - the lovely Heather from We Write Romance has just done all the updates  on my web site, so the new covers  for Return of the Stranger are up  and all the details of the coming events.

I just heard from the Arts Officer at The Bronte Society about the workshop and the talk I'm doing for their Festival of Women's Writing in September and apparently  both events are booking well - if you're interested - the programme is available to download here.

It's going to be a great weekend in Haworth - other authors Barbara Trapido and Joanna Briscoe will be there and the screenwriter for the new film version of Jane Eyre  Moira Buffini will be speaking too. Sadly I don't think the star of the film Michael Fassbender will be with her!

Oh - and if you're thinking of entering the New Voices contest -  there are some tips Tips on writing romance in this week's  Woman's Weekly Magazine (UK) in an article by Jane Wenham-Jones with advice from Jojo Moyes, Trisha Ashley - and someone called Kate Walker

60!

I'm  sixty!

Well, no - not me - but the number of books I've written for Harlequin Mills & Boon.

I  just heard from my editor and the  'tweaks' -  aka the unravelling and knitting up the book again - have worked for her so the book is now accepted and sent off to copy-editing. And I can relax for a little while at least.

It really doesn't get any easier, waiting for a response!

Anyway, the book will be out in March 2012 - This is Carlos Diablo  and Martha's book  and I'm still waiting for a title to be confirmed. My editor loves my working title of The Devil and Miss Jones, but it has to be approved by all the Presents team - so watch this space! 

Now I need a new idea and a new hero - I shall have to do some really hard research . . .