Workshops 2 - the other side of the coin

Okay, so I had a bit of a rant about Workshops – and I’m delighted to know that so many of you agreed with me. Apart from anything else, I’ve been very lucky in my writing career and this job has been very good to me. I’ve gone from being a ‘dreamer’ – a girl who wrote stories in secret in the middle of the night or at the back of the maths class, in an exercise book hidden behind the text book – the girl that everyone said would never get a single book published – to a successful author with 48 fiction and 2 non fiction books on my shelves, a regular income from my work and lots of friends that I’ve made through my writing and the world of romance novels and romantic fiction in general. I’ve traveled – New York, Denver, Auckland, Sydney- met hundreds of fans and other writers – because of my work and I’ve enjoyed 20+ years of it. So as well as everything else my workshops are a way of putting something back into the world that has been so good to me.

So that’s why I do workshops - but today I’m looking at the other side of the coin – I believe in doing workshops but I also believe that those who attend workshops could – should – consider a few points before they turn up at any workshop I’m giving. If only to get the very best out of what I’m trying to teach.

So, let’s consider some of them.

If you’re going to attend any workshop I – or any other Harlequin Mills & Boon author is giving – please read some books beforehand. And make them books that were published in the last 12 months or so. From a selection of different authors. Don’t rely on the fact that you once read one book by Violet Winspear or Betty Neels published in the 1960s that you bought secondhand from a shop for five pence – and consider that that is representative of the whole genre from 1908 when the company was founded until the present day. Romances are a growing, changing, developing genre and the books being published now are not the same as they’ve always been – nor are the Tender Romances the same as the Moderns or the Desire the same as the Medicals.

Don’t ask the speaker (ie me!) ‘So have the books changed much in the past ten/fifteen/twenty years. The answer is YES - but if you want to find out how much they’ve changed then read for yourself. You could be pretty surprised. And you’ll learn a lot lot more that way than you would from my – or any other author’s answer of ‘Yes they’ve changed – and they continue to change.’


Don’t rely on sloppy, lazy journalists who will tell you that

1. Everyone knows what a HMB romance is like –
2. 
   That HMB Romances are all the same and have been the same since time began and will be the same until the end of time
3. 
   That all HMB heroines are sweet innocent virgins who swoon upon the hero's manly chest, with her bosoms heaving, if a man so much as comes near them
4. 
   That all HMB heroes are arrogant, monstrous Heathcliff-type brutes who do nothing other than treat the heroine appallingly until on the very last page he declares that he loves her – at which point she will swoon upon his manly chest – see 3 above
5. 
   That all M&B romances are sickly sweet, with conflicts based only on silly misunderstandings that bear no relation to reality whatsoever.
6. 
   That there is no sex whatsoever in any M&B romance and that all books must slide over these passionate moments with the dot, dot, dot, syndrome – eg ‘He picked her up in his arms of steel and carried her towards the bedroom door . . . ‘
7. 
   If there is (shock, horror!) any sex in an M&B book it is only a recent development and may only take place after marriage, in the missionary position, in a bed . . . I repeat, read some books.
8. 
   Above all else do not believe the urban myths that the lazy journo’s spread around – like the existence of the famous ‘formula’ – or, even worse, the guidebook that lists the exact places, parts of the body that may be touched and at what stage in the book – and that no other places on the hero or heroine’s anatomy may be even mentioned at any point.
   
   

If you’re in any doubt about these – READ the books! That way at least you will know what the speaker is talking about and it will make a lot more sense to you.

Don't ask the workshop leader if she can 'just' read your book and say what she thinks because it's time-consuming to do it properly and said author has deadlines of her own. Above all, don’t do as it is rumoured one over-enthusiastic would-be author did at an American conference and follow the (in this case editor) into the ladies loo and shove your manuscript under the cubicle door, begging her to ‘just’ take a look at it while she’s in there!

Don't whine about how come author XYZ gets to write about a subject but your book on the same subject was rejected – it’s more than likely that it’s not the subject you wrote about but the way you wrote that was the problem. It’s a fact of life that experienced authors can tackle topics that the ‘rules’ say must never be tackled and make them work.
Which reminds me – don’t believe in the ‘Rules’ – as my editor but two ago said ‘The only rule in romance writing is that you write as well as you possibly can in the way that tells the story in the best possible way so as to make the best book you can create.

If you're targeting category romance, it must be because that's what you want to write - if you try to write it from the head, there won't be any heart in your book and the main point about these books is emotion, emotion, emotion. So don’t turn up at the workshop expecting to learn how to make a very fast and very large buck out of a couple of books that you have dashed off in order to finance your way to something better.

Don’t ask the speaker what she earns from her writing so that you will know what you can expect to earn yourself as soon as you have dashed off that book you know will be so very easy to write. It’s impossible to predict just what any book will earn because it depends on the line it’s published it, whether the readers take to it, how many international countries it’s published in, how long you’ve been writing . . . . Whatever the speaker earns it will probably bear no relation (good or bad) to anything you, or any other author, even in the same line, may earn.

Above all else, don’t expect the speaker to give you that much famed ‘magic formula’ for writing a M&B/Harlequin Romance – no – hang on - I’ll give you that now, for free – here you are

THE FORMULA –

HEROINE +
HERO +
CONFLICT +
“GETTING TO KNOW YOU” +
LOWEST POINT (BLACK MOMENT) +
RESOLUTION +
SOME REALLY GREAT WRITING
__________________

= A ROMANCE NOVEL

Easy isn’t it? Not!
If it was then M&B would be accepting 4000 or more of the over 5000 submissions they receive each year instead of the less than 10 new authors a year that they do publish.

So if you do go to a workshop on writing romance, go prepared. Read the books, accept that there is no easy, magical answer – but if you have talent, love the genre, work hard, keep on submitting in the face of rejection, learn from the comments editors or other qualified readers make on your work, and keep trying – you might just make a go of it. I’m not going to trample on anyone’s dreams – people tried to do that to mine and I wouldn’t let them. But neither am I going to tell you it’s easy. No workshop can give you all the answers but you can learn a lot if you go in the right frame of mind, and you give writing this particular genre – the one that the late, great Charlotte Lamb described as ‘those complicated little books’ - the respect and the hard work they deserve.

Good luck!

Workshops - a bit of a rant

Last weekend I traveled down to Kent to give a one day workshop on writing – writing romance, writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon, writing fiction, writing sexual scenes, writing heroes, writing characters . . we covered all that and some more besides. I promised that I would give Elaine and Kelly of Elaine and Kelly’s Writers’ Workshops a mention so I’m doing it now.


But not just because I promised I would but because I enjoyed myself – the workshop was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun as well. I had a great time. I met a lot of interesting and interested people. We had some real laughs. I had a delicious lunch and some fascinating conversations – and I talked about writing. I came home happy and I hope that the women who attended the workshop went home happy too. To judge by the number of email notes I received afterwards, I think they did.

Now there are certain authors who have taken me to task for giving workshops. One has even gone so far as to say that she disapproves of me doing so. I am, so some believe, ‘Training up the opposition’ – writers who will move in on the market, get their books published, take my place – and theirs. I’m also, apparently, giving the wrongful impression that getting published is easy. That all you have to do is to follow a few guidelines and Abracadabra – instant publication.

Hmmmm! And when, I have to ask, have any of these critics ever attended any one of my workshops, real or on-line? When have they heard me say ‘Okay, getting published is easy, all you have to do is A B and C and you’re in – published – just like that’? I’m far more likely to point out the huge odds against getting published, the long waits for royalties to come in, the need to write more than one book, to build up a reader base over several years – in several countries - in order to earn any sort of decent income from your writing. What I always say about writing is that if you only want to reach the goal of publication then you’re likely to be disappointed. But if you enjoy the journey on the way there, then you’re a writer – and I hope you do get published.

The other point these critics make is that I have a ‘How To Write’ book to plug.

Well, yes – I’m not going to deny that. I do have a How to Write book published - two in fact – one of which I’m actually very proud of. In fact, so proud that I’m happy to give it a little plug here too –









Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance has won two awards - the Cata Romance Reviewers' Choice Best Book for Writers and CataRomance Readers' Choice- Best Writing Reference 2004. I’ve also been told by a lot of people who want to write romance - or indeed any popular fiction – that it’s helped them a lot. Which, seeing as that’s why I wrote it, makes me pretty happy.





So there – I’ve now ‘plugged’ my book much more extensively and with a lot less effort than I made traveling to and from this workshop – or any other.

Of course if I do a workshop I’ll mention the 12 Point Guide. I’ll also mention the 48 titles I’ve had published by Harlequin Mills & Boon. Why not? These are my qualifications for giving the workshop in the first place. The reason people come to them – often paying good money to hear me speak. But I’ll not enjoy a workshop any the less if no one buys a copy of a single title. The books are part of why I give workshops but they’re not the only reason.


I like doing workshops. I enjoy the process. I get a lot out of it.

I love talking about writing - about books and the process of creating them. I can spend hours on the phone to particular writer friends who are at the same sort of point in my career as I am. I go to conferences – the RNA, RWA RWAus, RWNZ – to meet up with fellow writers and talk writing.

And I get the same enjoyment from workshops. I like having to look at what I do - often by instinct and, these days, as the result of experience and long practise, and analyze it, break it down into the steps I take without thinking. I like looking at the way the Romance genre has changed (and it has changed so much – so if you’re one of those people who think that reading a couple of books published in the 1980s will show you what’s needed in 2006 then think again). I like talking about what makes a hero for the 21st century - or a heroine – why I put in a lovemaking scene here and not there – and it’s not just because sex sells. I love it when someone asks a question about something that I’ve done so often that I perhaps don’t think about it – or don’t think about it in quite that ‘how do you .. .?' way any more.

Workshops stimulate my thought processes as well as those of my students. I get a buzz from them, get new ideas. When I set writing tasks, I work on them myself, thinking of the book I’m currently working on and how I could get to know the heroine better, or the way I could add an extra layer to the ‘onion’ I use to describe conflict. (You’ll have to come to a workshop or read the book if you want an explanation). I come home thinking of new ways to approach things, or having solved a knotty point in the plot. I’m buzzing with enthusiasm and I want to sit down and write, feeling that I love writing even when it’s not going the way I want it to.

It’s a two –way process. Questions, comments, the ‘Can I . . ‘ or the ‘What if . . .’ all renew my interest in what I’m doing, why I do it and how I do it.

Training up the opposition? Well, maybe – if a student from a course learns something that improves their work and they are then accepted (and t it has happened) then fine – but I suspect they would have been published anyway – I just helped the process along. And With those 48 titles behind me they’re not going to snatch away everything I’ve achieved even if they do have a stratospheric rise to success. In my line alone (M&B Modern/Harlequin Presents) the publisher puts out 8 books a month – that’s almost 100 a year. I doubt if any newcomer will fill all those 100 slots, no matter how good.

And what about – my ‘disapprovers’ will ask – what about those who will never get there? Those who will never be published; who just don’t have the talent and the ability? Well, what about them? If they want to come to a workshop and learn some of the realities of getting published. If they want to find out some of the processes and the techniques that go into writing creatively and polishing that creation to make it better – what’s wrong with that? I don’t put a note on my workshop handouts – only those with supreme talent may attend. I talk to ‘hobbyists’ and amateurs – to the wannabes and the gonnabes and the never- ever-in-their lifetime-having-a-chance-to-bes. Why not? If that’s what they want to learn, to know more about, then more power to them. I’ve done courses in Learning Russian - I never wanted to be an interpreter. I’ve studied, cooking, dressmaking and embroidery - it didn’t make me Jamie Oliver or Yves St Laurent or Kaffe Fasset or Stella McCartney – it couldn’t – I’m not good enough. But does that mean I should be turned away at the door? The BM studies guitar – should he stop now because he’ll never be Eric Clapton?

No. Besides, if I started to restrict my workshops to ‘the next Charlotte Lamb’ – or even ‘The Next Kate Walker’ only then I really would be training up the opposition – the ones who would be likely to grab my spot in the schedule and run with it. But I also wonder how would I know? You only have to look at the phenomenal success of J K Rowling to see that no one can ever truly predict what books will take off and when.


So I’ll continue to run workshops when I have time – which isn’t that likely with a four book contract on its way to me. (If you want any details check out the Appearences page of my web site for dates and places) And I’ll continue to enjoy them. And if you’d like to come to one, you’d be more than welcome – whether you’re there for fun or to study writing seriously. Because I know that I’ll get as much back from them as I give out. I’ll enjoy the experience, I’ll possibly make new friends, I’ll see new places.

And yes, I’ll probably sell a book or two as well – Can’t be bad!

A Typical Day?

Anne McAllister has an post on her blog right now that talks about what she does when she’s not writing – or perhaps I should rephrase that -
What she does when she should be writing but isn’t - this is how she puts it -

Sometimes I wonder why whole days go by and I never seem to be a writer. I start
out the day with the best of intentions -- and go to bed with the same
intentions for tomorrow (and with the same words unwritten). What goes on during
those days?

Well, I’ve had one of those not being a writer sort of weeks. I’ve been busy – I seem to have been busy non-stop. I’ve even worked at my computer for hours and hours each day – of most of each day – and I haven’t managed to add significantly to the word count of what I call not the WIP (work in progress) but the WHIP (Work hardly in progress) . . .

Which is why, when I go back to the workshop I did this weekend I remember one particular question – one I couldn’t answer . . .

See there it is again – I spent days preparing that workshop, traveling to it, finding the venue (I seem to have spent hours traveling to it, trying to find a roundabout that the map said existed, that the AA instructions said existed – a roundabout that I never found, not once, in all the times I went back over the route again and again.) That’s time I spent last week and at the weekend doing writerly stuff but not actually writing. Not on paper/screen/keyboard anyway.

And the question I was asked at this workshop was ‘Can you tell us what is your typical writer’s day?

Honest answer? No.

I don’t have a typical day. I don’t write in an orderly, routine sort of way. I don’t plan to write Xthousand words today and tomorrow and the day after . . . until the book is finished. Sometimes I wish I did, because that must be a steady, regular way to work towards the end of a book. It must be a relief to watch those words mount up, see the Chapters get completed, head towards the finishing line. But I’m not a steady, regular sort of writer. I’m an all or nothing sort of writer – I think and plan and mull – letting the story brew inside my head – and then suddenly, one day, it’s ‘ripe’ and I sit down and I write and write and write – and then I can write thousands of words in a day. I can write all day every day. I get up early and go to bed late. I wake up thinking of the story and I go on with thinking of it all day – until it’s done.

I’m always sort of fearful that if I write 1000 words a day and then stop that the reader might read those 1000 words and then stop – putting down the book and not picking it up again. So I write in great lumps of words, words that I write and write until I just have to pause for breath.

And in between I do non-writing things. So this week, I’ve done the workshop, I’ve packed and traveled to and from it. I’ve unpacked and washed and sorted (why does there always seem to be so much more washing than the clothes you could possibly have worn in that time?) . I’ve caught up on all the emails that were waiting for me when I came back, I’ve completely overhauled my website (The realisation that it still had the Valentine’s Day Contest on it sort of gave me a hefty kick into doing that). I’ve caught up with friends, family, dealt with more requests for more workshops, spent some time with the BM, fed the cats, paid some bills . . . And now I’m updating this blog – and not before time.

And before I blinked I find I’m back at the day when I left this blog a week ago, saying I’d be back soon – and meaning it! But it just didn’t happen.

So that’s what happens on those non writing days. But the great thing is that while I’m doing all this other stuff there’s a wonderful subconscious part of my brain that is busy planning and mulling and scheming and I’m already feeling that itch that has to be scratched – the itch of words that have to be written in those great chunks and those long, long days. I suspect that those actual ‘writing days’ are what the lady who asked the question about the typical day meant when she asked it - but they’re not exactly typical. They’re only part of it. And just the same, the website updating, workshop planning and giving etc etc days aren’t typical either – they’re all just part of what I do.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that there isn’t a ‘typical’ day in a writer’s life and that’s what makes us writers. We don’t fit well with routines and planning and discipline – we create. We invent worlds and the people who inhabit those worlds. Our minds are partly in this real world and partly in the fictional one we’ve invented for ourselves. We live our own lives and the lives of these characters who come and whisper to us when we’re trying to concentrate on other things.

Traveling and doing the workshop were times for my mind to let the seeds of the story start to develop. Updating the web site was a very different experience from creating a book - it needed organisation and logical thought and an eye for detail. That, and all the rest of it ‘cleared the decks’ so that I can plunge into my other world – the world where the hot Sicilian sun is beating down and a certain Vito Corsentino is heading for the airport and the plane that will take him to England and the house where the woman he’s been trying to forget is living – where she’s been trying to put her life back together after all that has happened since the last time they met . . .

Oh oh, I think I feel some typical writing days coming up . . .

And the updates on the web site will be up just as soon as wonderful Wendy gets them done.

A second thank you

Do you remember this from a post a few days back? The one about my ancestor Chevalier Charles Wogan?

He was awarded a Baronetcy by James 111 and the Pope conferred on him the
title of a Roman Senator .A number of Novels have been written about the
escapade including The King across the water [1911] a novel written by
Justin
Huntly McCarthy a study in a book by J.M.Flood The Life of Chevalier
Charles
Wogan ,A Soldier of Fortune [1922]

And if anyone ever comes across those books listed here, please
let me know! I've tried Bookfinder etc

Well, I had a reponse to that request - lovely Sahndre found a copy of the J M Flood title listed in a shop in - of course - Dublin. A quick email order and the one and only copy that seems to be available is in the mail and heading my way. I can't wait to get my hands on it

So a special Thank You goes to Sahndre - thanks so much for your help with this - and I'll see you on Sunday

Thank you

I've said it on the comments section of the last post - but it merits saying again in pulblic here -
a great big THANK YOU to everyone who possted to send me birthday greeting and wish me happiness for the day.

I had a lovely lovely day. Starting with a phone call from my sister in Australia before I'd really opened my eyes - then cards and presents from lots of lovely people - a trip to York, just wandering round and occasionally looking in shops. The BM bought me a wonderful, beautiful embroidered jacket for my present (he has superb taste in clothes when place in front of a shop rail and told 'That is what I'd like for my birthday ' and given a little push)

Afternoon tea in Bettys was delicious - Anna Lucia suggested that I try the brown bread ice cream sundae and I was tempted - but I was also tempted by the berries and ice cream sundae and that one won. Next time, Anna! And maybe you'll share it with me.

My birthday being a Sunday, there were more cards on the Monday - and, from my editor, the best possible gift an ed can give her author - the news that Sicilian 1 is tweaked into submission and is now bought and heading for the UK schedules - is in fact scheduled and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride will appear in March 2007. So now Sicilian 2 (Vito) and I will have to have some serious words about his story.

But first I'm travelling - heading out today towards a workshop I'm doing in Kent on Sunday. (Details are here if you're interested - there are still some places). But as the BM is also teaching - in Oxford - on Friday - we're staying there first and then heading for Kent. I'm looking forward to this workshop - it's the first time I've had a full day to teach and talk about writing romance and I plan to cram as much as I can into it - and hopefully have a lot of fun too

So If I don't manage to find a pojnt to plug my computer into anywhere, then I'll see you on Monday - have a great weekend.

Outed - so celebrating

Ah – I see that in a list of comments to my previous post I’ve been outed - and by my family of felines, not less – add a dash of dogs (a cluster of canines?) – and then there’s one Anne McAllister who, I suspect is behind this sudden rush to the keyboard of the furry bodied amongst us. So thank you all, Gunnar (the Great) Micah (who I hope has washed the mud off his beautiful fur) . Mitch – who is THREE and I hope also had a happy happy birthday yesterday. (And I hope that Anne offered some ear rubs from me to celebrate). Thanks also to Bob (who is indeed the King of Cats and at 17 an elder statesman too) Sid – yes birthdays do mean food (for you at least) , dear Ivan and his doppelganger Spiffy – and of course the ‘fiend’ Dyl the Vill (Villain)

So yes – for those who wondered what the ‘special day’ coming up was – here it is. Once upon a time, a long long time ago, in a town called Newark, Nottinghamshire, (see pictures) a little girl was born. My mother tells me I was born at 12.45 – and she knows this because I was born at home and just as I appeared, downstairs, lunch was just being served to my father and my two elder sisters.
So obviously I was always able to appreciate food – even then!

We only lived in Newark for another 18 months so I left when I was still tiny, but when I look at pictures of the place – like the ones shown here – I realise just why I have always loved towns or cities where there is a river, a castle and an old church. So my birthplace must have made a huge impression on me, through the eyes of a toddler, even though I can remember none of it now.

So it seems appropriate that, to celebrate the Big Day (the numbers involved in which are getting way too big for my liking!) that I should be heading for York together with the BM, the Offspring and his lovely girlfriend. York of course has the river, the castle, and the Minster – and it also has Bettys teashop (and no, there shouldn’t be an apostrophe there). In Bettys I shall enjoy a ‘birthday tea’ which makes me sound so much younger than I actually am.

But only yesterday someone asked if I would wish any of the years away – well, the age in years yes – but having reached this point in life I am just so happy with the way things are – with the wonderful family and friends I have the success of my books, the way my career has gone, and the life that I live – then No. If your birthday is a time for looking back then I’m pretty damn happy with the way things have gone – and if the birthday is a time to look forward – then great – I’m looking forward to more of the same!

Which, in my book makes it a Happy Birthday to me!

Publication day - I think?

I love writing for Harlequin Mills and Boon. I really do. I’ve always enjoyed reading the books, I enjoy writing them (well – sometimes – when the Sicilians aren’t being bolshy!). I love chatting to readers, working with writers. I’ve even learned to grit my teeth and smile through the ‘don’t you want to write a proper book?’ or the ‘pink and fluffy’ comments. A long time ago I got used to the fact that the books are only out on the shelves for a month. That has both advantages and disadvantages – the audience of readers out there (is it possible to have an ‘audience’ of ‘readers?) know when the books are out. They’re looking for them. When the new books come in, they grab them. The shelves are always being refreshed, the readers are always coming back . . .But of course you only have that month in which to sell.

Or do you?

Sometimes you have more. Sometimes less. It all depends on the whim of the book distributor, the shopkeeper and the staff they employ to actually put the books on the shelves. If the books have a publication date – as most Modern Romances like mine have - of the first Friday of the month (that’s the official publication date) then you can find the books in the shops any time from the previous week (so pushing off the shelves the previous month’s titles) or – if the shop hasn’t got round to organising it – any time in the next 21 or so day. Why 21 – after all a month has about 30 days doesn’t it? Ah yes, but there are those books that arrive ‘early’ - ie in good time for the next month – and so they take this month’s off the shelves to put the new ones on. So in some places you might just get a fortnight in which to have your book on display.

And then there are the books like my current USA release – The Married Mistress. This is not in the general run of Presents but in a special set of Promotional Presents – a selection of six books that appear every quarter and which are given a different publication date to keep them separate from the regular monthly run. Confuzzled? Yes - I know I was. And heaven alone knows what the bookshops think and when they put them out. I just have to pray they will put them on the shelves sometime.

But then there are the on-line stores, aren’t there? They make it easier – don’t they? Don’t they? They list the books and you can order them and – even better – the books stay in their stock long after the ones on the actual physical shelves in actual physical bookshops. Well yes – but when do they release them? Publication day – or some other day of their own choosing? This morning I had a quick browse in the online bookshops for TMM. The eHarlequin web site has had it listed and has been selling it for a month or so. Amazon.com lists it as being published on May 9th – so it is ‘not yet released’. In fact, it’s so ‘not yet released’ that someone I know who tried to order it via Amazon.co.uk – where it’s also listed as Publication date May 9th – put in their order when it was ‘not yet released’ – and then found that that order was cancelled because – apparently – publication of the book had been cancelled. Er – no! It’s ‘not yet released’ – not never released. And they now have it as available secondhand! Duh??

Meanwhile Barnes And Noble has been selling the book for the past 4 days – so much so that when I looked this morning TMM was actually at #1 on the B&N list of top-selling Harlequin Presents novels. (Pause for small shout of celebration – Yeah!!) And BAMM has it happily on sale too.

So what do I conclude from all this – nothing much except that somewhere, some day, somehow, The Married Mistress is supposed to be on sale in America some time in May. If you’re reading this from America and you want to read it, I hope you find it without too much trouble. It is out there – I think!

If anyone actually sees a copy, will they please let me know? I'm beginning to wonder . . . .

Special days for special friends

Today is an important day for two of the very special friends that my job as a writer has brought me. When I started out, with my first ever book published in 1984, I never thought beyond seeing that book on a shelf in a shop. Since then I've learned that the romance writng community, although far-flung and international, can be very close knit, warm and immensely friendly. Thanks to author meetings and the internet, I have met some of my favourite people in all the world - people I would never even have known existed if they didn't write for - or, in some cases, aim to write for, or work for the same publisher as I do.

As I said, today is an important day for two of these dear friends.

Firstly, Michelle Reid, who is celebrating her birthday today. Apart from being one of my special friends, Michelle is also a writer whose books I truly love and admire. If you haven't tried any of her novels, then I suggest you go out and find some soon! She does have a new book in September so you can spend the time in between then and now catching up on her backlist. (Oh I wish I hadn't said that! Now I want to go and do just that myself!)

Unfortunately, Michelle doesn't have a blog herself but you can always wish her Happy Birthday here, and I'll pass the messages along.


Also today my dear friend Anne McAllister has her second cataract surgery. At first, she didn't believe me when I told her the effect it would have just having one eye done. But now she does - and she's been enjoying seeing things properly after far too long.

So tomorrow, hopefully, when the blurring eases, she will see even more clearly.

And so, for her special delight - seeing as , in her comments on this blog, she has referred to the Fraudulant Feline - the one that pretends to be Sid but appears in guises and postures so undignified that Sid would never deign to be seen in - just so that she can see him in all his glory - here is

THE MAN (sorry - THE CAT ) HIMSELF

FRAUDULENT FELINE

And while I'm talking about Anne - sorry I'm a little late with this because a certain Sicilian got in the way - I should have mentioned that her book The Antonides Marriage Deal. Like Michelle, Anne is one of my favourite Modern/Presents auhtors. Her books are very diffferent from Michelle's - which is what I love about the scope of the Modern Romance line at it's best. With Sicilian 1 tweaked within an inch of his life and sent back to my editor who I hope will love him, I spent part of the Bank Holiday weekend curled up with Elias Antonides. No, I wasn't being unfaithful to the BM, just enjoying spending time with the hero of Anne's book. This guy is seriously addictive - once I started, I couldn't put him - sorry - the book - down. I'd lived with Elias, so to speak, from the moment he was a twinkle, or, rather the light of inspiration, in his author's eye, until the moment he too was 'tweaked' into shape and slipped into the publishing schedule. But although I knew quite a bit about him, I loved reading his story as a whole, meeting his sparky heroine Tallie and seeing them fight against their attraction, give into it, and finally head for their happy ever after.

A perceptive reviewer on Amazon.com said that reading The Antonides Marriage Deal

Reminded me of a Kathryn Hepburn and Spencer Tracy movie, the bantering, power
struggle, and sexual tensions

I'd agree with that.

Finally, I have another friend for whom this day is special too, but this year it has a poignancy that will make it difficult for her to get through. Marilyn, I'm thinking of you, and remembering Ron too.

In transition . . . bits and pieces

Short and sweet today as I'm in transition from one Sicilian to the next so I'm catching up on all my administration and finance matters so that I can start again with a clear - well, clearer slate!

So just to say - Congratulations to my friend Michelle Styles whose very first M&B Historical novel The Gladiator's Honour is out this month. I have my own copy beside my bed and I hope to spend some quality time with the handsome and intriguing Gaius Gracchus Valens when I get a break from Sicilian 2. I love the fact that I had a chance to give this book a tiny push towards publication and so it's a special thrill to see it in print and on the shelves - and, much as I love Regency romances, I'm also delighted to see Historicals branch out into other less 'well populated' periods of history. Look out for the book in shops now.

Seeing as I'm not posting much today, those of you who are interested in writing and learning more about the process may be interested in an interview I did with one of the owners of the We Write Romance web site , Terescia Harvey. She asked some really interesting and thought provoking questions and you can find the interview here. I've also done an interview for the WWR site about my next two books in America and that will be up on the site some time soon if you want to check it out. It's a great site to look around.

Thanks to anyone who followed my link from here to the Romance Junkies web site - they made the one million hits record they were aiming for with more to spare! Again if you're interested in writing they had their annual writing contest coming up soon - check out the site for details.

Finally, seeing as I'm passing on information to anyone interested in writing romance - if you live in the UK and are anywhere near Swanley, Kent - I will be running a full day workshop on writing romance there the weekend after next (14th May - They wanted it to be this weekend, 7th May but I have other plans for then!). Anyway, there are still places available for this - details can be found on my web site - Events page - or by emailing the organisers - Elaine Everest or Kelly Rose Bradford. I'm busy preparing for that right now - yet another of my administrative jobs. I think it's going to be a lot of fun - I'm going to cram as much as I possibly can into the day.

A PS to the last post

After writing about Charles Wogan for my previous post, I went searching for anything more I could find on Google - and came up with this

"He was awarded a Baronetcy by James 111 and the Pope conferred on him the title of a Roman Senator .A number of Novels have been written about the escapade including The King across the water [1911] a novel written by Justin Huntly McCarthy a study in a book by J.M.Flood The Life of Chevalier Charles Wogan ,A Soldier of Fortune [1922] Charles wrote a novel about his adventure and then sent his writings to Swift who was unable to find a publisher ."

So I'm following in a family tradition of writing novels set by my who knows how many great-great-great grandfather!

Now that is wierd!


And if anyone ever comes across those books listed here, please let me know! I've tried Bookfinder etc . . ..

Being tagged - for Kate Hardy

Kate Hardy tagged me to write Six weird things about me. Sorry to be slow in responding, Kate, but I honestly had trouble thinking what was ‘weird’. I know some people who, if asked, what’s weird about Kate W?’ would say ‘everything’ – and yet others who’d say, ‘Well, nothing.’ There’s the writing romances for one thing. I’ve met several people who think that, for a woman with an MA and a professional qualification in librarianship, that’s really weird. To me, it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. Cats – some people would think that four are excessive - others (waves to Anna!) would accept that as purrfectly normal)

I asked the BM and, being the BM, he immediately went into English lecturer mode –‘Define weird . . .’ I know – that’s what I’m trying to do.

Okay, so, Kate my dear, this is what I’ve come up with.


1. I once rode up 44 floors – and down again - in an elevator dressed in my pyjamas, a tiara and a hat shaped like a giant bee – in New York! This was because I was at the RWA conference and attending the eHarlequin Pyjama Party. The tiara was because the writing group the Gonnabeez had honoured me by making me the Queen Bee – and the Bee hat was from the same group. The party was on the lower ground floor of the hotel. My room was on the 43rd floor. On the journey down, I travelled in the lift with a very nice man who simply smiled and said Hi as if he met Queen Bees every day of his life. Perhaps he did.

2. I once worked in a bookshop for 6 months after leaving university and getting a librarianship job. This is where I learned the art of reading books without ever bending or cracking their spines so that I could, borrow them, read them – and put them back on the shelves with no one noticing.

3. I’m sort of psychic. My record for saying, ‘I think I’d better switch on my phone in case The Offspring/The BM/one of my sisters etc is trying to get through – and then getting a call as soon as I switch on is almost 100%

4. I’m ridiculously obsessive about brand new magazines – books too. I hate to see anyone pick up a magazine I’ve bought and flick through it or, worse still settle down to read it. I have to restrain myself from snatching it from their hands and saying that’s mine! It’s not as if I think they’ll read all the words off the page – it comes from being one of 5 sisters and getting one comic between all five of us. Each week one of us had the delight of being the first to read it then pass it on to the next in line – but for four weeks you didn’t get to read it until everyone else had finished! And I had one sister who used to take forever to read anything. (I'm also well aware of the fact that in the light of No 2 above, this makes me totally hypocritical)

5. I have a strange collection of made up curses – ones used by my mother to express fierce emotion without resorting to swearing in front of her children. So, like her, I am likely to say ‘Hells bells and buckets of blood!’ or ‘By the seven holy men of Ringsend!’ – they’re pretty satisfying and a lot more imaginative than most of the single word curses.

6. I’m descended from a man called Chevalier Charles Wogan whose story is something of a delight for any romantic novelist – here is a brief summary:


"The Chevalier" (Knight) Charles Wogan was born in Rathcoffey. Is it possible that his heroic actions on the night of April 29th 1719 have given rise to the romantic fairytale tradition that for every fair princess shut up in a castle tower there comes a knight in shining armour ready to set her free so that she can marry the handsome prince of her dreams?
Wogan was a staunch supporter of the Stuarts. Hr initiated the alliance which led to the marriage of James Edward Francis Stuart (the Old Pretender), son of Charles II, to Clementina Sobieski, daughter of John Sobieski, King of Poland. She was apprehended, however, on her way to marry the Prince in Bologna. She was held captive in Innsbruck in the Tyrol. Wogan arranged false passports with the Austrian Ambassador and along with a small group feigning to be a Count, Countess, the Countess’ brother (Wogan) and her maidservant, managed to gain access to the princess. Following a quick exchange of clothing between the princess and the maidservant, the party escaped in high winds and blinding snow through the Alpine passes into Austria.
The marriage to James took place and from it Charles Edward (the Young Pretender) was born in Rome in 1720. Wogan’s reputation for daring and enterprise spread throughout all Europe.

It’s rumored that in fact Charles Wogan and Clementina fell in love on their journey but that his loyalty to his king meant that he didn’t press his own claim for marriage. It’s also rumored that as a result of this, the Chevalier and his family are entitled to wear their hats in the presence of the king and to a pension of £10 a year. Unfortunately, like most of these things in English law, this was only passed down through the male side – which has now died out - and I come from the female line. Pity. It would have been fun to think I could turn up to Buckingham Palace and tell HM that she owed me back pay for the past few centuries.

I’m supposed to tag someone? Okay – Anne McAllister who would probably include dogs and deodorant bottles and gunslingers in hers. And Liz Fielding because I have no idea at all what she would include but I’d love to know.

Pink Heart Pride

More foreign editions in the mail today – the Japanese edition of Bound by Blackmail and the Arab version of The Spaniard’s Inconvenient Wife. Both books are not only in a different language but also in a totally different script from the one I’m used to seeing. And that brings home to me once more – with emphasis – just how worldwide the enjoyment of reading romance is.

And that makes me – once again – burn with indignation at the way that so many ill-informed - or totally uniformed – critics - dismiss or put down the readers and writers of romance novels.
So that’s why there is a little pink heart dancing at the top of this post. I’ve joined

The Pink Heart Society
Proud Supporters of Category Romance.


The Pink Heart Society was founded by Irish Romance writer Trish Wylie and it all began with a post on her blog on New Years Day 2006. It is made up of Romance writers and readers who are proud to stand up and say that we write, read and enjoy category romances and are not prepared to put up with the bad press that these books that the great Charlotte Lamb described as ‘these complicated little’ books get so often.


Other Pink Hearters are:
Liz Fielding

Kate Hardy
Ally Blake
Fiona Harper
Nicola Marsh
Natasha Oakley
Michelle Styles



So if you’re interested, why not go over to Trish’s Website and her blog and see what she has to say – and maybe join us.

After all – as the picture below proves – love – and romances - make the world go round.

And talking of cats . . . and web sites

In my previous post, I mentioned that I might have time now to stroke a cat - and of course there is one particular cat who is very pleased about that. 'About time too!' says Sid. 'I've been badly neglected while you were gadding about in London and tweaking Sicilians.'

Sid has also noticed the new- and very handsome - cat on the block - Nigel. Nigel appeared on Liz Fielding's Blog and has been garnering great praise as a result, His is actually Liz's grand-cat, belonging to her daughter, and he is a very fine cat indeed.

But he's not Sid. And Sid has had his elegant browny-pink nose put a little out of joint by all the attention that Nigel has been getting. He has demanded that I post another picture of His Sidness just to remind everyone who is actually First Cat around here.

And so - to appease him - and for his special friend and fan, Anne McAllister - and to thank her for her very kind post about my 12 Point Guide earlier this week - here is Sir Sidney St John Willoughby Portly Lummox in his usual position on my desk

PS My friends over at Romance Junkies are close to a Million hits for April and they want to make that very special total if they can. Help us reach their goal by going to the site and taking a look around. If you love Romance there's lots of information to find there - and even if you've already visited, then I bet there's something new there you've never seen. Hurry! There's only 3.5 more days left!

The Trouble With Tweaking

‘Tweaks’ are not revisions – at least, not in an editor’s eyes. Revisions means that the book basically hasn’t worked in certain areas – a plot doesn’t hang together, or a character’s development is inconsistent. . . But ‘tweaks’ are just little points. A line here, a comment there - an event that would be better as . . . and so you get asked to ‘tweak’ the book here and there - to sharpen, to define, to tighten.

And that’s what my editor wanted with Sicilian1. She loved the book (in fact I’m blushing at the way she described it) but she wanted some tweaks. So that’s what I’ve been doing the past four days. I’ve been tweaking poor Guido until he was (I hope) perfect.

But the problem is that stories are like knitting – or a carefully woven piece of cloth. You put it all together, plaiting strands and combining themes so that it all works. And if you have to tweak, you have to tug loose a single strand – and that risks unravelling everything else that that strand is attached to. If you change a tiny detail in scene right at the beginning, you also have to change any and every other reference to that tiny detail everywhere else in the book. Or if you change something later, then you have to make sure that every comment, every thought, every gesture that leads up to that moment is now consistent with the new slant you’ve put on things. And the hardest part is tracing down every last moment that might be connected and making sure that it now fits the new pattern. You have to pull out some threads, put in new ones, subtly change others – and then you have to knit it all back together so that it fits seamlessly and, if you’ve done it right, then the reader won’t even notice where you’ve been. That’s why it’s weaving, or knitting – not patchwork where you can stitch a whole new piece over the old one and it’s meant to show.

And that’s why tweaking can take so much concentration. Let your attention slip for a moment and you can bet that you’ll miss something important and it will come back to haunt you.

But after four days tweaking and knitting and rereading and checking, I hope I now have Guido just as my editor wanted. So he’s headed off back to Richmond to spend the Bank Holiday with her and I have a chance to draw breath and write the answers to an interview and stroke a cat – and turn my attention to Sicilian2 – to poor Vito who has been waiting in the wings – not all that patiently and wants his story told now! He’s learned all about his brother’s trip to England, you see – and he’s heard all about the reaction that Guido caused in one particular person when he walked into that church. (If you’ve forgotten what I’m talking about then it’s all in the post for March 21st.) And so now Vito wants to know just what has been going on and why . . .

And I’m going to have to write down everything he tells me.

And then I expect that I’ll have to do some tweaking . . or maybe not. I can hope. But first I’ll have to write the book. And so it all begins again - Chapter One .. .

RNA Awards Lunch

The Savoy is a very elegant hotel, but the truth of the matter is that once inside any hotel at a very crowded event, the first thing you notice is that a. It’s too warm and b It’s very very noisy – the buzz of 300+ people – mostly women – all talking at once is definitely a strain to someone like me who is used to her own office, peace and quiet, apart from a few silent cats around.

The heat also affects my choice of clothes. I had taken 2 outfits – the glittery cardigan and chiffon skirt I wore to Julie’s book launch and a black long skirted skirt suit with bronze tee shirt with gold decorating the neckline. I chose the latter because the day was too warm for the glittery cardigan. But first there is a small panic. The BM has left his going-to-the Savoy jacket at home. So early Friday morning finds us out on Oxford Street acquiring a replacement. One very nice light grey silk and linen jacket later, we are walking back to the hotel when I spot a familiar figure –fellow M&B novelist – and Romance prize nominee - Kate Hardy, looking elegant in teal and some very high heels (though she swore they were comfortable!). I’ve promised to hold her hand through the lead-up to the ceremony so we gather her up and take her back with us to our room to chat while we get ready.

A rather slow taxi journey later – we get snarled up in traffic- we arrive at the River Entrance at the Savoy to meet Kate’s Aunt and Uncle and head upstairs for pre-lunch drinks with our publisher. Champagne, orange juice or water are on offer. I always need water – but I have a glass of champagne too. The half an hour or so before lunch is spent chatting to editors – there are still one or two I missed from my visit to the office yesterday – with conversations constantly being interrupted by a tap on the arm of the shoulder to be greeted by other authors, other RNA members. I manage brief helloes to lovely Marina Oliver and her handsome husband, RNA Committee members Jenny Haddon (Chairman), Catherine Jones, Evelyn Ryle, Conference Organiser Jan Jones – who last year sprang on me a request to run a workshop on plotting at the Conference. This year she doesn’t have to ask. I already know I’m doing an talk at Penrith Library. Roger Sanderson who writes as Gill Sanderson gave his usual exuberant hug and kiss. He is at a different table to mine so I won’t need to watch out for his wicked jokes just when I’m about to take a sip of wine. Julie Cohen arrives in her book launch ‘naked’ dress. She has good news so I hug her in congratulations too – though I’m not allowed to say why out loud. Authors Penny Jordan, Sharon Kendrick, Jessica Hart, Lucy Gordon . . . . The room fills up, the level of conversation gets louder .

At last we head downstairs to the elegant ballroom for the lunch. I’m at a table with , of course, the BM, Penny Jordan, Tessa Shapcott Executive Editor at M&B, Julie and delightful Elizabeth Power – elegant in pale pink - and her charming husband. Elizabeth is remarkably calm considering she too is short-listed for the Romance Award. We soon discover a mutual love of cats that makes instant friends! The food is better than on previous occasions – asparagus with lemon and walnut sauce - wild mushroom risotto (the veggie choice- carnivores had lamb) and a chocolate fondant pudding with thyme sorbet. The thyme sorbet was lovely –I passed the chocolate on to the BM.

After the meal, the presentations and speeches. The Foster Grant Reading Glasses Romantic Novel of the Year Award was announced, with a fairly long speech by chair of judges Dr Susan Horsewood-Lee. This included what seemed as if it was going to be a sort of ‘seven ages of man’ description of the reading habits of various stages in life but only detailed the fact that young adolescents were looking forward to Harry Potter’s first romantic encounter – then from then one it seemed that no one had time or inclination for reading until, apparently, the age of 60 when women turned to romantic fiction. It didn’t seem the most tactful of remarks to make to a room full of romantic novelists – that their books are enjoyed in the last stage before the grave! A brief description of each shortlisted book led to the presentation by Amanda Naylor – the prize went to Erica James for Gardens of Delight. Many RNA members were delighted to hear that one of our members had won the prize. After many years of Major Award winners declaring that they didn’t think their book was a romantic novel. It was great to have the prize go to someone who already had joined the RNA, especially as she has already been on the shortlist four times before. Then there was a long and rambling speech by Stanley Johnson, with rather too much self-promotion of his own books, Conservative politics and a description of a ‘romantic moment’ in – again – one of his own novels – in which, as a plane took off, his characters (a husband and wife) – ‘their elbows touched.’

The second Award of the day was the Romance Prize for the best Category Romance of the year. The books in the shortlist were summarised by Norma Curtis and as I’ve already mentioned here, this award went to Contracted: Corporate Wife by Jessica Hart – which means that Jessica Hart has now won both a RITA and the Romance prize. Congratulations Jessica!

There are some pictures and more details on Kate Hardy’s blog if you want more or to fill in anything I’ve forgotten her – including a photo of Kate, Roger (Gill) and Myself.

By the time the event wound to a close, both I and the BM glad to get out into the air again. We had plenty of goodbyes to say – all the editors again, commiserations to offer to Kate Hardy, Elizabeth Power etc – but they all had been given beautiful flowers by the RNA so they didn’t go home empty handed. After the noise and heat I was glad to be able to catch a cab back to out hotel . Our route took us up the Mall which was bright with flags ready for the celebration of the Queen’s 80^th birthday the next day, Then I was able to kick off my smart shoes, hang up the suit and relax until it was time for dinner with some special friends – a much more relaxed and laughter filled affair.

The Awards lunch – and the judging of the two awards presented - takes a huge amount of organising and commitment from the committee and other members of the RNA so my thanks go to them for everything they put into making the day a great success. I have to admit that the speakers were not at all to my taste – but the food, the atmosphere and - most valuable of all – the chance to meet up with so many friends and to celebrate the writing and publishing of romantic fiction is the most important thing. That’s why I was there and I had a lovely day.

So that was Saturday . . .

Well, I’m not sure where yesterday went. I blinked and here I am on Sunday morning. I know what I did – washing, shopping (we needed a little food!). There was the unexpected request for an article for the Romance Writers of Australia Newsletter. I’m counted as an ‘Honorary Aussie’ since I shared a wonderful Conference with RWA two years ago and the Editor of the Diamonds and Pearls column had spotted some comments I’d made on the ‘rules’ (or, rather, lack of them) of romance writing and wondered if I would enlarge on that for their regular newsletter. As I have a book out in Australia in May, and the topic is something I really feel strongly about, I agreed and as it was on very short deadline, got the article out of the way at once. When the article is actually published, I hope to be able to post it here too in the future.

I shoudl mention that the editor of the D&P column, Bronwyn Jameson, as well as being a friend is also a very fine writer herself and has not one but three books nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA Award this year. Many many congratulations Bron!

Next there was a l-o-n-g talk with Michelle Reid bringing her up to date on my trip to London and discussions with my editor. And then I turned into a tee shirt making factory.


Hmm- perhaps that needs a little explanation. . . . . The BM is working on a drama event as one of his Writer in Residence projects and there will be a performance for this on Wednesday. The tee shirts were needed for that – for the cast to wear. There is a very limited budget for this and with 7 men to find tee shirts for, and put the appropriate slogan on the front, it meant it had to be a home-made job. So with the help of a pack of tee shirt transfer paper, my computer and seven ‘value’ tee shirts from a local supermarket, we ended up with the necessary tee shirts for just under £20. The fun bit was remembering that we needed to get the lettering back to front so that it would appear the right way round on the actual shirts – but we succeeded and with the BM doing the ‘90 seconds at highest heat and firm pressure’ ironing part of the job while I cut, arranged, and finally removed the backing paper from each slogan, we’ve got the thing done. I just hope that the performance goes well too. A young drama student has put her heart into this and she deserves to succeed.

Oh, and there was the packing up of the prizes for my blog contest winner – Diane and MSCreativity , your books will be on their way to you asap. Interestingly, Diane wanted the oldest book I had a copy of (The Hostage Bride) and MsCreativity wanted my newest (apart from the current book now in the shops) . So she’s getting The Antonakos Marriage.

So that stopped me catching up on a report of the RNA Awards lunch. So I should think about saying something about that. But right now I’m heading for a day out with the BM, the Offspring and his lovely girlfriend

So, hopefully, more later

PS - And talking about the current book - you may remember that I am collecting up a tally of the number of tears this book has caused - well, not the actual number of tears, but the number of readers I have reduced to tears. I learned on Friday that it had made my editor sniffle as she read it in the office - so that tears count for The Italian's Forced Bride is now Readers 13 Editors 1 - and I believe Kate Hardy has read it - so - Kate. . . ?

And the winners are . . .

Well, I'm back.

I had a wondeful time both at lunch with my editor and then at the RNA lunch. I met lots of friends and talked and talked and talked . . .

Now I'm trying to catch up and deal with all the emails that arrived while I was away. I've fed the cats, put the first load of washing in the machine, made somthing to eat.

And now it's time to anounce the winners -
Sadly, Kate Hardy didn't win the Romance prize - but I'm sure she'll be so happy to think that everyone voted for her here. The actual winner was Jessica Hart with her Contracted: Corporate Wife. So no one wins that part of the conest!

But Erica James won the Romantic Novel of ther Year Award with Gardens of Delight - so that means that Diane and Ms Creativity won a prize for getting that right. I'll be contacting you both about your prize - which will be your choice of my backlist plus, to celebrate romance writing in general, I'll include an extra title by one of my special freinds and favourite writers - Anne McAllister.

Thanks to everyone who entered - I'm only sorry that no one won the prize for guessing the Romance Prize - and of course I'm disappointed that Kate Hardy's book - but being nominated is such an honour anyway, that none of the 6 finalists should feel anything but very proud of themselves

Winners - I'll be in touch

PS - Ms Creativity - thank you for the lovely comments on the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romantic Fiction. I hope the book does help you towards publication. Good luck with your own writing.

The sophisticated life . . .

So, after the reality check of what my everyday life is like, today I head for London and a couple of days of actually playing at being a sophisticated Lady Novelist (I always want to add 'That singular anomaly' as in the Noel Coward song).

I have lunch with my editor - and we're supposed to discuss important things like plans for the next few books. Well - there's Sicilian 1 on her desk, Sicilian 2 in my head and that's as far as I go. That will be a short conversation! But I'm sure we'll find plenty of other things to talk about.

Thursday is the Romantic Novel of The Year Awards at the Savoy. Here I'll meet up with so many of my friends and fellow authors - Kate Hardy, Julie Cohen, Penny Jordan, Sharon Kendrick, Sophie Weston, Roger Sanderson, Joanna Maitland . . . And many more editors from Harlequin Mills & Boon. I shall hold Kate Hardy's hand as she's shortlisted for the RNA's Romance Award and will need a little extra support. Wish her luck here !

And I'll be back home again before the clock strikes twelve and I turn into a pumpkin again on Friday. So I'll see you then.

And while I'm gone you can play guess the winners - here are the two shortlists -

The Foster Grant Romantic Novel of The Year Award:

Winds of Honour Ashleigh Bingham Robert Hale
An Eligible Bachelor Veronica Henry Penguin
As the Night Ends Audrey Howard Hodder
Gardens of Delight Erica James Orion
Recipes for a Perfect Marriage Kate Kerrigan Pan Macmillan
The Ship of Brides Jojo Moyes Hodder
True Believer Nicholas Sparks Time Warner



RNA Romance Award Shortlist 200

Lucy Gordon - A Family for Keeps
[Harlequin Mills & Boon Tender Romance]
Kate Hardy - Where the Heart Is
[Harlequin Mills & Boon Medical Romance]
Jessica Hart - Contracted: Corporate Wife
[Harlequin Mills &Boon Tender Romance]
Sharon Kendrick - The Future King's Bride
[Harlequin Mills &Boon Modern Romance]
Valerie Loh - Hannah of Harpham Hall
[My Weekly Story Collection]
Elizabeth Power - Tamed by Her Husband
[Harlequin Mills &Boon Modern Romance]


We'll make it a mini contest - running a book on the winners.

So post your choices in the comments section and if anyone gets both the winners right then I'll give you a prize.

They win - you win - can't say fairer than that.

See you soon.

More Reality

So I’ve finished that book and sent it to my editor – and I have, Oh, all of 24 hours or so breathing space. So what does a writer do in between books? I thought I’d give you an insight into the ‘glamorous world’ of a lady novelist.
So – since I sent off the book I have

Changed and washed the sheets
Washed the other xx loads that had piled up and were breeding in the laundry basket
Put flea drops on the cats
Paid a dozen bills just before they sent red demands
Written emails to several people who had been waiting for weeks to hear from me
Slept (very important that – but I still woke up at 6am ready to write this morning)
Found some clothes to wear on a trip to London this week(these have to be excavated from my wardrobe as my ‘London clothes’ are only used on these trips – the best thing about being a writer is the ‘uniform’ – tee shirt/jeans or similar/no makeup/unstyled hair –and – for me – always bare feet.)So I have to find some shoes as well – shoes that I can wear without crippling myself but still look smart
Organised the cat-sitter and made sure there is cat food for him to feed the beasts
Emptied, cleaned out and refilled the cat litter tray – see – I told you it was a glamorous life!
Watched several episodes of Coronation Street
Found the tickets to the RNA lunch at the Savoy (which is why I need some London Clothes) which were buried under the Creative Chaos – ie mess – on my desk
Found the hotel booking – ditto
Oh and I read a book – a lovely book – Princess of Convenience by Marion Lennox. This book is a finalist in the RITA awards in the Traditional category and I’m not surprised. It made me laugh and brought tears to my eyes. If you haven’t read any of Marion’s books then you’re missing a treat

But all the time I’m doing this, I’ve been working – doing what I think is that hardest bit of writing a book – planting a seed in my mind and seeing what happens- and asking questions. Sicilian 1, Guido may have headed off to my editor, but now his brother Sicilian 2, Vito is impatient for his turn. He’s already put in an appearance in Guido’s book so I know he wants to get on with things.
So – the questions start – Tell me, Vito, who is your heroine. And where did you meet her – and what happened next – and WHY? Always WHY?

Hopefully he’ll tell me while I’m travelling and lunching and dining this week. If you read this blog and you’ll be at the RNA Awards lunch please come and say hello – I’ll probably be the one scribbling away in my notebook – no, not taking down the speaker’s words of wisdom, but trying to make sure I don’t miss a thing that Vito Corsentino is telling me.

If I get time I may post tomorrow – if not, I’ll be back at the weekend

Finished

Well, I finally made it to The End. That darn Sicilian hero didn’t give in easily though. For one moment I thought he was never going to get to that admission of a love that I knew he felt, that he knew he felt, that his heroine started to suspect he felt – but he just wasn’t saying!

But he got there in the end. And he and his heroine have declared their love and headed of, not into a sunset, but off to my editor’s desk. I hope she likes them. This is the point at which there is total equality between all authors. Never published, multi-published, or something in between, you send your book off to the editor and then you wait – and you worry. It doesn’t get any easier with each book, in fact, in some ways it gets worse. You are expected to turn in a publishable book. Everyone thinks ‘oh well, you’ve done it before, you’re bound to do it again – it’ll be fine.’ But you, as the author, know it isn’t like that.

A book stands or falls on its own merits. That sounds so obvious, but there are people out there who think that multipublished authors have it easier – that they have some sort of ‘bye’ into publication, no matter how good or bad their book is. I wish!

No, I don’t. I value my editor and her input. I value the fact that she is a cool, rational reader a reader who is distanced from my book and so can see if it works or not. I get so involved with my story, I get caught up in the characters’ lives and feelings and problems and motivations that I can get way too close to them and their story. I can think I’ve said something the right way when in fact I haven’t. I can think I’ve made things perfectly clear when in fact I’ve made them confusing – or overwritten them so that the poor reader thinks. ‘But you said this already! Again and again!’

I want to write the best possible book I can. I want to tell my characters’ stories in the best way I can to get across their personalities and their worries and their conflict and its resolution . I’ve done what I hope is a good job – now I need an editor’s cool eye on my book to tell me if I have. I don’t want any sort of ‘bye’ into the next round –e into publication. If things need revising or rewriting or tweaking then I’ll do it – that’s being professional. And being professional, I know I’m only as good as my next book, Not the one that’s on sale right now. I know that worked, I know people love it (Thank you to everyone who’s written to tell me so!) But I need to prove I can do it again . . .and again.


I never ever want to sit back and think ‘I’ve got this writing thing cracked’ – because as soon as you do that then the genre or the readers or just plain fashion does a seismic shift and if you aren’t careful what used to work no doesn’t work at all. Or you’ve misread the current market, or people have just had way too many of the sort of story you’ve written – or, worse still, you’re just repeating yourself over and over.

So the end of a book is both a wonderful feeling and a time of great tension. It’s a great relief to think you’ve completed another manuscript, that you’ve told a story, from the beginning to the middle and finally the end – and created the needed 55,000 words to do so. And you hope it’s a book that will please first your editor and then the readers who pay out their hard-earned money to buy it in the future. And you chew your nails as you wait to hear from your editor . . .

Every time I do it, I feel like I’ve sent out a little piece of myself – or one of my ‘babies’ – out into the big world and I don’t know if that world will be welcome or hostile. But I’m always glad I feel this way. I believe that feeling sure it’s okay is risky – it can lead to complacency and complacency can lead to laziness – and that can lead to bad writing and writing a bad book. One that a reader feels she wasted her money on buying. And I never, ever, want to do that.

The Reality - 2

Perhaps this should be called 'Not Growing A Book'. I'm still fighting my characters as I drag them towards that happy ever after ending. Would you believe they don't want to acknowledge they love each other?

One step forward . . .one step back . . . The ending of a book is like a dance - coming so close and then moving away again . . .turning circles, trying to avoid the inevitable, only to find they've ccome right back to face it again. That's my characters, not me - but sometimes it's me too as I try to get to the end and then realise it - and they - have to go at their own pace.

It has to be a believable happy ending, you see. No miracle conversions. No acts of God that suddenly brings about the proof of the truth without either the H or the h doing anything about it.

And most of all no proclamation of 'Well, I'm sorry I was mean - but I love you really' without any evidence for the growth of love in reality. And perhaps even worse, after some such a 'But I love you' proclamation, a daft and naive 'Oh if you love me then that's all right . . . ' from the other character (usually the heroine) !

I need to believe my H&h love each other. That they've come to it by growing through the relationship and learning and changing and opening to love. Then my readers will believe it too. Not that they've been hit on the head with a lightning bolt so that the ending goes like this -
'OhDuh! She didn't do that after all!(whatever that might be) I love her!' or
'Oh he said he loves me so I must forgive all that nastiness and vile behavious and fall into his arms! Duh!'

So in a way I'm pleased that these two are still circling each other uneasily, half knowing, half doubting, wanting desperately to say those 3 words - and fighting like mad to do anything but. It means it takes that bit longer to get to the wonderful moment of 'The End' but it also means that my characters have come alive and are going to do it their way, which is how it should be.

In the meantime, this morning I was cheered by a wonderful review for my current book The Italian's Forced Bride on CataRomance so I thought I'd share -

Kate Walker's latest release from Mills and Boon, The Italian's Forced
Bride, is a highly charged sensual romance which showcases her exceptional
storytelling abilities!
When Alice realized that she was falling in love
with her Italian lover, Domenico, she packed her bags and left Italy and Dom
behind and returned to England. Knowing that he would never return her love and
that he would soon discard her and take another woman in his bed, Alice thought
that she had made the right decision, however, fate had other plans for her.
Domenico is absolutely furious when he realizes that Alice has left him!
He's always been the one who calls the shots when it comes to his relationships
and he's adamant that he wants to know the reason why Alice has deserted him, so
when he finds out where Alice has disappeared to, he flies to England and is
knocking at her door demanding answers!
Domenico is determined to get Alice
back in his bed and when he finds out that Alice is pregnant with his child, he
proposes to her. Alice is still in love with Domenico, but will he ever
reciprocate her feelings? Or will he always just see her as the mother of his
child?
Emotional, dramatic and heart wrenching, The Italian's Forced Bride
is another fantastic page-turner by international best-selling author Kate
Walker. Writing with plenty of style, flair and sensitivity, Kate Walker has
written a marvelous romantic novel featuring two extremely well-drawn characters
which the reader will instantly connect with as Kate Walker brings them to life
so vividly, that they will feel every emotion which they are going through.
Readers will absolutely adore Alice and they cannot help but love Domenico who
is a fantastic Alpha male who is strong, sexy but vulnerable as well.
Passionate romance, powerful emotions, sensuous love scenes, believable
characters which leap off the pages and master storytelling make The Italian's
Forced Bride an outstanding work of romantic fiction! Don't miss it!
Julie
Bonello,
CataRomance Reviews

Thank you Julie! That's made me smile and set me up for a good day's writing
tackling a recalcitrant hero who can't say I love you because he hasn't
realised yet that that's what he's feeling and a heroine who knows that's
what she's feeling and so is afraid to admit to it in case he doesn't feel
the same.

I'll sort them out! No - sorry - they'll sort themselves out - But they'll do it in their own time. I'll just sit here and write it down as they tell me.

Growing a Book - the reality

I know – I know – I promised you ‘The End’ and then I got tangled up in the saggy middle. And that’s where I left it.

But that’s because this thing called writing got in the way, Or, to be honest, this thing called a deadline got in the way. And life. So far this week I have had – one dental appointment ( for me and one for Sid the Cat), one minor family crisis, one MIL visit (that one’s still ongoing), two birthdays and a blinding headache – and a deadline!

And yesterday I had one of those days when my characters decided to go on strike – I wrote something – hero looked at it and said, ‘Well, actually, I’d never say that.’ So I changed and I wrote some more and Heroine looked at it and said, ‘ No way! I’m not going to tell him that, not when he just . . .’

And Deadline is this week. And I have Hero 2 (Guido’s - Hero 1 's brother) standing in the wings and tapping his foot impatiently because he’s not holding back on telling me his story.

So, tempting as it is to relax my shoulders a little and come in here and chat about endings, the reality is that I have an ending to write. So that has to be my priority. So I’m up now at stupid o’clock (well, it was stupid o’clock before I fed the cats/made a mug of tea/wrote this blog) and I’m going to get on with it.

It’s going to be crammed in between taking MIL out and about for the day and seeing she gets home safe – and there are beds to change sheets to wash and towels . . . But I have in my head a quote that reminds me –

‘Writers write. Everyone else makes excuses.’ Jack M Bickham

It’s also on the mug I have my tea in – a gift from the Romance Writers of Australia when I spoke at their conference (was it really nearly 2 years ago?) So each time I look up, it’s staring me right in the face. So that’s what I’m doing today and tomorrow until it’s done – and then I’ll come back and chat again.


So in the meantime, if you want something to read, why not try The Italian's Forced Bride which is out now and available all over the UK. I apologise in advance if it makes you cry in the middle ! I now have three people who've told me that and it hasn't been out a week!

PS I just remembered that WHSmith have an offer of 5 for 4 on the current M&Bs so if you're out buying a copy of The Italian's Forced Bride and you need another 4 titles to go with them - then here's where my money would go this month:
Anne McAllister - The Antonides Marriage Deal
Liz Fielding - The Five-Year Baby Secret
Julie Cohen - Being a Bad Girl
Kate Hardy - The Cinderella Project

Well, I say that's where my money would go but all those lovely people have given me copies of their books (thank you all!). But I would have put my money where my mouth is and bought them if they hadn't been so generous. Now all I need to do is to find the time to read them - and to do that, I need to finish off this Sicilian. . .


Writers write – everyone else makes excuses

Growing a Book - 3

I’ve now – sort of – caught up with most of the things that were waiting for me when I got back. And I’ve renewed acquaintance with Sicilian 1 who was feeling very neglected. So I’m back to blogging. And as I was talking about Growing a Book, I thought I’d complete that.

I did mention writing the ending the The Italian’s Forced Bride, but that’s getting a bit ahead of myself. Because before The End comes The Middle – and this is often where the book hits a problem. I’m at that stage right now with Sicilian 1 so I should know.

In The Middle, the pace naturally tends to slow down just a little. The initial conflict is out there, your characters have confronted each other, but they are still keeping a definite distance – if only emotionally – physically is a very different matter! But you can’t yet let them fall into each other’s arms . . . . Which is why, if you’re not careful, your Middle tends to sag.

This is where your conflict is important. Is it just a ‘one-hit wonder’? Or can it develop, grow, change –parts of it become better, parts worse, as you go along? What’s a O-H W? you ask. Well, that’s the sort of plot where the heroine believes the hero has been seeing that clichéd romance character Another Woman or the hero believes the heroine is a thief – and there’s nothing else in the conflict. No added complication, no extra layers of the problem that can be unfurled – it’s a problem that could/should be dealt with with one question and if it isn’t then you have to have some pretty good reasons why that question isn’t asked. A conflict that will stop your middle from sagging is one where the answer to the questions opens up another set of problems. It adds complications. When one of them finds out not just what has been happening, but why, then instead of solving things it rips open the problems in a whole new way.

As I say, I’m at that stage with Sicilian , and I’ve just got to the bit where some of the whys are coming out – and just when the action could stall, I’m hoping that they will be enough to move things right along again. I was talking to someone about The Italian’s Forced Bride at the weekend (sorry Helen – I didn’t mean to make you cry as well!) and it reminded me about the way that I planned that book so that, just as it seemed everything was planned and was heading in one direction, events would be turned on their head and my hero and heroine would have to adjust, regroup, move on in a very different way from the one it seemed they were going up to then.

The problem with writing romance – particularly the sort of romance that I write- is that the real ‘plot’ is the development of relationship between the two people and so that relationship has to have enough depth and enough room for change and growth or you get past the initial clash that sparks the conflict and it . . fizzles . . out . . .

When I set off for Reading and Julie’s book launch, I was at the reaching the middle point in this story. I knew what had started the conflict – why Guido was heading for that church – and then the next stage after that – and the next one after that . . . But I wasn’t absolutely sure what stopped the middle from sagging – what extra twists I could give the conflict, and most importantly, twists that grew from that conflict that would pick up the pace from where I am now and take it on towards the resolution and the end. But a couple of days away, leaving things in my subconscious to grow and develop, worked wonders. You see, a romance plot isn’t just a linear thing – he does this because – and she does that for this reason – and somewhere down the line, those reasons, not just the what they did, but the why, are going to come back to haunt them both – and that is what exposes another layer of that conflict. It’s not the same conflict all the way through but variations on a theme and although you start out with what might seem like the real, the most important part of the conflict, the truth is that you might not get to that until the very end and the part that’s always described in writing books as ‘The Black Moment’.

Which is what I’ll blog about tomorrow – after I’ve moved my Sicilian along the way towards his Black Moment by changing the conflict, adding in a couple of factors and so, hopefully, picking up my sagging middle and turning it into a neat, taut, honed and streamlined one.

If only I could do that with the saggy middle around my waist!

Back

So I'm back . . . (obviously!) And to prove it here is a picture of Julie at her book launch party.



The BM and I had a wonderful timeI had a wonderful time - but who would have thought that 2 days away would have created so much catching up to do!

The launch party was great fun - Julie looked every inch the glamorous author, and a real star. - which she is She wore a wonderful black crochet dress with one of those 'secret' flesh coloured linings and the most sparkly pair of gold stillettos in the world. (The Dress theme was sparkly )

The BM went around with a smug smile on his face as he was surrounded by beautiful women. A horde of editors turned up. I met my new editor and loved talking to her. We ate popcorn and chocolate covered raisins and drank - - - a little champagne!

Oh, and the faces of Julie's friends from the staff from her school as she read 'Go Fish' from Being A Bad Girl (her second book) were a picture. I don't think they'd quite realised what her books are like! If you haven't picked one up yet, then you're in for a treat.

I have one problem with Reading - but it's a big one - too many shops!! Apart from the thrill of seeing my books on the shelves in a big WHSMiths - I actually watched a woman choosing my book and take it to the counter! ( that thrill - it never goes away!) But there are other shops - result? One trench coat, one handbag, a couple of skirts, two tops and a sparkly cardigan. Well, the dress code for the party did say 'sparkly' and I decided that the top I was planning to wear wasn't sparkly enough!!

And then the BM hit the secondhand bookshops. . .

Did I say I had a great time?

If you want more pictures check out Julie's Blog where you can find lots of them.

So now I have to remember what my Sicilian is up to and persuade him to co-operate after a few days of ignoring him. And get back to work