Meeting Malik - a hero in fur

Tomorrow my dear friend, wonderful writer Anne McAllister comes to visit . . .
Correction, tomorrow she comes to visit SID. She says so on her blog - she is flying all the way from America - to visit my cat.

Those who know Sid will not be surprised by this. Sid is A Force of Nature in beautiful black tabby fur. He knows he is special - he is after all ACOSB (a cat of Superior Breeding) - and he sees it as his right that internationally renowned, mutli award winning novelists will fly thousands of miles just to see him.

So today, we have been busy preparing a room for our visitor - Well,I have been preparing it and Sid has been supervising- checking that the bed is comfortable enough, that there is enough space for him to stretch out - with a little bit of room for Anne there as well. The room is ready and Sid is keeping it warm.

Butu this morning I had to go into town to find some food - multi-award winning novelists have to eat, even when they are in the company of ACOSB. And it was in town that I met my hero in fur.

Now Sid has to close his aristocratic ears at this point because my hero in fur was a d-o-g. And Sid and d-o-gs do not mix. He has a friendship of sorts with Anne's d-o-gs - Gunnar, Mitch and Micah, but that is because they stay over their side of the pond and do not invade Sid's territory. Anne's d-o-gs are retrievers - this one was a handsome, elegant and very friendly golden labrador.

And why was he a hero? Well he was my very favourite and admired sort of d-o-g. He was a Guide Dog for the blind. He was sitting with his owner and guidee, together with another lady and her beautiful black German Shepherd Guide Dog and they were all collecting for Guide Dogs for the Blind. When I paused to chat and make a donation, the dogs came forward to say an affable and polite hello. They were two of the most gentle and best behaved dogs I have ever met in my life - and this was when they were off duty. They weren't wearing thier harnesses, as their owners were sitting down, and they were free to relax and be friendly - and receive a lot of fuss, which of course they accepted as their due. Which it was. On duty, Guide Dogs do a wonderful, deeply responsible job. They may be silly and playful when off duty, slobbering kisses all over my hands and bringing an old blue rug to show me - but the minute the harness goes on, all play stops - they are at work and they know that the job they do is important and it shows. Their whole demeanour changes. They are Guide Dogs and they are going to guide to the very best of their ability.

Which makes them heroes in my book. As many of you will know, I had my own sight hugely improved in the past year as a result of surgery to remove cataracts and it has made such a wonderful difference to my life. My sight was bad enough, but at least I could see. I can only begin to imagine how wonderful a gift a fully trained guide dog must be to someone who is totally blind.

But the fascinating moment of serendipity - the real coincidence came when I asked the names of these to canine friends. The black German Shepherd was Farina. And the beautiful, friendly, playful Golden Labrador was Malik. And Malik - meaning King - is the name of the name of the hero in my latest book - At The Sheikh's Command - which is published in October in both UK and America and in November - I think - in Australia. So Malik is the name of both a human hero and a canine one.

I have a sort of personal superstition that if just as a book is submitted or about to be published, the name of one of the characters appears in one of these serendipitous ways, then it's a good omen and the book is going to be a success. This started on the day that I went to London to have lunch with an editor for the very first time and to discuss the revsions they wanted for the manuscript that became my very first book - The Chalk Line. The hero's name in that is Leo Vincent and asI walked to the railway station, a van went past with the name Vincent emblazoned on the side. It's an omen that's worked well for me over the 50 stories I've written.

So I hope it works for Malik - my sheikh. Because if it does then I'm going to honour Malik the furry hero with another donation to Guide Dogs for the Blind so that they can breed and train up other wonderful canine heroes just like the ones I met today. Darn it, I'm going to make that donation anyway - but I hope that Sheikh Malik is a success so that I can make it a really worthwhile contribution

In fact, having just checked out the Guide Dogs for the Blind site, I've decided I'm going to sponsor a guide dog puppy - in honour of Malik the d-o-g - as a gift from Malik the Sheikh.

And I'm sure even Sid won't mind that.

Answering Saskia

So Saskia said:

the question I wanted to ask was in what ways did you try to 'keep your hand in'
or keep learning and growing as a writer during the time you were unwell/unable
to write? I have been tooling around doing some outlines and character
development for fun but wondered what other tips you might have for someone who
is still dead keen but currently incapable of spending the true time required. I
don't want to slip backwards because I know my writing has improved in the last
year or so....
Enough waffle! Any advice greatly appreciated!

Firstly, Saskia – you have my sympathy. Two little ones and twins on the way are not the best combination for being at your very best as a writer! I have two dear friends who are both pregnant right now – one with twins too - and those hormones are complicating matters. Obviously the little ones are going to have to be your priority for quite some time to come – specially if you have any more children who never sleep! I have a son who never ever slept when he was little so I understand that too. It’s equally obvious that actual writing time is going to be strictly limited – so what can you do?

Looking back to the time when I was ill and couldn’t actually spend much time writing, I know that one of the things that helped me a lot was just plain reading – I did more reading then than I ever have time for now. And I miss it. Reading fills up your idea banks, it feeds your imagination, it shows you the way that established authors deal with the basics – like character development, conflict, emotion. You can see how an experienced author handles Point of View changes, how they resolve conflict, how they handle potentially controversial themes or rework the tried and true plot ideas so that they seem fresh and different.

So if you can, read. Read specially the authors who are successful in the lines and styles of fiction you want to write yourself. And take a look at the new authors who are what editors are currently buying.

One other very practical thing that I always did – and still do - is never ever to let yourself get more than a couple of metres away from a notebook! I still resort to the old-fashioned way of doing things, just scribbling them down, when I don’t have time to get to the computer. And I always always have a notebook in my handbag. Snatches of dialogue, descriptions, plot ideas – they all get written down. And I make sure I have a notebook and pen in every room – even when I’m cooking or when I was too ill to get up, I cold scribble ideas in a notepad near the bed. Still have a notebook beside my bed and I often wake up in the night and scribble something down in it.

Now there’s something you might not suspect that I’m going to say about finding it difficult to get any time for writing – and that is that sometimes I remember those times with happy memories. You see, I might not have been able to get to my work physically, but I could spend long hours thinking about my characters, planning stories, working out plot details, and so – when I did finally sit down to any work, the words flowed I was so hungry to write, so impatient to get the words down - words that had been growing and stewing in my head for so long - that as soon as I got a chance to write, I couldn’t stop. When my son was small and at playschool, I used to have to walk there with him, thinking of my story all the way, then I’d leave him with his friends and run home – it was about a 25 minute walk – thinking and planning still. Once home, I had barely got an hour and a half left before I had to pick him up again but I would write as fast as I could – because the ideas were right at the front of my mind. These days, I have much more time to write, but actually less thinking time. The times I spent doing washing or the ironing (which I hate ) I could use in the same way. And visits to the park etc gave me more thinking time.

I think you’re doing the right thing – looking at outlines, at character development - and here if I can do some blatant advertising, perhaps my 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance might help. Each section has a set of questions and exercises at the end of it – so you could read through that, work on each one – or even just a part of each one. And you’d still keep thinking as a writer.

One thing that I did when my son was small – I know you have a bit of time before this is possible yet - but my husband and I both write so we worked on a share system – sometimes I would have our son and he would write, other times, he would look after The Offspring and I would shut myself away. Again this time was always very well used because I’d been planning the novels in my head.

The thing is that if you keep using your ‘writer’s brain then it will not grow rusty. Plotting and planning and even daydreaming will help this. I also believe that even just a few sentences scribbled down each day – each chance you get – can mount up. My birthday treat would be time free to write to my heart’s content.

As I got better and my son grew up, I learned that getting up an hour earlier was worth all the effort of forcing myself out of bed. In the peace and quiet before everyone wakes up you can get an amazing amount done. Of course when broken nights are the problem , this sounds like the world’s worst form of torture, but I’ve also snatched time when the Offspring was asleep, or I’ve napped with him – if he ever napped! – and done the writing early in the morning thing. These days I still find that I work well if I get up early, make a mug of tea and start. Ideas are usually there in the morning as I go to sleep thinking over the point I’ve got to in the plot – and often it sorts itself out during the night.

I don’t know if there are any Writers’ Groups near you. If you’re the type who likes to talk about writing then they can help encourage you. Personally, I’ve never joined one – I prefer to use my time for writing rather than talking about writing! You don’t say where you live but here in the UK, the Romantic Novelists’ Association offers a lot of support to their unpublished members – specially at the Conference or through the New Writers’ Scheme which I’ve mentioned before. But these will probably be something that would have to come later when you have a bit more freedom.

Basically, the advice boils down to – a little is better than nothing - don’t let your writer’s mind grow rusty from lack of use. Even if you’re only scribbling down notes, planning out a timescale for a book, building characters – you’re ‘keeping your hand in.’ And ask – okay - demand – time for yourself. It’s amazing how much can be done in an hour – even half an hour - if you use it to write.

I remember when The Offspring was about 3 – I had left him at the playschool and I had a precious 2 hours but first I had to go to the market and buy veg etc. I didn’t have a car and it was a mile to walk home. On the way, I suddenly ‘heard’ the opening of a book inside my head. I’ve no idea where it came from but it was as if someone had spoken the words out loud:

“Rowena, my dear, I really must insist.”
Councillor Stacey slapped a
podgy thigh with an equally podgy hand to emphasis his words.
‘I want
nothing but the best for you and Alan, and from what I hear this Vincent fellow
is the very best, so let’s have no more protests. . . . ‘

I still had to get home before I could note down the words – I kept repeating them to myself over and over as I walked home. And then as soon as I was in the house, I grabbed the nearest piece of paper and wrote them down. I only had minutes before I had to set off again to collect my son – but I had an opening and all through the rest of that day, I was thinking over this idea – asking myself questions – like who was ‘this Vincent fellow’ and what was his past relationship with Rowena who was obviously the heroine. Asking questions, trying to work out what had happened and why and what would happen now – and why – I could do all that while collecting The Offspring, bringing him home, feeding him, playing with him, bathing him . . . and when he was finally asleep again I could get down as much as possible on paper. It didn’t matter if it was rough – as the saying is – you can always edit a bad page, you can’t edit a blank one.

That opening turned out to be the beginning of my very first published book - The Chalk Line

I think you’re going to have your work cut out, Saskia. Four little ones is a handful in any book. So I hope some of these thoughts have helped you.

If the worst come to the worst, you can always do what the famous and internationally bestselling romance author Charlotte Lamb is reputed to have done. With five children, she had trouble finding peace and quiet to write so she bought a large playpen – not for the children – but for herself. From inside the security of the playpen she could supervise the children at the same time as writing. She must have had phenomenal concentration!

Good luck! I hope the twins arrive safely and are fine and healthy – and I hope you manage to find some time to write or at least plan for writing in the near future.
And if you ever do get a book finished – let’s hope for ‘and accepted’ as well - or have any good news about your writing then please let me know.

Where is everything?

There are times when I wish that I'd never started on this office revamp thing. It's created such chaos and unpheaval that I'm constantly losing things I just found and finding things I didn't know I'd lost and losing things I need and finding things I don't need . . .

Which is why – as you may have noticed – that I haven’t yet posted any part of the first ‘book’ I ever wrote – I can’t find it! It’s in here somewhere under a pile of other papers – or filed somewhere – or under a cat . . . under two cats . . .

And then of course Monday got slightly hijacked by Hugh – or should that be Hughjacked?
And the organisation I’d created got unorganised because I bought some more bookshelves and things had to be redone as I moved the books off the old bookshelves . . . You had to be here to believe it.
So – while I’m trying to restore order again - a couple of things –

1. If you remember I mentioned an article about Breaking the Rules – all about those fictitious ‘rules’ that are supposed to be etched in stone for the would-be romance writer. The whole article is now posted at the We Write Romance site – so if you want to read it in full, you can find it here. You might like to take a look around the site while you’re there - there’s plenty going on.

2. In a comment on my post about The Blob, Saskia asked an interesting question that I thought I’d answer here on the blog rather than just tucking it away in the ‘Comments’ section.

So I'll answer that in my next post - back soon!

Hugh + Towel = hits

Okay, so now I've got your measure. I think we've found the level -
Post pictures of Hugh Jackman, especially the infamous Hugh-in-a-towel - and the number of visitors to this blog jumps.

Not surprising really - so it's a pity that today is no longer Hugh's Day.

But if I might just suggest that you follow the link along to my cyber kid Julie Cohen's blog you - if you haven't been there already - you will find some additional delights involving towels and a certain Australian gentlemen.

Julie thinks I don't know about these, but I do, my dear, I do . . .

It's just that I'm so a sweet and generous Cyber Mum, I'll let you share. As a thank you for making me cry - again - when I read the dedication in your latest book.

9/11

On a much more serious note - and deliberately posting close to the actual time - I cannot let today pass without remembering how I sat here at my desk five years ago and watched horrific images from the World Trade Centre appear on my screen.

A very dear friend was in New York on that morning - she was due to fly out on a plane that might have been one of the ones hijacked for those terrible attacks. That brought everything so very close to home for me - even though I was thousands of miles away. I sat here, tears streaming down my cheeks and I prayed. My friend was safe, thank God, but so many people were not.

In 2003, I attended the RWA Conference in New York and on our last day in the city the BM and I made a pilgrimage to Ground Zero - just to acknowledge our personal sorrow at what had happened. Our taxi driver was a delightful, articulate interesting and interested man - who joked that we should be afraid to get into the cab with him as he was from Iran. I couldn't have been less afraid - he couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. He even at one point switched off the meter because he couldn't get us to exactly where we needed to be because of traffic diversions and so we shoud have had to pay for the extra trip he made around to approach from a different angle. A little gesture that just added to the poignancy of the day - from a man whose country some might label as the enemy.

At the site itself, the thing that most affected me, blurred my eyes with more tears was the huge, rough made cross made up of broken, twisted metal girders that had once been part of the World Trade Centre. That's the image that I'm posting today. No other words are needed - except

IN MEMORIAM 9/11

Today's Hugh's Day

Over at the Pink Heart Society they've declared today Hugh Jackman day - and every PHS Member is invited to post their favourite pictures of this imspiration to romantic novelists everywhere so that visitors to the site can go on the Hugh Jackman Tour .

So in the interests of cooperation and joining my fellow novelists in their intensive research and their devotion to the cause of creating the perfect heroes for their readers - and no other reason at all of course - I'll offer a few contributions to this enterprise. It's a hard job but someone has to do it.

But I have to say once and for all - no matter what Anne McAllister may claim - Hugh-in-a- towel is mine!

Now I may have to take a break to recover.

The Blob . . .

In her comment on the last post Lidia says:

By the way, I love the cover of your next book "At the Sheikh's Command" -- I
like the M&B version better than the HP. It is essentially the same picture,
but you get more background in the M&B version and for some reason that
makes a greater impact

I agree with her - this is one cover where the background seen through the open tent flap is just perfect. Abbie and Prince Malik have ridden through the desert and come to a camp in an oasis. You can the trees of the oasis outside the tent, and beyond that, the shadowy form of a huge sand dune.

Now that sand dune has a special significance for me because the very first Sheikh story I ever wrote - Desert Affair - had a cover that has gone down in the history of M&B covers as one of the worst of record. It has also acquired the half affectionate (the other half appalled) nickname of The Blob.

I've posted the cover here so you can see it in all its gruesome glory. When my son first spotted this book lying on my desk, he thought I'd spilled ink over the cover. For some time, I wasn't quite able to work out what it was - it's a sand dune, obviously, with a huge dark shadow covering one side and with a scraggy tree down there at the bottom. It was very evocative, I was told (though they never said evocative of what). It was distinctive (it was certainly that) - it would make people want to pick it up. Part of the problem was the positioning of that pale yellow band saying 'Romance' across the top - it would look a lot better on the paperback version.

Well, yes it did - on the paperback version it actually looks like a sand dune - the picture has been reversed, and you can see the top of the dune so it looks right and much less of a Blob. And I suppose I should have been grateful to theoriginal cover because I talked about it so much that when the paperback came out, people took one look at it and said - 'Oh there's the Blob!' And so, yes, it did make them pick it up - the design team were right about that.

So I'll admit that when I wrote At The Sheikh's Command, I was a little apprehensive about the sort of cover I might get. It was such a relief to see the wonderful cover that I've posted here (the USA version is in the sidebar). I've had a lot of messages from friends and readers saying how much they like it - and many of them have added some comment like 'No sign of The Blob' this time.

Ah, but . . .is that really true?

Take another look at the shape of the sand dune in all its glory on the cover of Desert Affair (the paperback version.) Then go back to the UK edtion of At The Sheikh's Command - and look at the sand dune you can see rising up in the distance. Isn't that the same dune? Isn't it really The Blob come back to haunt me?

Just a thought . . .

No, this isn't an insight into the very first 'book' I ever wrote - it's just something that I found as I was ploughing through the paper moutain that needs organising before I dare put it back into my wonderful new office.

I'm always being asked why I like to encourage would-be writers/newbies/gonnabes - whatever you want to call them. I have also, darn it, been criticised for doing this - for 'Training up the opposition'.

Humph!
Well, I just found a little book hidden in a pile of stuff. One of those little stocking filler mini books - 60 Ways to Feel Amazing. I opened it at random and found:

Be An Encourager
Who do you know who could do with some encouragement right now?
Maybe it's you. One of the surest ways to give yourself hope is to inspire
someone else.
Think of someone who encouraged you.
What did they say? What did they do?
Do the same for someone else.
When you start to inspire another person you will feel inspired
yourself.

Those are my italics - and that's my answer to those who wonder why.

When you give out, you get a hell of a lot back.

Seems like a fair deal to me - after all, wasn't there some parable about using your talents and not burying them?

Old Beginnings; New Beginnings - Or The Little Girl Who Could . .

Sorting out my office has been interesting in more ways than one. I’ve unearthed a lot of things I didn’t know I had, and reminded myself of a lot of things that had slipped my mind. One thing I turned up was an interesting sort of coincidence.

I was sorting through a file of letters from HMB (or just Mills & Boon as it was then) and I found a letter from my first ever editor. It was intriguing to find that 31st August 1982 was the date on which the revised manuscript of The Chalk Line, the novel that turned out to be my very first published book, was received in the London offices (M&B weren’t out at Richmond then). And now, here I was, almost exactly 24 years later, with my 50th novel published and about to start on the journey towards the next milestone.
(I hope it won’t take me as long. It wasn’t, as it looks, that I wrote about 2 books a year – for over two years after that first acceptance, I was very ill and couldn’t write. My first book was published in 1984, the next 1986.)

So, having already thought about the New Year type of feeling I get at this time of year, I also started looking back over the 20+ years of my second career. – My first was the almost four years I spent as a Children’s Librarian, before I left to have my son.

20+ years, 50 titles, sales amounting to millions of books, several awards, two ‘How To Write Romance’ Guides, not a bad record for someone that was always being told that she should stop dreaming, grow up, find a ‘sensible job’- and put aside all hopes and dreams of being a published author. Hmm!
Anyone who has visited my web site or read the biography on either MillsandBoon.co.uk or eHarlequin, will know that I was almost born telling stories. I was recounting the tale of Drippy, Droppy and Droopy, the Three Little Raindrops, to my two younger sisters at the age of 3 or 4. I wrote my first ‘book’ at the age of eleven. But no one ever seemed to believe that I could do this professionally – and earn a very good living by it.

Perhaps they thought they were giving me good advice, the life of a freelance writer is a precarious and uncertain one. You can try and try and try for publication, submitting manuscript after manuscript and never getting anywhere. And even if you do get accepted and published, there is no guarantee at all that you’ll earn a great deal – quite the opposite, in fact. (I think there was a survey that said that many authors earn no more than £5,000 a year from their writing.)

Well, if the idea was to put me off, it didn’t work. Perhaps they should have remembered one of my favourite stories as a child. There was a book called The Little Engine that Could.
Basically, the story of this was

A little railroad engine was employed about a station yard for such work as it was built for, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill "I can't; that is too much a pull for me," said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. At last in desperation the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. "I think I can," puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."

Then as it near the top of the grade, that had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly, but still kept saying, "I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." It reached the top by dint of brave effort and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself, "I thought I could, I thought I could."

I remember my Mother telling me this story with the sound of the little engine getting slower and heavier as it struggled up the hill – ‘I think I can – I think – I can – I – think – I – can’. And then getting faster and faster, and more gleeful as it went down the other side. "I thought - I could, I thought I could. IthoughtIcould. .. ‘

Seems to me that I absorbed a lesson from that story – and when I was supposed to give in and decide that my dreams were too hard to achieve that I would never make it, instead, I told myself I think I can – and kept on. And on. Until I reached the top of that hill – and had my very first book published.

Of course, it’s not all been rushing happily and easily down the hill ever since – there was that illness, and books that didn’t work. Even now there are times – lots of them – when writing a story that isn’t taking off in the way I wanted, makes me feel like that little engine pulling a heavy engine and a line of freight cars up a steep, steep hill. But there’s always that refrain – I think I can – I think I can. And gritting my teeth and not giving in gets me to the top in the end.

And it all started 24 years ago this month.So what’s that saying from the song by Paul Simon– Hang on to your hopes my friend. . . I did. I didn’t let those people who told me I’d never do it convince me that they were right. Instead – like the little engine – ‘I think I can, I think I can.’ And here I am, having proved that I could.

And tomorrow – or the day after, depending how long it takes to find it in this new office where nothing is in the same place as it was, I’ll let you into a secret from my past – the very first ‘book’ written by Kate Walker – and that was a lot more that 24 years ago!

PS I just checked on Amazon and The Little Engine That Could is still in print! Blogger is not cooperating so that I can upload a cover - but you can see one here

Breaking the Rules

I’m always being told that there are rules for writing romances. Rules that must be strictly kept to on pain of total rejection. Rules that you break at your peril.

I was listening to the radio this morning and I heard an interview with Sir Peter Hall – founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company – on the topic of speaking Shakespeare’s dramatic verse and how it should be done properly. The interviewer, Samantha Bond aka Miss Moneypenny in James Bond, had heard the Sir Peter was a strict disciplinarian. That for him the verse had to be spoken properly or else. .

So what, she asked, are the rules . . .

And Sir Peter replied:

There are no rules. More trouble is done by people believing that there
are rules, that there is a way that dramatic verse should be
spoken - it paralyses actors, bores audiences . . .

So, substitute writing romance for dramatic verse, authors for actors, and readers for audiences and you’ll see why I stopped what I was doing and listened.
And cheered.

It reminded me of an article I wrote a while back for the Romance Writers of Australia magazine Hearts Talk – an article I deliberately entitled just as I've titled this blog - Breaking The Rules – but spent most of the article actually trying to find any real ‘rules’ that any editor had ever given me. In that article I ended up saying something very similar to Sir Peter Hall:

Writing by rules or formulas is to lose all originality. It destroys an author’s
voice, creates production-line books, all in the same mould, the same style –
the same. It creates books written by committee and no reader is going to be
satisfied with those for very long.


The only
rule in writing - whether romance writing or anything else - is that there are
NO rules. Would-be authors might talk about them,, critiquers may make out that
they exist but what an editor is looking for is a great story written as well as
possible – written in the way that the author creates the most sympathetic and
believable characters, and tells that story in the best, most exciting,
most vivid way possible. And so the only 'rule' is that the author writes a book
in the best possible way that makes that story the best story it can be

Happy New Year

No – I’ve not gone completely doolally as they say in the BM’s family. I know my dates, and yes it’s still September and January 1st is (thank heaven) several wintery months away. But I always feel more ‘new yearish’ at this stage in the year than I ever do at the end of December. For one thing, on January 1st it’s dark and cold and you don’t really want to resolve to do anything – you still have far too much food – the stuff you bought in that frenzied ‘buying for a siege ‘ mentality before the holiday – there’s lots of lovely wine left undrunk and you’re just enjoying indulging. New Year's Day is just a change of numbers – an arbitrary one imposed by the calendar.

I’ve always believed you can have a New Year whenever you want to. You just have to declare it – "my new year starts tomorrow" – and then you can make resolutions and hopefully put them into action without someone inviting you to a late party or something else, and before you know it, it’s halfway through February and you haven’t lost a single pound, been teetotal for a second, given up the dreaded cigarette. See – that’s how I know you can declare New Year whenever you want. March 14th 1989 – I had a New Year then – I stopped smoking and have never started again. So I have experience that non January New Years do work.

The BM and I have always felt more in the New Year Resolution sort of spirit around this time of year anyway. It comes from so much experience of new academic years – as school children, university terms as students, College terms when the BM was a FE lecturer – university ones again when he was a Senior Lecturer. Evening classes began in September . . .We’ve tended to measure our lives around new beginnings at this time of year. I’ve always loved the autumn - the Fall for those of you across The Pond - and along with the mellowing of the season, the warmth that lingers more softly than the heat of summer and the wonderful changing colours of the trees, there is also the added thrill of that whole Back to School promotion in the stationery shops.

I’ve always loved browsing in stationer’s - looking at fresh, sharp pencils, beautiful pens - pens that might just manage to turn my illegible scrawl into something that could possibly be described as handwriting - and of course notebooks. Piles of wonderful virginal, fresh, clean notebooks, with covers of all colours and size and designs, all untouched and just waiting for brilliant ideas, characters, stories, to be written in them.

I think this is why I’ve finally launched into the office overhaul with such commitment and enthusiasm. I’ve know this had needed doing for ages but I’ve always said, WTBIF (when the book is finished - usually it’s WTBBIF - yopu can guess what that extra B stands for - sometimes it becomes WTBBBBIF) and then of course as soon as the book is finished, there’s something else that need doing . .

But this time the office is done. Well, the physical overhaul is done. The carpet is laid. The bookshelves are built, the books are back in place. It’s all wonderful and fresh and clean and so inviting. It really makes me want to be in here. Which is a good thing, as I have another book to write.

I’d post a picture – may do so later – but it would be best if I could find the photo I took of the ‘old’ office so you could get the full before and after effect.

But first there is the little matter of sorting and filing and organising the paperwork – right now, the office looks extra wonderful because I haven’t yet brought back in any of the paper clutter that mounts up when I’m writing. That has all got to be cleared up and organised – another New Year resolution – this time for tomorrow.

So while I was in this New Year frame of mind, I set up a new contest on my web site. I enjoyed choosing the items to go into the prize package – it gave me a wonderful opportunity to browse in my favourite stationery store - and yes, I came home with some bits and pieces for myself. So if for you this time of year has a New Start feel to it too, and you’d like to win a notebook to record all your wonderful ideas in plus some other bits and pieces check out my Contest page and answer the simple trivia question.

And I wonder what sort of Autumn resolutions you might be planning for yourself?

Losing my heart - and being in the pink

This morning I discovered I’d lost my heart

No, not in that way. Anyone who knows me and knows the BM, also knows exactly where my heart lies. But I noticed that the little dancing heart I had in the sidebar . . .


had gone missing.

And I couldn’t have that – not when the reason he’s there is about to take on even more importance from tomorrow. You see, that little heart is the symbol for The Pink Heart Society.

What’s the P H S? Well, on New Year’s Day, 2006, Irish romance writer Trish Wylie wrote in her blog:

‘I read romance’ or more specifically ‘I read category/series romance’ seems
almost as embarrassing a thing to say these days as confessing to being a
cross-dresser might have been in the 1940’s. The genre is constantly run down by
people who see it as a lesser form of writing and of reading. People who believe
that a shorter format automatically means lesser writing and a weak plot. Yet
these ‘lesser’ books still sell millions of copies world-wide! I have read
category romance since my teens and have never had a problem reading them in
public or passing them onto friends when I find one I particularly enjoyed just
as I would with more ‘mainstream’ books that critics would see as more
acceptable reading. And I am still in my thirties, I still go clubbing and play
sports and have a varied group of ‘Sex in the City’ type friends...I guess what
I’m trying to say, in my long drawn out way, is that there are so many amazing
books out there that we have all read and enjoyed and for every person that
tries to run down what we enjoy… there should be ten of us to say well,
actually, we love it!

And to give a voice to those of us who read, write, and – shock horror – enjoy category romance – she formed the PHS. Other authors joined in – we all posted the dancing heart (well, some of us could get it to dance, some couldn’t) on our blogs/ or websites . We all declared ourselves proud of being romance writers, romance readers, romance lovers.

Well, now the PHS is taking another step out into the cyber world to spread that message as far and wide as we can. The Pink Heart Society Blog has been set up and the big launch party is tomorrow September 1st


So why not come along to the grand Pink Heart Blog Launch Party tomorrow. You’ll meet other authors, be able to read weekly updates to the Hero Database/articles/reviews/Blogs of the Week/Romance destinations/Rom-Com reviews/Romance Tips/Nominations for Shipper Shows. There will be Competitions & Giveaways/Challenge of the Week and much much more...

I’ve already booked my guest spot for October 6th – that’s when my newest title is published – but don’t wait till then. Visit The PHS blog and join in the celebration of romance novels the world over.

I’ll be there - I may be a little late because tomorrow the great office makeover really gets underway so I’ll have to unplug and move the computer while the carpet arrives and is laid, then there are the bookshelves to assemble and fill, the computer to move back in and reassemble, the papers to file, the cats to settle and appease with a little smackeral of something . . .

But I’ll be cheering the launch and joining in the celebrations just as soon as I’m back on line and have time to breathe.

See you there!

And I’ve got my heart back.

How NOT To Write A Romance - Part 3

Okay, here's the last of the list

12.Travelogues – or ‘I’ve been to Greece/Spain/Italy . . . you know'
Background detail should always stay in the background
The romance novel is not a travelogue, or a history lesson
Don’t use novel as polemic – to preach a cause you believe in, however deeply.
It’s a romance – the story of a relationship

13.The unbelievable Other Woman
I've mentioned her briefly above - but if you are going to go ahead with the overworked and overwritten 'Other Woman' then:

If your heroine believes the hero has another woman, give her good reasons for doing so – not just because :
She see them together for one moment
They were together in the past – but she will need evidence in the present
The other woman says she is
Seeing them together when he said he was somewhere else
Other people say she is
Because she’s icily beautiful and a bitch – does this man have no taste ?


14. Too much
Too much trauma trying to mean emotion
Too much of scenes with friends/mothers/aunts/ etc
Too much narrative
Too much description – food, clothing etc
Trying to use every hook all at once

15. The Incredible Disappearing Hero
Long sections with the hero and heroine apart - this is usually when she spends page after page talking to her friend/mother/aunt etc (see above)
The hero who never explains where he’s been
The husband/lover/one night stand who wasn’t there the next day –but we don’t know why - and of course she’s pregnant

16. Point of View problems
I don't mind 'head-hopping' - changing POV in a scene - or more than once in a scene at all
What I do mind is a change that isn't signalled in anyway - where the reader has to pause and work out 'who thought that' or 'who said that?'
And if you are going to put in a hero's POV - please make it sound like it might be the POV of a man.
Would a man really think that 'her eyes were the blue of the pattern on Delft china?'
If you let your reader in on what your hero/heroine is really feeling - make sure you also tell them why he/she isn't the other character that

And don't show a hero coming to realise just why he loves the heroine in long narrative passages of his thoughts - but neglecting to explain this to her. And then when he suddenly announces that he loves her she just accepts it.

17. Watch your language
Don’t write the sorts of clichés that mocking critics like to pick up and declare are easily found in romance novels – avoid things like :
Heaving bosoms
Fainting heroines
Heroes who say ‘You silly little thing’
His throbbing thighs
His pulsing/throbbing/ anything manhood
Rosy tipped peaks
His surging man root (!!!)

And yes, I have seen all of these in genuine manuscripts - one poor heroine fainted so often I was convinced she had a brain tumour at least - but then the way she behaved left me convinced she didn't have a brain to have a tumour on.


Can I remind all would-be NWS entrants that the closing date is 31st August this year - not September.

A Dirty Weekend

I've just had a dirty weekend - a very very very dirty weekend.

What?

Where are your minds!

Not that sort of dirty weekend - actually, I would never call that dirty anyway.

No. the reason I've been so very dirty this weekend is that I foolishly decided it was time to renovate my office.Well past time really. The carpet was here when we bought this house (17 years ago) and I don't know how long it had been down then. Years. Lots of them. And since then seven cats (three now deceased), one roof cave-in as a result of snow and a leak in the roof they put up to replace that one, haven't exactly helped keep what was already elderly looking anything like respectable. Add in inadequate amounts of bookshelves and an ever growing collection of books - that's the problem with writing for a living - you keep getting copies of the books you write - and then you get international copies - and then lovely people you know who also write for a living give you signed copies of their books . . .

And so, last week, I decided I'd had enough. I couldn't live with the mess any more. A trip to the carpet sellers discovered a half price sale - which concentrated my mind pretty rapidly. And once the carpet had been chosen, measured up and ordered, I was committed. Which meant that if the new carpet was to go in, then the old one had to come out.

And if the old carpet had to come out then the seven bookshelves (each with six shelves inside them) and the books - that's 42 shelves of books - some (okay, many of them) doubleracked that had to be moved out and stored elsewhere until the carpet goes in.

And there's all the papers and stationery, and the bits and pieces . . . It clearly wasn't going to be done in a single day. So that was how I spent the Bank Holiday weekend.

When we took up the carpet, it was to find that the underlay was so ancient it wan't even there - The whole underlay had disiintegrated and there was just dust. Lots and lots and lots of dust. There was more dust behind the bookshelves - more dust on the books. Books just attract dust, no matter how many times you clean. There were box files of research, there were CDs, there were piles of paper to sort - my filing 'system' tends to end up on the floor.

And there were the books to prune. Nothing is going back into the 'new' office that I don't really want to keep. And I actually managed to collect up a big bag of discards. So I might have a little more space on the shelves.

So now I'm sitting here in a room that feels as large and echoing as an aircraft hanger. There is a concrete floor (this room once used to be the garage), there's my desk, a phone, a chair and of course Sid on the window sill. And that's it.

But it feels wonderfully airy and light - and clean and in another 3 days there will be the new carpet beige/rust) and the new bookshelves (birch) and all the books etc etc will come back in. And so will all the papers andsome - most of the clutter. But if I get the time that I plan this week even that will be pruned and - fingers crossed - sorted.

So if the principles of Feng Shui (whatever happened to the great Feng Shui craze?) work, it should be a brilliant time for a fresh start.

Which will be just perfect with a new book, a new deadline, and the next 50 titles just waiting for me!

Next - How NOT to Write A Romance Part 3

How NOT to Write A Romance Part Two

Okay, here are some more painfully common mistakes that I've found in so many of the scripts that I've read -

Perhaps I should have titled these posts 'Things I wish I would never ever have to read again in a would-be-published romance.'


8. Non-Sex scenes – or How Wasn’t It for You?
Lovemaking scenes that mean nothing but are there because ‘They always have a sex scene in a Presents/Modern Extra etc romance - don't they’
Don’t have sex scenes that:
Go nowhere – sex always changes things – the build up to a sex scene is important but so is the vital ‘afterwards’ – when your characters see each other in a totally different way because they have been so intimate
Fade to black – if you can’t bring yourself to write one that don’t just cop out with ‘and then everything became hazy .. .’ Write what you are comfortable with and don’t try and dodge the issue
Have no emotion
Change nothing – I repeat - sex always changes things between two people- it’s not the sex it’s the before and after that matters
‘She just couldn’t help herself’ – please make your heroine a realistic woman with realistic feelings and a sense of self-preservation and her own worth.
Sex scenes in impossible places – on a beach? In the back of a car? Are these erotic or just plain uncomfortable – and what if someone else was to appear?
Ecstatic sex – again make it likely that it would be that way – not just instant ecstasy with no real feeling.
Don’t put in too many sighs and groans in one go – vary the language


9. Unsafe Sex and Secret Babies
This is the 21st century and you are writing about adults so don’t make them behave like children
Don’t have:
Heroes who never take responsibility
Heroines who don’t protest at the above
Heroines who never take responsibility
Heroes who never protest at the above
Heroes and heroines who take risks no one with any sense would ever take
The instant baby – virgin/one sexual experience/one baby scenario

And yes, this does mean that that tried and true plot device the 'Secret Baby' becomes much more difficult - as it should do in a time when not taking sexual responsibility for yourself and your partner can almost get you up on a charge of attempted murder . But this is one where you have to get deep inside yuor characters' heads and really think out the reasons why.

It's another reason why the before and after matter so very much.


10. Dialogue that says nothing
Make the dialogue say something - make it further the relationship/the conflict/ the resolution – not just talking that goes nowhere
Not just talking heads – have your characters doing something so that the reader can ‘see’ them as well as ‘hear’ their dialogue.
Avoid circular arguments that always come back to ‘I don’t believe you’!! If she/he doesn't believe then nothing is ever going to change - and do we (the reader) believe them when later they say they're madly in love?


11.Scenes that ‘are always in a romance’ aren’t they?
The angry meeting
Being ‘undressed by his eyes’
The other woman in his life - who turns out to be his sister or his cousin . . .
The manipulative, vindictive 'ex' - do you really want your readers to think your hero was stupid enough to marry a woman who everyone can see is a total bitch?
The forced seduction
The humiliation at some social gathering
The belittling boss

Readers know that romances are all similar – but they don’t want to keep reading the same scene over and over again

How NOT To Write A Romance - Part One

Okay - so here is the first section of the list of very basic mistakes that I see repeated again and again in so many of the manuscripts I read and critique.


1. Believe in the Formula
Or the rules or that story of the computer that is programmed to write all the romances, just changing the names and nationalities of the characters.

Do I need to say any more?

2. Never, ever read romances before you start
- you'd be amazed how many people say: I’ve never read one but ‘they’re all the same aren’t they?’
Or if you do read any romances, then make sure they were published 5, 10, 15 years ago – because they never change, do they?

Why do so few would-be HMB writers read the books that are currently being published to find out what the editors are actually buying?


3. Write down to your reader
When you’re writing, think ‘It’s ‘only’ a romance, nothing important. It's not 'literature'. And anyway, the readers just wolf them down
They are not at all critical, and they never remember one book from another.

Don’t forget that you are writing to entertain and for your readers to enjoy the book – just because something is easy to read doesn’t mean that it’s easy to write.

4. Make your Conflict just one long argument
So many would-be authors interpret the word 'conflict' as just constant bickering, with the characters arguing over nothing just to keep them at each other's throats until the very last chapter.

Don't have a conflict that is so unimportant it makes the H&h look stupid and immature for even letting it bother them. Conflict that just comes from the way he looks at her and the way she interprets it
Equally, don't make the conflict real trauma that is so OTT the character would be a basket case. Many writers seem to think that constant Trauma = Emotion


5. Your heroine - Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood all rolled into one
Make your heroine a real person – not just the ‘romance’ heroine
Try to avoid writing the cliché romance heroine that non-romance readers think is the one that appears in every book –ie: -
Virgin heroines just waiting for HIM
Pathetic heroines – just waiting to be rescued
Unemployed heroines – just waiting to be kept in the manor and manner to which they’d like to become accustomed
Heroines who believe ill of their hero on no evidence whatsoever
Heroines who put up with every insult/abuse – and fall madly(madly being the word) in love
Heroines who put up with every insult/abuse – then get a brief apology and say ‘Oh, that’s all right then – because I love you.’


6. Prince Not At All Charming
Please get away from the idea that an Alpha hero = brute
Don’t have
Heroes who do nothing but belittle and put down
Abusive heroes – there is a very definite line between being a strong and dominant hero and actual physical brutality
The ‘experienced’ hero – for experienced read promiscuous, no discrimination, a total womaniser – and probably infected with something nasty.
Heroes not even their mothers could love
Heroes who believe ill of their heroine on no evidence whatsoever
Heroines who offer their heroine every insult/abuse – then give a brief apology and say ‘But you know I love you.’


7. Characters With No Character
Stereotypes – characters who ‘always’ appear in a romance and are ‘always like that.’
One dimensional
Have no past history before they appear on the page
Who let their author dictate to them - Characters should not be moved around like chess pieces to fit the plot the writer has decided on – the plot should flow from them and their personalities.
Who learn nothing
Who never develop, never change, never even seem loveable.


More tomorrow

More on Editing and The NWS

A week or so ago, I posted some reflections on editing - and the way that reading for the New Writers' Scheme made me think about the process.

A week from today is the closing date for all entries to the NWS scheme and so the last chance for anyone who is a member of the RNA to get a professional critique from this service. I've probably done almost all my reading for this year, so I've been reflecting on what the submissions I've received have shown me about the number of people trying to write for Harlequin Mills & Boon - and believe me there are hundreds, if not thousands, if you include the huge numbers who submit without ever going through the NWS scheme or the RNA.

I've been reading for this scheme for six years now - and the thing that worries me is the number of submissions I get every year who all repeat the same basic mistakes over and over again. A couple of years ago, I did a talk at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference about this - entitled How NOT To Write A Romance.

It was perhaps the most fun of any talks I've ever done. There was a lot of laughter in the lecture room. I know that afterwards a member of staff at the hotel asked if we were really having a conference - because no other conferences they’d ever run had seemed to have so much fun while conferring.

I know my audience enjoyed it - but at the same time I think they got the point. I talked to many people afterwards and they told me that as I made each comment about the very basic mistakes I have found in so many manuscripts they were thinking back over their own work and wondering – ‘Did I do that?’

The thing that worries me is that I have written critiques for scripts this year where I could basically take the comments I made on the very first script I read back in 2000 and almost cut and paste them whole into the critique of some of the ones I’ve read this. (I have to say some because there have been some better ones over the years –and there is one in particular where I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed for the writer.)

Writing category/series/whatever you like to term it romance is nothing like as easy a task as so many many people would have you believe it is. I have more years’ experience of working with books, writing books, buying books (both as a reader and as a professional librarian), studying and criticising books from schooldays through my basic degree and on to my MA, teaching writing at all levels and critiquing through the RNA scheme – and, believe me, writing 50 titles for M&B Modern/Harlequin Presents has been one of the most work-intensive and challenging parts of my career.

The problem with these short romances – the ones the late great Charlotte Lamb called ‘those complicated little books’ is that they are so easy to read that they give the impression that they have just been dashed off in a rush, with very little care or thought. The opposite is more likely to be the case. There is a quote that I have pinned up above my desk – it’s also one that I quote in almost every workshop I ever do and it’s this:

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its
writing.
Enrique Jardiel Poncela

So I thought I’d post some of the How Not to . . talk up here over the next few days. It would be great if it helps someone – it would be even greater if it meant that next year I get to read more than the odd one or two mss without these basic mistakes in them. That way I could hope to help the author a lot more by working with something that actually resembles the sort of thing HMB are actually looking for.

And as special answer to Janet who posted a question on the original post on Editing. I’m sorry, Janet I meant to answer days ago but time ran away with me

Janet said:
The NWS is a great opportunity to have an experienced writer's crit on your work. But sadly once you have had a magazine serial or novel published that writer is no longer eligible for the NWS (even if she is striving to get published by M&B and could really use the advice of an experienced M&B author.)

Will the RNA ever extend the scheme to this category of writers? Offer just the crits maybe

The honest answer, Janet, is that I don’t know. I’m not on the Committee of the RNA where such decisions are made – just a reader for the NWS. But I do suspect that the answer is no – you see the reason why the current NWS membership is capped at around 200 is that there just aren’t enough readers available to do any more. The scheme could be oversubscribed by 100% easily but the number of readers is strictly limited – and they are all professionals who have their own writing commitments and deadlines to fulfil. Writing a good, fair critique takes time and time is something that most professional writers have little enough of as it is. So unless there was a huge increase in the number of volunteers to read for the scheme, I very much doubt that there will be any hope of expanding it in any way.

PS I thought I was finished reading for this year but as I was writing this the postman arrived with yet another NWS script.

This and that

A couple of things to catch up on
1. I've updated my web site with the help of the lovely ladies from HR Web Concepts and so all the details of the new books are up there ( the latest and the new title coming in October are also in the sidebar there -> )

2. There is a new Newsletter too with some photos of - guess who - Sid - and a couple of views of Caerleon where I taught in the summer. They remind me of just how hot it was that week. Looking at the rain thundering down outside, it doesn't seem possible that there ever was the faintest suspicion of a drought!


3. There is also a new contest to win signed books and special writing material – inspired by the thought of how everywhere there are signs about going Back to School

4. And of course there’s a little mention of the Reviewers’ Choice Award for The Italian’s Forced Bride.

5. And the mention of Caerleon reminds me that if anyone is interested in a weekend in wonderful Wales, staying in a comfortable hotel, and learning how to write Romance then on the events page there are details of a way you can do just that. The organisers of Caerleon Writers’ Holidays are now running residential weekends in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. The first of these is in November - Friday 10th - Sunday 12th – and all the details you need can be found on the Events page of my web site.

Other bits and pieces of good news – I just learned that my August USA release – The Antonakos Marriage - is now on its fourth week on the Bookscan Top 100 listing for bestselling fiction. So thank you to everyone who has bought a copy to help me achieve this fabulous result – I really couldn’t have done it without you.



More good news – Harlequin have recently moved into publishing their novels as ebooks and The Antonakos Marriage is currently in the Top 10 bestsellers of these books. There is also a brand new venture called Harlequin Minis where on line stories Writing Round Robins from the eharlequin site are being published as mini ebooks for just $.99. This week I was thrilled to discover that the Writing Round Robin I ran last year has been chosen to be one of the 15 launch titles for this new project .It’s really great timing too as this story is a sort of prequel to my October title At The Sheikh’s Command.

Just to say . . .

I have a hectic morning ahead of me - dashing here there and everywhere - but if you want something to read and would like to read a great blog on Romance, both the genre and the 'new' revamped Romance line for HMB then go along to Liz Fielding's blog and check out her current post.

I've read it once and noted it down to go back and reread and absorb the really great assesment of what 'Romance' writing is - how the genre has changed and what the Romance line editors' are looking for now.

More than well worth reading.

PS For UK readers - and would-be-published writers, there's also news of a short story competition run by HMB and Woman's Weekly that you might want to know about.

And we're back . . .

Okay, so - hopefully - the Counter problem is sorted out - hopefully!!
So far it doesn't seem to be messing things up again - or turning my sidebar into a bottom bar

So I'm hoping we're back in business - and that all those wonderful 90 visitors who came by yesterday will come by again and this time I'll be able to see where you all came from.

Fingers crossed . . .

Where's it gone?

Well, that was fun - for a little while!

The counter that displayed the countries everyone came from worked wonderfully - at first. I had visitors from UK, USA, Canada, Malaysia, France, Malta, Poland. Then I went to sleep . . .

And when I woke up it was to find that the connection to the counter had failed. And the faulty connection meant that my sidebar disappeared well, no, it didn;t disappear, it became a bottom bar instead. It's not just me. When I've tried to check the counter's site to get a new code, that's down - so I've found that the best thing is to take the darn thing off the blog again and run with just the cluster map for now.

Which is a pity as I was enjoying seeing how many visitors came from where. When the provider's site is back and running and if I can get the counter back on here without it messing up the blog, I may try again - watch this space . . .

I need some geography lessons

Those of you who visit regularly will perhaps have watched the red clusters on my cluster map in the sidebar register the places where visitors to this blog live. Yesterday, I was doing just that, wondering exactly where all these people came from, checking the map against a world map and trying to decide exactly which countries had the cluster red dot in them.

I came up with a list that may or may not be the most accurate record so far – North America is fine, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile . . . There’s Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa ( I think that maybe Judy is one of those little red dots - hope so – if so – waves to Judy) India is there, Japan, Korea – but it’s when I get to Europe that the countries are so close together and the map so small, even when enlarged, that I couldn’t be sure exactly where everyone was visiting from. I recognise some - the red dot over Malta must mean Julie (Waves to Julie) but I wanted to be more accurate,.

Then last night I had a wonderful visit from a long term friend (I’m not saying old because although our friendship might be old in years, she’s definitely not someone I would ever describe as ‘old’). Duck (her blog name is Little Yellow Duck) is the Offspring’s godmother, she is currently living in Dubai with her web site designer husband – that’s their red dot over on the Persian Gulf in the UAE (Waves to Duck who will be home soon). It was one of those wonderful ‘pick things up from where they were two years ago’ meetings and we crammed a lot into a couple of hours to sustain us until we meet up again. (The Alhambra 2008 – right, Duck?)

Well, Duck has her own blog and she has solved the geography problem with a counter that shows exactly how many visitors she’s had and exactly where they are. So, inspired by this, I’ve set up my own counter and I’m looking forward to reading the results as each day/week/month goes by. I’m hoping Duck from Dubai will be listed there soon after a safe and trouble free journey home.

But what about the rest of you? I know you’re all there – I can see those red dots. But I’d love to know who you are and what part of your country you live in. Every now and then I get selected translations of my books and I know I have readers all over the world. So if you’re from Sweden or the Philippines or Egypt or Estonia, I’d love to see you post a comment. Some time back, I offered free foreign editions to anyone who spoke those languages - those editions were Italian, Spanish, German, Afrikaans and Greek – all countries that have red clusters on them on my map. I don’t have any foreign editions at the moment – a large bundle of those went off to needy causes only last week – but I’m sure I’ll be getting some more soon.

So if you’re visiting from other countries- other continents (other worlds??) why not drop by and say hello? And then, in the future, if I get some translations of my books in your language, I might be able to offer you a little gift.

And it will be great getting to know you better.

PPS

Further amended
Current 'made me cry' score for

The Italian's Forced Bride

20 readers
2 editors
and Liz Fielding!
and 2 reviewers

Top that, Sid!

Well, Sid may have taken over the blog – and Anne’s – for a while but today I’m back in business and I’m celebrating – so move over, Sid – I have good news!

And I think even Sid will not mind having is handsome pawtrait superseded by this little graphic:

The Liz Felding for Cataromance Reviewers’ Choice M&B Tender award with The Five Year Baby Secret
Julie Cohen for Cataromance Reviewers’ Choice M&B Modern Romance Extra award with Featured Attraction
Kate Hardy for CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice M&B Medical for Her Celebrity Surgeon
Michelle Styles for CataRomance Reviewers' Choice M&B Historical for The Gladiator’s Honour

Anyone starting to see a sort of link to my Bag of Books offered as a prize a few weeks back? Can I pick them? I am so happy to see so many friends on the winners' list.
Congratulations also to

Lucy Monroe forCataRomance Reviewers' Choice Harlequin Presents: The Prince's Virgin Wife
Lucy Gordon for Cata Romance Reviewers' Choice Harlequin Romance for The Wedding Arrangement.

Oh yes – and there was an award for Best M&B Modern too – that was won by someone called Kate Walker and this book:

The Italian's Forced Bride

(Current 'made me cry score' 20 readers and 2 editors!)

American readers if you're wondering - I just heard that this book will be published in Presents in February 2007 so you haven't too long to wait.



PS - In the light of Liz Fielding's post on the Comments sections - I have to amend the above:

Current 'made me cry' score
20 readers
2 editors
and Liz Fielding! (Thanks Liz!)

Upstaged By A Cat

I suppose it had to happen - give a cat a blog mention and he'll take the whole posting.

Many of you will already know of my cat Sid's bid to become a Cyber Star - and today it looks as if he has achieved his aim.

Not content with appearing with regularity on my web site, with winning bribes and flattery by those who enter my contests and know that it is he who chooses the winners - I have even had promises of tuna or a smackeral of salmon sent through the mail - I found this morning that he has hijacked (or should that be hicatted? Catjacked?) the whole of Anne McAllister's blog posting for today.

So what can I say that would not be supurrfluous? Trying to improve on purrfection is just not possible - and so, dear readers - as I am on my way out for the day and may not have a chance to post again - I leave you in some very capable (and some very sizeable) paws - and I give you

SID

Celebrating again - Trish and Me

It's the Awards time of year so I am truly happy to announce that another special friend of mine has won a major award -

Fanfare and trumpets . . .

Trish Morey, a lovely Australian Modern/Presents author has won the
Short Romance section of the
Romantic Book of the Year Award (R*BY)

with her novel The Italian Boss's Secret Child
Many many congratulations, Trish! I'm so happy for you.

I'm also feeling smug because when I read this book last year - and it's only Trish's 3rd book! - I remember saying to her that I felt that with this title she had truly found her voice. It seems a lot of readers thought so too.



And today I also have a small trumpet of my own to blow - you see that nice gold star on this post?

Well yesterday I learned that both The Italian's Forced Bride and The Married Mistress had been nominated for the Cat Romance Reviewers' Choice Awards. this is a real honour - the Cata Romance Reviewers read many many books each year and so even to be nominated as one of the best is a great thrill for me.

Extra good news is that reading through the nominations, I found many friends of mine there too - Anne McAllister, Liz Fielding, Kate Hardy, Trish Morey, Julie Cohen, Michelle Styles, Natasha Oakley, Trish Wylie . .

You can find a full llist of all the nominees here

And the awards ceremony takes place on Friday in a special Pink Carpet presentation on the Cata Romance message boards. They've brought in a hostess, Stacy Dawn (meet her here ) to announce the awards in Oscars style.

This will be a huge event. CataRomance are inviting authors and readers from around the globe (and every group and community on the web) to join them in a day of celebration, fun, and reminiscing the great books they've read this year. And they're giving away goodie bags full of bookmarks, pens and other goodies. So why not come along and join in?

Happy Birthday Anne McAllister

Today is my dear friend Anne McAllister's birthday. She's been fighting with her hero and heroine (Spence and Sadie) for the last few days (weeks) so I hope that as a birthday gift they give her an easy ride from now on and let her have the final chapters without any more struggles.













But why not drop by her blog or her web site and wish her a happy birthday

Happy Birthday Anne! Looking forward to seeing you in September

Editors and Editing

This week I got a small insight into the way it must feel to be an editor. I read for the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme and this week I’ve been concentrating on the scripts that have been sent to me and so have been waiting while I finished the book formerly known as The Second Sicilian and now acquired as The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge. So I’ve had my ‘critiquer’s hat’ on – which is rather similar to an editor’s hat.

I don’t often see my job from an editor’s point of view. For a writer, an editor is a necessity. I’m always worried when an author - and author says something on the lines of ‘Oh I don’t need to be edited any more.’ We all need that objective eye that looks at our work from the perspective of distance. That sees whether we’ve made our characters believable, likeably, sympathetic and above all, consistent. An eye that notes all the knots and tangles in a conflict and makes sure that we’ve worked them all out in a way the comes from the characters, that can see a sagging middle and suggest ways to deal with it. That can – in editorspeak – ‘Tweak’ the book from the slightly rough diamond we may have created into the brilliant, dazzling solitaire that we were aiming for. We can all get too close to a book, to see in it what we thought we were saying, what we meant to say and not actually recognise quite what we did say. And an editor is there to see what the words we’ve put on paper actually say – or don’t say if we haven’t made it clear.

A good editor is a bonus to an author. Editors are trained to be objective but they are human – they don’t always ‘get’ an author’s individual voice and so sometimes the editor/author ‘fit’ isn’t the best it can be. Some years ago, when I was at the start of my writing career, a very much established author and wonderful writer called Elizabeth Oldfield gave me some great advice.

When she got an letter from her editor, with a request for revisions, she said, she always did 50% without questions – to show that she was professional and cooperative. She discussed, debated, did the other 50% in a different way to prove that she was independent, individual and the creative one!

It’s advice that stood me in good stead over the years as I’ve worked my way through – let me see - Mary, Karen, Mary again, Luigi, Cath, Linda, Marysia, Ceri, Suzanne, Kate, Tessa , Kim and Maddie -
Phew! I’ve been through that adjustment phase with a new editor more times than I care to remember and sometimes it’s worked wonderfully well and other times – no, best not to go there . . .

An editor who is a not quite ‘comfortable’ fit can try to angle your work in a direction that is currently fashionable but not really ‘you’. One who prefers a particular style of writing, of characters, of books, can, perhaps without meaning too, emphasise things in your work that appeal to her/him and throw the balance of what you actually write of centre. A lot of new writers tend to feel – I know I did – that an editor’s comments are carved in stone and must be followed to the letter. The truth is that it is your book and as long as you address the problem the editor as spotted you can deal with it in your own way - if necessary a different one from the one she suggested. You learn to work with your editor – not work for her,

An editor who not only ‘gets’ but sympathises with and loves your voice is a very special gift – someone who does all that and has read all your backlist – and quite possibly knows it just a little but better than you is truly spectacular and just a little scary. I have an editor like that at the moment. Someone I feel looks at my work in almost the same way that I do – but with added cool objectivity so that when she comments she does so from a position of both being totally caught up in the world I have created and from the intelligent critic who wants this book to be the best it can possibly be. That sort of editor brings out the best in a writer because they never, ever want to disappoint or even turn in something ever so slightly 'not quite right.'

And that position is the one I try to work from when I’m reading NWS scripts. I know which types of romance I prefer to read. The ones I prefer to write. The types of heroines I find appealing, the types of heroes who are heroic to me – and the ones who very definitely are not. But I need to try and put that aside and work with the manuscript I’ve been sent – the voice of the writer who has created it – and the world she has created. I need to see if that works. If the characters are believable, if the motivations for their actions convince me. I need to look at paces, emotional punch, dialogue . . .

It’s a challenge and it takes time and concentration. I need to keep that objectivity in place and at the same time - perhaps more so than any editor, I have to remember the person who has worked hard to create this script and send it to the scheme. I remember how it felt to be a newbie, a wannabe, starting out. I’ve kept my first ever submission to HMB to remind me of how bad I once was and show me how far I’ve come. I know that if I’d sent that in to the NWS then a critique of it would have had to slash and burn to be truly honest - and to be of any help. So I try to offer the best advice but I try to do it a way that will make the writer feel I’m offering help not setting out to destroy them. They may never ever achieve publication but they have worked hard, they have done what so many people tell me they are going to do – but never actually sit down to do it – they have written a complete book. Good or bad, with potential, or totally lacking any hope, they have completed 55,000 words of a story with a beginning a middle and an end – and that takes determination and commitment. I want to give them advice that if they absorb it, then use that determination and commitment, they might move on to the next stage in their writing.

They might also be able to use it to polish that rough diamond manuscript to the stage where an editor will want to buy it. I’m really thrilled when I hear that someone whose manuscript I’ve critiqued has gone on to have their first – and more - books accepted and put on sale. It’s happened four times now - four brand new novelists whose careers I was able to help along the way just a little. And I’m hoping for more. Really hoping – there’s one script this time where my fingers are tightly crossed . . .

But I only do this every once in a while. At this time of year usually, when the NWS scripts come in. Editors do it all day every day – and my short stint of reading these mss gives me such an insight into their job that I come away with a new admiration for the good ones - and an appreciation of the contribution they make to polishing up the books I’ve written.

Doing my own bit of editing this way also sharpens up my own writer’s skills. Reading scripts that don’t work, having to explain why, suggesting approaches that might help, makes me look at my own work in a different, a sharper sort of light. It makes me realise how I approach things and how I work to avoid the pitfalls the New Writers fall into. Writing and editing are two very different skills, but in good hands they combine to the best possible effect.

So although I’ve 50 titles behind me, a writing career of 20+ years, and although I may sigh and moan when a revisions letter comes through, I’m deeply grateful for the fact that I do have an editor, someone to look at my work from that objective distance that I know has to go into the critiquing I’ve just been doing.

If you want to know more about the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme – you can find the details here. The scheme only has 200 places and is closed for this year. But you can apply to join in January 2007.

Happy Hedgehog Update

Remember this - Hedgehogs Part II ?

When we installed Hedgehog Towers at the bottom of the garden, I hoped the hedgehogs would use it but I didn’t know quite how we would persuade them. We put the house in a nice quiet spot, put some wood shavings I, placed some cat crunchies where they might tempt a hedgehog or two, and waited . . . For a while nothing seemed to happen but then but the other morning I went out to the garden earlyish - pre 7am when all was quiet, I wandered to the end of the garden where Hedgehog Towers is. All around the hedgehog house was dark brown earth and wood bark - then I suddenly realised that one of the dark brown patches was in fact a hedgehog and as I came nearer it was startled and ran - straight up the hog house tunnel and into Hedgehog Towers. So we could assume that the Hogs were in residence.

Then on Wednesday evening when the Offspring and his Lovely Girlfriend were here, they asked if they might get a chance at seeing the Hogs. I said we could try to sneak a peep and see if anyone was 'at home’. We crept to the Hog House and carefully eased the lid off, not wanting to frighten sleeping hogs. Now the last time I lifted the lid on the hog house, there was a bundle of wood shavings - about an inch deep - on the floor - hoping to encourage hedgehogs in to keep snug and snooze. There was about 15 inches or so between these and the removable roof. But this time when I opened the lid the whole house was packed with leaves, some hay we'd left out, old hedge clippings . . . all dragged down the tunnel and woven and swirled into the snuggest, neatest, cosiest hedgehog nest you ever saw. The whole box is full to bursting with it - except I presume for the hog space at the entrance and room for Mr and Mrs Hodge to snuggle up together in the middle of the nest. They must be so warm and snug in there and it will be wonderful to think of them safe from predators and cosy as can be when the winter comes and they hibernate in there.

They are also tamed a bit now and come for food when we shake the cat crunchie container. We put out crunchies and some left over cat meat (Sid has learned to share just a little) and then we wait. Usually they arrive within about 10 minutes., first one and then the other. We leave the French doors open so we hear crunching and snuffling and when we take a look they are happily settled, tucking into their suppers and completely unfazed by the sound and light from the room.

I’m training them intensively right now because in September my dear friend Anne McAllister is coming to visit. Every other time she has come to stay we have told her about the hedgehogs and she has hoped to see them. Last time she and her husband managed to snatch a single glimpse of one hedgehog as he dashed across the lawn in the distance. But this time, with Mr and Mrs H having taken up residence in Hedgehog Towers, and with a few piles of cat crunchies as an added enticement, I’m hoping she’ll see more.

We're working on it, Anne – and even if the hedgehogs don’t deliver, there’s always the furry hog – Sir Sidney. He’ll make you very welcome.

Birthday thoughts

Today is the BM’s birthday – something which has made me both happy and reflective. The reasons for happiness are pretty obvious. I love preparing birthday presents, treats, surprises. As a result, yesterday we went out for the day with the Offspring and his girlfriend, had afternoon tea in Bettys (but in Harrogate this time, not York) and tonight we will have dinner out too. I have also managed to totally surprise him by presenting him with two books – signed, first editions by James Hanley – an author he much admires.

If any of you read my original blog on eHarlequin, they might remember stories of previous birthday surprises I have arranged for the BM - where the way I got away with ‘hiding’ these was simply not to do that but to put things in obvious places – book on bookshelves for example – so that they were in places he just would not suspect he’d spot this birthday/Christmas presents.

The same sort of thing applies here. Remember those bookshops we went out to explore in Malvern? Well, that’s where I found these birthday books. And when I presented them to the BM, the response was, as I had expected ‘Where did you find those?’ And the answer is - right under the BM’s nose, while he was browsing through some other books on another shelf, I found these, picked them up, carried them to the counter (with two books I wanted for myself either side), paid for them, put them in my bag, carried them back top the hotel, put them in the care, brought them home . . .and he never even noticed!

But the other reason I’m sort of reflective is the realisation that the BM is now 11 years older than his father ever was. He may not be desperately happy about being umpty ump years old – but I’m sure I’m happy about it. It’s one heck of a lot better than the alternative. And as I’ve been hearing some truly tragic stories this last week about people – young people – far too young, some just children - being taken from this world far far too early, I’m just grateful that he’s here and so am I and that we can celebrate this special day with him.

And so, if the number of Babes who who have wished the Magnet a happy birthday are anything to go by, are a lot of other people.

But at a time when the nightly news seems entirely made up of lists of numbers of people dead in one conflict or another, one appalling disaster after another, today reminds me just how important it is to let those we love know that we love them. No matter how young or old, everyone needs to know they are loved, and we all need to make sure that we tell the ones we care for while we still have them there to celebrate with. I know that’s what I’m going to do.

And that reminds me – seeing as I’m talking about special birthdays, yesterday was the birthday of a lovely (and she'll know why I'm saying that!) friend of mine, author Holly Jacobs. Funnily enough, when I was a child growing up, the girl who was my best friend for years until life, moving away from home and all the other things that come between you when you don’t really want them to, this friend’s birthday was August 8th too. I obviously have some special connection with Leos born around this time. So – Holly, and Josephine West (if by any remote chance you’re reading this) – Happy Belated Birthday to you for yesterday.

And Happy Happy Birthday to the BM today - and anyone else who is celebrating with him!

Giving out some prizes

What happens when you go away for a week? Does everything yo shoud be doing start breeding so that there is so much more of it when you get home again?

I'm pretty sure that the washing breeds in your suitcase. There always seesm to be so much more of it than the sthings you know you've actually worn.

So I've been trying and trying to catch up since I got back from Wales and haven't quite made it. I haven't answered comments for days for a start.

But I offered some prizes and now I need to fulfil my promise.

So - in One Other Thing, I offered prizes for information about what people want on a writer's web site - and the wnners are:

Linda H from Readingissomuchfun

and - well, here I have a problem - just a small one - a greedy cat - a set of names - and I can't actually tell you whose crunchie Sid ate first. So - instead of one other winner, I have two

Lis - and Mags - I think Sid snarfed both of your crusnchies in one gulp so you're both winners!
So Linda, Lis and Mags if you email me I'll organise your prize

Then the Sicilian Names Competition -
The answers were, The Sicilian's Wife and A Sicilian Husband
and the winners here are -

Ms Creativity who wins, appropriately enough a copy of A Sicilian Husband
Nancy Locke who wins The Christmas Baby's Gift
and Kim W who wins Bound By Blackmail

Congratulations to all of you.

Being Officially 50

I’ve just realised that I’ve posted about the 50th book in other places but never actually officially mentioned it here! Duh!

So - here’s the official announcement - my 50th title was accepted by my editor and I now have a title and a publication date. The book will be called The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge and will be out (in the UK at least) in June 2007. It will be the second book in the duet about the Sicilian brothers Guido and Vito Corsentino, the first of which is Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride – and that will be published in March 2007.

So I’m now officially 50 – in titles that is! It’s a great feeling. Some years ago, I wrote my goals for this year, next year, five years . . . I’ve lost the piece of paper on which I wrote them all down, but I know that one of them was ‘Kate Walker’s 50th’. And now it’s here! Of course I’ll have to wait a while before I hold the book with that very special flash on it, but I know the book is completed and bought – and I can start to plan the next ‘milestone’ - 75 books? 100?

And as it’s August 4th, then my latest USA release is actually officially out today – even on Amazon! I posted one lovely review of this book already, but I just received another one - so to mark the ‘official’ publication date of The Antonakos Marriage, I thought I’d post it here today.


THE ANTONAKOS MARRIAGE is a skilfully woven, fast paced and well-structured drama in a long line of winners. With unforgettable characters and a compelling plot, Theo and Skye's story stirs the heart and rocks the soul. A master storyteller, Kate Walker has the wonderful ability to set the page afire with unpredictability and pulse pounding seduction and she proves just how good she is at it with this new book. The emotional intensity is thick and the passion literally sizzles. THE ANTONAKOS MARRIAGE is sure to be a purely delightful read for the seasoned Harlequin Presents fan and a very smart, sexy novel to everyone. ~ Leena Hyat, Senior Editor, The Best Reviews

Thank you so much Lee.




Well, as it’s a celebration day – for me this time – I think I might go mad and give away a special Blog Prize – just to see if anyone’s awake and reading this. So here’s a question

I just had the second Sicilian Brothers title accepted – but some years ago 2002/2003 to be precise, I had two other ‘Sicilian books’ published – I have a signed copy of your choice of my backlist to give away to the first four people who email me to tell me the titles of those books. Because I know all about the different time zones for some people reading this – I shall make special allowance for that.

Please put Sicilian Titles in the subject of your email so that I know which are the entries.
Good luck!