More on countries

Apparently the country counter and display I have is about to beupdated and revamped with a brand new Neo Counter with a lot more detail and bells and whistles. It is, they tell me, going to reveal not only which country my visitors come from but also which city in that country! This is going to be interesting.

It hasn't arrived yet but apprently, it won't be long - so look out for that. Meanwhile, I have a new flag on my current counter - so welcome Vietnam. Since I mentioned aiming to get to 50 countries by Christmas, suddenly I got a whole new crop of visitors - so maybe I should start aiming for 60 by the end of the year.

Writing about these countries reminds me of a comment I had on Sunday's blog about the Christmas Stocking contest. Cryna said:

Wow, Kate I just had a look at your Country counter and was surprised to
see the various countries represented...........I love the Christmas Stocking
idea, but you are right about postage costs.......Thank you for doing this for
your readers, and thank you to all the Authors who are contributing.

I think alot of people don't realise just how global a phenonmenon romance writing and publishing is but - well, you only have to look at my Neo Counter to see how many countries my visitors come from. And only this morning I spotted a book of mine has been reprinted in the 'Classics' format in Japan this month. (No I don't read Japanese but I can work out what lettering means my name and click on that to find what I have published recently.) The problem is that I don't know which book it is! I tried to copy the cover to post it on here so that we could have a mini-contest and play 'guess the title' but the copy was so blurry and nasty that I deleted it.

But if you do want to play - here's where you can find the book and if anyone gets the title right then, as and when I get the actual book or can find out which of my titles it is that's being reprinted, I'll give the first person with the right answer a prize. There's a copy of The Antonakos Marriage on the site too, but that one's not a mystery as the cover is exactly the same.

The other thing I want to repeat and re-emphasise is that my contests are as international as my readers. I put no restrictions on entries - or on the places I will send prizes to. I have sent books to Indonesia, to Germany, to Hawaii. If you check out my Contest page on my web site - which is where you'll find the details of the Christmas Stocking Contest - you'll see that one of the winners of my previous contest came from Israel. (If Judith is reading this - Hi Judith!) The only problem with prizes is that the easiest books for me to get hold of are in English - the USA, UK or Australian editions. But if I have a foreign language title and a foreign language reader and the two combine then I'll happily send them a book in their own language.

So if you're reading this and you live in any one of those 56 countries registered on my Neocounter, and you'd like to enter any of my contests - either from the Contest page on my site or through the Newsletter Group - then please go ahead. If Sid picks your name when he's choosing the winners then you will get your prize if I and the postal service have anything to do with it.

Though I have to admit that if one of the winners of the Christmas Stocking lives in Australia, I will groan - because right at this moment, the copies of Annie West's book are winging their way to me from Lake Macquarie in Australia where she lives, to be added to the booty in the stocking. If I have to post it back to Australia in December, then that is going to be one of the best travelled books in the world.

So send me an entry for the contests and Good Luck
And when I find out which book of mine has been reprinted in Japan, I'll let you know.
Oh yes- and the new counter is here!

A book avalanche

What I love about the romance writing Community is that there are so many warm people in it. And this Christmas Stocking thing just shows it. I mention that I'm running the contest and I'm deluged - no, seeing as it's Christmas and winter (well here in the UK there is the very first hard frost) - perhaps I should say I've been subjected to an avalanche of offers of books.

I could have stuffed these stockings three times over with the books I've had offered but I have to consider postage and packing here! I know some authors will only post out their prizes to readers in America or wherever, but I have always had the policy that as I have readers all over the world, I will send my prizes anywhere in the world - to wherever the winner lives. So, sadly, I can't accept every single book I've been offered or I would have to take out a second mortgage just to post the prizes out. Several of the authors who contributed to the Bag of books have offered titles this time too - but because of those postage costs I'm having to turn away - reluctantly - their contributions.

Because of this I've decided I'm going to include books and authors who weren't in the summer Bag of Books contest. This stocking will have a whole new selection of titles and authors, to introduce my readers to names and styles that might be new to them. So this time there are a whole bunch of new and newish writers whose titles are included.

Two of those are the titles illustrated here today. I'll be posting more details about each author and each book later - as it gets closer to the closing date for the Christmas Stocking Contest. But just for today, here are the covers and the titles of two more books to add to the list of prizes.

These new books are

Blind-date Marriage by Fiona Harper a brand-new Romance author
and
A Mistress For The Taking by new Modern Romance/Presents author Annie West

So keep those contest entries coming - Sid is very happy at the prospect of the numbers of crunchies he is going to have to deal with. He doesn't really want to wait until December, but I've told him those are the rules - entries close December 10th — so that I can post the prize out to the winners in time to reach them for Christmas.

And don't forget that there is the special 12 Days of Christmas Contest running for members of my Newsletter Group - so sign up for that for more chances to win (and more chances to make Sid happy!)

And talking of readers all over the world - the number on my counter has crept up again - to 55 - so welcome to my visitor from Turkey

And don't forget that my Christmas Gift poll is still open. If you haven't already voted for your choice of a real Christmas Present to those who need it most - check out the POLL - which will stay open until 1st December - and vote for your choice.

More positive journalism

Because I hate lazy and prejudiced reporting about romatic fiction writers/readers or romance writers/ romance readers (they're not quite the same thing though they do touch and blend at many points) - I'm always happy to publicise the moments when the genre gets a fair or even a positive press. There was one such article in the Bookseller/Book Standard article this week and I'm happy to be able to point you in the direction of another today.

This week the RNA held their annual winter party. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there - I've used up too much of my laughably termed 'free time' going off to teach on Writing Weekends in Wales and such and my editor is starting to twirl her whip menacingly. So Andreas and I have a long weekend ahead of us.

But back to journalists - the Winter Party was attended by journalist Danuta Kean and she reported on it in her blog. Danuta Kean is one of the few journalists who really'gets' romance/romatic fiction and whose comments are fair and backed up with plenty of knowledge, unlike others who simply perpetuate the wizened old moth eaten myths because
a. they don't take the time to check their facts
b. They know they will get a cheap laugh - and those romance writers are fair game - and too stupid to understand or mind.

So it's wonderful to read a balanced and common sense approach like this -

"Romance gets such a dirty reputation among the literati. Only science fiction gets the same treatment. It is something I have commented upon before, but I mention it now because the subject came up last night at the Romantic Novelists Association’s annual winter party. Personally I don’t care what people read, as long as they read. Each book is not just a portal to the world created by the author but to a whole universe of literature, which will hopefully lead on to a lifetime of reading - and may even develop reading habits of which literary snobs approve."

You can read the rest on Danuta's blog - it 's well worth the visit. Lots of interesting entries there.

There's also a wonderful quote by brilliant novelists Sara Craven and Jenny Haddon Chairman of the RNA (who writes as Sophie Weston for HMB)

Author Sara Craven said at a recent Romantic Novelists’ Association
meeting, “Falling in love addles your brain.” It also makes you vulnerable. The
moment you fall in love, you load a gun and hand it someone else. What’s more,
you probably don’t know them nor have any reason to trust them, certainly not
with your heart, to say nothing of your self respect

Just the sort of thing to send me back to Andreas re-inspired. Right now, he's the one holding the loaded gun but . . .

More books

Well, I told you that more titles were coming in for the Christmas Stocking stuffed with books Contest - so here are two more.

I'm thrilled to be able to say that I've managed to grab a copy of the very first books by two of the newest of the new recently-signed Mills & Boon Modern - and later in 2007 the newest Presents authors - Abby Green whose book is titled Chosen as the Frenchman's Bride, and Christina Hollis who has written The Italian Billionaire's Virgin.

These books will first be on sale in January 2007 but you can see them here - and have a chance to win them if you enter the Christmas Stocking contest on the contest page of my web site.

More news as I get it

Christmas Contest

Okay so I'm going to let myself mention the C word again. After all, it is only . . . eeek - five weeks + to the day. And, perhaps because I did some succcessful Christmas gift buying in Malvern on the way home from Wales on Monday I feel a bit more in tune with the idea that someone put Christmas Day on December 25th and didn't tell me.So today I'm announcing my big Christmas Contest - and your chance to win a

Christmas Stocking Stuffed with Books

Would you like a special romance readers’ Christmas Stocking stuffed full of books written by some of your favourite authors — or authors new to you that might become new favourites in the coming year?

That’s the prize I have on offer in my special Christmas Contest!I have two prizes of Christmas stockings stuffed full of books to give away to then winners of this contest — so far the stockings contain signed copies of:

Christmas, Kids and Kisses, the Christmas 3 in 1 By Request in which my novel The Christmas Baby’s Gift is reprinted

Accepting the Boss’s Proposal by Natasha Oakley

The Italian Doctor’s Bride by Margaret McDonagh

White-Hot by Trish Wylie

And I’m adding new titles all the time — I won’t stop till the stockings are full. Friends and fellow authors are donating books all the time, right up until the closing date. If you want to know more about the books I’m adding to the stockings, keep checking here to find out what’s happening.

So how do you win this great Christmas reading stocking?It's easy - just check out the Contest page on my web site, find the two easy trivia questions and hunt down the answers to them - the answers are on my site somewhere.

Then send your answers to me - email links are on my site too - with CHRISTMAS STOCKING CONTEST in your email subject line.

There are no runners’ up prizes in this contest.

But if you want more chances to win, then why not join my Newsletter mailing list where you will have twelve more chances to win in the 12 Days of Christmas Contest that starts in December. My newsletter members already know about this - so if like them you want to be the first to know what's happening and have chances to win the special prizes I have just for my mailing list members - then there's a link to the group in the sidebar here or you can find it on most pages on my web site.Of course Sid is looking forward to there being plenty of entries.

Good Luck!

Catching up

A couple of things happened while I was away

Firstly, that total of countries on my counter went even higher. Yesterday, I was going to say that it had gone up to 53, but then this morning I log on and there are 54 little flags all in a row.
I've checked my list and found the new ones, so my welcome goes out to the visitor from the Netherlands whose flag is the blue red and white one.

This one is from Qatar



And finally there is a really spectacular one from the Seychelles .

All the new vistors are so welcome - as are all the older ones . And I hope you'll come back often. I have some exciting news about a big new contest coming up that you might want to know about.

The other thing that happened while I was in Wales is that an interesting article about romantic fiction appeared in the Bookseller and then was picked up and reprinted in The Book Standard. Just before I left to go on the Writing Weekend, I was approached by a journalist for a comment on her questions for this article so I was delighted to find that they had quoted a couple of my replies and that it wasn't the usual lazy knocking of romantic fiction but instead a very positive piece on the way that the UK market for romantic fiction is booming. Apparently Book Marketing Ltd's Books and the Consumer 2006 report estimates that consumers purchased five million romantic fiction titles in the 52 weeks ending September 17, with a value of £21.3m.

That's a lot of books!

Naturally, as a romance writer I'm thrilled to discovered that my own publisher reports that U.K. sales for the first three quarters of 2006 are up a healthy amount on the same period last year: its series business is up 8 percent in terms of net units sold, and its M&B imprint is up 33 percent. And, almost 1.1 million copies sold of “Modern Romance,” its most popular series, in the year to date is a record well worth mentioning.

Will it stop the 'heaving bosoms', 'all the same', 'churned out' type comments? Probably not but I've already commented on the idea of 'churning out' the books, and with sales like these, I will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Finally, also while I was away, several more people voted in the important Christmas Gift Poll to help me choose what I will give to charity as a donation and a 'Christmas Card' for my readers. The top five choice still remain the same as when I posted about them here. Essential Medicines for a village is the choice that's way out in front but with safe water, mango saplings and caring for an orphan all tying in 2nd place, I am going to have to choose between them. So please help me out - if you haven't already voted for your choice of a real Christmas Present to those who need it most - check out the POLL - which will stay open until 1st December - and vote for your choice.

Thanks!

I said it was special . . .

Well, I knew that this Fishguard Writers' Weekend was special - it had that sort of atmosphere right from the start. And one of the things I forgot to mention was that the weekend gave me a chance to meet up with two cyber friends - people I had only ever really met on message boards on eHarlequin before now. That was bound to make it extra special if nothing else.

Some people have said that Fishguard, in Wales, is not the easiest of places to get to - well, neither is the Moray Coast in NE Scotland or Heptonstall W Yorks where the Arvon courses are held. And when I did the one day workshop in Kent that was not easy for me to get to! It's all relative. Students travelled the five hour trip from London, 8 + hours from Keighley West Yorks and West Kirby - and Chris one of my eHarlequin friends came from Dallas via Haverfordwest where her family live!

So it all depends what you want - and what you're prepared to put in to get it. Certainly I know I would willingly travel the 8 hour + journey again for a fun, warm and valuable couple of days like that. And obviously I'm not the only one - so the two pictures I'm posting now show that - at the top of this blog is dawn breaking over Fishguard Bay which is something I would love to see again. And the bottom picture is the beautiful bunch of flowers that arrived this morning from one happy student - thank you so much Carol! They're gorgeous.

Normal service is resumed

I'm back! Did you miss me?

I've had a wonderful, stimulating and fun time at the Fishguard Novel Writing Weekend and enjoyed every single minute of it. And there were a lot of minutes! My group were real slave drivers and they kept me talking till all hours, demanded extra time and even forced me to drink a little wine during our evening session - terrible people!

It was one of the nicest and most satisfying Writing Weekends I have ever been on. The hotel was comfortable, the staff so helpful and friendly, all the students and the other teachers ( Lesley Horton, Jane Jackson and Irene Yates ) were great to be with. Our hosts and organisers Gerry and Anne Hobbs were so warm and welcoming as usual, they alweway take such care to make sure that everyone was happy and comfortable - there are not many course/writing retreat organisers who would be still up and dressed and ready to help when a fire alarm goes off at almost 1 am. (There wasn't a fire - only someone who had decided to spray their room with air freshener - in the middle of the night!)

The food was wonderful and I discovered a fabulous caramel mousse type of pudding named Lumpy Bumpy. (Though I'm not sure if that is supposed to describe the way you end up feeling after you've eaten it. ) The BM magnetised a few more Babes, the conversation never lulled, the laughter was frequent and loud. It was a pity the numberts were small - but then that did mean that the classes got very personal attention and that Gerry and Anne were not prepared to disappoint those who had signed up by cancelling. I'm sure that everyonme there was so grateful that they didn't.

The weekend just flew by and before I had time to blink it was time to pack up and get on the road again, heading home this time. My only regrets are that I didn't get to see Fishguard itself (the BM explored and loved it) and that the beautiful bay and the sea was only something I saw from the path in front of the hotel every day - and I never got any closer because of those slave drivers in my group! And when you start with one member of the group saying at the very first session that she thought she had signed up for the wrong group, but ended up declaring that she'd had the best writing experience ever - that has to be considerered a triumph.

So my thanks toAnne and Gerry for running one of there own sdpecial brand of warm, welcoming and stimulating Writers' Events, to the staff of the Fishguard Bay Hotel who made our stay so comfortable and enjoyable, and my group - Chris, Carol, Joanna, Ann and Rachael - you were a great group to work with and I had so much fun.

I hope I get another chance to do it again.

And just a reminder to anyone interested in joining one of Anne and Gerry's writing events - check out the details of Caerleon and Fishguard on their Writers' Holidays web site. It's an experience not to be missed.

On the road again . . .

I may not be able to post for a few days as I'm off to that Writing Weekend in Wales I mentioned - so for Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will be staying here

And the view I will have will be like this . . .

Oh it's a tough job but someone has to do it

And who will I be leaving in charge while I'm away?

Who do you think ?

And make sure you come back next week when I will have all the details of my special big Christmas Contest . . .

Another new cover

My editor just sent me the artwork for the next book that's out in America - The Italian's Forced Bride - aka the book that makes people cry.Sharp eyed visitors to this blog and to Anne McAllister's blog will spot a sort of heart-shaped similarity to the cover of her next title - The Santorini Bride. That's because my book and hers are coming out in the same month - February - so the heart I'm assuming is for Valentine's Day . . .

Methinks I feel a contest coming on.Anyway, here's Domenico - and he's a lot more like my Domenico than Guido was like my Guido . . . .if you see what I mean. I tried to make the cover bigger so you could see him more clearly but Blogger says no. Not today. So maybe I'll try another time .

Medicines and Mango Trees . . .

It's getting buried in all the flags of different nations but the POLL to help me choose what special gift I will send in my readers' names courtesy of Oxfam Unwrapped is still running - so please go and vote HERE

Just to help you make up your mind - and so make up mine for me - here are the top five choices as things stand at present.

Care for an Orphan

ESSENTIAL MEDICINES FOR A WHOLE VILLAGE

Safe Water For 50 people

16 Mango Saplings to start a farm

They're all such wonderful value so why not VOTE for your choice?

I made it . . . and more . . .

Welcome El Salvador!
The 50th country on my counter.
I didn't have to wait till Christmas - I only mentioned my ambition of reaching a total of visitors from 50 different countries two days ago and today I reached that number. . .



And one more!

Luxemburg is country number 51

Hmm . . . so what shall I aim for next?

Welcome Hong Kong

So of course as soon as I tried to check it out, my Neo Counter disappeared and said it would be back in a few moments. Which gave me time to find my list of already recorded countries.

So now I've checked and the new country is Hong Kong.

I used to know a writer who lived in Hong Kong - so Rosie if that's you then Hi!

But whoever it is who visited from Hong Kong last night -Welcome!

So that's two new countries - Venezuela and Hong Kong in the last two days - I wonder where my 50th flag on my counter will come from.

Counting countries

Remember this . . . ?

I wrote my post today before I actually checked my blog - and I have a new country! Someone snuck in overnight and notched my total up by another one. The total is now 49 - just one away from the magic number!

The problem is that I have misplaced my list of the countries previously listed so i don;t know where exactly the new country is. I must find it and check it out .

To be continued . . .

5 things . . .

Liz Fielding tagged me to reveal five things that few people know about me - and I promptly forgot - so I'm catching up now . . .

1. I mouse - computer mouse that is - left handedly. There is a lefthanded gene that runs in my family - my neice is left handed, my son took a long time to finally settle on which hand to use - and I tend to use both for some things - so the mouse goes to my left which drives the BM mad when he wants to borrow my computer.

2. I once had afternoon tea with the late Irish President Eamon de Valera who was a friend of my grandfather

3. I was the May Queen's attendant in the annual Church May Procession when I was ten

4. I played 'Mrs Hitchcock' in a university production of Sergeant Musgrave's Dance by John Arden ( this was the first time that my husband ever saw me - I had grey hair and lines painted on my face)

5.I collect embroidery - mainly children's embroidered 'samplers'


A note from Sharon, the creator of People Collection (which seems to have originated this "Five Things..." list), says: PLEASE LEAVE THE FOLLOWING IN ALL ‘PEOPLE COLLECTION’ POSTS:Remember that it isn’t always the sensational stuff that writers are looking for, it can just as easily be something that you take for granted like having raised twins or knowing how to grow beetroot. Mind you, if you know how to fly a helicopter or have worked as a film extra, do feel free to let the rest of us know about it! :)


I tag -- or ask to join in should they want to - Anne McAllister and Kate Hardy if she hasn't already done it.

Introducing Guido

Busy with my current Greek hero who has decided that maybe he'll cooperate just a little bit if I'll just let him kiss the heroine - he doesn't realise that actually he's going to have a cold shower instead.

So this is just a flyby post to introduce you to my next hero in print - Guido Corsentino. I just got the hardback copies of the book so I thought you might like to see the cover.

Do I like the cover? Hmm - well, yes and no . . .

It's an attractive cover but this isn't my Guido, not as I imagined him - I had some one more like this in mind

(My thanks to Margaret McDonagh who introduced me to the inspiration that is Iker Casillas. He may be Spanish but he seems to double up nicely as an Italian in her Italian Doctor's Bride - or a Sicilian in Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride.)

The other problem with this cover is that it makes it look as if Signor Corsentino is at a wedding - which is right - but it makes him look as if he's at his wedding - which he's not.

Most definitely not.

If you read the post on the First Page Challenge then you'll have some idea about the mod Guido's in when he appears at this wedding - and the way he feels about it. And he's supposed to be dressed totally in black . . . But that's cover art for you.

On another topic briefly, thank you to everyone who has voted in my What to Spend the Christmas Card Money on Poll. So far the majority of votes are for Essential Medicines, followed by Caring for an Orphan or Safe Water for 50 people - whiihc is just about the way I would have gone myself. The medicines are impportant but, as Sharon pointed out, not much use if you don't have the clean water to wash them down with.

But the poll is still open - so if you haven't voted on what valuable gift I give as your Christmas Card then please go HERE and do so.

And I'll go back to Andreas and disappoint him - and get him into that shower.

Maps and Counters and Ambitions

As I'm sure you've noticed, I have a clustrmap and a Neocounter on this blog. I love to see where my visitors - and so, I'm assuming, my readers, come from. One of the great things about being a romance writer with Harlequin Mills & Boon is the way that books by their authors - mine included - reach out across the world to readers just about everywhere. You only have to look at my Neocounter to see that - or take a look at the covers of the books that arrived yesterday from Russia (left ) and Germany (right)

Both of these are translations of The Antonakos Marriage - the Russian one is almost exactly the same as the UK and USA ones (see sidebar) but they have doctored it slightly so thatSkye has brighter red hair.

So the worldwide popularity of romances is obvious. And I love seeing where my readers live in the same way as I love hearing from them. I'm fascinated by the way that the list of countries grows - and the red dots appear on the map - with every day that passes.

A few weeks ago, I watched the Neo counter total of coutries move from 30+ to 40 - and more - so now I have this ambition to reach 50 different countries before the end of the year. 50 countries in the year that I reached my 50th title seemed like a good target to me! Yesterday I added a new country and the counter went from 47 to 48. That country was Venezuela - and my visitor was Julia. I know because she wrote to me. Julia has been on my Newsletter list for a while but this was the first time she visited my blog.

So welcome Julia! And thank you for taking my total number of countries one stage closer to that total of 50

And now I'm looking for two more visitors from countries that have never been recorded on the counter before and will take me from 48 to 50. I have my fingers crossed that I'll make it.I have the list as it stands now so that i can see where the new visitor comes from if that total changes.

And if you do visit here from somewhere that isn't already recorded on that counter, please let me know.

No comment . . .

Blogger seemed to throw a hissy fit yesterday and whenever I tried to publish the comments that some of you had posted on the Christmas Poll it sternly announced that ' an error has occured and we are unable to complete your request'

That happened with every comment. Still happens this morning even though I've managed to publish the new comments without a problem - so Anna Lucia, Liz Fielding, Joan and Jennifer Y, I've collected up your comments and added them in a post myself - and Blogger was happy with that.

So that's sorted the problem

And thank you for visiting and commenting - and thank you specially for voting in the Christmas 'Card' Poll. I hope visitors will continue to post their votes HERE

Christmas Card Poll

So I'm going to mention the C word again.

A couple of years ago, I sent out Christmas cards to as many of my readers as I could - I loved doing it - it was a way of thanking people who had bought copies of my books and the many who had told me they had enjoyed them. But then last year I looked at my Christmas Card fund and thought that I could do something really useful with it.

So instead of cards, I bought gifts in my readers' names - wonderful gifts like the cost of cataract operations for children who would otherwise not be able to see. 3 children benefitted from that - I posted pictures of them in March this year.

So this year I'm going to do that again, but this time I'd like you all to be involved. After all, without my readers who buy my books, I wouldn't be able to afford to do this so much. So I've tried to set up a poll of possible gifts (source from Oxfam Unwrapped) and I'd like you to help me choose what I'm going to give this year. (if the poll is a bit messy - it's the first one I've ever done so I hope it works!)

These gifts aren't mutually exclusive. After all, those 100 school dinners cost only £6!! So vote for your choice and I'll send as many gifts as I can from the Card Fund

So what would you like me to send in your name

Important - okay, it seems that this poll doesn't work - so use it to view your choices and then click here to go to the version that does!

Christmas Gift Poll

Which gift would you like me to send?

Safe Water for 50 people A lovely loo (a safe toilet) 16 Mango saplings to start a mango farm An emergency shelter for one family Kit out a teacher - from teaching guides to blackboards 100 school dinners Train a health worker Water a farm for six months Care for an orphan Essential medicines for a village

View Result

Free Web Polls

New Blog on the Block

And talking of Contests - I want to mention My Tote Bag.
And a very special friend of mine - Leena Hyat.

Years ago - 8? 9? - when I first launched my personal web site, I had a guestbook on there - and the very first person ever to sign it was a lovely lady called Leena Hyat. She thrilled me because someone had actually found my site and taken the time and trouble to sign my guestbook - and tell me how much she loved my books (this lady could do no wrong!) And apparently I thrilled her because she was looking for Authors' web site - and believe it or not, very few of us had sites in those days - and she was delighted to find mine because yes she did love Presents books and she'd always enjoyed mine. A lady of great taste obviously.

At that time, Lee worked with Heart Rate Reviews and she had written some wonderful, more than complimentary reviews of my books for that and all the other sites she has worked on. We've stayed friends since then and I've 'followed' her from HeartRate to all the other sites she's worked on. Well, Lee shares my mother's birthday so there must be something in the stars that said we'd become close. In the beginning, Lee had also started Lee's Goodie Room where - well let me tell this in Lee's own words -

it all started like this.... I've been addicted to reading novels since I was in
my teens and love to discover new authors. I also love to collect goodies from
authors ~ whether it's an autographed coverflat, bookplate, a bookmark or
something fancy like a coffee mug or mouse pad. I got the idea for the Goodie
Room when I found myself sending out SASEs to dozens of authors each month for
an autographed coverflat or bookmarks etc. I imagined how nice it would be to
just send out one SASE and get back cool promotional material from 20 - 30
different authors at one time. I found other people who liked the idea too
because we could all discover new authors we'd never read before. Anyway, to cut
it short, an idea was born.

Lee's Goodie room has had various incarnations on various sites, but now she has started up her own site and the Goodie Room has a permanent place on it.

That's not the only thing that you'll find on My Tote Bag. If you love reading romance and want to find out more about the books, the authors, and the world behind the books - then My Tote Bag is a site you just have to visit and keep going back to. If you want up to date news, interviews, books reviews - details of awards, booksignings, this is the place to visit - and keep on visiting.

And Contests - there are contests too with great prizes. I know because right now Leena is running a special contest to win books by the brilliant Michelle Reid and some other author called Kate Walker.
Contest Deadline: November 30th, '06.

Prize: A Kate Walker totebag and the following six titles ~
THE SICILIAN'S WIFE - Kate Walker
THEIR SECRET BABY - Kate Walker
DESERT AFFAIR - Kate Walker
A SICILIAN SEDUCTION - Michelle Reid
THE BRAZILIAN'S BLACKMAILED BRIDE - Michelle Reid
THE ITALIAN'S REVENGE - Michelle Reid



That's quite a prize - even if I do say so myself. So if you're interested take a look over on the My Tote Bag Contest Page .

And while you're there why not check out the other interesting things Leena has on the site - everything a romance reader could want. There's also a brand new Blog - Tote Bags and Blogs - where you can find some of your favourite authors chatting about what they're reading, what they're doing - and what's going on in their lives generally. Right now there are blogs bySusanna Carr, Susan Stephens, Sandra Marton, Trish Morey - and that Kate Walker woman again.

So why not add My Tote Bag to your list of favourite sites and bookmark it so that you can pay a visit often? You won't be disappointed.

Successful Scanning and Stuff

I've got a new scanner! Well - I've got one of those wonderful print, scan, photocopy all- in - one machines - and it's brilliant.

My equally brilliant computer hero, Andy the PC Doctor, tells me that the problem was that older scanners never had the drivers to work with Windows XP and that's why I wasn't getting decent results. Now I am - and, even more wonderful, Blogger is cooperating too and letting me upload pix - so let me give you some decent versions of scans that didn't work.

Starting with Simona -

Here's the cover of the original book. With Michele there in the centre in red. Looking definitely the hero - and looking not at all 14!!

I've also added this cover where I originally planned it to be - in the post More on The Hero Jigsaw



And here is a decent scan of the picture that was in Once Upopn a Time . . .Going Back to The Beginning - the Portrait of the Artist as a Young Author. And now that you can see this clearly, you can also see that - just like Michele - I don't look 14 but in the opposite way!
The extra wonderful thing about this new machine is that it now means I can rescue vulnerable and elderly photographs, making scans of ones that the family only has a single, fragile copy of and reprinting them as crisp, strong photos again. Which has given me a great idea for a Christmas present for my MIL. Now all I have to do is to deputise the BM to get hold of the originals and find a really nice album . . . .

Right, now it's time to look at the TBD list again

1. Write Greek book
2. Scan and copy photos (see above) and put in album for MIL
3. Write Greek book
4. Plan and put up details of my Christmas Competition (yes - I said that C word)
5. Write Greek book
6. Plan Romance writing course for Writing Weekend in Wales
7. Write Greek book
8. Plan and set up a blog poll so you can decide what Goood Gifts I'm giving as your Christmas Cards this year
9. Write Greek book
10. Find the pic of Uffa the baby Guide Dog and rescan that so that you can see more clearly just how terminally cute he is
11. Write Greek book.
12. Get back on track with the story of the Kate Walker hero before Anne McAllister demands to know what the blank blank blank happened to Jess.
13. Write the Greek Book

Though of course if I spoke to my editor, that list would read:

1. Write the Greek book
2. Write the Greek book
3. Write the Greek book

She cracks her whip ever so nicely, The Editor -she even makes me feel that it's my fault she wants to crack it at all because I write books she want to read so much . . . Now that's a clever editor.

But she's also one of the reasons why the Crows of Doubt come circling - because I never want to disappoint her - just as I never want to disappoint my readers - which is why those C of D never ever go away, even when you've written dozens of titles.

So - today's plan is - Write the Greek book.

Churning out books

It’s November? Really? Are you sure?How did that happen? I’m sure it was just New Year – summer at the very least. And then I wake up this morning and Halloween is over – and it’s November.

Help!

I have this dreadful feeling of going down for the third time right now – one of those TBD (To Be Done) list that never ever seems to get any shorter, only longer, a book that has the Crows of Doubt circling around my head, cawing and gloating – they told me that one day I would be Found Out as the Pretender I am and that Kate Walker the writer is really someone else – which is just what I need with the writing weekend in Wales coming up fast . . . . A newly published author asked me on the other week whether established authors – she kindly termed me a ‘best-seller’ still get assailed by the Crows of Doubt, the dreadful ‘this sucks’ feeling. Are you kidding? I think that’s part of being a writer. If it doesn’t happen at least once in a book then - well, this might sound contrary – but if it doesn’t happen then I worry. I’ve learned not to really trust the books that ‘write themselves’. They can be too self-indulgent. To keep that edge on your work, a writer needs to avoid complacency, that feeling of ‘Oh I can do this, no problem.’

One of the things I hate most about other people who comment on the fact that I write romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon is when those ignorant ones – the ones who know nothing about what it takes to write a book – the ones who see the uniform style covers lined up on the shelves and think they all have uniform contents - the ones who never bother to look inside. – when they say ‘Oh are you still churning out those ‘little love-books?’ It makes it sound like a mindless, non stop process, one that needs no skill or even attention.

But perhaps they’re right – churning, the technique of making butter from milk is not the simple process it seems. Certainly not if you want to do it the old-fashioned, by hand – the skilful way. Take a look at this:

Making Butter - the old fashioned way - Recipe instructions by Rose Adamson (born 1914)

Hmm –
Writing – the Butter Making Way –


Butter making
Step 1: Collecting the cream: You must first get the cream. You do this by letting the raw whole milk sit for several hours. The cream will naturally float to the top. You can skim this off the top of the milk.

Writing - recipe by Kate Walker Born 19summat
Collecting the idea: You must first get an idea. You do this by letting your brain just sit for several hours – days - weeks. The idea will eventually float to the top, or you may have to dig around for a bit.

Step 2: Souring the cream: As you can imagine, our cream was already quite sour after a week of gathering the cream in a root cellar that didn't get any colder than 60 degrees F. If it was in the Winter and the cream hadn't soured, we brought it in the house and set it on the counter for 24 hours so it could begin to sour.

Writing: letting the idea grow and develop. This can happen naturally if you have time or you may have, as the butter makers did, bring it into the ‘warmth’ to try to make it develop faster – brainstorming, debate – even a little wine might help at this stage

Step 3: Get the cream temperature right: The butter will not separate from the cream if it is too hot or too cold

Writing – start in the right place. The book will not grow in the right way if you open it too early, or too late - too hot or too cold.

Step 4: Churn your cream: Put the cream in a butter churn. Do not fill it over half full. . Depending on conditions it could take you from 1/2 hour to forever! When one hand gets tired, switch! A different feel is one of the indications that it is getting done. It got thicker, then shortly thereafter the butter separated out. You can also take a look inside and see what progress you are making

Writing – write the damn thing. This is the process known as BICHOK (bum in chair – Hands on keyboard) and yes, depending on conditions, this can take from days to forever

Step 5: Separate the butter from the buttermilk. Carefully scoop the floating butter off the top of the buttermilk and place it in a bowl.

Writing separate the pages/scenes/dialogue that actually tell the story from the ‘deathless prose’ where your Muse ran wild but never really said anything. As Jennifer Cruisie says – how many of your darlings are you prepared to murder to get it right.

Step 6: Remove all the remaining buttermilk from the butter: As the buttermilk comes to the surface pour it out of the bowl.

Writing – look at what you’re left with when you’ve pruned the book down to the real core – the butter – realise you can do something with this after all. Make sure each scene moves the plot along, that the dialogue does too.

Step 7: Wash the butter. Note: It is important to work all the buttermilk out of the butter as it will go rancid if you don't.

Writing - edit - polish – rewrite, rework. Tighten any sagging middle. If necessary rearrange scenes so that the development of the relationship works best. It is important to work all the scenes that say nothing out of the book as it will become heavy and boring if you don't.

Step 8: Add salt: Sprinkle in 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of butter and mix it in. Then taste it. If it is too salty for your taste, you can put in more cold water and work it through the butter as you did before. The salt will gradually migrate into the water.

Writing - If you’re lucky enough to have an editor their objective eye can be very helpful at this stage of things. She will show you where you need a little more tension – or less - where you need to ‘tweak ‘ the amount of plot/conflict/emotion/seasoning – and like the butter making process she will just say ‘it’s too salty’ – it’s up to you, the author, to ‘work it through’ until it tastes just right.

Step 9: Put in molds: Butter molds have false bottoms for pushing the molded butter out of the mold. Pack the butter into the mold, being sure to get rid of any air bubbles.

Writing – Print out a final copy – making sure the word count is correct and all the pages are in the right order.

Deliver the product to the market!

Hmm - yes, well maybe I won’t object to that ‘churning’ phrase any more. It appplies more to what writers do than the commentators mean- it just shows that they don;t understand the process of making good butter either!

First Page Challenge

In a pause from looking at my heroes, I was interested in this First Page Challenge so I thought I'd join in.
Over on her blog, Julie Cohen has been talking about the way that she sets up a book from the very beginning - setting up character and conflict and starting to show the characters and the problems they face in the first sentences, the paragraphs of the story itself. She challenged other writers to do the same.

So here are a couple of examples from my most recent book - and the one coming up in March 2007
From At The Sheikh's Command

IT was the outriders that Abbie saw first. Big powerful men on big powerful motorbikes, engines purring, chrome and black gleaming in the sunlight. In spite of the heat, their muscled bodies were encased snugly in supple black leather, their heads concealed in helmets. A sense of threat and invasion – those big powerful men coming into what has been Abbie’s calm quiet world. But then of course these men were the bodyguards of a man who ruled a country far away. A desert country where the sun beat down day after day, building to temperatures far higher than the moderate heat of an English summer’s afternoon. The ‘invaders’ come from a very different country, far away - in distance, temperature, and culture.

The man who was in the car behind them. This is the man who has the real power. The one who is really going to invade her life.

The convoy swept down the drive in a roar of engines, swirling to a halt outside the main door and waiting, bodyguards sitting taut and tense on their machines, unseen eyes clearly darting everywhere, watching, observing. Their job was to protect the occupant of the vehicle that followed them. That big, sleek car, with smoked glass windows behind which she could just detect the form of Sheikh Malik bin Rashid Al’Qaim. The car also had a small flag on the bonnet. The first sight of Malik is mysterious and behind smoked glass, because the family – and most particularly Abbie – don’t really know the truth about him.

The flag of Barakhara. The name of the country will be very important later.

Abbie drew in a deep breath and felt it tremble all the way into her lungs.So he was here. It was really happening. This was not a dream. It was absolutely, totally real. And that reality turned it into the biggest nightmare she had ever known. Her grey eyes blurred briefly with tears and she blinked them away hurriedly, pushing trembling hands over the blonde smoothness of her hair as she fought for control. Building a physical impression of Abbie to make her seem real and 'solid' to the reader at the same time as showing by her emotional reaction just how this is so very important to her personally. She is already frightened and worried.

From Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Wife
(This book has two 'beginnings' - one a prologue that gives a glimpse of events a year before - and the real Chapter One opening that starts the main story in the present day.)

IT was the perfect day for a wedding. The sun was shining, with the promise of heat later in the day, but it was still early so that the slight coolness of the dawn still lingered. Opening the story with ‘the perfect day’ means that obviously something is going to go wrong. The day is just beginning – a lot can happen – and there is ‘the promise of heat’.

At home in England the early flowers of spring would be blooming purple and gold, and white. In the trees, newly covered in soft green foliage, but here there was only the city streets and the high, high building where the glass of thousands of windows glinted in the morning sun. This wedding is taking place somewhere away from the bride’s home, out of her normal environment.

But she didn’t miss the green and the flowers, and colours of home, not for a second. She’d found a new home. She wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here, right now, in this perfect moment. Why is she there and why is she marrying so far from home?She has left all that behind, physically, mentally, emotionally, because she is embarking on a new life. But has she left behind what is safe and secure?

Because today was going to be perfect, no matter what the weather – or anything else was like. And she was totally, perfectly happy. She couldn’t possibly find any space in her heart for any more joy or delight. She’s so happy – but this hints that perhaps she’s ‘protesting too much’ – that she’s reassuring herself that it will be perfect. That she will be happy. Underneath this there is an edge of insecurity.

Today she was marrying the perfect man, the most wonderful man in the world. But is he ? Again, more reassurance that this is going to be perfect - which builds up the suspicion that it just won't be.

This Prologue is echoed at the start of Chapter One - 7 pages later when the present day part of the book actually begins like this:

IT was the perfect day for a wedding. The sun was shining, the breeze was warm and soft, and all along the edges of the gravel path that led from the carved wooden lychgate to the metal-studded door of the little village church, the early flowers of spring were blooming purple and gold, and white. In the trees, newly covered in soft green foliage, even the birds were chirping softly to each other.

It was the perfect day and the perfect setting for an elegant English county wedding.

But in Guido Corsentino’s mind, nothing could be perfect about the wedding towards which was heading, his long, savage strides covering the ground with furious speed. And the mood that gripped him was far from idyllic; totally at odds with the bright sunlight of the day, the relaxed and smiling attitude of the crowd that had filled in the narrow country lane.


An interesting exercise - thanks Julie!

More on the Hero Jigsaw - Simona's Jewel

When I was first asked to write my author biography for the eHarlequin web site, I was asked to list 6 favourite books. 6! Impossible. That’s like asking me to choose my favourite child (If I had more than one!)

But I managed it – though I cheated – I included all the Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles. There are 6 huge books but they’re one ongoing story about one man – so that’s one book isn’t it? A huge one, but one book.

But there was one book I knew I just had to include. When I filled in the profile form, I had a problem in that I couldn’t even remember the name of the author, I had read this book so long ago. And read it several dozen times. But the author’s name eluded me. I remembered the title all right – and exactly what the cover looked like. I even remembered some of the illustrations in the novel. (Later I was amazed to discover just how well I remembered them). And I had to include it in my favourite books as a romance writer. So Simona’s Jewel was all I could include.

This was before I had the internet and knew how to hunt things down. When I learned about search engines and such, I was able to put Simona’s Jewel into Google and come up with the author’s name – Marjorie Phillips. From that point I haunted Bookfinder, and every time the BM needed some musty old tome – which was pretty often – I would hopefully put the precious words ‘Simona’s Jewel’ in there. And every time I did, it came up ‘no match found.’
Until one day last year when a wonderful little bookshop in Scotland announced that it had one copy.

It was quite scary receiving the parcel – would the book be as good as I remembered it? The weird thing was how well I recalled the details – lines of dialogue, exact scenes - and the black and white line drawings. I read it as soon as I had it in my hands and I was taken back all those years to when I first discovered it on the shelves of my local library. There was pretty little Simona, and her scheming father living in some imaginary mediaeval Italianate country of Valerno. There too were handsome, brave, courteous Ricciardo and Niccolo, the knights sent to protect Simona on her way to her betrothal to the son of the Duke of Monte Fiore.

But more important – there was ‘fierce young page’ Michele. He was dark and difficult and from the very first introduction he is ‘clenching his teeth, it seemed, upon some emotion’. Do you see the pattern here? Ricciardo and Niccolo are tall handsome, courteous, courageous . . . but they are Guy – or Julian from The Famous Five – all over again. Michele was dark, enigmatic – ambiguous. He is broodingly silent, abrupt, often irritable and seemingly arrogant and he was the one who grabbed my childhood imagination and held it. So much so that it was a little disconcerting to discover when I reread the book as an adult that Michele is – eek – only 14 - while R & N are ‘at least nineteen years of age!’

As the story progresses, Simona and her escort are under attack, imprisoned and then Michele shows his true colours. He rescues her, protects her even when they are shipwrecked on a small island and he is hurt himself and finally he brings her safely to the kingdom of Monte Fiore where he is revealed as – of course – the young Duke she is supposed to marry. He shows his other caring side when the news comes that Simona’s father has been killed in battle. His sense of honour and his growing feelings for Simona drive him to defy his uncles when they threaten to set aside his betrothal to her now that her father is dead and he risks real trouble by doing so. But he is also fully prepared to admit his mistakes in behaving too arrogantly both to Simona and to his father when the Duke returns home too.

A perfect alpha hero – and all at fourteen years of age!

So here’s another piece in the jigsaw of my developing hero. Forget the handsome, calm, too good to be true Guys and Julians – even a passing flirtation with Ricciardo didn’t last. I wanted the dark, difficult and enigmatic Michele, Heathcliff (at this stage I only knew the beginning of the Wuthering Heights story) – and that was the sort of character I created in my own It Was All Through Diamond as Paul, the dark haired, rough-edged, difficult to get to know, gipsy boy – who might have been the one who’d stolen Diamond – but of course in the end had not.

(Another personal link here – another alpha male in my own life is my son - The Offspring. And what is The Offspring’s name? Paul of course. I know a potential hero when I see one, even when he’s only 3 minutes old .)

Funnily enough some years ago a reader from Australia wrote to me and said that she’d read my Author profile – and she just had to write because she had adored Simona’s Jewel too. I wish I still had her email because I just spotted that Bookfinder has another copy of the book for sale this week – only the third copy I’ve ever seen. After I bought mine there was a second one and that was snapped up before I could blink. So somewhere in the country there’s another Marjorie Phillips fan. Or maybe it’s the lady from Australia. I hope so.

Marjorie Phillips also wrote some fantasy stories – Annabel and Briony has been reprinted but not the others. I was never caught up in the fantasy books – but if anyone ever spots a book by MP with the title Two of Red and Two of Blue – please let me know. It’s no Simona’s Jewel but I’d still love to reread that one too.


PS I do have a scan of the cover of my copy of Simona - but Blogger is not happy about accepting pictures today so I'll post that when I can.

Migraines, books - and upcoming books

This was the lost weekend. Every now and then I have one - a weekend lost to a migraine that makes life as I know it impossible. So the last couple of posts have been quick cut & paste jobs from notes/details I already had.

The only good thing to say about the migraine is that while I couldn't work on the screen I had a chance to read a couple of books - in snatches. It takes a good book to cope with the 'in snatches' part of that sentence so I was glad that the snatched books stood up to the test. Both were by authors 'down under'.

I met Trish Morey in New York when she had just had her very first Modern/Presents title accepted and we had a wonderful time together, including a dinner for all M&B authors when an awful amount of red wine got spilled on the (formerly) prisitine white starched linen table cloths. I must point out that I was totally innocent - I only ever drink white wine (for reasons - see the 'lost weekend' comment) - and so was Trish but it was one of those laughhter filled events that makes you friends very fast.

I've been reading Trish's books ever since and watching her grow as a writer, and I felt that her latest - A Virgin For The Taking - was one of her strongest books yet. Great stuff Trish - even in snatches.

One of the established Presents autors I have always really admired and read for pleasure has been Susan Napier. Sadly family circumstances meant that she had not been able to write for some time, but when I met her in new Zealand a couple of years ago I was thrilled to learn she had a new book scheduled, and more to follow. Mistress For A Weekend marked her return to the Presents/Modern line up and she has another title out in January. Welcome back Susan - I'm so looking forward to reading you again.

Before the migraine hit, I was talking to my lovely editor last week and discovered to my delight that I have plenty of publication dates lined up for the near future - so I thought I'd post advance details:

The Italian's Forced Bride - Presents February 2007
(This book has already been out in UK and Australia)


The Sicilian Brothers duo:

Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride
UK M&B Modern Romance March 2007
Harlequin Presents - April
And probably M&B Sexy in Australia in April too

The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge - my 50th title
UK M&B Modern Romance June 2007
Australia M&B Sexy - probably in July
Presents - tba - but coming up soon


I will, of course, be celebrating that 50th in June next year - so watch out for that.

In the meantime, I have a Greek who was already causing trouble before I had to abandon him this weekend, so now I have to go back and try and sort him out.

And I hope to get back to more on how I came to write the sort of heroes I do - just as soon as I catch up elsewhwere.

It was a dark and stormy night . . .

I feel I should be writng about cake. Both Anne McAllister and Julie Cohen have been blogging about cakes of different sorts - but I don't have birthdays or other exciting events coming up - so I' m continuing with thoughts on how I came to be the writer I am.

One of the reasons why I’m making this trip down memory lane, which started when I had my 50th title accepted – a good place to look back from - is that fact that it shows me why I write the sort of heroes I do . And that started me thinking about the reasons why we write what we do – and why certain authors write for the lines they do. So of course the books that we read influence us in that way too.

As my father was a doctor – a GP in a Yorkshire town – and two of my sisters trained as radiographers taking Xrays, and another sister (yes there are five of us!) is a Medical Secretary , you might have thought that I would be a natural for writing the Medical line myself. I learned a lot about my father’s job, heard him talk about it a lot, the same with my sisters – and I know a lot of basic medical facts. (Too many some of the doctors I’ve seen will say – there’s only one patient worse than an actual doctor and that’s a doctor’s wife or child!). But no, Medicals never ‘called’ to me. Perhaps I saw too much of the reality of the stresses of a GP’s life.

It’s the same with Historicals – I love historical novels. One of my favourite ever authors is Dorothy Dunnett who wrote long, complex, emotional historical novels and created two of the most brilliant heroes ever in Francis Crawford and Nicholas de Fleury. I once flirted with a historical story – it’s still there in one of the many notebooks I have stored away – but again it didn’t ‘grab’ me. I felt slightly distanced from my characters. The need to get the research right – to make sure the historical details were right came between me and my personal creativity.

Which left the contemporary series. In the UK, these were the Modern and the Tender books. At this stage, there wasn’t anything like the amount of information about the American lines that there is now. So I never considered Intrigue or Intimate Moments or anything else. Contemporary romances suited me down to the ground – I could write about relationships and the problems that develop in them. A special friend, the brilliant writer Michelle Reid always says she doesn’t write Romances she writes relationship stories and I totally agree with her. The word ‘Romance’ conjures up so many clichéd images – hearts and flowers, chocolates, Valentines, Barbara Cartland and a ‘pink and fluffy’ stereotype that true romance readers know just isn’t the case.

Relationships – yes – I could write about those. And contemporary relationships meant that I could involve myself in all the problems and conflicts that beset even the greatest lovers at some points. But would it be Romance (Harlequin Romance) or Modern (Harlequin Presents) that would bring out the best writer in me? At the beginning there wasn’t any real need to choose – when I started writing, the books weren’t split into different lines in the UK as they are in America. I wrote as my characters demanded - some stories were more intense than others. And that’s why some of my earlier books appear in different lines - Some went into Romance in America; some went into Presents. And when the time came that Editorial in UK decided to split the lines here too, then there was some debate as to which line I would be best suited to.

But I had no doubt. I knew that my characters – because I am a totally character driven writer – would best suit one line. How did I know? One word – intensity. No matter what is happening, my characters, my hero and heroine, always get very very intense about things. In the early days I’d try to get them to lighten up. I’ve always admired the writing of authors like Liz Fielding or Marion Lennox. Authors who have a lightness of touch, (that doesn’t mean that their stories aren’t deep or emotional – I’m talking about writing styles here) I love reading the flashes of humour and envied the skill that created them – adding to rather than reducing the emotional punch as a result. But the one time I thought I’d tried to put anything like that into my own work it died a miserable death. I never tried again.

Instead I concentrated on what I wanted to write most. I created heroes and heroines who took everything so much to heart. Who felt so strongly, loved so deeply, and - yes – argued so ferociously – they could only ever fit into a Modern/Presents novel.

When I was thinking about this, I remembered one afternoon – a long time ago when I was at Junior School – I was about 10, I think. That afternoon there was a huge, violent storm and all the lights in the school went off so that we were sitting there in the dark. I love storms – love the vividness and the drama of them – the crashes and flashes, the downpours and the hailstones – but some of the other children were terrified. To distract them , our teacher, whose name was Mr Grogan, started to tell us a story. He held us spellbound, weaving a tale of a wild moorland farm, a mysterious gipsy boy, rescued from begging in Liverpool and brought to the house. It was a tale of intense passions, of fierce wild love and equally fierce hate. Perhaps some parents might have thought it wasn’t quite suitable for children of 11 or so – but I loved it. I just wanted the story to go on and on and on. But the storm ended, the weather improved, the lights came back on and we went back to the maths lesson that had been so wonderfully interrupted. I hated leaving the story where it had been broken off. I wanted to know what happened next. It took a long time before I realised that that story had not come from my teacher’s imagination but from the mind of a brilliant, unique female novelist. When I discovered that it was in fact Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, I snatched at the book , desperate to know how the story ended.

As a writer, I’ve always wanted to have that same sort of effect on my readers – not that I’m claiming that my novels are classics like Wuthering Heights – but I want to grab my readers in the way that story grabbed me. I want them to be as keen as I was to know what happens, what came next, how things were resolved between these characters. And of course there’s the dark, brooding, potentially dangerous hero who has always fired my imagination too.

Part of the writer I am now was formed on that afternoon. I often wonder if Mr Grogan is still alive and what he’d think if he realised how important a part he played in my development into the writer I am today.

And when I look back, I always think that the storm too – all those flashes and bangs and drama – are something of a symbol for the books I still love to write – and read.

I sometimes think that, like Snoopy always does in the Peanuts cartoons, I should begin one of my books with the line : 'It was a dark and stormy night . . .'

Writing Weekend in Wales - a reminder

There are just a couple of weeks left before I teach the course on Contemporary Romance in Wales and I believe there are some places left on the course - so I thought I'd remind you about this Writing Weekend while there's still time for you to think about coming and to join me if you want.

RESIDENTIAL NOVEL WRITING WEEKEND
I will be running a Weekend Course on The Contemporary Romance at this event.

DATE: Friday 10th - Sunday 12th November 2006

PLACE: The Fishguard Bay Hotel, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire Wales

COST: £199 fully inclusive

This weekend is run by the wonderful Writers Holiday — the people who run a full week Writers' Holiday in Caerleon in the summer. This Winter Novel Workshop is held at the Fishguard Bay Hotel.Nestling in rich woodland above Fishguard Harbour and overlooking some of the most beautiful and spectacular coastline in Wales, guests can view Lower Town in the distance across the Bay the setting for Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, when stars Glynis Johns, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole and many others were in residence. The Hotel was also the base for the filming of Moby Dick. In 1979 the former Great Western Railway Hotel was designated as a Building of Historic and Architectural Interest.

The hotel offers an atmosphere second to none with oak panelled walls, high ceilings and an air of Victorian splendour combined with warm hospitality, superb service and every comfort. Writers' Holiday invite you to join us for the first of what we hope will be annual 'Writers' Winter Warmer Weekends'.

The weekend opens on the Friday evening with a leisurely dinner followed by a short Meet the Workshop Leaders session — the rest of the event will consist of six Workshop sessions and time for informal chats in the luxurious lounge.

Single, double or twin roomed accommodation is available so you can bring your partner. All meals are provided plus tea and coffee. The only other money you will need will be to buy a drink in the bar or purchase a book in the Bookroom.

Courses this time are

The Historical Novel

The Crime Novel

Contemporary Romance

Writing Novels for Children

Further details and booking forms can be found here. All guests booking in the next four weeks will receive £10 discount and if they can introduce someone else (who will also receive the £10 discount) they will get an additional £10 discount for anyone - and everyone - booking and quoting their name as the introductory contact

Maybe I'll see you there?

The beast in the cave

Over on the Pink Heart Society blog they have pics of the 'writing caves' of several author members of the PHS. Everyone seems to know which is mine in spite of the fact that the room looks wonderfully, surprisingly (and rarely) tidy.

It is also missing its most important occupant - The Cat. ACOSB or The Cat Who
must Not Be Named. This does reduce the familiarity of the scene - so much so that the BM, when shown it, did not immediately recognise it.

It's the settee that does it. It creates quite the wrong impression. It is too tidy, too neat, too empty. That settee should have a occupant - one who, if not snoozing on my window sill, or curled around my key board, is usually to be found sleeping somewhere else. On the settee.
So here is a photo of things looking much more like the reality. Much more like that settee is part of my cave - with the VIP (Very Important Pusscat) in situ.

It Was All Through Diamond

So what was I writing? Anne McAllister hopes it was about a hero called Andreas –but unfortunately not. The story I was writing was called - like this post - It Was All Through Diamond.

At the time I was addicted to the books of Lorna Hill. Not the ballet books - the ones I loved were the books gathered together under the collective title of the Patience books and the Marjorie books – they had horses in them for a start. And they had Guy. Guy Charlton. I was very much in love with Guy. So much so that I named a character in my own story after him. Only my Guy was Guy Laurence.

My ‘book’ was very derivative – based so much on my own childhood reading. If you look carefully at the list of ‘Patience’ books, you’ll see that even the title is not really my own – right there in the list of Lorna Hill books is one called It was All Through Patience - and no I did not read it in the year it was first published (1952)! The children in Lorna Hill's books rode horses and they went on camping holidays – and the children in my story rode horses and were on a camping holiday – neither of which were things that I’d actually ever done.

Write about what you know? Nah! Not me – not then.

So the very first lines of the very first ‘book’ (it’s all of 45 pages long) are these:

CHAPTER ONE

Diamond was lost, there was no doubt about it. We had left her in the meadow only ten minutes ago, but now she had vanished.

Perhaps I’d better explain. My name is Bettina Powell, Betsy to my friends. My twin brother, Steve and I, my friend Judith Grey and Steve’s friend Guy Laurence were on a camping holiday together when we discovered that Diamond had disappeared. Diamond is Judith’s mare.

See – (putting my creative writing tutor hat on here ) even then I had some idea. Grab ’em in the opening lines, or at the very least, the opening pages. These days I might start with a sheikh’s arrival in a big, sleek car, with outriders, bodyguards, on powerful motor bikes riding beside him (At The Sheikh’s Command) , or a dark, devastating Sicilian marching into a church at a wedding and declaring . . . (no – sorry - you’ll have to wait for that it’s in the next book Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride). In those days, it was a missing pony – but the technique’s the same.

Interesting editing point – at some point later, I must have gone back to revise this masterpiece. In pencil I’ve scribbled the ages of each of my characters. So the additions say that the narrator, Bettina and her twin Steve are 14, Judith is 13, and Guy is a mature 15. So even then, my heroes were the ‘older man’! Isn’t is an intriguing - and slightly spooky - point too that my other male character here is called Steve, the name of the BM, my real life hero. Premonition? (Insert X files music here) Or just coincidence. This personal link continues with another detail, another important character who appears later on. But I’ll come to that soon.

So – It Was All Through Diamond (paying homage to Lorna Hill) is the first piece of my writing I have a hard copy of. And for me, as the writer I am now, the really interesting thing about it, is how quickly I became fickle, and abandoned poor Guy. Guy was supposed to be the hero, but he didn’t stay that way.

Because the trouble with Guy (that sounds like another Lorna Hill title – The Trouble With Guy) – that is, the Guy as written by Lorna Hill, was that he was just too perfect. He was kind, considerate, honest, patient (most of the time) and possesses both immense physical and moral courage. He was rich and talented, a consummate rider and later a caring vet. In other words, he was just too good to be true. He was like Julian in the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton – the infuriatingly know-it-all, always right, elder brother – while I had always preferred hot headed Dick of the FF, the younger boy who, along with ‘George’/Georgina was always getting into trouble and getting things wrong.

So Guy was never going to really satisfy me as a hero. And very soon he fell by the wayside as I introduced a new character. By then, I’d been influenced by a couple of other very important (to me) books – and a very important TV programme - and my ideas on heroes had started to change dramatically.

So what influenced the creation of the Kate Walker hero?

To be continued . . .

Once upon a time . . . Going back to the beginning

This is a post that should have followed on from one I wrote back at the beginning of September – a post called Old Beginnings; New Beginnings - Or The Little Girl Who Could . . .

If you remember, I was sorting out my office after the redecorations and revamping – and finding lots of stuff from my past as a writer, right from the very beginning.

But then life, visitors, London, AMBA, Pink Hearts , the flu – someone called Hugh – etc etc intervened – so now I’m going back and starting again. I was thinking about this recently, and when I checked the file I was looking at – the one that said that my revisions for my first ever requested full ms arrived in the Richmond office on 31st August – and I found that it was 9th November 1982 that I received a letter from my very first ever editor saying that “Jacqui (Jacqui Bianchi) has asked me to tell you that she has recommended The Chalk Line to Mr Alan Boon for publication." (Well – that tells you how long ago it was, Mills & Boon was still run by one of the famous Mr Boons)

And I realised that as I hadn’t finished the story then, it was time I came back to it now – as we head towards the - eeek – 24th anniversary of the date on which I received my very first ever acceptance by Mills & Boon – as they were known then.
So - let’s go back in time . . .

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far away . . .


Well, maybe not in a different galaxy, but certainly in a different county, in a small town called Sowerby Bridge, just outside Halifax West Yorkshire, in a big old house, there lived a little girl with her mother and father and four sisters. And this little girl always wanted to be a writer. She wrote stories in her head whenever she could. She dreamed them as she fell asleep, she imagined them in church, remembering to stand, sit or kneel as required, purely by rote, she even scribbled them in a notebook hidden by an upright text book in maths lessons at school – and got into trouble for not answering questions when they were asked.

And when she got the chance, if she could, she typed them up on an old, battered , manual typewriter that had belonged to her father. There is even a photograph of her, sitting in the garden, at old school desk – one of those with a slanting lift up lid, and a space for books inside, and a hole on the top for an inkwell – working away on her very first ever ‘book’.

Obviously, that little girl was me and when I wrote my first blog over on eHarlequin, I mentioned this photograph and a lot of people said they would love to see it – so here, for your delight (amusement?) is

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Author.

When I tried to scan this pic as it is in black and white it came out as just light and dark, with nothing showing clearly, so I’ve scanned it in some sepia sort of colours so that it is a bit clearer.

I wonder how many other authors have a photo of themselves as they started out on their writing careers, writing that very first ever ‘book’?

And what was I typing? Ah, well I know exactly the words that were on the piece of paper you can see tucked into the rollers of the elderly typewriter that had once seem service in my father’s GP’s surgery. . . I finally found them and I have them right here on the desk beside me. And they’re fascinating because . . .

But no – in the tradition of all good serial stories , I’ll say that this is . . to be continued …

So come back tomorrow and see.

Contests and Questions

Okay, so I admit it - I weakened and I looked at the Garden Centre Christmas stuff - but only so that I could find those stockings for my Christmas Contest. I found what I wanted - and they hold quite a few books! I just checked and I can get at least 8 paperbacks into each stocking - maybe more if I push! So the winners of my Christmas Contest are going to have plenty of great reading.

I already have two of the books you can win picked out. In fact, the authors have already sent them to me. As with the Bag of Books, I'll be adding titles by other authors I know, so that you will win a range of titles from different lines, and there will be a great variety for the winners. So watch this space for more news about the launch of that contest.

If you can't wait that long, Anne McAllister is running a Scavenger Hunt at the moment - Readers of this blog have an advantage with one of the questions as she wants to know the name of a certain Cat of Superior Breeding who often appears on these posts. You know who I mean. She's also used the contest as an excuse to put up another photo of Hugh Jackman. So why not take a look? You can win a 'Here Comes Winter' goody box.

And talking of questions - I've had a lot of letters from readers who have noticed that two special characters appear at the wedding of Malik and Abbie, the hero and heroine of my current release At The Sheikh's Command. Everyone wants to know if these two have their own story.

Well, the answer is yes, but the story is only in an ebook.

The good news is that the ebook is available to download for free. It's called Stolen By The Sheikh and it was the Writing Round Robin that I ran on eHarlequin.com last year.

The book is available here.

Which gives me an idea for my own mini contest. I have a signed copy of At The Sheikh's Command for the first person who emails me with the name of the hero and heroine of Stolen by the Sheikh who appear at Abbie and Malik's wedding. Send your answers to me (via my website) with Stolen by The Sheikh in the subject line.