Christmas Stocking Contest - more Great prize books

I hope you're keeping warm and dry - here in Lincolnshire it's cold and wet and miserable. The wind is howling around my windos and battering sleety rain hard against the glass. All the cats are cureled up snug in their beds beside the radiators, the Hecks are hibernating at the bottom of the garden, and inside with a good book is the only place to be.

So, talking of good books, here's a couple more of the great prizes on offer in the Christmas Stocking Stuffeed With Books.

First is one of my personal favourites - I read this book when I had a chance to take a reading break when I'd finished writing the Black Angel ( now known as Bedded By The Greek Billionaire) and I loved it. But then, if you've read this blog in the past, you'd expect that as this book is by another of my dear friends and favourite writers - Anne McAllister.

And the book is Anne's October release - The Boss's Wife For A Week aka Spence and Sadie's story.

Tycoon seeks wife for one week's employment.
Spencer Tyack needed a wife. Not forever. Just for a week. A wife he could show off in public and share a room with in private. But who could fill the position? Certainly not his buttoned-down, efficient assistant, Sadie Morrissey . . .
But Spence was in for a big surprise. Not only was Sadie sensible in the boardroom, she was sensual in the bedroom.
But what would happen at the end of the week?

This book is classic Anne McAllister and if you haven't already read it, then you are in for a treat.

And if, like me, you're waiting for the next Anne McAllister book to hit the shelves then luckily you don't have to wait long -

One Night Love-Child is out in March USA and April UK.

This is a book that I have a proprietorial interest in as it's the book that Anne was planning and writing when we went on our writer's tour of Ireland last year. So I will know some of the places she had in mind when she wrote it. It's also Flynn and Sara's (The Great Montana Cowboy Auction) story some years on.

And this is the book that Anne will be talking about when she and I and Liz Fielding have our traditional Valentine's contest coming up soon.

The second book in the Stocking is one that you might remember from the Great Big Blog Party in the summer - when I talked about Elizabeth Oldfield.

Elizabeth used to write great HMB romances and then about 8 years ago, she retired from writing romance, and oh how I missed her books. But now Elizabeth Oldfield the author is back. Her first book for some years - Vintage Babes - is published by Accent Press this month. It's not a straight Romance but - well, here's the 'blurb'

Divorced, fifty-plus and a reporter on a small-town newspaper, Carol has just one grumble – the way friends and family will try to fix her up with a Mr Wonderful.

No thanks! She’s perfectly content on her own. Then life shifts into the kick-ass mode. Steve, a tyrannical new editor, arrives: her elderly father morphs into a babe magnet: her daughter and granddaughter land on her doorstep, and black hairs sprout from Carol’s chin.Jenny, Carol’s meek plump housewife friend, is eager to find herself a job, but her husband disapproves. Tina, a glamorous recently-widowed gold-digger, has one major problem – she hates getting older.

When the three women workout together with Max, an erotic personal trainer, all their lives are changed.

To enter this contest and have a chance to win these great books and more- check out my web site Contest Page for all the details.

And that's where you'll find the 12 Days of Christmas Contest details too.

Just to say . . .

. . . that the lovely Heather from We Write Romance has updated my web site so that not only are the contest details up, there's also the covers of the newest book - Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Bride - and the By Request Trilogy that has the reprint of my His Miracle Baby in - coming in January.

And I may have forgotten to say this before - but if you want a second chance to win a signed copy of the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance - then hurry over to Tote Bags 'n' Blogs where I was blogging this week and you can be in with a change to win a copy just by answering the question in the comments there.

And you'll be able to read about a new project that Leena and I have planned for the New Year - we've called it 12 Points on the 12th and hopefully it will interest all you would-be romance writers out there. That will be starting in January 2008.

Christmas Contests

My lovely web designer Heather from We Write Romance has updated my Contest Page over on my web site so that now all the details of how to enter either the 12 Days of Christmas Contest or the Christmas Stocking Stuffed With Books Contest are up.

Everything you need to know is there - except for the details of the books. And you want to know more about those - don't you?
Yes, thought so.

I've talked about two titles already - scroll down to here to read about those. And today, as I've just had confirmation the final donation to the stocking, I thought I'd talk about that.

Actually, I'm talking about them as yesterday I heard from another great writing friend who ofered her latest title - so there are two more books going into the stockings. Which means that each stocking now has 12 different titles in it. A dozen brand new books with a value of over £45 - that's some prize!

OK - so the first of the newest donations comes from Scary Kate - aka Kate Hardy. Kate actually has two books out this Christmas - in two different lines. (That's why she's scary!) Her other book is a Medical - The Doctor's Very Special Christmas - but the book she's donated to go into the stocking is her brand new Modern Extra - One Night, One Baby.

Kate tells me that this "doesn't have a Christmassy title but oh boy, the Christmas pressie"

Here's the back blurb for this great book -

Pregnant – after one hot night!
Everyone seems to have forgotten her birthday- but meeting handsome brooding stranger Mitch Holland gives Jane good reason to celebrate… The attraction between them is intense, but Mitch puts a strict limit on their time together – he can offer her one night only.
Jane can’t resist the opportunity to spend a night with this magnificent man! After all, she’s not looking for a relationship. But a few weeks later Jane is still struggling to forget gorgeous Mitch – and their unforgettably sexy night together. Then she discovers she’s pregnant…

Books Kate has coming out in the new year: (ie more evidence of why she's scary)

Jan - The Pregnancy Ultimatum (Presents Collection in US, aka In The Gardener's Bed from UK)
Feb - One Night, One Baby (in Aus)
March - Sold to the Highest Bidder (my country house book)
April - The Doctor's Royal Love Child (part of the Brides of Penhally Bay continuity) (and also In Bed With Her Italian Boss - aka Breakfast at Giovanni's - in Present Collection in US)
August - The Spanish Consultant's Love-Child

If I start reading now, I might catch up with her output by Christmas - 2008!

The second book I had donated yesterday is a real coup - this one isn't even published yet! And it's special in another way too. One of my favourite Harlequin Romance writers. Liz Fielding has a book out in January and she's given me two signed, advance copies of this to go in the stocking. And The Sheikh's Unsuitable Bride is Liz's 50th book. Not her 50th M&B - that's coming up in 2008 (and I'll be sharing another contest with her to celebrate that!)

But in the Christmas Stocking you can win an advance copy of this great book. So here's a blurb to whet your appetites:

The single mum's new job: chauffeur to the Sheikh!

Zahir was surprised to find he had a beautiful new driver. This chauffeur did not blend into the background. Oh, no. Diana Metcalf talked. She laughed. She took him on unplanned detours. And he had more fun than he'd had in years.

But back in his desert kingdom a dynastic marriage was being brokered for Zahir. Crazy though it seemed, he wished that this wonderful, vivacious, thoroughly unsuitable woman could be his bride instead...

Liz tells me that my personal copy is on its way to me - I can't wait

And also by Liz Fielding coming up in 2008 Are:

The reprint of The Billionaire Takes a Bride in a By Request anthology - Bride for a Billionaire

that 50th M&B - The Bride's Baby - April 2008 (watch out for the now traditional Valentine's contest that Liz, Anne McAllister and I share - remember last year when the Grooms took over the blogs?)

The Temp and The Tycoon - a special novells publication as part of the M&B centenary celebrations.

And if you need a Liz Fielding fix right now then her lovely A Surprise Christmas Proposal is out in another By Request anthology Brides For Christmas - in the shops right now.

And if you haven't entered the Christmas Stocking contest yet - what are you waiting for> YOu only have until December 18th to be in with a chance of winning this great prize.

Details of how to enter - and a list of all the books - on my website Contest Page.
And don't forget the 12 Days of Christmas Contest too!

Here We Go Again

I was going to put up a post about an article in today's Guardian newspaper - an article entitled : Mills & Boon: 100 years of heaven or hell?

You can find the article here if you want to read it in full - and of course I suggest that you do that before you comment, which is more than most critics do for Mills & Boon.

Because of course with a title like that you can tell what's coming can't you?

Though, to be fair - again unlike some! - the first part of the article is a well written, balanced, articulate and intelligent discussion of the 'pros' of Mills and Boon. I'd expect that though as it's written by M&B author Abby Green in her real-life guise as Daisy Cummins. I know that she's worried that what she actually wrote was cut to ribbons, but I don't think she should worry. She came across as intelligent, thoughtful and someone who at least knows her subject .

Unlike - and you were expecting this, weren't you? - unlike the writer for the 'cons' - against M&B -Julie Bindel who of course takes the lazy wayout, writing about 20 books she read 15 - that's 15 years ago and dragging out the tired old quotes from Violet Winspear in 1970 and Hilary Wilde, writing in1966 . So that's over 40 years back now! Oh, and treating those titles that we all love to hate as if they were actual true descriptions of what happens in the books. Her other 'evidence' means she's done nothing more than look at the back-blurb of three current releases. Blurb, incidentally, which isn't even written by the author.

Doesn't she realise that simply quoting opinions that were out of date even when she was doing her research in 1992 only shows her up rather than proves her point?

I could go on - but to be honest such lazy, biased, inaccurate ranting just isn't worth it. Though I do wonder at her qualifications for even commenting on this topic.

And anyway, another intelligent, articulate and balanced set of comments has already been made on this article here - comments I can't really better so I'll just direct you to read them if you're interested.

They're written by another intelligent, talented and articulate writer - Natasha Oakley. She's said just about all I'd want to say - she even grabbed the same headline.

Hmm - two M&B authors who actually take the time and trouble to read this article before commenting on it - 3 if you include me - more if you read the comments on Natasha's post - doesn't that tell you something?

Having read Natasha's comments on Ms Bindel, I see that along with her focus on sexual violence, transexualism and other delights, she also hates vegetarians. Well, that's me doubly damned then.

Do I care? Not a bit.

To be honest, earning any of Ms Bindel's approval for anything I did would have me worrying about myself.

Christmas Stocking Contest

I managed to get in touch with two of my lovely writer friends - so I can now confirm that thanks to their generosity there will be two more very special titles going into the Christmas Stocking Stuffed with books, along with all the other titles, to make up a truly special prize.

The first of these is from Michelle Styles.

Michelle, as regular readers of this blog know, writes original and exciting historical novels, often picking unusual time periods in whihc to set her books. She has recently set books in Ancient Rome and coming up soon she has a set of books about Vikings. But the book she is donating to the Christmas Stocking is set in more recent Victorian times. In this case, in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1846.

Michelle has offered two signed copies of A Christmas Wedding Wager - the USA edition of this special Christmas story. In the UK this book is published as part of a special duo titled Christmas By Candlelight together with Wicked Pleasures by Helen Dickson, but it is the separate edition of just A Christmas Wedding Wager that is going into the Christmas Stocking this time. So it's that cover that I'm posting here today.

I was lucky enough to be given my own copy of this book by Michelle, so here's the blurb from the back:

Lovely Miss Emma Harrison has turned her back on the frivolities of the Marriage Mart and dedicated herself to helping her father. But this Christmas everything changes – ruthless and unforgettable Jack Stanton is back! As the Yuletide festivities throw Emma into his company, she can’t help but wonder if she made the wrong choice seven years ago...

The web site Dear Author recommends A Christmas Wedding Wager as one of its December reads like this:

Styles showcases the Victorian period and the emerging freedom it brought to young women. Emma, the heroine, escapes her stifling Victorian well-to-do lifestyle to become a civil engineer and while she enjoys her position, it is not without a price. Jack Stanton was rejected by Emma years ago and must suppress his hurt pride and resentment in order to work with Emma on a bridge project. Set against the backdrop of northern England Christmas revelries, this is the perfect book to get a romance reader in the holiday mood.

If you love Michelle Styles's stories then there's plenty to look forward to because coming next year are these great titles:

Taken by the Viking -- US May 08 (this was an October UK release and still available on Amazon.co.uk)
Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife UK June 08 (linked to Taken)
An Impulsive Debutante UK Sept 08 (linked to ACWW)

The other special Christmas title donated yesterday is from lovely Margaret McDonagh who is making a name and a career for herself in the Medical Romance line. The book Margaret has donated is a Christmas trilogy with the title Christmas Weddings. This contains stories by Carole Mortimer and Shirley Jump as well as Margaret's own heartwarming story Their Christmas Vows

Here's the blurb (the book actually has the hero's surname wrong on the back so Margaret has kindly corrected it for me - and added an extra couple of lines to the rather brief summary!)

Frazer McInnes is strong, caring, and loyal to his friends. He also has a reputation as a fun-loving Romeo. But he's serious about his beautiful colleague, Callie Grogan. Serious enough to vow to love her forever, if only she'll be his Christmas bride.
Callie has a difficult journey to make because the impact of her past experiences make it hard for her to trust. In Frazer, has she found a man she can believe in? Can she trust him – and herself – and step towards a happy and loving future?

Coming up in 2008, Margaret McDonagh has these new titles to look forward to:

An Italian Affair - (a Medical in the Mills & Boon Presents anthology with Annie West [Modern] and Annie Burrows [Historical]) - April 2008
Virgin Midwife, Playboy Doctor - book 8 in the Brides of Penhally Bay series - July 2008

Dr Devereux's Proposal - book 12 in the Brides of Penhally Bay series - November 2008

So look out for those great Medical stories.

And tomorrow I'll be back with more details of the other books I have stuffed into those stockings just waiting to give someone an orgy of reading pleasure over Christmas!

Oh - and as a PS to Margaret McDonagh's donation - I had to smile when I saw the cover of the Christmas Weddings trilogy.

Take away the Christmas Tree and the decorated mantlepiece - and it's the UK cover of my December 2005 book - The Antonakos Marriage!

12 Days of Christmas Contest Details

So now the wonderful Lee has organised everything and put up all the details for the 12 Days of Christmas Contest and she's sent me a direct link for you all to follow so that you can find that and enter.

Remember you need to go to the My Tote Bag Web site to find the contest - and lots of others - so that you can enter. And you enter there, not from my site.

Here's the direct link:

Kate Walker 12 Days of Christmas Contest

Good luck!

Oh, and if you live in Australia and missed the first part of the Sicilian Brothers duo - Guido's story Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride, I just learned that it's available once more on the eHarlequin.com.au site leading a 'European Sexy Pack' with other titles by Anne McAllister, Cathy Williams and Lynne Graham. It's currently on sale here at a 33% reduction.

Contests

Right, so the 12 Days of Christmas Contest is organised.


Leena Hyat of My Tote Bag has all the details and is setting it right away. Hopefully that will go up later today or tomorrow at the latest.

I have all the details of the Christmas Stocking organised too - I just need to get them up on my web site Contest page - but for readers of this blog, here's a little advance notice.

The contest, as always, is to win one of two Christmas stockings that I have stuffed with books from lots of author friends of mine who have very kindly donated signed copies of their novels. Some of these were donated back in the summer when I planned to do the Tote bag full of books - but then the Great Big Blog Party took over and there were more than enough prizes on offer so I held over the generous donations for this contest.

So far I have these titles to give away: (in no particular order)

You Had Me at Halo - the brilliant debut novel by Amanda Ashby - complete with your very own halo as an extra gift!

Vintage Babes the brand new novel by Elizabeth Oldfield who used to write great romances for HMB and now has launched this new book with Accent Press

Also from Accent Press, One Glass is Never Enough by my Caerleon Writers' Holiday fellow addict and tutor Jane Wenham-Jones

Bedded By A Bad Boy is the debut novel of Modern Extra (now Modern Heat) author Heidi Rice.

Rich Man's Revenge is a Silhouette Desire release by up and coming Author Tessa Radley

Confessions of A Party Crasher or Dashing through the Mall come from my lovely friend and great writer Holly Jacobs

I also have the wonderful The Boss's Wife For A Week, Spence and Sadie's great story by Anne McAllister

My contribution will be a couple of copies of the Mills & Boon Annual for this year containing - amongst others - my short story Wife For Real which was the very first part of The Alcolar Family Trilogy.


And I have been offered contributions with a suitably Christmassy theme by Kate Hardy, Michelle Styles and Margaret McDonagh - but I need to gey back to these generous ladies before I finalise the details and let you know exactly the titles they are offering.

It's a GREAT prize and one I wouldn't mind winning myself, sadly I can't enter.

This contest will run for the next couple of weeks - until the 18th December when, hopefully, I will still have time to get the prize to the winners (there are two complete stockings on offer)
As I said, I will post the details of how to enter on my Contests page just as soon as I can - but if you're desperate to get started on your entry, then what you'll need to do is:

To check out my web site for the names of all of the books that I have published this year - there are four of them. (I'm talking about my separate titles - not any of the By Request Anthologies or reprints

When you have the list of four titles, I want to know the names of the heroes and the heroines of each book.

So your entry should read:
Title One - hero's name - heroine's name
Title Two - hero's name - heroine's name
Title Three - hero's name - heroine's name
Title Four - hero's name - heroine's name

Have those ready and the email them to me with the heading Christmas Stocking Contest in the subject line

Please make sure you put that heading otherwise your entry may get lost - I get a lot of emails!

One entry only per person. Any extra entries will be eliminated.

Good luck!

PS And don't forget that simply by staying on my Newsletter list you are also in the running for the special Newsletter 12 Days of Christmas Contest where you don't have to do anything - or answer any questions, just stay right where you are and you never know, Sid the Cat might pick your name in his bumper Christmas Bonus Prize Selection. That's just one of the extra benefits you get for being one of my extra special readers! So why not sign up today and join the Newsletter Group? (see the link in the sidebar)

Wonderful weekend

I'm trying to catch up with everything again. I didn't have time to do very much in the run up to the weekend and over the weekend itself and that's because I was celebrating an early Christmas with some very special friends.

I love Christmas. I love the way that it brightens up the dark, cold (well, it's cold here in the UK - and wet!) days of December with decorations and celebrations, I love the way that, when it's celebrated right, it brings together loved ones from near and far, puts you in contact with people you don't connect with the rest of the year, and brings friends and warmth into your life and home.

I just had my traditional early Christmas with a group of very special writer friends who all come to stay at my home for a long weeked. They only left yesterday afternoon, and then I needed to catch up with some much needed sleep! That's why I'm a little late writing this blog. We ate a lot, drank some wine, visited 'Christmas World' in a nearby village. We played silly games, laughed a lot, some of us had things they needed to shed a tear or two over as well. And we talked and talked and talked . .

There were different generations gathered together too - one of my friends couldn't make it last year because the birth of her baby was very close. This year, her almost one year old son joined us for the weekend - hopfully the first of many such visits by him and other new members of the 'family of friends'. The Offspring and his lovely girlfiend joined us too, and everyone blended together brilliantly.

For a time, for various reasons, I'd been feeling too stressed to think of Christmas without worrying but this weekend has brought home to me just what it's really all about.It's about sharing. About reaching out to other people and letting them know that they are important in your life. And that includes my readers. Every year as Christmas approaches, I run several contests to involve my readers in my Christmas celebrations. To reach out to them and let them know how much I appreciate them and how grateful I am to all the readers who buy my books and so keep me writing and published next year and for years (hopefully) to come.

Like this post, I'm a little late with organising this but now I'm in the Christmas mood I'm organising my 12 Days of Christmas contest and the details will go up on my web site just as soon as I can get them there. And then over on My Tote Bag Leena will be running my 12 Days of Christmas contest.

Every day for 12 days leading up to Christmas I'll be giving away a signed copy of one of my books and a little extra Christmas Gift to all the lucky winners. So why not keep chekcing out my blog or my Contest page on my web site soon to see when the contest is starting?

The other thing I do is ask my readers to help me with my Christmas Charity Card. I would love to be able to send you all a Christmas card to wish you all the happiness of this special season, but the planning and organising of all that is just impossible - so I'm going to be doingwhat I did last year, and that is to give a real, practical gift to those in need instead of cards. Last year's gift was a batch of essential medicines for a whole village - that was the choice voted for by most of the visitors to the blog. So this year I'll be running the poll again and I hope you'll drop by and vote for your choice of special gift that I'll be sending this year. It is, after all, in place of a card to say thank you to each and every one of you for your support for me all through this year.

And as I did last year, I will be posting up a special cyber card foryou all on my web site from December. I have at least got that organised and it's up on my web site from today so I hope you'll come by and see that.

And I have the Christmas Stocking contest to announce too - phew! I'd better get on with it!

Cat Calendar December

Friday?

Hang on a minute, it was only yesterday that it was Monday . . .

Wasn't it?

OK. perhaps not. It's been a hectic week. For a start there was a change of editor - my 14th!! Or perhaps this doesn't count as I'm moving back to an editor I worked with previously . . .

And I spent a fun time creating a special Christmas present for my MIL - scanning old, fragile photographs and having them copied into a lovely bound album so that she can look at them without damaging the precious old ones. I hope she loves it.

Then I have visitors coming this weekend - 3 friends and an almost one year old! The cats are going to love this! So that means I've been cleaning and shopping and organising. We have had our early Christmas this weekend for about four years now so it's a real tradition that I love and I'm so looking forward to it.

And that's why I've been so busy and being a bad blogger.

Oh, and I've also been asked to put up a post from Harlequin for all those would-be writers amongst you - and I know there are plenty of you.

This comes from Executive Editor Tessa Shapcott and it's all about the special contest that Presents (M&B Modern) is running for not yet published writers. Here's what Tessa has to say:

INSTANT SEDUCTION

A brand new writing competition from the world’s best-selling romance series is about to hit the blogosphere!

It’s an exciting time for Harlequin Presents: from January 2008, there will be 12 of our intensely passionate romances available every month. And with this increase of titles comes a great opportunity for aspiring authors – we will be looking to buy more books for publication!

The old saying goes that first impressions are lasting impressions – and when it comes to reading a Harlequin Presents, that certainly holds true. If the first chapter doesn’t immediately grip the reader with its pace, passion and intensity, then she won’t continue to turn the pages.

So Presents is inviting unpublished writers to show us how they can grab the attention of our readership with first chapters that really sizzle. The INSTANT SEDUCTION competition offers prizes that are chances of a lifetime for the lucky winner and runners-up:
*First prize – win yourself an editor for a year!
*Two runners-up will be given editorial critiques of their first chapter entries and also a personal telephone consultation about their writing!

Visit the Iheartpresents.com blogsite for full details of the competition – and the chance to prepare for publication with an exclusive series of writing tutorials prepared by the editorial team at Harlequin Presents, including advice on First Chapters, How to Write a Synopsis, Loving the Alpha Male and Generating Emotional Conflict.

Entries for the competition will be accepted as on-line submissions only from 1st January until 14th February 2008.
Entries should comprise of the first chapter and a synopsis of a previously unpublished/unsubmitted novel aimed at Harlequin Presents.
Address for entries: instantseduction@hmb.co.uk

Any further details, and lots of helpful hints on how to write for Harlequin Presents?M&B Modern can be found over on the I heart Presents blog. So why not take a look?

And good luck if you decide to enter.

And I'll go and make up the beds!

Winners and nightmares

Well,actually there are two winners, because Sid being Sid, he snaffled two crunchies at once and I couldn't decide which one was first.

So the winners are -
Ayla Fenton
And
Danielle Peck

Ayla and Danielle both win signed copies of Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance and a signed copy of the Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife.


Congratulations to both of you. Can you please email me with your postal details and I'll send on the prize to you.


The answer to the question - Apart from the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, I've written 2 other books on creative writing (one with my husband) What are the titles of the other two books? - is:

A Straightforward Guide to Writing Romantic Fiction and
Being a Professional Writer (with my husband Stephen Wade)

I meant to post the results yesterday but the BM and I had a crazily busy day trying to get the house a little more organised. Knowing that you have 4 visitors coming to stay for the weekend can do that to you. So we scrubbed and sorted and organised the kitchen cupboards in a way that they really needed after a hectic year when 'spring cleaning' was the last thing on our lists.

Then we collapsed with a welcome glass of wine.

All of which should have insured that I slept like a log and never stirred. Instead of which I had a nightmare that I was planning a dinner party with various writers and friends in a big old house that I've never seen before. Some of the writers I'd never seen before either! And the 'friends' were people I know but wouldn't call friends. Everyone was sitting around talking, enjoying each others company but then after a time when I went to fetch the meal I discovered that I had never turned the oven on and the roast chicken and roast potatoes were still totally raw and cold.

What is wierd about this dream, apart from the guests who were people I can't imagine ever inviting, or even understand why they were in my thoughts, is the fact that as a veggie I would never be cooking a chicken anyway.


Luckily the guests we having coming next weekend are the sort of people who, if the meal was ruined, would say 'Never mind. . .' and order in pizzas. They probably wouldn't give a damn about my clean kitchen cupoboards either - but I know they're done - and looking so much better.

12 Point Guide Contest

Just to remind you that you have one more day in which to enter the contest to win a signed copy of Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance

If you've forgotten the details or didn't see them on November 18th when I posted them, here they are again.


So - the contest. I've mentioned the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance and as I haven't run any contests for writers in a while, I thought I'd offer a signed copy of this book as a prize today. I've also heard from the publisher that this book is now almost totally sold out - the last I heard there were less than 10 copies left - so if you want a chance to win a copy here's what you do:

Answer this question -

Apart from the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, I've written 2 other books on creative writing (one with my husband)
What are the titles of the other two books?


Send your answers to me
by email with BLOG CONTEST in the title line of the message and next weekend ( November 25th) I'll get Sid on the job of picking a winner and a signed copy of the 12 Point Guide will be on its way to the winner. If you're lucky, I'll stick in a copy of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife as well.


And as a PS to a couple of people who entered and told me that the book was always out of stock if they tried to order it - a quick survey tells me that Amazon.co.uk claims to have 4 copies, Amazon.com says it's in stock (no idea how many copies) , so does WHSMith.co.uk and somewhere I would never have thought of looking until the Offspring told me it was there - Play.com says it has it in stock.

So if you don't win you could find it there.

I'll be back with the results tomorrow - Sid is eyeing the cat crunchies hopefully but I've told him he has to wait until the 25th.

Coming soon . . .

The Christmas Stocking Stuffed with Books contest is back and just to whet your appetites . . . .

And there are probably a couple more donations yet to come.
To the lovely writer friends who have offered books and I haven't had a moment to get back to you - I will I promise! I've just been so buried in work.

To all other author friends who were thinking of donating - I'm afraid the stockings are now full (to overflowing!) But the Tote Bag of Books for the summer will be open next year . . . .

Details of the Contest coming soon.

You saw them here first . . .

So now that the new book is contracted I can let you all know that Angelos, the Black Angel, will be published as Bedded By The Greek Billionaire in September 2008 in M&B Modern Romance. As soon as I have any news of a USA release date, then I'll let you know.

Yesterday's shopping expedition proved very successful - so I now have just one Christmas present to buy which is unexpectedly efficient for me.

And when I got home I found a parcel of books waiting for me with the first hardback editions of the next book coming out. That's Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife and it's due out in March 2008.

You can get a first look at the cover of this book here. I like it a lot. What do you think?

Also in the package of books were the advance copies of the 3 in 1 By request collection that's coming out in January wher I have one of my earlier titles reprinted. This collection is called Just the Three of Us and the title of mine that's included in it is His Miracle Baby which was first

published in 2001.

And of course these books are being published in 2008 which is the centenary year for Mills & Boon. I'm thrilled to have my books published in this important year, and to have the first one published right at the start of this special time. There will be lots of other events and publishing plans to mark 2008 and as soon as I can I'll bring you news of those. I've already been asked to be involved in an event coming up.

Finally today is Thanksgiving for those who celebrate it - so HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my friends who are celebrating with their families today. I hope you have a wonderful time.

And even if you're not actually celebrating today, why not take time to think of everything you should be thankful for - I know I have lots of wonderful things in my life that I should just take a moment to consider and acknowledge. We don't do that often enough - so today, why not write your own list of things to be thankful for - I'll bet you'll find more than you ever thought you would.

PS I just heard that Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife will be published in Presents in June 2008

Busy day

I'm dashing in quickly because I'm supposed to be talking contracts with my editor this morning (the tweaks on the Greek Black Angel book were fine and that has now been accepted) and then we're supposed to go and - hopefully - complete the Christmas shopping.



Yes, maybe I am early with this but with friends and family in Australia and America, their gifts need to go in the mail, and the BM starts his new job on Monday which will mean there'll be very little to no time free to browse the shops. Tomorrow is the delightful combination of hairdresser and dentist (not both at the same time and the latter, thankfully, just for a check-up) and on Friday I'm meeting a friend for lunch. Saturday the BM and the Offspring are going to a football match together so if we want to choose any gifts together then it has to be today.

So if I don't get back in here today, then here's something for you to read while I'm gone -



The lovely Julie Bonello did and interview with me for CataRomance and she emailed me this morning to let me know that the result is posted on the site now.



I'm talking about my writing, The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife and my plans and publishing schedule for next year. So if you're interested, you can read the interview here.

Still celebrating

Remember this?

Just when you thought all the celebrations for the 50th title had died away, there's one last party to visit.

When I actually celebrated the publication of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge in July and ran the Great Big Blog Party here in the summer, things were so hectic and life was so busy that I didn;t manage to celebrate with a special site and a bunch of people who have been so much a part of my life - writing and personal - for over seven years.

I'm talking about the eHarlequin site and specially the Community and the message boards there where I have 'met' so many of the writers I now call my friends, many of the wonderful readers who have helped my career by buying and reading my books and discussing them there - and I must specially mention the hosties(some of whom you met here in the summer) Dee, Rae, Danica and of course Boss Lady Jayne who runs the show.

As I said, I didn't get time to celebrate with my friends on eHarlequin before, so when Jayne discovered that I have the newest title -The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife - out now, she suggested that we celebrate both that and the 50th in a special party thread on the Simply Series section of the message boards.

So today - and the rest of this week - that's where you'll find me - I'm hosting a special celebration party thread and I hope you'll drop by. If you havr any questions about writing for Presents or just about my books, then ask away - I'll have a few random 'door prizes' to give away too so if you post a message you'll be in with a chance to win too.

Hope to see you there.

Writing and a contest

It's been a while since I blogged on anything about the craft of writing. Most of the time I'm too busy with my own books - or teaching as I was doing last weekend.

But I spent yesterday reading and assessing some entries for a contest for a chapter of the Romance Writers of America for which I'm a judge, and there was one thing about them that struck me pretty forcefully right from the start.

The hero or heroine - often both - just didn't exist.

Oh, each book had a hero and a heroine, most of them (one of them at least) appearing right there on the first page, but they were just a name, and usually a job - I couldn't actually 'see' them in my mind as I read the openings that were what I have to judge. six opening chapters, an average of fifteen or more pages each, and so little description of the central characters in all of them that I have to struggle to remember any.

OK, one heroine fastened back her waist-length hair, a hero wore mirrored sunglasses . .. There was one rare entry where the hero observed the woman who was obviously going to be the heroine from a distance and it was such a relief to have a description - a sense of physical reality for someone in the story that I immediately gave the author an extra mark in her score.

When I read a book I want to know something about the characters whose story I'm going to follow throught a few hundred pages, days, weeks, years of their lives, several hours of mine. I don't want just names, or occasionally occupations, I want some idea of their ages, their height and build, their colouring. I want to be able to visualise them in my mind as I read their story, picture them on a beach, in an airport, even, if the story is Science Fiction and they are aliens living below the surface of a burning planet, with their silvery eyes and lizard like skin and six webbed feet.

I want to know who I'm reading about. I want to sympathise with them - or hate them - I want to have my life - my mental life at least - peopled by them for as long as I read the book.

And so when I'm writing I try to describe my characters as soon as I can, to 'bring them on stage' as forcefully, as visibly as I can so that my readers can identify with them right from the start. There are books where this doesn't happen and I've still enjoyed the, Day Leclaire has a great one - and darn it I can't remember the title right now - where the hero and heroine are in a lift, neither has seen each other because he was behind his newspaper or some such as she got in and the lift breaks down, the lights fail . . . It takes a rare sort of writer to pull off an instant attraction without the usual clues of colouring, size, facial features, but Day manages it.

But such books are rare. And of course once the lift is repaired and the lights go on then the conventional descriptive words appear at last.

But they were not in these contest entries. Every single one of those characters - apart from the heroine described at a distance - were invisible, not at all real in my mind - and so they were just words on a page, part of a book, not coming alive or mattering to me at all. I'll be honest and say that it shocked me that all of them missed out on this vital (to me) part of creating a character, making them real, making the reader care about them.

To me it's so important that when I was compiling a Character Questionnaire for my 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, the description of a person is one of the first things I ask for:

What is this person's name?
Why was s/he named that?
What does s/he call herself?
Is there a nickname or a variation on the name that’s/he uses for some people and not others?
(As an example - Think about the different variations of Elizabeth that are possible – Liz, Lizzy, Bet, Liza, Beth . . . Would these make you think of different characters?)
Age? Birthday?
What does s/he look like?
Height
Build
Colouring– eyes – hair (what length? Curly or straight)

A book is something very different from a film or a TV drama or a stage play - then you can see what a person looks like as soon as they appear and you relate to them as a character from then on - that is what Peter or Mary or Aristotle or Frederica looks like and you recognise them and relate to them every time. But in a book, the character is just words on a page unless the writer makes them come alive and for me that physical description is a vital part of it.

So I'm afraid that all but one of those contest entries disappointed me - which was a pity because some of them had good dialogue, intriguing openings, the synopsis promised an interesting plot - but I'm a character driven author, for me the characters are what make a book and I'll be honest and say that the lack of character identification in these scripts meant that I really wasn't hooked enough to want to read on.

CONTEST

So - the contest. I've mentioned the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance and as I haven't run any contests for writers in a while, I thought I'd offer a signed copy of this book as a prize today. (It'll let me see if anyone's awake and reading this!). I've also heard from the publisher that this book is now almost totally sold out - the last I heard there were less than 10 copies left - so if you want a chance to win a copy here's what you do:

Answer this question -

Apart from the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, I've written 2 other books on creative writing (one with my husband)

What are the titles of the other two books?

Send your answers to me by email with BLOG CONTEST in the title line of the message and next weekend ( November 25th) I'll get Sid on the job of picking a winner and a signed copy of the 12 Point Guide will be on its way to the winner. If you're lucky, I'll stick in a copy of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife as well.

And talking of contests - I'm planning and organising the special Christmas contests I have coming up - so watch out for those. By popular demand the Christmas Stocking Stuffed with books will be back.

Watch this space.

It's Wednesday?

I'm not sure what happened to yesterday - catching up, I suppose you could say.

Catching up on:

Emails - and yes, I know I still owe some of you answers

Letters

On phone calls (there's a big part of the day gone)

Shopping - we had no bread, no veg and - worst of all very little cat food in the cupboard. So we had to go and get some more before the cats left home.

Cat appeasing. We've had the sulks, the 'how dare you abandon us in this way' - then they moved on to 'I wasn't fed at all while you were away, so I need a little smackeral of something on the hour, every hour until I catch up and get my body weight back to normal'. Then, in between the snacks on the hour every hour, there was the 'I want you to open this door and let me out NOW!' and as soon as they're out there's the - 'I want you to let me in NOW - just because I can demand it. And I'm going to keep on demaning it on the hour every hour - and more at 3 am!'

(Note photo of Sid obviously wasting away!)

Washing - and drying - so of course it poured with rain

I think I've got caught up now, though there are things I still have to do. It's great to go away and I really enjoyed the stay in Fishguard - and the course. the group really gelled and that helps so much - specially when you're discussing their work with them. If would-be writers can't take editing now then they'll not be able to work well with editors in the future when - hopefully if - they get accepted. This wasn't a problem with the Fishguard group. No prima donnas amongst them -they all wanted to learn.

I've had two lovely messages from members of the course since I got back and a fantastic card from Rachael who often visits this blog (Hi Rachael!) Not only that but she went to the trouble of making me a lovely Christmas cake as a way of saying thank you - that was so kind Rachael! Thank you again and I'll think of you and Fishguard when I have a taste of it on Christmas Day.

So I had a lot of fun and as always it was great to talk writing and to meet up again with lovely Anne and Gerry who run the Writers' Holidays, and the Fishguard Writing weekends. Saying goodbye was tough as we probably won't be able to make Caerleon in summer 2008 as we're planning on heading for the RWA Conference in San Francisco and I don't think there will be a Winter Novel Writing Weekend in 2008.

I'm going to miss the great atmosphere of the weekend - and I'm really going to miss the wonderful views I woke up to each morning of my stay in Fishguard so I took a few extra photos to keep some memories while I'm away from there.

But there will be the Writers' and Artists' Workshops Weekend in 2009 when I've been asked to run the Novel Workshop and Caerleon in summer 2009. There are even rumours that the BM will be teaching courses then too. So I won't be away from Wales for too long - but I am going to miss it for a while.

Back . . .

I'm back . . . just!

The journey was pretty horrendous - crawling queues that meant we took hours longer to get home. But we're here now - and I need a stiff tea and a series of head butts and purrs from Sid before I feel human again.

I did have an internet connection at Fishguard - but no time to use it. I was too busy teaching or eating great food or having fun and talking, talking talking . . .

It was wonderful to see Writers' Holiday organisers lovely Anne And Gerry Hobbs again, to meet up with my great co-tutor Lesley Horton who was teaching the Crime Fiction course - and of course my students. A small but enthusiastic group who were so keen to learn and asked so many questions I could barely keep up with them. A group like that makes it fun as well as work - so, Rachael, Frances, Brenda, Kate and Nigel - thank you all for making it easy for me.

I'll be back to chat as soon as I can but if you head over to The Pink Heart Society blog today, you'll find that in my role as a Pink Heart Columnist I'm talking about one of my favourite sources of inspiration and the man behind a couple of my own personal favourite heroes in Male on Monday.

On the road . ...

Greetings from Malvern.

So here we are in Malvern again. The BM has raided the bookshops and I have found some Christmas presents - there some lovely gift shops here. I've also found myself a lovely patchwork bag and a gorgeous 1st birthday present for a little boy who is 1 very soon!

Then this afternoon we were driven indoors by the pouring rain - an excuse for the BM to visit more bookshops so he is now very happy with a bundle of old and musty volumes.But at least as we were driving here we could see the field this time - last time they were still covered in water from the floods.


I was happy to see that the local shop only had one copy of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife left on the shelf so that brightened the day.

Tomorrow we head for Wales. I'm not sure if I shall have an internet connection there but if I do then I'll report in again.

On the road again . . .

Today I'm travelling again. Heading for Wales and that weekend course at Fishguard. (Thank you Rachael for reccommending it - and for joining me for the second time! You're a glutton for punishment! I'll see you soon.)

We're following our usual route and staying over in Malvern so I hope I'll be able to call in from there. The BM will no doubt be exploring the secondhand bookshops in his research). And then on to Wales.

So if I don't manage to get back for a little while, enjoy yourselves. And if you're booked on the course then I'll see you soon.

Can't wait - I love being beside the sea - and talking writing. The food's wonderful too . . .

Bits and Pieces

I'm busy preparing the weekend course on Writing Romance that I'm teaching at Fishguard next weekend. So until I have that done, I'm just posting some bits and pieces and I'll write a proper post when I can -

Firstly, those of you who have been following the story of Abby and Eamon over on Anne McAllister's blog, the third and final part is posted today. So if you want to read that then visit Anne and see how A & E reached their happy ever after ending.

Then there are a couple of contests that you can enter and try to win prizes -

Firstly, over on My Tote Bag there is a contest to celebrate the publication of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife where you have a chance to win a signed copy of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge and a Kate Walker tote bag and pen.

Then Romance Junkies are holding their annual Halloween Contest. Enter the spooky house, wander through the rooms, find the Trick or Treat links and you can win all sorts of prizes. There's one from me in the Magic Shop.

Finally I have a blog post talking about amnesia stories over on I heart Presents . Obviously, this is because my November release The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife is an amnesia story - but I'm hoping that you'll come along and join in the discussion and tell me some of your favourite amnesia themed romances too. See you there?

And if you're booked on my course at Fishguard then I'll see you on Friday! There are still some places left, so if you're in the UK and you'd like to join us, it can be done even at this short notice. Just check out the Writers' Holiday website for details.

Book News

Well, this is a writer's blog, so it's time I mentioned some book news - mine and my friends'

Reading - I finally managed to find the missing copy of Anne McAllister's fabulous The Boss's Wife For a Week. Wouldn't you know it reappeared on the day that the replacement copies of the book arrived in the mail from Anne. So those spare copies will be going in my Christmas Stocking Stuffed with Books Contest, starting soon. So watch out for that.

And the winners will be in for a real treat with Anne's book - you'll love it. I know I do. This book is a classic Anne McAllister keeper - no wonder it's selling so well on the eHarlequin ebooks charts.

Those ebooks are great ways to catch up with titles you might have missed as well. I discovered this week that along with the publication of my latest title The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife in Presents in America, Harlequin are also bringing out an ebook 'bundle' - the Secret Babies Bundle - which has an ebook edition of my 2004 title, Their Secret Baby in it. So if you missed this book first time around, it's newly available again in this format. (UK readers who want a print copy can still get hold of the 3 in 1 By Request Bound By a Baby.)

And talking of By Request collections, I also learned ths week that coming in January is another By Request Collection which has an even older title of mine in it - the 2001 His Miracle Baby. This is one that I often get letters asking about so hopefully the readers who have been looking for it will now be able to grab a copy. When I get to see the cover I'll post it up here for you.

On Friday I had an email from the review coordinator at CataRomance telling me that there was a review of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife posted on the site. As I've just had a stinking review on Amazon I was a little apprehensive when I went to look. But I needn't have worried. Luckily, this reviewer loved the book and gave it 4.5 stars out of 5. I was thrilled to read this:

When readers pick up a Kate Walker novel, they know that they are going to be reading a passionate romance that will take them on an emotional rollercoaster ride and The Greek Tycoon’s Unwilling Wife is certainly no exception! Kate Walker is a master storyteller and in her latest Modern Romance, she will tug at her readers’ heartstrings and bring a tear to their eye with this emotional tale of second chances and new beginnings that will keep them up all night eager to find out what happens next.

You can read the rest of the review here. I shall be doing an interview with CataRomance soon too - so I'll let you know when that's up.

And talking about The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife reminds me - next week - next Monday I think (November 5th) I have a post up on the IheartPresents blog where I'll be writing about the appeal of the amnesia theme in romance novels (The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife being one!) I'm asking readers to come along and tell us the titles of their favourite amnesia- themed stories, so why not come along and join in the discussion?

Which reminds me - right now on IheartPresents there is a contest for all would-be Presents authors with a prize of - believe it or not - an editor for a year! So if you want to write romance and you're aiming at Presents/Modern, why not check that out too.

Finally, back to friends' books. I had an email from Australia this morning - from Trish Morey who, together with many other fabulous Australian authors has contributed to a new book that was the brainchild of the fabulous Marion Lennox. She's sending me over my special copy that was signed by all the authors at the launch. You can see a report of the launch and a photo of all the contributing auhors on Nicola Marsh's blog

Sizzle, Seduce and Simmer is a collection of romantic recipes and short stories by your favourite down under authors!!! by many of the best Australian names in writing romance. If you're in Australia or New Zealand you can find it on the shelves there or you can buy it online here. It will make a great stocking filler. And I've heard rumours that some of the recipes are definitely seductive!