Thank you Halifax - and New Voices 2

I had a great time in Halifax for the Calderdale Writers' Roadshow. It was a nostalgic trip as well as a work event and I had a lovely time wandering around the streets of the town that used to be home to me when I was growing up and where I had my first ever married home.

My thanks to the group who came to my workshop, joined in, asked great questions, and generally made the 2 hours slip by so fast I barely realised we'd started.

Also Jayne, Christine and Catherine who booked one to ones - it was great to meet you, to talk writing with you, and I really hope that our discussions helped you see a way forward to creating your own novels in the future. Good Luck!

And Good Luck wishes too to the ten finalists in the New Voices Contest who have worked on their entries with the advice and input of their mentoring teams and have submitted their second chapters which are up on the site now.

Anyone who entered - and even if you didn't but you're interested in the writing process - should go and take a look at how these stories have progressed. Because, as I've said before and I'm sure I'll say again, it's the potential for such progress that the editors saw in them from the start and that now, with their editorial input, is being put into place. Personally I'm finding it fascinating to see what the authors have done to move on from that first chapter, how they've put the editor's comments into their stories, and what the result is as posted on the site.

The voting of course is the subjective part. The bit where you are asked to vote for your favourite - but being honest, I wouldn't know if I was best voting as a reader or as an author or as a trained critiquer. And in the end, it's the editorial opinion that matters most. They are the ones who will be working with the writers - probably many more authors than just the one who is finally declared the winner - in the hope of developing a dynamite book out of the unpolished diamonds that were first submitted.

It's intriguing and enlightening watching the 'work in progress' - something that we rarely get to see from any author, any book. But ultimately the real prize for any of those who have submitted will be to see their name on a book on the bookshop shelves. I really hope that they achieve their dreams.

And talking of books on shelves, today is the actual, official publication date for the Presents EXTRA edition of The Good Greek Wife? in America. But I've been thrilled to see it riding high in the Top Ten on Amazon.com all weekend. Many many thnanks to everyone who's bought a copy to create this great result. As I hope the winners of New Voices and others will discover - this is a thrill that never goes away.

Blogging around

I'm heading for Halifax and the Calderdale Writers' Roadshows today and tomorrow so I've been busy preparing. But there are a couple of blogs around to keep you reading if you like -

The first was supposed to go up today but actually went up a day early over at Romance Bandits so I need to go over there and answer some of the comments. I'm talking about the final celebrations for my 25th year of publication and of course, as it's publication month in America, about my new Presents title The Good Greek Wife?

And then later today, if all goes to plan, I should have my blog up at I heart Presents - and, naturally, I'll be talking about The Good Greek Wife? over there too.

I'll be back on Sunday - and if you're going to be in Halifax please come and say hello.

PS If you want to know more about the Babe Magnet then today's your day - there's a great interview with him over on The Literary Project (Thanks Gemma!)

Courses etc coming up

I'm just orgainsing myself to update my web site and I'll be posting some new courses/workshops dates coming up - so as I know a lot of people who read this blog like to know about the teaching I do, I thought I'd list the details here as well and then post them on the web site for future reference.

So -

July 2010

ROMANTIC NOVELISTS' ASSOCIATION
Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference

Place: University of Greenwich in SE London

Dates: Friday 9th July - Sunday 11th July 2010

I'll be teaching a workshop on Conflict - so if you're going to be there and you have any specific queries about Conflict then please send me an email and I'll hope to answer your questions (and maybe I'll be able to use the lecture as a series of posts on this blog about the subject too.)

WRITERS’ HOLIDAY AT CAERLEON
Once again I’ll be going back to one of my favourite places and taking part in the Writers’ Holiday at Caerleon 2010.
Date: July 25-30, 2010

Event: I will be teaching a five part course on The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance.

Further details and booking forms can be found here: http://www.writersholiday.net/
Book online and save £10!

September 2010

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS' GROUPS
NAWG (National Association of Writers’ Groups) Festival of Writing

Place: St Aidan's College, University of Durham, Durham

Dates: September 3-5, 2010

http://www.nawg.co.uk/

I'll be teaching four workshops over the weekend:

Friday evening - What Sort of Fiction Should I Write?
Commercial publishing is a highly competitive world. Knowing how to focus on the type of fiction you can write best is an advantage in this often cut-throat business. But how do you decide where your focus should lie?

SATURDAY - SUNDAY

These 3 workshops will be particularly focussed on writing Romantic Fiction which is my speciality. But they will also be helpful for anyone who wants to write any sort of fiction, particualarly commercial genre fiction. They can be used as a mini course - or dipped into by someone who just wants to do one or the other.

1. Creating Characters
An essential skill for succesful commercial fiction is to create believable and sympathetic character. Whether storm-tossed lovers, hardened, cynical detectives or even blue headed aliens from another planet you need to build characters the readers care about and who come alive on the page. This workshop will give you techniques and ideas how to do just that.

2. Plotting
Are you a planner or a pantser? Do you plot your story in details or 'travel hopefully into the mist'? How do you create a romantic story - or indeed any sort of story - that will keep your readers turning the page and avoid the dreaded 'sagging middle'?

3. Writing A Sex Scene
Very little commercial fiction that involves the relationships between men and women (or indeed same sex relationships) is published today that doesn't involve dealing with the passionate and sexual aspects of that relationship. So how do you write a believeable, emotional, sensual scene that works for your characters and keeps you out of the short-list for the annual Bad Sex Awards?

October 2010

Calderdale Writers' Roadshows - Halifax

I really enjoyed taking part in these last year. Sadly, this year I'm already booked up for other things for the dates of most of them, but I will be doing the following

1. Friday 8 October – Halifax Library – 5-7pm – one-ones (you'll need to book thse in advance)
2. Saturday 9 October – Halifax Library – 10.30-12.30 workshop on Romantic Fiction

February 2011

FISHGUARD WRITING WEEKEND 2011
Once again I will be teaching at the fabulous Fishguard Writing Weekend.
Event: Weekend Residential Writing Course – Romance – Moving It On

You’ve been to Kate Walker’s Writing Romance Workshops – Now here is your chance to take your romance writing further with her new series of ‘Moving It On’ workshops designed exclusively for Fishguard 2011

Dates: 18 – 20th February 2011

Venue: Fishguard Bay Hotel

Quay RoadGoodwickFishguardPembrokeshireSA64 0BT

http://www.writersholiday.net/

Book on line and save £10

Anyone who has been to any of my previous workshops is welcome - and even if you haven't been to one of my writing weekends or courses, this new series of classes will help you learn more about writing romance and how to polish your manuscript ready for submission.