Cat Calendar - October

October is Breast Cance Awareness Month

Please click on the Breast Cancer Site in the sidebar every day this month

And help save lives

Cat Calendar - September Birthdays

Today is a very important day for a VIP (Very Important Puss) and for some VIPs (Very Important Pinks ) SO:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SID!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE PINK HEART SOCIETY

Little Pink Dancing Guy is 1 today

Special Congratulations to Trish, Ally, Natasha, Nic and Jenna

Cat Calendar August

Kate Bit - I'm back!

I'm back from RNA where I had a wonderful time at the Conference in Leicester - and what I want to know is how can three days away require so much catching up on?

I have n million (ok a lot )of emails to catch up on

More emails needing writing

Prizes to pack up and sent out from the Romance Junkies guest spot I did last wek (Thank you RJs for a wonderful time)

Washing to do - again - how can three days away create that much washing?

Did somebody mention a deadline??

Some New Writers' Scheme reports to write

A library talk (tomorrow - July 11 - Doncaster 2pm) to prepare

And while I was away my lovely kind editor sent me proofs for my March 2008 book to correct

Can I just cover my eyes and go 'Eeeeeeek'?

No

OK then - I'll apologise to Dee for scrambling her in as Guest Blogger which was all I could find the time to do while I was at the RNA . Thank you for stepping in, Deedle!

I'll apologise to Jane W-H, and the lovely Liz Fielding who have picked their winners and I haven't got around to posting them

And apologies to and from Trish Wylie who has also chosen her winners but not yet had them posted - and who never managed to get to the blog to answer any of the comments because . . . well, check out Trish's Blog to find out why.

If you do that you'll also get to meet her small but perfectly formed travelling companion - Sean - and some of you, the observant and Sid fixated members of you - might well recognise Sean.

Remember this? Well that was the formal photo - here are a couple more that were taken while Sean and Sid kicked back at the end of the official photo shoot.

As you can see, they got to be pretty good friends, But now Sean is off travelling the world with Trish while Sid is just happy that mum is home.

If you wabt to watch Sean's Travels - then look out for reports on Trish's Blog and on the Pink Heart Society blog every Tuesday and you'll be able to read an update.

And I'll be back with more of the Great Big Blog Party soon - I have lots more wonderful guests - and all with great prizes on offer - lined up for you so keep watching this space.

Great Big Blog Party 28 - Sid The Cat

Okay, this guy needs very little introduction - not if you've been visiting here regularly. Sid the Cat has become an internet star ever since I roped him in (ahem - bribed him with cat crunchies) to help me pick the winners of my prize draws in as fair a way as possible. Once his picture (he waould say his pawtrait ) appear on my web site he began acquiring fans - and groupies and general hanges on. There are two beautiful lady cats in South Africa who flirt with him and send him presents and just lately Ruby (India Grey's cat) has been thrilled to be called Sid's Floozy. there are others - many others - who send their photos to him. There are offers of bribes - salmon, tuna, more crunchies, if he will only pick out someone's name. They chose their bribes well - the way to this cat's heart is through his stomach.

For those who don't know the story - one June night in 1998, I opened my door to let in the cats - in came Bob, Spiffy, Dylan - and Sid! Wehave no idea where he came from or how old he was when he arrived - just that one day we were Sid-less and then we were Sidded . And now we can;t imagine life without him. He is a big cat - a Force in Fur and he follows me everywhere - sleeps on my desk as I write and on my bed as I sleep.

He has many human fans too - writers who write to him and occasionally, like Anne McAllister receive missives in return. Among his other fans are Anna Louise Lucia, Trish Wylie, Julie Cohen, even Abby Green who, although allergic to cats was prepared to dose herself with anti-histamines in order to come and stay.

And of course I must not forget the Cat Calendar - every month, on the first of the month, Sid poses for a new photograph to mark the day. If you've missed any of these, all you have to do is click on the Cat Calendar link at the bottom of this post and you'll be able to see them all - and there will be another picture each month for the rest of the year.

So here he is - Sid The Cat or A Cat of Superior Breeding

To Whom It May Concern

There has been a great deal of hoopla and folderol hereabouts since the beginning of June. You may have noticed.

I have.

I could hardly fail to notice inasmuch as it is happening in My Office on My Blog and much of it seems to center around My Author. People of all sorts have written praises, lauds and encomiums heralding the publication of My Author's 50th book. All well and good. Anyone who writes 50 books should be praised, lauded and encomiumed. Especially My Author because she does this in her spare time. (And they are very good books I am told. They are a bit small as far as I'm concerned. They do not substantially support my, er, bulk, when I am attempting to sleep on them. But no matter. I am a cat of superior understanding and tolerance. The books are nice, but they are a sidebar to her real life).

In her real life she takes care of ME.

I have been the center of Kate's life for a number of years now. We will not discuss exactly how many because age is not a proper topic of conversation. Nor is WEIGHT, but there are Those who quibble about Cats Of Substance and feel that they should be less substantial (an error in their thinking, I fear but am too polite to say so).

Anyway, all the others who write praise Kate's wonderful books (which deserve it, no doubt) and her helpfulness in teaching them to write (though catching mice would be more useful and probably easier) and in being a wonderful friend and colleague (and wife and mother, according to the BM and TYFOTH -- the youth formerly of the house). Let them, I say.

It is my duty -- and my pleasure -- to praise, laud and encomium dear Kate as a feeder and scratcher and stroker of Cats.

She is all that is good and wonderful when it comes to feline attention. There is no better in the land. She does everything in her power to make my life (and even the lives of those others who live here, Bob and Spiff and (horrors!) the dastardly Dyl) pleasurable and full of joy. Generally, she is top notch at this.

Lately, however (perhaps because she is busy with all these blogs) she has been letting down the side. She has been allowing it to rain. Rain? Nay. Pour. Dump. Drench. Drown. And it isn't just raining at one door. It's raining at all of them!

I have attempted to draw her attention to this. I have in fact complained bitterly. And she needn't think that crunchies and salmon will assuage my sulks. I want it to stop raining. Now.

So, please, dear Kate, Do Something About It.

My Kate tells me that I am supposed to ask a question and that people will answer and then I can pick a winner and they will Get Something Wonderful. Do you all want cat crunchies? Or salmon? Or would a book suffice (provided it's big enough to sleep on)?

Very well. My question: Who is the handsomest, finest, most distinguished cat you have ever met (and even if you have met me, you do not need to list me. We all know that if you have met me there is no other cat who can come close. But there must be other Runner-up Cats in the world. So who are they? And why are they wonderful (though not as wonderful as me).

Kate can choose the prize you will receive. I wonder if I tear all the entries into little pieces and put bits of chocolate on each, if she will like that method of picking a winner. Hmmm.

Congratulations, dear Kate. It was indeed a wonderful day that I found your house and called it home.

Sir Sidney St John Willoughby Eamon Portly-Lummox, ACOSB, DLitt Oxon, Earl of Hellions Bumstead and Blubberhouses, etc etc etc

PS from Sid's post - He has decided that his GIVEAWAY prize will be a book from his two favourite authors - Kate Walker of and one from Anne McAllister who knows just exactly where to rub him behind his ears. It may be more than one book from each - it depends how many books it takes to Support a Sleeping Sid. I suspect that two will not do it

Cat Calendar - July

CAT CALENDAR - and June Celebrations

Regular blog readers know that the first of the month is always marked by a new Cat Calendar starring The Cat of Superior Breeding - SID.

So this morning I asked His Sidship if he would pose for the month of June. Which he did, most graciously. But then, when he saw his 'props' - the accessories I was asking him to pose with - he realised that this June picture marks a very special month for me and for all my readers all over the world.

Which of course, as you all know by now is the publication of my 50th title for Mills & Boon. Because of this and because he is always generous to a fault with his admiring public (Ruby this means you! And Magic if she's watching) Sid offered me not one but two special celebratory poses for this month's calendar.

So here we have the formal pawtrait for the month of June:

And here we have a more relaxed, informal picture of Sir Sidney when he discovered that we would be celebrating the 50th book with salmon and a little cat nip!

Sid is also in such a good mood because he knows all the extra fun things I have coming up for you all in the next month or so - things like

The Great Big Blog Party (and I might just have achieved my ambtion of getting 50 posters to come and visit)

The Great Big prize giveaway from all of those(hopefully) 50 visitors - so many of whom are bringing a prize to go along with their posts

The Great Big 50 book giveaway - a book a day for 50 days - plus the Great Big Grand Prize to celebrate the 50th book (this will be together with lovely Lee over at Author Sound Relations - details will go up very soon

The extra prize contest for all my Newsletter Group . (Join now if you want to be part of that)

And of course the book itself - the publication of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge which is out in the UK now (though it seems like blink and you'll miss it - there is one copy left on Amazon at the moment and I was in Sheffield/Meadowhall Mall yesterday where there were precisely two copies left on the shelves!)

And all this will go through into July as well - to celebrate the publiction of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge in Presents and M&B Sexy in USA and Australia.
So keep coming back to see what's happening.

And finally - and by no means least - Sid (and I) would just like to wish the wonderful and lovely Liz Fielding a very very happy birthday for today. (If you're in America where the book is still on the shelves, why not treat yourself to a copy of The Secret Life of Lady Gabriella to celebrate the birthday of a fabulous writer and a special friend of mine- it's still available on Amazon.co.uk too.)

Have a fantastic day Liz - and relax for a moment with the book off your desk.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Cat Calendar - MAY

Specially for Ruby

CAT CALENDAR - APRIL