Saturday, June 30, 2007

Kate’s 25th party, guest blogger #6 – Maggie Kingsley

Today I’m delighted to welcome Maggie Kingsley from Scotland – she was one of the authors whose books I read a lot when I decided I wanted to write a Medical Romance. I particularly enjoy her romances set in the Belfield Infirmary – and she also wrote one of the best ‘marriage in jeopardy’ books I’ve read so far, The Surgeon’s Marriage. Maggie’s kept me going at times when I’ve been tearing my hair out over a book; she tells me stories to make me laugh, gives me outrageous dares (our ‘bets’ are always payable in chocolate) and she was the one I turned to when my hero in Seeing Stars decided he was going to do his wedding vows in Gaelic… (She definitely deserved the book’s dedication!)

So here’s Maggie Kingsley:

Gosh, but this is a bit like This is Your Life, isn’t it?



Well, I can honestly say I knew Kate before she became a star medical romance writer. I’m a member of the UK Romantic Novelists’ Association, and that’s how I first met Kate, through romna, the online loop for the association. She’d obviously seen a post from me on the loop, and thought, ‘She doesn’t sound too much like an ogre,’ because she emailed me privately saying, ‘I want to be a medical romance writer and could you recommend any medical books’. I emailed back, recommending some books I’d found useful, and I also warned her that medical books were expensive – which they are, fiendishly so – and telling her that although it wasn’t easy to get the balance of medical detail and romance right it could be done.


Do you remember that, Kate? I didn’t realise you were already a published author – though not in the medical romance line. I thought you were just starting out, so you must have thought, Hey, I don’t need all of these nuts and bolts bits of advice about writing, but you never said so. I liked you as a person even way back then. Your enthusiasm just shone through your emails, and when you had your first medical romance published I was thrilled to bits for you.


Now? Well, we’ve been through a lot together since then. Good times for both of us, and sadly some bad times, and you’ve become not just a writing colleague, but also a friend, and I don’t use that word lightly. Hey, I’m a Scot. We don’t ‘do’ group hugs, and we’re not big on showing our emotions. Stiff, upper lip Calvinists, that’s us, but Kate’s one of the few people I’d willingly hug and say, ‘I’m proud of you kid, and here’s to your next twenty-five books’.



GIVEAWAY: Maggie’s giving away a copy of her August book, The Consultant’s Italian Knight.



GIVEAWAY QUESTION : Oops, almost forgot. Kate wants a question from me, and the person who gets it right will receive a copy of my The Consultant’s Italian Knight which will be available in paperback in August, so my question is ‘What’s Kate’s dog called?’ (I think she’s letting everyone off lightly, so I’m adding a rider: please tell me about an important dog – or cat – in your life.)

7 comments:

Jan Jones said...

Byron!

And my two cats are v special. They are brothers whose mama was abandoned by the side of my daughter's friends house on a busy main road.

And since our own Smudge had had a stroke after nearly 20 years of living with us, Archer and Merlin filled a very big hole in our lives.

That's Archer on my pic in the post below. You can see Merlin on the front page of my website

Unknown said...

Oh Maggie - I have cover envy!!!
I know my July cover is so very, very beautiful but your Italian cover is fantastic. That man is positively edible!!!
My Italian cover for October is so very, very disappointing. Looks like Joe average in backyard Australia :-( Not an aristocratic Count or any hint of it's exotic Italian location.

Okay - enough whingeing. We have 2 black labradors. Now, prior to this was not an animal person. Stil really not overly. But our dogs mean the world to me and our fsmily. Fonzie and Lallie. They're brother and sister and she's cool and calm and well...lazy (like me) and he's frenetic and silly and always on the go (like my husband) and they complete our family so perfectly. There's nothing nicer than watching the kdis jumping on the tramp with the dogs and them all collapsing in a pile of giggles and sloppy licks.

Jan - love your pic.

Amy Andrews

Unknown said...

Apologies for the spelling errors - my husband is hurrying me up. Yes, always on the go.....

Liz Fielding said...

Byron it is!

Our family pets all live somewhere else ... :)

Four gorgeous granddogs, Kees, Flynn, Milo and Bob -- the last two are rescue dogs -- all live in Holland.

The two rescue cats, Bernard (the dustbin) and Nigel live with a couple of guinea pigs (and my daughter) in London. I love them all. Best of all I don't have muddy paw prints to deal with!

Margaret McDonagh said...

Fantastic to see you here, Maggie. I am very honoured to be shelf mates with you in August. Your cover is fabulous!!! I can't wait to meet your hero.

Love,
Mags xx

Unknown said...

I'm a doggie woman. Have had two Old English Sheepdogs - big, cuddly and soppy - and one cocker spaniel - small, cuddly and soppy. When the cocker spaniel died I said never ever again - the heartbreak when he died was too much - and I keep saying no, no, but the family are saying, Please, *please*, and I can feel myself wavering. My cover is yummy, isn't it, even though he looks nothing like Clive Owen who was the inspiration for Mario. Actually, it's spooky but, the day after I submitted the book, I went down to Edinburgh for a week with my niece and nephew, and every bus that went by had a picture of Clive Owen, and the kids kept shrieking, 'Aunty, It's Mario Volante!' We got a lot of weird looks.
Maggie Kingsley

Lynne Marshall said...

Oh, Oh, Oh! Raises hand. I know Kate's dog's name! Byron. Or is it Lord Byron?

My dog Rogan is a very important dog to both my husband and I. He is a rescue dog and I bought him as a gift for my husband's birthday four years back. Our Roggie is a Rhodesian Ridgeback and it is apparent he was the product of a backyard breeder. We also believe he has been abused. Poor baby. Not any more!!!! Rogan ran away from his bad home, and lucky us, we got him. He brings us joy just by being around.

I've enjoyed all of your posts so far, Kate. Great party! I think it's cook that we've even changed houses. LOL.

Lynne Marshall