50th party blog guest - Kate Walker

When I first met Kate Walker, I was at a Mills & Boon author lunch, very wet behind the ears (we’ve been trying to work out when it was, and between us we think maybe 2003), and everyone had to move seats with each course so you got to talk to different people… and I ended up sitting next to this very nice lady. We were chatting away – and then she told me her name and I realised that I was sitting next to a Very Famous Author indeed, one whose books I’d enjoyed for years! But she wasn’t up there on a pedestal breathing rarefied air – she was down to earth and nice :o) And she’s remained a good, supportive friend through all these years since – and I hit my last milestone (25 books) at the same time as her, so it was lovely to share a special day. (Hmm. Am going to shut up now before I make us both feel old!)

Over to Kate:

Celebrating Scary Kate

It seems appropriate that my day for posting on Kate’s 50th book blog party comes just after we’ve both got back from London where we were at the annual Association of Mills & Boon Authors’ lunch. That’s because it was at one of these lunches some years ago (can’t actually remember how many!) that I first met up with the person I have come to call T’Other Kate. Chance put us sitting beside each other on a long dining table and so of course we started to chat. It was easy and instant - and we’ve been talking ever since!

Hang on though – ‘easy and instant’? Hmm – some people will be wanting to question that. How could it be easy, they’ll ask, when my main nickname for Kate is of course the other one I coined for her – Scary Kate? How can she be easy and Scary at the same time?

It’s simple – Kate herself, in person, is not at all scary. It’s hard to imagine a warmer, friendlier, more chatty – and easy to chat to - woman. She always seems to be smiling - even when life wears that smile down rather – and she has so many interests and involvements that there’s never any lack of subjects to talk about. She can even out-nerd my husband (the Babe Magnet) on his fascination with history, old documents and local stories – and that takes some doing! (She also stole his eyes – not literally but she said she was going to use them for the hero’s eyes in one of her books. He was delighted by that.)

So perhaps I should explain – Scary Kate . . .

Well, when we first met I was the established author. With my hopeless memory for dates, I forget how many years I’d been writing, how many books I’d written but I do know that T’Other Kate was at the beginning of her career. A few books – Medicals – accepted and published. It was obvious, reading those books, that she was destined for a successful career but I had no idea how much so! It was a case of light the blue touch paper and stand well back.

As someone who’s not the fastest of writers myself, I’ve been standing back ever since. Watching as Kate produces books at a rate of words that I can only envy. And not only Medicals – she was one of the very first authors to be published in RIVA (way back when they were Modern Extras in another incarnation of the line). She even dedicated one of those – Strictly Legal - to me. It’s on my bookcase now in front of me as I write this. And now she’s about to be published in Cherish. And that’s without counting those local history and other factual books – see – scary . . .

But that’s not all. I mentioned those other interests – music, piano, guitar, now there’s ballroom dancing. Food and cooking – Oh dear me, Kate’s hospitality is five star and the meals she provides. Well, all I can say about that is forget the diet if you’re ever lucky enough to go and stay with her! The Babe Magnet and I did once and we’re still talking about the food.

And you know that saying that if you want something doing, ask a busy person – one of my favourite memories of Scary Kate is – coincidentally – from my own 50th book celebration. We had a party in Lincoln and Kate was invited. What I didn’t know was that she was getting busy in the background in the days before, organising surprises - cards – flowers, a beautiful necklace . . . She even managed to have a secret discussion with the Babe Magnet to find out what flowers would be special for me. It was a wonderful night and made all the more so by the way that Kate and so many other writer friends joined in.

Which is why I’m really really happy to be here helping Kate celebrate her 50th book – and in London to see her get her 50th book pin from Harlequin. We shared a special occasion when I got my 50th book pin – and Kate got her 25th book award on the same evening and sharing things with friends always makes things so much more enjoyable. (Here’s a photo of us together - along with Fiona Harper - on that special evening.) That was back in 2007 . . . The only trouble is that in the intervening time I’ve only brought my total of published books up to 60. Now, in 2012, Kate’s celebrating her 50th! And there are more in the pipeline . . .

See what I mean about scary?

Many many congratulations on this ‘golden’ book, Kate! And here’s to many more!

I had to think about what I’d like to give away to celebrate this special book. Unfortunately, life has been rather stressful lately so I don’t have a new book coming out to talk about myself. But then I thought that there is one book that has special memories of me and Scary Kate and that’s my own 50th title – The Spaniard’s Red-Hot Revenge. This book is also in a 3 in 1 collection – Claimed By The Spaniard together with 2 other Sicilian books of mine – The Sicilian’s Wife and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride.

So I have 2 copies of Claimed by the Sicilian to give away to someone who posts in the comments. I was going to ask you to say what scares you – but perhaps not! What don’t you tell me if there’s something special you’re celebrating this year. I know plenty of people who have had a tough year – so I’d really like to hear lots of good news!

You can find out more about Kate on her website - http://www.kate-walker.com and her blog http://kate-walker.blogspot.co.uk

conference, part 3

Current work: admin
Listening to: David Coverdale
Reading: Sharon Penman, The Sunne in Splendour

Sunday, we started with a roundup of the PR activity this year from Catherine Jones (shown here flogging RNA cards!) et al.

The amount of coverage we got for the Awards was stunning. Lots of exciting stuff planned for the rest of the year, including plans for the RNA’s 50 year anniversary in 2010. Any RNA members reading this, remember to send cuttings to Liz Bailey and any bright ideas for PR: the press responds really well to ‘fun’ items.

Then it was a truly hilarious talk by Jane Wenham Jones (sorry, I was laughing too much to take a picture). Made me want to go and read her novels.

And then Kate Walker on websites – lots of food for thought there too.

And then it was my talk on local history for novelists. Now, I was worried that I was going to be teaching people to suck eggs… but people seemed to enjoy it. At least, they came up to me afterwards and said I’d started off ideas or they completely understood why I spend my spare time fossicking around ruins and churches and museums and in the archives. And although I’d printed out my notes, I didn’t refer to them that much. Because I told stories, showing how local history can inspire you and how you end up going off on a tangent. (Thank you, lovely Fiona Harper, for taking the pics.)

This is me telling my story about the only funerary wax effigy outside Westminster Abbey and how I’d had this bright idea and tried it out on my middle research assistant… (Later, when he looked through my slides, he looked at me. ‘Mum. You didn’t tell them.’ Yes, honey, and they would all have done exactly the same…)

Then it was lunch and final goodbyes. I was travelling home with my friend Kate Jackson Bedford, so it was lovely to have company (and also a map-reader until we reached the other side of the M25, when I knew where I was going). Then we discovered the junction from the A11 to the M11 was closed, so we went back on the A12 instead.

Had a fab time away, but it was good to be home. And now I have some catching-up to do.

conference, part 1 (Friday)

Current work: nonfic /MH duo book 2, chapter 1
Listening to: Bach
Reading: Sharon Penman, The Sunne in Splendour

Back from Chichester, where I had a fabulous time. Thanks to lovely Jan Jones for organising such a wonderful event. I feel really energised, full of ideas, and raring to go - but I must admit that right now I'm also completely knackered after a weekend of way too much talking and very little sleep! I think the best thing about any conference like this is the chance to meet up with old friends, and also the chance to make new ones. Right from the start, there was a real buzz about the conference. (And it’s nice to know that authorial paranoia isn’t peculiar to me… and that others have it even worse than I do.)

I did write really detailed posts every night, while I was away... but then the SD card in my PDA decided to corrupt and I lost the lot. So this is a reconstruction from two days ago: apologies for anything missing!

The journey down took me about 4 1/2 hours. I was dreading the bridge; there was a huge queue and I had to drive really slowly across it, but my attention was pretty much taken up with making sure my car didn’t get squished by maniac male drivers wanting to push into the queue, so I didn't have time to stress about where I was. Hmm. Let’s just say I'm very glad I don't have to drive on the M25 all the time. However, the weather was on my side and the scenery was incredibly pretty - especially around Arundel Castle - so I’ve suggested to DH that we should go to Sussex next summer because it looks like a wonderful area to explore.

This was the block where I was staying (my window is middle floor, right hand side of the cream bit - I know this because I leaned out of said window to bellow hello to Julie Cohen the following evening):



It had this rather unusual atrium in the middle of each landing - imagine a four-sided pyramid with convex mesh sides. Course, Nerdy Kate I-love-architecture Hardy had to do the arty pic from the ground floor...



This was my room. Much swisher (and larger) than my own room as a student!



Though I’d stupidly forgotten to pack my pillow (lovely Fiona Harper and I really did have 'pillow talk', i.e. a conversation in the bar about the best pillows - she, being younger than I am and with a better memory, brought hers), and I’d also forgotten just how lumpy and narrow student beds are. Add the electricity meter with a really fierce red light on it on the wall right at the foot of my bed (so it glared at me all night, even when I put sticky notes over it to try blocking the light), and this is why Princess Kate didn't get a great deal of sleep…

Anyway. The conference began with a welcome by Sara Craven, the RNA vice chair, in this stunning conference room - the chapel. This doesn't do justice to the glass.

Then Jan gave the conference notices:

plus celebrations and milestones, and it was really lovely to be able to celebrate shortlistings and first sales. Then it was time for the panel: Nicola Cornick, Kate Harrison, Anna Jacobs, Kate Johnson, and me.
(LTR Sara Craven, me, Anna Jacobs.)

We were talking about what romantic fiction is, and we all started by introducing ourselves and the explaining what we write and why we chose that genre. Then it was time for questions. I can remember some of the questions and my answers, but I apologise for not remembering everyone else's!

First of all, what is my favourite book in my genre? I don't think my answer would surprise anybody who knows me. It's Liz Fielding's “Gentlemen Prefer… Brunettes”, which I think is the perfect category romance. The characterisation and dialogue are wonderful, the hero is someone you want to marry, the heroine is someone you want to be your best friend, and it has a wonderful feelgood happy ending. The and because I write as two people, I cheated and chose a second with my historian hat on: Diana Norman's “The Vizard Mask”, which again has wonderful characterisation, a hero to die for, and fantastic background.

If the current hero who in my work in progress came to life and beckoned me, would I? Well, what can I say?

Course I would!!! My husband is my research assistant, so he’s the hero in my head whenever I write certain scenes. (You think this is bad? Believe me, some of the discussions over the weekend were MUCH … Oh, use your imaginations. I’m not telling. Just be aware that there is an equation: romantic novelists + wine = outrageous conversation.)

And what do I think romantic fiction is? I think it's about the journey. It's a short book, starting with the attraction, a conflict which keeps the hero and heroine parts, resolution, and the each the day.

There were other questions but from this sleep-deprived side of the weekend (the caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet) I can’t remember them. Sorry. Blame my SD card.

Then it was back to the kitchen in my house with Nicola Cornick, Sarah Morgan and editor Kim Young for a cup of tea (what was I saying about outrageous conversations? I should also mention my stomach hurts from laughing too much), followed by a glass of wine in the bar.


(That is indeed a half pint glass of wine - student bar, remember? - and my great friend Kate Walker NEVER OPENS HER EYES FOR PHOTOGRAPHS. Bad Kate. And I mean her, not me.)

Then dinner (what, Kate Hardy not describing the food? Yeah, there’s a reason for that – let’s just say the Wii said I lost 2lb when I stood on it today, though that is a Very Good Thing), another drink (mineral water, because I’m such a lightweight nowadays), and then the travelling hit me and I thought I’d go to bed at 11. Though it took me ages to drop off (it really didn't help that I had some fantastic books in my goodie bag, and shh, don't tell DH, but I bought the few at the book stall as well) and I was wide awake at four. Wrote a paragraph or two of the Modern Heat. (Eaten by the SD card, sob.)

But I think this post is long enough for now. I'll tell you all about Saturday tomorrow.

and more good news

Current work: new outlines/nonfiction
Listening to: Sheryl Crow

I had some great news yesterday. Simply the best. From the school admissions body. Madam is indeed going to the school she wants to go to in September. I am relieved for lots of reasons. It’s sensible for her to go to the school where her brother is now (despite the fact we’re out of the catchment area) because she’ll be with her friends, she knows the school and teachers through her brother, and there’s this little thing called ‘continuity’. And, had she been forced to go to the local junior school, I would’ve had to be in two places, four miles apart, at the exactly the same time. Now, I know I behave as if I’m superwoman and I can do absolutely anything, but that one’s not physically possible... So major cheering from our house.

Also did a nice chunk of the book and had another nice email conversation with my editor. (I have something brewing nicely, so I need to do a proper outline today for the Modern Heat duo and the other four books on the contract are simply ‘books’…) It’s so good to be back on track and know what I’m doing.

And I had a lovely review for The Doctor’s Royal Love Child from Cataromance:

Melinda Fortesque’s life is coming up roses: she loves her job as a country vet in the picturesque Cornish seaside town of Penhally Bay, she has got some
great friends, and she has found the love of her life in the gorgeous Serbo-Croation doctor Dragan Lovak. But Melinda has got a secret. A devastating secret that could ruin her new found happiness: she’s Princess Melinda of Contarini!

Melinda knows that she should tell Dragan the truth. But, just when she’s about to let him know, Dragan drops a bombshell of his own: he wants her to marry him. Melinda accepts, even though she is well aware that when she tells him the truth about her identity, he will hit the roof!

Having escaped from his homeland after the war had killed all of his family, Dragan came to England and through his blood, sweat and tears, managed to carve out a career and a life for himself in Penhally Bay. Since the death of his family, he vowed that he would never let anyone get close to him ever again – but when Melinda showed up in the Bay, the doctor’s fragmented heart began to heal and he found himself falling passionately in love with the country vet.

When Melinda’s brother dies and she has to rush home, she vows to tell Dragan the truth about her life when she returns to Penhally. But the paparazzi have beaten her to it and Dragan is left to realize that the woman he loves has lied to him. Dragan cannot believe that Melinda kept something like this from him – and that a refugee like himself could possibly ever marry a princess!

On her return to Penhally, Dragan informs her that their relationship is over. But Melinda has got some news of her own: she’s pregnant with his baby!

You can always count on award-winning author Kate Hardy to write a heartwarming romance that will tug at your heartstrings and make you cry buckets and in The Doctor’s Royal Love Child, she has once again penned a moving romantic tale of secrets, second chances and new beginnings that you will want to read again and again.

If you’re in the mood for a page-turning romance with plenty of heart, then pick up The Doctor’s Royal Love Child and experience the magic of multi-talented storyteller Kate Hardy!

Thank you, Julie Bonello, for making my day. I loved writing this book, and it’s so nice to hear when people enjoy reading it.

Remember, I'm celebrating Liz Fielding's 50th book over at her blog. There's a chance to win books. Go over and join in the fun!

I'm also celebrating with another special friend who has a book out - Kate Walker, with her 12-point guide to writing romance. Another chance to win books...

competition(s): winner and more chances to win!

Thanks to everyone who left comments last week. Winner of the competition to win a signed copy of One Night, One Baby is J Squires. Please email me your snailmail address (to kate(dot)hardy(at)btinternet(dot)com – replacing the stuff in brackets with a dot and an @ symbol – sorry to make it complicated, but I’ve learned the hard way that if you put your email address in as a link, the spam merchants rub their hands together and deluge you!).

To find out who won a copy of The Doctor’s Very Special Christmas at the Medical Romance Authors’ joint blog, go take a look (sorry, I am such a tease)… and while you’re there you get the chance to win a copy of Fiona Lowe’s fabulous Vietnam book.

There’s also a Christmas Stocking competition over at Kate Walker’s blog (win lots and lots of excellent books, including a signed copy of One Night, One Baby), and at Liz Fielding’s blog she’s doing daily giveaways from her backlist – she writes the most beautiful books (and I allowed myself a bit of her new Sheik book last night – what a treat).

(And if you don't win, One Night, One Baby and The Doctor's Very Special Christmas are both available on the Mills & Boon website. As is Liz's excellent Sheik book.)

Instant Seduction

All righty – today’s post is a bit different because there’s this fabby new competition going on (as well as the one here and the one at the Medical Romance Authors’ joint blog and the one at Liz Fielding’s blog (go go go – she’s offering BACKLIST books, and her books are the ones I read when I’m having a bad day and I need some sunshine – oh, and there’s a seriously gorgeous man on her blog today, not that I'm shallow or anything) and the one at Kate Walker’s blog (and yes I’m involved and yes I owe her details and… oh, look, just think of the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, OK?).

So today I'd like to bring your attention to I ♥ Presents.

Here’s what you need to know (and the tutorials are very good, btw - am not just saying that because my books are included as part of the 12. The other thing you need for this is Kate Walker's 12-point guide because it's practical, no-nonsense and won't scare the pants off you like Donald Maass does to me):

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

London, Part Three (aka London Part One revisited)

Current work: Modern Heat c1/PM work

Listening to: Xue-Fei Yang, Romance de Amor

Reading: I will start Jane’s book tonight … (not caught up on my sleep from London yet)

I have some more pics I thought I’d share. Firstly, here are Kate Walker and Mary Nichols respectively receiving their pins from Karin (courtesy of lovely Jan Jones).

And here is one where the photographer said, ‘Get ’em out, girls…’ Interesting that the first reaction of the two female subjects was to thrust their chests out. (Then again, Kate Walker has coined the phrase ‘a cleavage of Romantic Novelists’… and they do say if you've got it, flaunt it… ) So here are the two Kates plus Mr Kate W (aka Steve Wade, the Babe Magnet and my shelfmate at Breedon – I’m following his lead with Heroes, Victims and Villains of Norwich next year). Thanks to my mate Trish Wylie for the pic:

And finally… I ought to post a proper close-up of my lovely pin. It’s silver with a ruby, and I shall be so proud to wear it next month to a meeting with my agent and my lovely ed. I'm so thrilled with this. And even more thrilled to think that readers out there have enjoyed my books enough to want 25 of them. Thank you very much to all the readers who've brought me to where I am today.


Tomorrow I will catch up with the rest of the weekend. For now, I have the school run, a guitar lesson and work.

and yet another winner

The feline quotient says it’s very, very bored with all these canine pictures and has pointed out that felines are not so undignified as canines (oh, are they not, Sir Sid? I’ve seen those photos of the ‘phraud’). So Kate Walker’s cat, Sid, did the honours to pick the winner of her prize.

The winner is Becky and Kate says, ‘Sid and I are in agreement here as she's the one who added the largest number of names to my TBR list!’

Kate’s 25th party, guest blogger #20 – Kate Walker

I’m so pleased to welcome Kate Walker here today – she’s also celebrating at the moment, with a rather scarier number of books than my own: her fiftieth title! Over at her blog party, I explained how we met and how she’s become one of my closest friends in the writing world (her husband is lovely, too, and I was delighted to meet her son recently – and as I expected Kate and her husband get on really well with my husband and children). So over here at my party, I think it’s fair to let you hear Kate’s side of the story about that meeting:

Over on my blog party Kate has talked about the day we met. How we were sitting next to each other at a Mills & Boon Authors' lunch and we started talking. She says she felt lost and it was all very daunting - that's not what I remember. What I remember was how easy she was to talk to - and how enthusiastic about writing - and about her books and the books that everyone else had written and she had read. Even mine. I say even mine because T'Other Kate will be the first to admit that Alpha heroes - ok, a certain type of Alpha hero - are not quite her hero of choice, where an Alpha is very definitely mine. And Kate doesn't hold that against me.So I remember a warm smile, a soft voice, very bright eyes that were perhaps the only indication that she was a little starstruck. And an easy conversation that, even though this was far from my first M&B lunch, isn't always something I can manage with the person sitting randomly next to me. I came away thinking that I had met someone really nice, someone I could get on with, share a lot of interests with - beyond the writing of romances - and someone I was looking forward to meeting again. And when I met her again I felt the same only more so . . .

But that was before she morphed into Scary Kate.

Because Kate Hardy is not just a lovely friend, an easy conversationalist. No - OK - I'll tell the truth here - not just someone I can talk to - and talk to - and talk to… (sorry about the length of phone calls, Kate's DH) We can talk on almost any subject under the sun - and she can match my husband in his interests in obscure historical facts and - again sorry, T'Other Kate’s DH - she can also match him with his secondhand bookshop addiction. If the truth is told she also feeds that addiction by telling him about good books she's found, even, on occasions going back to shops for him and buying books he'd resolved to leave on the shelves. Thanks, Kate! Not only is Kate a busy Mum of two lovely children, a wonderful cook, a generous friend, a guitar and a piano player, works hard for her children's school - and an organiser of special secrets and special gifts that reduce those lucky enough to be her friend to tears (see my blog for details http://kate-walker.blogspot.com/2007/06/kate-bit-long.html) - but she writes books… all the time - she's a book writing tornado, a tsunami of publications - and all in a very short space of time.

And this is what makes her Scary Kate.

Yes, I know we're celebrating her 25th book this month - and I am celebrating my 50th title but this isn’t a case of pots and kettles. I'm proud of my titles but I was first published in 1984. There was a gap then and my second book came out in 1986. Admittedly, this was in the prehistoric pre-computer days but even so, my 25th title, Wife For A Day, didn't come out till 1998. 12 Years. I met Kate in 2002 - that means that Scary Kate had written those 25 books in less than half the time it took me to reach that 'silver' total. And she's written them for two very different lines, showing a range of writing ability as she does it.

Scary enough for you? Well, it doesn't stop there - if we add in the non-fiction titles, the local history, the How to Research… books, there are more than the 25 we're celebrating. And that's without including any Black Lace titles... If she keeps up this production rate, she'll match both me and the Babe Magnet - and out run us by a l-o-n-g way.

Now do you see why I call her Scary Kate? She exhausts me just thinking of all she achieves.

But the truth is that in person she's not scary at all and although it's the writer that I'm posting to celebrate, I'd also really like to celebrate the wonderful friend. In amongst all of those 25 M&B titles there is one very special one, that means more than any of the rest to me. The Modern Extra title Strictly Legal came out in July 2006 (it's being published as a Promotional Presents in August in USA as Mistress on Trial) and it carries a dedication to me. I treasure that book just as I treasure our friendship. And I hope it lasts for the next 25 books and beyond. (Though, knowing Scary Kate that will probably only be for the next - um - five years or so!)

Happy 25th, Kate, and here's to many many more.

GIVEAWAY: I have signed copies of the two books in my current 'Sicilian Brothers' duo - Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride and The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge to give away.

GIVEAWAY QUESTION:
If you could dedicate a book to an author to thank them for all the reading pleasure they've given you who would that author be - and why?