For my blog today, I thought I’d  answer some of the questions I’ve been asked in the comments on past posts.  I’m always happy to answer questions, so if you have some, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Heather said:

One thing I’d love to see covered is what people will get from your 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. How did you get all the authors to share their secrets!?! :-)

Well, one of the really great and unexpected benefits from having been in this writing/publishing business for 25 years is the fact that I’ve met a lot of fabulous people and made some really great friends.  And interesting thing about that is that if I love someone’s books then I usually really like them as a person. It works out a lot.

So, when the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance sold out its first edition and it was going in to the second edition, I knew that one thing that would boost it’s usefulness was some input from writers for other lines. After all, I write for Presents/Modern Romance  and although I know about the other romance lines, I’m not an expert as the authors who write for them can be.   So basically – I asked!

I sent out an email to  20+ other authors, all writing for the range of romance lines for Harlequin and I gave everyone the same questions. And they all responded!  Romance novelists are great that way.

So now the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance has all the information it had before – the 12 points and the explanations about why they are so important. It has the things to think about and the exercises to do at the end of each chapter. And it has this great section at the end where those 20+ authors all talk about how they write and what they think you need to know about the line(s) they write for. And I will always be grateful to those fellow authors who stepped up and answered all my questions just for that section.

Shayla said -

I’d like to see more about the process you go through to get published. Does it change once you are published?

The most important way that the process of getting a book bought and scheduled  changes once you are published, is that once you have one book accepted and scheduled then you are assigned to a personal editor and you work exclusively with her. Everything you submit goes straight to that one person and she assesses it, suggests revisions and hopefully buys it. Your book doesn’t go into the ‘slush pile’ – the pile of unsolicited manuscripts that is shared out amongst all the editors in the office.

The other major difference is that you are given contracts for a certain number of boos – I’m currently contracted for 3 new titles  – and you are given deadlines – dates on which you will aim to deliver the manuscript to your editor so she can read it. I call these dreadlines as I always have too much book left at the end of too little time!  But I do try to submit as close to the date as possible.  Then my editor reads the book, she will probably suggest revisions – it’s a rare book that doesn’t need some ‘tweaking’ – and I will do those. Then – hopefully – she buys the book and a publication date is set. This is usually some months (up to a year) ahead.  And that is when editing/marketing decide on a title – I have very little input into that.

The next stage in the process is that at some point I am sent copies of my ‘proofs’. These are a print out of the whole book as it will look when published and I need to go through it to check for any mistakes, misprints etc. Meanwhile my editor will have been working with the art department – telling them a couple of scenes that might work on the cover and they will design and create the cover. Finally the book is  printed, bound and I will get my author copies.

Rr4ever said -

Personally, I’d love to know a little about what kind of books you read.

And I’ll try to remember to chat about my reading most months. But I have a problem this month because I’ve been reading books that have been entered for the Romance Writers of America big contest – the RITA awards. And as the judging for that is strictly anonymous, I can’t tell you which books I’ve read.  So I have been reading – but I can’t tell you what!

Oh – and I almost forgot two of my special friends and great authors Liz Fielding and Anne McAllister and I are sharing a great contest this month. This is the 4^th year that we’ve been running our Here Come the Grooms contest . There are three great prizes of three great books – so why not take a look at  my blog and my contest page for details and enter and try your luck.

Finally – I wanted to share some really great news –

As many of you know, I’m celebrating 25 years of being published  – my first ever book, The Chalk Line  was published in December 1984.

In all those 25 years, one of the things I always dreamed off was to win the honour of having my book names as a Romantic Times Top Pick in the month it was out.   It never happened – well,  not until now. Several of my books earned the score of 4.5 stars, but none of them were ever awarded that elusive Top Pick.

Then suddenly, at the end of 2008, my November release, Bedded By the Greek Billionaire was the first of my books to be awarded the Top Pick for that month. I was thrilled.  An ambition achieved. So imagine my delight when I just discovered that it’s happened again. I just learned that my next release – The Konstantos Marriage Demand has also been given the Top Pick selection for March. Once again I’m celebrating.  And it has really made my month.

The Konstantos Marriage Demand will be out in America in Presents EXTRA on March 16^th but I’ll have another Kate’s Corner to write a post for before then so I’ll tell you more about that book then. (Though if you want to grab it early, it is available on eHarlequin right now both as a print and an ebook.)

So that’s it for this month – I’ll be back on March 15^th to chat with you again. Don’t forget if you have any questions to post them here.  See you soon.

And if you’d like to know more about me and my books then you can find lots of information over on my web site or read the really up to date stuff on my blog.

Happy Reading

Kate

I never meant to write a trilogy. The start of The Alcolar Family trilogy came when I was asked to write an on-line read for eHarlequin.com.  That was a real challenge! Getting a passionate emotional story into 10,000 words, and ending each episode of it on a cliff-hanger so that readers wanted to come back and read the next instalment.

The story I came up with was Wife For Real  and the hero was Alex  Alcolar, the illegitimate son of aristocratic Spaniard.  It was in the next to last instalment of this story that I suddenly found that Alex not only had a Spanish father but he also had two brother – Joaquin and Ramon, and a sister, Mercedes.   As soon as I wrote those names, and I realised that the people I had created had a complicated  family history, I knew that I had to write it.  I had the father – Juan Alcolar who had three sons and a daughter. One son and one daughter were  from his marriage to his wife but the other two sons were from affairs he had with two other women. That took some explaining.

First I had to get the idea past my editor.  I can still remember the warm summer day when we enjoyed a lunch sitting outside beside the river Thames and talked of my plans and ideas for the future. One of which was the idea of writing the story of the three other members of the Alcolar family. Luckily she was  as keen on the idea as I was and so the next three books were contracted and I was given the go ahead  to write the mini series. (She also gave me a fabulous idea for one of the most important scenes in the second book – The Spaniard’s Inconvenient Wife  when she told me about a  bridesmaid’s dress she had to wear for a friend’s wedding. But that’s another story.)

Once I had the go-ahead, I had to plan out the series. Not just one but 3 separate and  yet linked books. It was the linking that made it more complicated. If I put some fact  into one of the books, I had to note it down because it couldn’t be changed in another story. And I’d already created some of the family’s story in Wife For Real.  The first member of the Alcolar Family I created was Joaquin – the oldest, and only legitimate son.  And because he was the only legitimate son part of his story had to be about how he felt about his father’s behaviour. After all,   his father had been  unfaithful to his mother not once but twice. (The whole story about that came out  in the later books.)

So Joaquin was the eldest and  he was rather different from his father. Ramon, the second son was much more like his father- and that’s why I created the nickname the Lone Wolf for Joaquin. He was a man who had created his own world, set himself to doing what he wanted and not following his father’s path in life.  He lived by his own rules and one of those rules was that he didn’t believe in lover. Or in lasting relationships. And so he had the rule that he was never in any relationship more that twelve months, so that the relationship didn’t  have a chance to break down as his father’s relationshoips had done.  That was why the book had the title it has – The Twelve Month Mistress.

Of course then in the romance my hero came up against Cassie who was, it turned out, the one woman he couldn’t   break up with at the end of a year.  But being the determined man he was Joaquin might well have acted to break off that relationship anyway, just in case, in order to avoid the problems his father had created.
So I had to find something that would make him go over that twelve month deadline whether he wanted to or not. And the way I did that was I pushed him down the stairs!  I remeber telling my author friends that I was going to push my current hero down the stairs and they didn’t believe me! But I did just that.I wrote a scene in which Joaquin fell down the stairs, hit his head – and when he came round he had  temporary amnesia so he didn’t  know his time with Cassie had reached that critical point.

And this was where part of the fun of writing a trilogy came into things. Because  Joaquin’s brother, Ramon was in the story and I was able to introduce him to my readers ready for his own next book.

One of the really interesting things about writing the trilogy was that my readers all had their own very favourite brother – or the hero of the 3^rd book in the trilogy, Jake.  Lots of readers loved Joaquin  best , others voted for Ramon. Heather from this site of course loves Joaquin – she has told me that The Twelve Month Mistress is her favourite ever of my books. That’s why she chose it as part of the fabulous We Write Romance.com Selects Presents Blogger Bundle And she’s not alone. Back in 2006 when I ran a poll to see which of my books was my readers’ favourite – The Twelve Month Mistress came top of the poll, collecting up the most votes of any of my books. I’m running that poll again this year to mark my 25^th year of being published and Joaquin’s story is still there – up there in the top 10, currently at number 7.

It was an experience writing The Alcolar Family trilogy. Would I do it again? I’d love to if I had  stories that all linked together.  I’ve done a couple of duos but right now I’m busy with some special commissions that my editor has asked me to write – the first of which is coming out in the UK in July. But when those are done you never know!

What about you? Do you like books that are linked in a miniseries? Or do you prefer stand-alone titles?   And if you’ve read The Alcolar Family, which of the books – or heroes – is your favourite? Do you love Joaquin or prefer his brother Ramon?

I’d like to send special thanks to Heather for putting my book The Twelve Month Mistress into the WWR special ebook selection. It’s a  great honour to be there – along with some other really great books by fabulous authors. Thank you Heather!

Kate Walker’s latest Presents hero appears in The Konstantos Marriage Demand which is published in Mills & Boon Modern on January 15th. It will be out in  America in Presents EXTRA in March.

And of course one of her earlier books, The Twelve Month Mistress is also featured in a brand- new ebook ‘Bundle’ We Write Romance.com Selects Presents – one of the Blogger Bundles now available on eharlequin.com.

You can find out more about Kate and her books by visiting her web site  or get the really up to date news on her blog.

Hello again 

I can’t believe that it’s already December 15^th and a whole  month has passed since I  last posted in Kate’s Corner.

Or do I mean since I first posted in Kate’s Corner because that is what that post was – my first.  I had lots of great respoinses  with some questions to anser and requests for things to talk about  and I’ll hope to get to those as I have more time and more posts. Because at this time of year we all have so very little time don’t we?  We have gifts to biy and wrap and deliver. Cards to write.  Food to buy, prepare and cook. Visitors to share out home with or p[arties and celebrations to go out to.
Celebrations. Yes – this holiday season is a time for celebration and for me it’s a very special celebration on a personal level.  So that’s what I want to talk to you about this time.

If you’ve spotted  the wonderful banner that Heather has made for me and is now displayed  at the top of the We Write Romance Home page you’ll see that  December 2009 is a very important anniversary for me.  Because this month  marks 25 years – 25! – since the very first time I ever saw one of my own books in print. December 1984 was the month that my first ever title, The Chalk Line was published by Mills & Boon in the UK. It didn’t come out in America until 1992 – my first USA title was Game of Hazard. But The Chalk Line was the book that started it all off – a career writing and publishing romance that has lasted 25 years!

So this month and throughout the coming year, I’m celebrating the fact that I’ve now reached my ‘silver’ anniversary – 25 years as a published author. And people who know me well know that when I’m celebrating I like other people – my readers – to join in too. And this time is no different. I’m running a special contest on my web site with 25 – that’s right, 25 prizes to give away. And those prizes go to readers who let me know their first – and/or their favourite ever – Kate Walker title.

Can you remember the first Kate Walker novel you ever read? Were you right there at the beginning with The Chalk Line? Or have you discovered my books much more recently?

Tell me about your first time – the first Kate Walker you read. What book was it and what was happening in your life when you found it? Did you pick it up in a shop, find it in the library – or perhaps a friend or member of your family suggested you try it?

Let me know about the first book you read and I will publish the most interesting ones on my blog. I will also give a prize to anyone whose story I publish. You can win a signed copy of one of the backlist books I have a available, together with another small gift to celebrate Christmas and this special anniversary.

Send your First Book storiesto me – with FIRST BOOK in the subject line. Or share them with me in the comments section of this blog and I’ll add those into the special draw just the same. And I’ll add in two extra prizes just for this Kate’s Corner blog  – after all it’s Christmas and the time for special Presents! Closing date for all FIRST BOOK stories is December 31st 2009. But I’ll be posting some of the titles and stories on my personal blog before then.

Or maybe you’d like to vote for your favourites of my books – your Top 5 Kate Walker titles? If so, check out my Contest Page for details how to do that.

And I’m thrilled to be able to say that my writing career will be lasting even longer that 25 years as I already have two new title coming out in 2010 with The Konstantos Marriage Demand coming in Presents EXTRA in March and A Good Greek Wife? following that some time in the summer. (It’s out in the UK in July) So look out for those. 

One of the questions I’m going to be answering on a regular basis is the ‘What are your reading’ question – so to answer that  for this month. I just finished a Harlequin  Romance by Marion Lennox called Betrothed to the People’s Prince which I thoroughly enjoyed. And now I’m having a change of pace with a thriller by Zoe Sharp. Zoe is a friend of mine who writes great thrillers with an unconventional heroine – Charlie Fox who acts as bodyguard to a lottery winner.  I’m finding it fascinating reading this very different style of book from my own. Oh – and the title is Second Shot.

I’m going to try to please those of you who have asked and upload photos of  my  ‘furry gang’ – Dylan, the small grey tabby. Sid (A Cat of  Superior Breeding) and Flora The Floozie  the silver ‘shadow’ Maine Coon.  Wish me luck  – I hope it works.

If it doesn’t then I  need another lesson! But you can always see pics of them over on my personal blog  where you’ll also find my latest news.

Finally I want to wish you all a truly happy  Christmas Hanukkah or whatever you’re celebrating. I’ll look forward to seeing you again and chatting with you in the New Year. Don’t forget to post any questions you want me to answer  or things you’d like to discuss.

And I’d love to know which one was your ‘first’ Kate Walker  – or your five favourites. Sid will help me pick a couple of winners in a few day’s time.

See you in the New Year!

Happy Christmas and happy reading

Kate

Hello and welcome to the very first Kate’s Corner at We Write Romance.  I’m looking forward to  meeting you all and hopefully getting to know a lot of you through this blog and the comment s and maybe some special  contests and such along the way.

But first I have to  say a great big thank you to Heather for inviting me along to run a monthly column here at WWR.  I’m thrilled to be taking an even bigger role in this fabulous site. I can’t quite recall exactly when I first linked up with Heather and  WWR  it was in 2006 that Heather took over the redesign and the running of my web site and made such a fabulous job of it  that I’m still getting compliments about it.  She’s now busy with the design and maintenance of my husband’s site too (http://www.stephen-wade.com )  so we’re keeping her in the family! 

I thought I’d better introduce myself  to those of you who don’t know me. Obviously I’m Kate Walker! I’ve been writing for Mills & Boon Modern/Harlequin Presents since December  1984. In that time I’ve had  over 54 novels published in over thirty-five countries. I’m  also the author of the award-winning 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance.  This guide to writing romance sold out its first edition and is now in a revised and updated second edition.  Her latest book, Kept For Her Baby  was out in Harlequin  Presents Extra in  October so it’s still around on Amazon and eHarlequin.  My next title will be The Konstantos Marriage Demand which will be published in the UK in January and in America – again in Presents Extra  in  March 2010.  I live in the UK (which will mean that sometimes I’ll be in a different time zone from this blog, so if I don’t manage to answer questions/comments  for a while that will probably be the reason why).  And as I’ve mentioned my husband’s web site, you’ll see that I’m married to another writer – but my DH (affectionately known as the Babe Magnet to many romance writers!)  writers true crime books and history of crime. Etc. That’s why, here in the UK, we often do talks and workshops as ‘Crime and Passion.’

 I’ve already asked what you’d like me to blog about  – and  a big thank you to everyone who answered. I’ll hope to deal with your comments as soon as I can. But I hope that you’ll all join in and comment and ask questions when I do  blog so that I can talk about the things you’d like to know about.  Obviously, with the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance as part of my published book line up, I’m interested in teaching people how to write romance. Here in the UK  I do a lot of workshops and writing courses  but obviously it’s not so easy to connect up with writers in America or Australia.  So if you have questions about writing romance, or writing for Presents then please post them in the comments section and I’ll answer as much as I can.

Or if you want to know more about my books, how I work,  that sort of thing, just ask. If you’ve noted  what I said in my introduction – about the fact that I was first published back in 1984  (I was a child author – honest!) then you’ll realise that I’m coming up to a big anniversary of that date. My very first book ever – the  Chalk Line – was published in December that year so from next month I’ll be celebrating my ‘sliver anniversary’  as a published author. There will be special celebrations on my web site and my blog  so I hope you’ll all join in with those and help me mark this special occasion.   When I celebrate I love to share with my readers so there will be contests and prizes too.

Looking at the comments  from my last post, I’ve noticed that one of them reads – Via Heather – :

I’ve had an email request for you to talk about your cat…I was told you’d know which one. :-)

So obviously  this comes someone who reads my personal blog – because anyone who does that will know all about my cat.  Well, cats(s) actually – I share my home with three of them. They all think they run things. There are  – in order of age – the little grey tabby Dylan . Dylan is 14, he was a rescue cat from the RSPCA and he only has one eye as a result of a very bad bout of cat flu when  he was just six months old.  He may be small but he’s the real hunter. Then there’s Sid – or Sir Sidney  as he likes to be known. I think this will be that cat most people know about. He  is known as ACOSB (A Cat of Superior Breeding)  and he is also a cat of character.  He adopted us  one day when I opened the door and he walked in with a sort of ‘I live here’ swagger.   That was over ten years ago –  He’s been  with us ever since. And yes, I’ll talk more about him in this blog. Finally there is the youngest cat, a beautiful Maine Coon called Flora  who was my Christmas present in 2007. She knows she is beautiful and she  thinks she is Queen in this house. She’s also known as Flora the Floozie as she is very flirtations and frivolous.  When I can work out how to upload photos here I’ll post some pics of the furry gang.

So that’s a bit about me to introduce myself.  If there’s anything else you’d like to know please ask. I  think I’ve rambled on for quite long enough now, but obviously I’ll be back next month – December 15^th so I can answer more questions then.  But another comment that  can answer quickly here – and perhaps I can make it a regular part of my blog  – is the one from ‘rr4ever’ who said:

Personally, I’d love to know a little about what kind of books you read.

The honest answer to that is that I love to read anything and everything – the problem with writing books is that it then becomes difficult to find time to read them!   But as I’ve just sent in my latest novel to my editor, I have  little more time to read right now.  As I said. I think it might be fun  to let you know what I’m reading each month.  But for this month, the books I curled up with after I sent the book off were Anne McAllisters’ latest in the story of the lovely Savas family  – One Night Mistress . . . Convenient Wife.  I love Anne’s books – she’s also a very special friend (and a special friend of Sid’s) so I really enjoyed this one . Anne is a writer for Presents who shows the range of styles and types of these books. They’re not all revenge and blackmail books even if the titles make it look that way.  ( I’ve heard that there are plans to change the titles so hopefully I’ll be able to tell you more about that when I learn more myself.)  Another book I’ve just finished in Christmas Angel for The Billionaire by Liz Fielding. This is a Harlequin Romance. I may write for Presents but I also love reading some of the lovely emotional books in Romance and Liz is a favourite of mine.

But I don’t just  read romance – one of the next books on my TBR list is  a book by an author who’s new to me – F G Cottam – my son gave me  The House of Lost Souls for my birthday (that was in May and I still haven’t got round to reading it – see what I mean about not finding enough time) – it’s  described as  ‘brilliant, chilling and spooky’ – so I’m looking forward to reading that by the fire, with one or more of the cats to keep me company.

Well – I think that’s it – but as  I said, when I celebrate, I like to share so every now and then I’ll be running a special prize draw through this blog so that one reader/commenter can win a copy of one of my backlist books. Sid is the one who picks the winners for me – I put out all the names with a cat treat on top of each one and the one Sid eats first is the winner – so  And I’ll start today and Sid has  with picked the comment  with the question I’ve answered – so rr4ever – please contact me kate AT kate-walker.com and I’ll sort out that book for you.

And I’ll look forward to seeing you all same time next month – when I expect we’ll all be deep in Christmas preparations – or are you all efficient and organised and busy with those now?
See you soon

Kate

You can find out more about Kate at her website and on her blog

Over on my personal blog I’ve been celebrating reasons to Be Cheerful. One of these was the wonderful review that my most recent book – Kept For Her Baby received here on We Write Romance. I was truly thrilled and honoured to read it and know that the reviewer enjoyed it so much. Thank you Casey – that was very definitely one of my reasons to be cheerful this week.

And here’s another one – that’s also linked to the We Write Romance site. And this blog.

I’ve been chatting with Heather and she asked if I would like to consider having a regular guest blog here on We Write Romance. Well, I jumped at the chance. I’ve been connected with WWR for some time – and of course Heather is responsible for the fabulous design and upkeep of my web site – but I’ve only blogged a few times because life – and writing other books – tends to get in the way. And I think that’s a pity as I love WWR , it’s a great site – and my books have had some wonderful reviews here. I wanted more of a chance to chat with you the readers here on this site. So we’ve decided to remedy that.

And what’s going to happen is that I’m going to have a special ‘official’ day when I come over here and guest blog. Every month, on the 15^th of the month, there will be my special Kate’s Corner blog here. I’m hoping we can chat about anything an everything to do with romance books and romance writing. Heather suggested that I talk to you about writing and maybe give you some hints and tips – because you know that my 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is out there and helping lots of people with their writing. Or maybe you’d like to discuss the Presents line which is the one I write for – I know some readers are confused by what makes the difference between a Presents and a Presents Extra for example. (Answer – there isn’t a difference. The Extras are just that – Extra Presents novels in the middle of the month and I should know. Kept For Her Baby is out as a Presents Extra right now. The slightly different books that appear are originally bought as Modern Heat not the Modern Romances here in the UK – but they come out in the main Presents line-up, not as Extras.)

Well, those are just a few suggestions – but now I’m here to tell you about Kate’s Corner which is going to start with the very first blog here on November 15^th. And I’d love to know what you’d like me to blog about.
So I’m looking for suggestions, questions and ideas. Please – if you have anything you want me to chat about, anything you’d like me to help you with on the writing front – or anything you’d like to know more about, please let me know and I’ll do my very best to cover it in one or other of my blogs. And hopefully you’ll find my posts interesting and keep coming back for more.

So let me know what you’d like me to write about – and come back here on November 15^th when I’ll be launching the first of (I hope) many posts to come with the very first, inaugural Kate’s Corner guest blog.

See you then!

Kate