My Harlequin Moment: Kate Walker

OK, so my excuse is this -  I was at the eHarlequin Pajama/Pyjama party. In San Francisco. And as those two spellings of - er - of PJs might just tell you, I actually live in the UK. Lincolnshire UK to  be exact.

So to get to SF I had to travel a l-o-n-g way. So I was slightly jet-lagged. And then by the time I was at the PJ party I was a little bit more ‘lagged' because I'd not slept properly, and I'd been to several other parties - and by the time I was at  the PJ party it was heading for midnight. And I wasn't even sure what day that particular midnight was on.

So when Jayne and Dream asked for my Harlequin moment, I thought they wanted an eHarlequin moment. And I scribbled one down on a piece of paper. (It's the one under E below- the one with the crowing, if you're interested)  and went back to enjoying myself.

The next thing I know is that apparently I had  ‘volunteered' to be part of the Blog Bash. And it's not an eHarlequin moment - it's a Harlequin moment. And I can't manage that - not just one moment!  There are too many wonderful moments. After all, I've been published since 1984 - and that's a lot of moments.

Ah - but . . .  I can see a way round this - so here you are  my great  big, Harlequin MOMENT

M is for my Mother. This is a bitter-sweet memory. In the same month that I received my ‘call' (though back in those prehistoric days, it wasn't a ‘call' but a letter from an editor called Mary Stannard) we also learned that my mother had terminal cancer. So if ever there was a time for the good news to arrive when we were all still together to celebrate it then it was that July. Mother had always known how much I dreamed of being a writer and achieving that dream without being able to tell her just wouldn't have been the same. Sadly she didn't live to see my first book. But she knew it was coming and she was able to boast to everyone she knew about it. And I can remember the expression on her face when I told her.

O is for all the openings that writing for Harlequin has brought me - but there's always one special opening that never ever loses the excitement for me - and that's opening the parcel of the brand new copies of the brand new book  when it's fresh from the press. So way back in December 1984, I first opened the box of the copies of The Chalk Line and saw my book as a real book. I kept that book beside my bed just so that I could wake up and see it and make sure it wasn't a dream.

M again - for meetings. Not sitting round the table, formal business meetings, but meeting all the wonderful authors whose books I've read and loved  over the years - and who now I get to call my friends in real life. Michelle Reid who I met at the very first author day  in 1995, and Anne McAllister a couple of years later.  Then there's Holly Jacobs,  Sandra Marton, Trish Wylie, Abby Green . . . .  and that's before I start adding in all the friends from the message boards and  hosties, Jayne, Dee,  Dream and Rae . .

And meeting those friends didn't just happen here at home in the UK. It  was an Experience that happened Everywhere.  One of the most important Harlequin - and eHarlequin moments was when I went to my very first RWA conference, in Denver in 2002.

I arrived  feeling shy and  scared, sure that no one would talk to me. But  I had made so many friends through the eHarlequin message boards that I had no need to worry. I arrived feeling scared and left feeling like a Queen - literally. If ever you've wondered why I have the nickname Queen Kate, well that came from this time. When there was a writers' group on eHarlequin  who were know as the Gonnabeez. Formed by Rae and Dee they adopted me as their Queen Bee - and Hostie Dee even performed a coronation  ceremony at the very first PJ party I attended. (I wonder if I'm the first Queen ever to be crowned in her nightie!).

Another Gonnabee, Mel Cox embroidered a special shirt for me - I still have the tiara, and the shirt. They are treasures to remind me of this special eHarlequin moment. 

And without the Beez I would never have written  the12 Point Guide to Writing Romance - it was an IM conversation with Dee, and then late a Gonnabeez chat that brought that idea into life - and idea that's now in its second edition  - the first one having sold out.

And eHarlequin  gave me another moment - this time one I shared with the special man in my life - my DH (OK so if I was the Queen Bee, they said,  then he was the Drone).

This was in - New York - that year (2003) the conference was in the same week as our 30th wedding anniversary. In fact we celebrated the actual day at the Harlequin Party.  And at the eHarlequin Breakfast I was chatting with my editor of the time when I heard my name called.

Hostie Dream was standing on a chair, announcing the  Queen Bee's anniversary. All the Gonnabeez had contributed to a wonderful gift - an album made up of individual pages from each of them, with photographs and messages. OK, I'm going to admit it - this was such a  special moment that  it made me cry   . . . another treasure, another very very  special memory.  I have made so many special friends on the boards  since I first visited in  January 2001 (I remember that because it was just when my book Rafael's Love-Child was published)

And T ? Well T is for Total  - the very special moment last year when I celebrated reaching  my ‘Golden' book - my 50th Harlequin title. In June 2007 The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge was published and I got to celebrate with a real party  and a cyber party - a Great Big Blog Party where so many of my Harlequin friends came to join in, in person or by blog post. And then in London that September  Mills & Boon's Editorial Director Karin Stoecker presented me with my golden pin - just  in time for me to wear  it proudly at all the special events for Mills & Boon's 100th birthday.

This is only a tiny snapshot of the wonderful Harlequin Moments that writing romance has brought me - I could have written about so many many more -  but I wanted to share with some of the very special moments that have all added together to make my personal Harlequin MOMENT.

And so many of you - authors, readers, would-be authors  . . . have been part of my Harlequin  moments - thank you all for the very important contribution you have made to my time on these boards. I may never meet many of you but you're all a very special part of  my  Harlequin life.

So what about you? Have you been lucky enough to meet a friend in person you've met through the Harlequin Community? Has your reading of Harlequin  romances brought someone special into your life - some one you can't imagine being without? I'd love to know.

About The Author:

Kate is often asked if she's a romantic person because she writes romances. Her answer is that if being romantic means caring about other people enough to make that extra special effort for them, then, yes, she is.

Romance is about making the important people in your life feel valued and letting them know that you care. But she also writes about relationships and the difficulties people sometimes have in understanding each other, or expressing their feelings, or overcoming problems.

Sometimes, when the right words won't come, or an idea hasn't worked out as she thought, she wonders why she doesn't have a regular nine-to-five job — but only sometimes. When the story's flowing and the characters come alive, she really can't imagine doing anything else. And there's a tremendous satisfaction in knowing that she's doing what she always dreamed of and proving wrong all those people who said she would never make a successful career out of her writing.