Kate Walker | Swamped by Spaniards May 28, 2008
As I write for Harlequin Presents, I often have to decide on the nationality of
my hero. And part of the fantasy of Mills & Boon Read More...
I was born in Nottinghamshire, England, but I didn't live
there for very long. The family moved to West Yorkshire
when I was just eighteen months old and so I have always
regarded Yorkshire as my home. I grew up there as the
middle child in a family of five - all girls - in a home
where books were vitally important and I read anything I
could get my hands on.
Even before I could write I was making up stories. My
mother tells the story of me recounting the tale of the
Three Little Raindrops - Drippy, Droppy and Droopy to my
two younger sisters when I was four. I can't remember a
time when I wasn't scribbling away at something, and I
wrote my first 'book' when I was eleven, an adventure
story, most of it in secret in lessons at school -
particularly maths lessons, which I hated.
But everyone, particularly teachers and my parents, told me
that I would never make a living as a writer, and I should
work towards a more secure career. So I decided instead
that if I couldn't write books, I could at least work with
them and so I settled for becoming a librarian. On leaving
school, I went to the University College of Wales
Aberystwyth where I studied English and Librarianship for
my degree.
More importantly, university was also where I met my
husband who was also studying English there. We married and
moved back north, eventually settling in Lincolnshire. Here
I worked as a children's librarian until I left work when
my son was born.
After three years of being a full-time housewife and
mother, I was ready for a new challenge, but needed
something I could do at home, and so I turned to my old
love of writing. My first attempts at novels were written
on the kitchen table, often late into the night when my son
was asleep or during a few snatched hours when he was out
at nursery school.
The first two novels sent off to Harlequin Mills & Boon
were rejected, but the third attempt was successful. I can
still remember the moment that a letter arrived instead of
the rejection slip I had been dreading. I think I must have
read it over and over at least a hundred times before the
reality of what it said sank in, and for days I kept
checking it just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. In 1984,
THE CHALK LINE was published just in time to be one of my
best Christmas presents ever.
Fitting in hobbies around working and being a wife and
mother can be difficult, but I always find time to read. I
love all sorts of fiction, especially Romance, obviously. I
also enjoy historical novels, detective
fiction and long, absorbing biographies about fascinating
people and I can spend hours in bookshops just browsing. I
enjoy knitting and embroidery, but I rarely get time to do
either now that I'm a full-time writer. I also love looking
round antique fairs or junk shops, hoping to add to my
collection of Victorian embroidery. During my working hours
my four cats, all adopted from the RSPCA, usually keep me
company in my study, though they have to be dissuaded from
sitting on the piles of papers that they are convinced are
there just for them. xxxI love to travel and visit new
places, especially places with an interesting history, and
I always enjoy visiting old castles or stately homes and
imagining how the people who used to live there spent their
days. xxxI'm often asked if I'm a romantic sort of person
because I specialise in writing Romances. Well, if being
romantic means caring about other people enough to make
that extra special effort, then yes, I am. Romance is about
making the important people in your life feel valued and
letting them know that you care. But I also write about
relationships and the difficulties people sometimes have in
understanding each other, or expressing affection, or
overcoming problems. xxxSometimes - when the right words
won't come, or an idea hasn't worked out as I'd thought, I
wonder why I don't have some regular nine to five job, but
when the story's flowing and the characters come alive, I
really can't imagine any other way of life. And there's a
tremendous satisfaction in knowing that I've proved wrong
all those people who told me that I would never make a
successful career out of my writing.