Special celebrations

At the beginning of October I  mentioned that  the latest Kate Walker title -   Indebted to Moreno  - was my 65th title for Harlequin. was supposed to be a ‘sky blue’ celebration. – which sounded lovely.,

But last weekend I was away on a break with some wonderful friends and they came up with a fabulous gift to mark this special milestone book and this was it:

A  scarf, printed with all the names of all the heroes and all the heroines in all my 65 books.  (There’s an extra one in there for me and my dh The Babe Magnet as well so that makes 67 names!) Someone went  to a lot of trouble to find them all and design this scarf with them on.  And that means so much to me.

Not sky blue but much more my colours.

Isn’t it wonderful?

So now I’m reminded of one of the little things in my writing that I’m very proud of  - I’ve never repeated a hero or a heroine’s name  in any of my stories. Sometimes it’s be  difficult, sometimes downright hard – but so far I’ve always managed it.  It helps me to feel that I’m writing about someone new, someone whose story I haven’t told – if they have a name I haven’t used before.

So now I’m on my 66^th book. The revisions  (tweaks) my editor asked for are just about done and I’m planning the  follow up – hopefully the 67^th. I already have names for the hero and heroine of the 66^th – they’re  Imogen and Raoul. And the follow up  already has the names in place as  these 2 characters appear in the 66^th – so they are Ciara and  - well,  her hero’s name started out being Aidan,  but it just wouldn’t work.  Even though he’s meant to be Irish – or part Irish – the name just wouldn’t ‘gel’.   

hen I realised why. Back in 1999  - and almost forgotten – I had a hero called Aidan. He appeared in a book called The Groom's Revenge. And I’d already told his story – so I needed a new 

name.  Somehow when I looked at this name and just moved letters around a bit I found a new name that worked perfectly  – Adnan. And that felt just right. But it changed ‘Aidan’ completely and the differences altered the story – for the better, I think!

So Adnan he is and I’ll be telling his story next just as soon as I’ve sent Imogen and Raoul’s story off to my editor.

And a HUGE thank you to the special friends who made my  weekend - my year!0- with this unexpected and lovely celebration.