• About a year agog, Kes Grey, of Daisy fame, introduced me to the idea of a catalyst book edition. What on Earth is that, you may ask?

    Kes was in advertising for many years and is a great salesman! His idea was to make the most of on demand printing to produce trial editions of books that he thought publishers might pass on in the hope that they would see the potential once a bit of real marketing had been tried out and they could see the finished product.

    I remember the smile creeping over my face as he explained (sold) the idea to me. Brilliant, I thought, but I didn’t have anything that fitted, so I forgot about it for a while.

    Until this week, that is.

    I’ve been telling a story in schools for about ten years now, originally called the naughtiest girl in the world. It’s changed and grown organically over that time.

    I wrote it down about five years ago and adapted it for a novelty picture book. The recession put paid to that as the publishers at the time pulled out of all novelties until they knew what was happening with the economy.

    Since then I’ve rewritten it several times. It is now a completely different story that I’m really happy with. I have two problems. The first is that I’m pigeon-holed as a young readers series book writer and the second is that I’ve really come to love pen and ink more and more and would like to do it as a black and white picture book.

    Black and white picture books aren’t really done. I don’t see why not. So I think I should have a go and see what the reaction is. You don’t know until you are holding a copy in your hands. If it doesn’t work, at least I might find a publisher who would think it better done in colour – in which case I’m sure I’d be happy to oblige.

    Do you think I should? Do you think I shouldn’t? Why?

    I’ve added a poll on the right hand side, so you can be part of the catalytic reaction!

  • I’m off to a great start with my new eight book series, Olympia. Set in ancient Olympia, it explores the life and times of the ancient Olympic Games through the eyes of my young hero, Ollie, whose dad runs the gymnasium.

    I worked it all out about eighteen months ago. Now the decks are clear and the project is not only underway, it’s on schedule – so far!

    I’ve written the first story, Run like the Wind and – hooray! – my editor, Sarah, likes it a lot. Should I be surprised? Well, I was really pleased with the story, but working on your own in a shed at the bottom of the garden, you can lose touch with reality! It’s so good to know your editor likes your work and that the project is on the right rails.

    Last year, I sent my first Axel Storm story in and received a stony silence. My previous editor had rewritten my synopsis and hadn’t told me before she left – so my new editor was expecting something quite different! We got there in the end, but it was hard work, changing my initial ideas to fit the new format.

    I’ve finished the cover roughs too. The cover rough for Deadly Target is above. I have a new designer working on them as I write. I came up with a logo idea and I’m dying to see what the cover ideas will look like. I’ll probably post them when we have finalised them.

    Keen followers of my artwork will notice that Ollie does not have the ping pong ball eyes that I have always drawn before! I’m being really brave and I’m going to try and draw all the human characters with simple, dot eyes.

    I need to make the children look a bit older than they normally are in my books, and the ping pong eyes tend to make them look much younger. Also, I suppose these stories are a little more serious and so I feel they should be a little less cartoony. Does that make sense?

    Meantime, back to the keyboard – seven more stories to write and a schedule to meet!

  • It must be that time of year again! hope this helps you make Christmas cards and decorations.

    Click the comments button to let me know what you think!