• I’m talking to grown-ups tonight, which is a lot harder work than talking to children. My friend Andrew Taylor, the crime fiction author, and I will be talking about making a living from writing at the Coleford Festival of Words. I don’t think I can prepare for it. We’ll do a questions and answers mostly. Anyone coming,, knows what they want to know. I suppose I’d better say something about how I got to be where I am today. I always expect the book police to come and arrest me for false pretences when I do a session like tonight! Apparently most authors feel the same. Can’t quite understand how we got to be the chosen ones – all the hard work doesn’t come into it.

    I also be doing a session on creative planning for grown-ups on Saturday. So if you’ve got an idea and don’t know how to get started, why not come along?

  • I’ve been so long away from the drawing board that I didn’t know that Berol have stopped making Karismacolor Cayons. Shock Horror. If you scroll down, you will see a crab drawing. Well I’m really starting into the artwork for the book now. My electric pencil sharpener is grinding it’s way through my old stock of Karismacolour warm grey 70% crayons. I realised I had better order some more.

    I looked on line to find out that they don”t make them anymore! What am I supposed to do? The crayons have a very particular quality. Well, I just managed to find someone online who had three in stock, so I got them. They might get some more, but do you really think I’m going to let you know where I found them?

    I think they are now made as Prismacolor, but I don’t want to experiment half way through a job!

  • Every now and then an envelope arrives from one of my publishers. It usually has the look of, “would you mind checking these text edits?” about it. That’s not my favourite part of the job. But, to my surprise, the envelope is full of fan mail that has been passed on to me. It’s always nice for authors to know that someone out there actually cares and reads your books!

    fanmail

    I got this little lot from a group of children at Falkland’s School in Newbury Bucks. I love all the drawings, they make them so much more fun. Thank you Abby, Hannah, Oliver, Thomas, Rebecca, Austin, Charlie, Anna, Emma, Archie and Dulcie. You’ve brightened up my day.