A Busy Week

This week I've had a couple of days at home writing and have managed to do another two chapters on Robo-Runners Book Five. The story is moving along very nicely now though I'm still not sure what the book is going to be called. I'm hoping that a good title will come to me before I reach the end of the book.

Today I've spent the day at Chaucer Community Primary School in Fleetwood. I had a great time there sharing stories and talking about writing in the new library - which is looking great. Thanks to everyone for helping with the stories and asking so many great questions. And big thanks to Sue for looking after me all day.

This Weekend

I’ve not done much writing over the last few days though I have been updating a few bits on my website. I’ve also added a profile page to an excellent new website that I’ve discovered called Jacket Flap. This is an American website packed with information on the children's book industry. Thousands of writers, illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, and publishers visit JacketFlap every day. It’s a great place to find out about children’s books and there are links to lots of peoples web diaries.

On Saturday we spent the day sorting things out in the loft - it's amazing just how much junk you manage to accumulate over the years and never get round to sorting. It's a horrible job but we did uncover a few interestinmg things that we'd forgotten about (can you imagine what sort of weird things we might have found?). In the evening we went out for a meal with my brother and his girlfriend to the Great Fortune House Chinese restaurant in Cleveleys. I love Chinese food and am happy to say that the food at the Great Fortune House is excellent – it was our first visit there but we’ll certainly be going again.

Our two younger daughters were away for the weekend at a football themed Guide Camp. They had a great time and came home on Sunday evening, tired and ready for an early night.

Today it’s my Mum’s birthday so we’ve invited her round for tea. We’d normally all go to her house for her birthday but this year we’ll be celebrating her birthday in between taxiing our three daughters round to some after school activities. It’s going to be a busy night.

Chaucer Community Primary School

Lots of schools are having a "Book Week" in the first week of October so I'm going to be out and about in different parts of the country - Leeds in Yorkshire, Gainsborough in Lincolnshire and Bolton and Ribchester in Lancashire. But on Thursday of this week...

I'm visiting Chaucer Community Primary School in Fleetwood, so here's a Big Hello to everyone there - I look forward to meeting you on Thursday.

Getting Unstuck

It's been very interesting writing these Robo-Runners books as they are much longer than all the other books and stories that I've written. That's partly because they are for older readers and partly because the story that needs to be told simply takes up more words. That might sound a little strange but I've discovered that it's the same for some other writers too.

I've been re-reading a book called On Writing by a very famous author called Stephen King. He compares writing a story to unearthing a fossil - getting the first idea is like discovering a piece of a dinosaur bone sticking out of the ground. Writing the story is like slowly uncovring the rest of the fossil. And you don't always know just how big its going to be until you start uncovering it.

Well, I've been gradually uncovering the story about Crank and Al, two robots on the run - searching for a safe place for old robots. A place where robots are free to live their lives in peace. A place called Robotika. Will they ever find Robotika? I don't know... but they are having lots of adventures ontheir journey.

Yesterday I finished the chapter I was writing, wrote the next chapter and even started on the one after that... Now I can't wait to get back and see what's going to happen.

Bye for now...

Working from home

Everyone thinks that working from home is better than having to go out to work every day. I love working from home but it's not always as easy as people think. When you go out to work everyday you just get on with the work but when you work from home it's always easy to find other things to do.... There are lots of distractions like the shopping, tidying the house, sorting out draws and cupboards, working in the garden. It's even harder when other people are at home.
But today, everything is done. The Guinea Pigs are fed, the cats are asleep, Lorraine's at work, the girls are at school, the clothes are in the washing machine and its too wet and windy to go outside...

So today I've no excuse not to get some writing done.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Robo-Runners Book 5

I've just had an email containing the final cover for my first Robo-Runners book - The Tin Man. I think it looks fantastic... What do you think?

This picture shows the front, the back and the spine of the book so you can imagine how the finished book will look.

Moorside and Fireworks

On Friday I took the motorway over the moors to Halifax for a visit to Moorside Community Primary School. This was my first visit of the new school year so it was good to visit a school with so many nice, friendly teachers and pupils.

The visit was made even better by discovering that the wonderful Penny Dolan was there working with years 3 to 6 whilst I was with Nursery to year 2. It was great to see Penny again and to have a little chat at dinnertime.

After driving back home we had some tea then went down onto the sea-front at Blackpool to watch the world firework championships.

The sun was setting when we arrived so we had a little wait - but it was nice watching the sun sink into the sea...

...and then the firewaroks started with a bang. This week was the turn of the Canadians… and wow… what a fantastic firework display it was.

Back to School

The summer holidays are almost over and everyone is about to go back to school - some people have already gone back. Our two youngest daughters go back tomorrow and our eldest daughter started 6th form yesterday. It's amazing how quickly the holidays have flown by.

On Friday this week I will be doing my first school visit of the new school year, so here's a big hello to everyone at Moorside Community Primary School in Halifax - I'm looking forward to meeting you all on Friday.



After doing some last minute back to school shopping this morning we went for a walk in the park and sat watching the squirrels play around for a while.