Saltaire Bookshop

Last week I drove across to Yorkshire to visit a little bookshop in Saltaire - The Saltaire Bookshop no less. I usually do most of my visits on my own but for a change, my wife and two of our daughters came along with me as it was half term here in Blackpool so they had the day off.

It was great to be welcomed into the shop where I spent the morning talking about writing and sharing stories and poems with four classes from Saltaire Primary School. I even managed to read a little bit from one of my Robo-runners books (book two in fact). Sitting at home writing stories is great but you never really know whether people are going to like them until you read them out loud... always a bit scary. Thankfully everyone seemed to enjoy the part I read so that was great.

Here's a big HELLO to everyone at Saltaire Primary School and a big THANK YOU to the David and Yvonne at the Saltaire Bookshop for inviting me in and looking after me for the morning.

After the sessions we went for some dinner and had a look round Salts Mill before driving back across to Blackpool in time for tea.

CBeebies Magazine

Last week I received some great news - but have only just found the time to mention it...

I was talking to the wonderful publicity folk at Hodder and Orchard Books and found out that CBeebies Magazine are doing a double page feature around SNAP! my picture book about a brave little crocodile.

What are they going to do? What's it going to look like?
I've no idea, but I can't wait to see.

I also received a card from Rachel, my excellent editor at Hodder, to say congratulations on the publication of Robo-Runners book 2 - Tunnel Racers. I'm really pleased with the way the series is looking and it's been great being able to show the books and talk about some of the characters in recent school visits I've done.

And while I'm mentioning Robo-Runners, you might like to have a look at the Robo-Runners page or the Free Stuff to Download page on my website where you can find some free colouring sheets and a door sign to download. I'll be adding more things to this soon.

Bookwitch

Whilst rooting around on the Internet this morning I came across a great blog all about children's books and the world of children's books - written by the Bookwitch.

Lots of very interesting posts... I thought I'd mention it here as I'm sure other people will find it interesting too - It's one blog that I'll certainly be visiting more often.

Liverpool

Yesterday we had a drive down to Liverpool for a wander round. It's amazing that I've never been there before, especially as it only takes an hour or so in the car from Blackpool...

There's lots of shops and lots of museums and galleries to visit. We had a look round St Georges Hall and around the World Museum - both of which were well worth a visit. There's lots more to see, including the Tate Gallery and the Maritime Museum, so we'll be going back soon.

This picture is of the Royal Liver Building. If you look right at the top you can just see one of the famous Liver Birds keeping watch over the city.

BBC Radio Lancashire

Over the last week or so I've been catching up on some writing... finishing a few short stories, tweaking book five in my Robo-runners series (The Ghost Sea), starting work on a new picture book about three chefs and planning a new series idea (can't mention that yet as its TOP SECRET).

Yesterday morning I was invited to visit BBC Radio Lancashire as their mystery guest. I provided 5 odd clues and listeners had to try and guess what my job was. It's actually quite tricky talking about what you do without actually giving it all away, but it was lots of fun. It was great going in to the studio, meeting the presenter, Alison Brown, and chatting about what I do.
And did people guess what I did??? yes, about three people managed to guess - which was fantastic.

It looks like it's going to be a lovely day today so I think we're all going to go out somehwere. Not sure where yet... I'll let you know. Hopefully I will also get a bit of time to do some work on a other book/series idea that I've got. This isn't the one I mentioned at the top of the page, this is another idea -but this is TOP SECRET too, so Shhhh!