Damian's Diary

Warren Wood Primary School

2008-09-23T21:47:00.004+01:00

Today was my first school visit of this new school year and the first time I've worked with the wonderful people at the Stockport School Library Service. After driving over to Stockport I met everyone at the library service and had a little look round - Wow!.. what a lot of fantastic books they have there. Then it was time to drive down the road to Warren Wood Primary School.

Here's a big hello to everyone at Warren Wood - especially Ms Entwistle and Mr Judge's class... it was great meeting you today. Thanks for being so enthusiastic, asking great questions and for making me feel so welcome.

After leaving school we drove back to the Library Service building for a talk with some teachers about reading - and Mr Judge kindly gave me a disc full of photographs that he'd taken at Warren Wood and also kindly let me have my writing pad back - I keep leaving everywhere I go. Thank you very much Mr Judge... and a big thank you to Sue Smith for looking after me all day.

It's been a busy day today and I've got lots more school and library visits coming up this month so I'm off to bed... Goodnight.

School Visits and lots of Wonderful.

2008-09-22T08:11:00.002+01:00

The end of September and all October is always a busy time with school and library visits. Tomorrow I’m starting off with the first of my visits with the Stockport Schools Library Service where I’ll be visiting a school (not sure which one yet) and then talking to a group of teachers.

On Wednesday I’m returning to Boundary School in Blackpool where I’ll be working with year two to write some stories – then on Thursday I’m off to visit St Barnabas and St Pauls CE Primary School in Blackburn… more about all this later.

I’ve had some great, wonderful and a little not so wonderful news from the Lancashire Schools Library Service… The great and wonderful news is that Robo-runners Book 1 The Tin Man, is up for the Fantastic Book Award and is very popular – This of course is fantastic. The not so wonderful news is that they are having trouble getting enough copies of the book for everyone to read – and the hardback is now out of print (the paperback doesn’t come out until January). Today I’m going to give the wonderful people at Hodder Children’s Books a call to see if they can help.

The Weekend is over and it's back to work

2008-09-22T06:24:00.002+01:00

Working from home, work that I do during the week tends to run over into the weekend but not this weekend. Apart from keeping up to date with emails and a few odd bits and pieces, this weekend has been taken up with other things.

Since giving up my workspace in the loft and converting into an extra bedroom (our 3 girls all have a room of their own now) I have been without a special place to work. The idea is that we will get a suitable shed but we were having trouble finding anyone that made sheds that I could actually use all year round. On Saturday we found somewhere that does make the sort of shed we want "Hurray!" so all I have to do now is save up for one.

On Saturday evening we went for a walk through some of Blackpool's illuminations... I managed to go without my phone so I couldn't take any pictures - I'll have to take some later.

We've officially counted the baby rabbits and there's one beautiful black one (very health and now running around the cage with its eyes wide open.) We thought there were more than that but sometimes it's hard to tell for sure what's going to happen with baby rabbits (if you know what I mean) and you never know how things will turn out. I will get some more pictures of the baby and the parents and put them here soon.

Bouncing Baby Bunnies...

2008-09-18T12:25:00.004+01:00

It's a beautiful warm, sunny day today.... the first one we've had for ages, so I thought I'd let the rabbits out for a run around. Mum and Dad have been getting an bit fidgety all closed up in there hutch. As they dived through the open door and into their run I noticed that there was still something black and fluffy sitting at the bottom of the cage.

One of the baby rabbits had come downstairs and was doing it's best to find its way round. Baby rabbits are born blind so it was having a bit of trouble so I helped it back up to bed where it buried itself under the hay again.

Mum and Dad seem very happy to be outside and are lazing on the grass in the sunshine - it's nice to get out without the kids from time to time.

Mr Grim's Tower

2008-09-18T10:29:00.002+01:00

Earlier this year I was working with Oxford Univeristy Press on their exciting new school reader series Project X.

The series doesn't come out until January next year but I've just received a copy of one of the books I wrote for the series - Mr Grim's Tower.

The artwork has been done by the wonderful Korky Paul and it looks great.
It was good working with Korky again - he illustrated my Snail's Legs picture book as well as one of my very first books Presto's New Pet.

Baby Rabbits again

2008-09-17T18:58:00.003+01:00

I've just been out to feed the rabbits and make sure everything is fastened up for the night...

Mother is eating quite a lot at the moment, about three times as much, as she's so busy keeping the babies fed. Whilst Mum and Dad tucked into the food I took a quick look in the nest area and it looks like there are either three or four little ones. It's hard to tell for sure as they like to keep themselves snug and warm in the nest of hay and fur (Mum uses her fur to help build a nest before the babies are born so she's looking a little less fluffy than normal)

In the picture you can just about see two of the babies - all black like Mum and Dad - we think there might be another black one, though it's hard to tell for sure. There's definitely a white and brown baby in there too but it wriggled under the hay before I took the picture.

A few days at home

2008-09-16T08:46:00.003+01:00

Over the weekend we drove up to Durham to visit Lorraine's family. It takes us about two hours to get there in the car but it's a nice journey up over the moors, past the ruins of Barnard Castle, and past Raby Castle with its deer park. (We didn't manage to stop to take pictures of the deer - I'll try and do that next time we go).

Now, everyone is out at work or school so I've got the house to myself to get some work done. It's not always easy working from home as there are so many other distractions - especially during school holidays - so it's nice to have the place to myself again. It will be my last full week at home for a little while as October is always a busy time for visiting schools and libraries.

Apart from catching up on all the washing, taking one of the cats (Midnight) to the vets, changing the beds and tidying the house from top to bottom I've got nothing else to do. I can't wait until our butler gets back from his holidays. (He's not really on his holidays of course... we locked him in the cellar for the summer to stop him running away - but sshhhh! don't tell anyone.)

Baby Rabbits

2008-09-13T22:01:00.002+01:00

As if we didn't already have enough pets in the Harvey household, (in case you have forgotten or don't already know... we have 4 cats, two rabbits, two Guinea pig, 1 hamster and a tankful of fish) our two rabbits (Louis and Thumper) have decided that the time is right to have some little baby bunnies. I don't remember them asking my permission to go ahead and have baby rabbits but it seems to be a little too late to mention that now. It's hard to see much on this picture... but there are at least three little bunnies hiding in this hay. Two black ones and one white one we think.

All being well I will keep on adding pictures of the baby bunnies so that you can see how they grow.

Canadian Fireworks

2008-09-13T21:55:00.003+01:00

On Friday night we went onto the promenade at Blackpool to watch the next competitor in the world fireworks championships being held at Blackpool. This week was the turn of the Canadian team...

The firework display was excellent but unfortunately the weather was not so excellent - it rained all the way through so everyone went home feeling rather damp.

Lynne Chapman's Blog

2008-09-12T07:45:00.004+01:00

I didn't know what to write about today... but now I do.

Lynne Chapman has a wonderful blog that you should go and look at (once you have finished looking at everything on my website of course) and it is excellent.

Lynne is the amazingly talented artist that illustrated my story about Big Gorilla - An Itch to Scratch - and her blog is full of news and information about Lynne and what she is doing. You can find out all about her new books, see some of her artwork and find out about what she's up to.

I must admit - I'm a bit jealous that Lynne is able to do all the artwork for her own blog and website but don;t tell her I said that.

Click HERE to visit Lynne's blog right now.

Lunch in Leeds

2008-09-11T07:39:00.002+01:00

On Tuesday morning I drove over the Yorkshire Moors to Leeds to have lunch with a bunch of other writers at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. The wonderful Penny Dolan had organised the little get together and it was great catching up with old friends and making some new ones. Adele Geras, Emma Barnes, Hilary Robinson, Saviour Pirotta, Pauline Chandler, Lynne Huggins Cooper, Andy Seed and Ruth Elwin Harris.
The food was great and the company was even better. It's always good meeting up and finding out what everyone has been up to... so Big THANKS to Penny for organising it.

Chatterbooks

2008-09-06T20:44:00.003+01:00

Today I went to one of my local libraries - Layton - and joined the Chatterbooks group for their first meeting of this new school year. Not many people turned up but it was great meeting everyone that did come... so here's a big hello to Charlotte, Stacy, Hannah, Chloe and Georgia.

It was great meeting everyone and hearing about the books you have been reading. This week I will be adding a Chatterbooks page to my website so that we can see what books we've been looking at.

If Layton library is not your local library, DON'T WORRY, why not go along to your local library and ask about their Chatterbooks groups. It's great fun.

World Firework Championships

2008-09-05T22:15:00.001+01:00

For the past few years, Blackpool has hosted the world firework championships and even though I've never been a big fireworks fan - I really do like watching the big displays.

Last weekend the German team started the championships off with a fantastic display and tonight was the turn of the Scottish team.

It had been raining all day and we expected the display to be cancelled but luckily the rain stopped for about an hour - just long enough for the firework display.

Because it had been so wet I was not really looking forward to going, but I'm glad we did - it was amazing.

Music is provided by Rock FM and standing on the seafront watching the fireworks shoot off the pier into the air is good fun. I'm looking forward to next week's display.

September is Here

2008-09-05T07:00:00.002+01:00

The summer holidays are over and everyone is back at school... that means peace and quiet in our house and time for me to get back to work. I don't stop working during the summer of course - but it is hard to get much done when everyone else is at home, and this year seems to have been harder than most. We've been moving things around in the house, the weather has been pretty wet (so everyone has been inside), we've been camping, out on walks and we've had lots of other things to do.

Everything is getting back to normal now - I've got some work to finish, lots of new things to start and quite a few school and library visits planned for this year and next year so you might see me out and about.

Must get some work done now... busy, busy, busy.

Where do I Do My Writing?

2008-09-01T06:08:00.000+01:00

Most writers have a special place where they can go to do their writing. Somewhere nice and quiet where they won’t be disturbed. Roald Dahl used to write in his shed and I have heard that Michael Morpurgo sits propped up on his bed.

I used to work at my desk in the loft/attic but that’s all changed now. Over the last few weeks we have been having a big move round in our house. Now that our three daughters are growing up we decided it was time they had a room of their own instead of just a drawer of their own to sleep in.

The bad thing about all this is that I no longer have a room where I can go and do my work… Eventually I’ll be getting a shed to work in – but until I do, I will just have to sit at the table, sit on my bed, or squeeze into one of the rabbit hutches to do my work.

The Robots invade Layton Library

2008-08-15T19:31:00.025+01:00

It looked like today was going to be a boring day... But I Was Wrong.
Layton library is only ten minutes away from where I live and today they were having a "Brilliant Books" craft afternoon. Chris, Julie and the other hard working staff at the library were kind enough to invite me down to take part.

It was a nice sunny day outside so I wasn't sure how many people would turn up... but it was great to see that lots of people did come (and a good job too because it started raining outside)
I told a couple of stories and then everyone got down to the serious business of building robots, making bookmarks, colouring in and taking part in the book character treasure hunt. Up above you can see a wonderful model of Sparks - one of the robot characters from Robo-runners - made by Charlotte.

Here you can see Daniel and Amy with their excellent robot creations. Daniel's is called Spidey. (Something makes me think that Daniel is a Spiderman fan.) It looks like Spidey would be very good at doing lots of different things with all those arms. Amy's robot is called Robo... brilliant stuff.

Instead of making a robot person, Ben Armstead made a super sool robot owl with the bits an pieces he found. Ben's robot is called Hootey... which I think is a great name for a robo-owl. I wonder if I could have a robo-owl in one of my books?

I think that Katie is a big Jacqueline Wilson fan - she made a marvelous Tracie Beaker model...

Lauren made the biggest robot...here she is with Robo-boy.
As well as meeting lots of new people at the library it was a nice surprise to meet a few people that I'd met before. I met Saul last year when I went to visit a local school and today we had a chat about Robo-runners and Snail's Legs. Saul made a really interesting character called Top Hat Dancer.

Thanks to everyone that came along and made the afternoon so much fun... and for making me feel so welcome. I'm looking forward to going back to Layton library in September to meet the Chatterbooks group and find out what everyone is reading... see you there. I'll have to remember to take a couple of my favourite books along too.

This Tingling!

2008-08-14T08:51:00.004+01:00

No... I've not got a tingling feeling in my head, though I do get a funny tingling feeling when I get a new book sent to me through the post (especially if it's on of my books).

Yesterday I told you about two brand new books that are coming out this month and today I can tell you that one of the first books I had published - An Itch To Scratch - has now been published in South Africa. Another one of the great things about writing books is finding that people all round the world can be reading them.

As you can see, in South Africa the book is called 'Dit Jeuk!' I can't speak or read the language that the book has been written in, Afrikaans, (I wrote the story in English and some other clever person translated it into Afrikaans) but I do know that Afrikaans is similar to Dutch - and in Dutch, Dit Jeuk mean This Tingling.

New Books

2008-08-13T09:47:00.002+01:00

This month I have two new book coming out. The first one is Odysseys and the Wooden Horse - the story of the wooden horse of Troy. I was really excited when Melanie, one of my lovely editors at Franklin Watts, asked if I’d like to write a version of this story as it really is one of my favourites. It was interesting trying to write the story in such a short form and still keep in as many of the characters as I could – Achilles, the greatest warrior, Paris and Hector. The story has been brought to life with artwork by the marvellous Martin Remphry. It was great working with Martin again – he illustrated one of my first books with Franklin Watts – A gift for the king – and has also done the fantastic artwork for all of my Robin Hood Books.

Book 4 in my Robo-runners series, Powerball, is out this month too. Book 4 finds Crank, Al and their friends continuing their search for Robotika – a place where old robots can be free to live their lives in peace. Flying in the starship Terrapin, they land on the Iron City - a huge walking mining city of a city run by robots. Here, our heroes get their chance to become world famous powerball players… but things don’t go quite they way they had hoped.

Malham Cove and Gordale Scar

2008-08-12T10:11:00.003+01:00

After a lovely weekend away with our three girls we decided to plan a day out for the whole family… a picnic in the Yorkshire Dales sounded like a good idea to us so we studied the weather reports to make sure that we picked the best day – Thursday was supposed to be heavy rain and Tuesday was cloudy with showers so it looked as though Wednesday would be the best day – sunshine and light showers.
We packed a picnic, our walking boots and waterproof coats – just in case – and set off for Malham. It was a very warm day but still managed to be very wet. There was no sunshine at all… but we still had a great time.

After parking the car we walked a mile or so to Gordale Scar. The gorge was produced by water from melting glaciers from one of the Ice Ages – quite old then.

From there, we walked over the hills to Malham Cove Malham Cove - a huge curving cliff formation of limestone rock. The face of the cliff is about 260 feet high and at the top is a large area of limestone pavement. The blocks of limestone are called Clints and the gaps are knows as Grykes and provode homes for all sorts of wildlife and wild flowers and ferns such as wood sorrel, Herb Robert, Green Spleenwort and Wall Rue.

When it’s warm and dry, walking across the limestone pavement is fun – they are like giant stepping stones. When its warm and wet it isn’t quite as much fun and the limestone blocks (clints) can become very slippery.

Stadium School

2008-08-06T22:46:00.002+01:00

On Saturday morning we had a look round Cirencester and visited the excellent Corinium museum there. In the afternoon we went along to the launch of Stadium School - a fantastic new series by the wonderful writing duo Jefferies & Goffe. Cindy Jefferies (author of the Fame School Series) and her son Seb Goffe had invited us down for the launch and they kindly signed a couple of the books for us to bring home...

If you haven't read any of these yet, what are you waiting for... they're great.

A Busy Weekend

2008-08-06T21:57:00.002+01:00

Over the weekend we had a couple of days away from home without our three daughters. No, we didn't lock them in the basement or send them to a workhouse for the weekend... Laura and Deanna went to Granny's house and our Rachel stayed at home (she was busy working) Lorraine and I drove down to Stratford Upon Avon saw Shakespeare's birthplace, had a look round the shops and walked along the river. We stopped for a coffee in a very nice little coffee shop, wrote a few postcards to send home and then went back to the car and drove down towards Cirencester where we were going to be staying for a couple of nights. Before reaching Cirencester we drove close to Chedworth Roman Villa. We called in to see the villa a couple of years ago but as we were so close, we just had to go again. Seeing the fantastic Roman mosaic floors is amazing... especially when you think of the people that once walked on those floors.

Do I have a special place to write?

2008-07-24T11:06:00.003+01:00

One of the questions I often get asked is, do I have a special place where I do my writing?

Roald Dahl was famous for writing in his shed, Phillip Pullman used to do the same and so does Ted Dewan (he even has Mr Pullman's old shed). I heard Michael Morpurgo say that he sits on his bed to write his stories... everyone has their favourite place.

I used to write at my desk in the loft - but our three daughters seem to have taken that spot now so I do most of my writing sitting at the table downstairs. On nice days like today I can open the doors and let in the fresh air... it's great. This is what I can see...

Powerball

2008-07-23T11:39:00.004+01:00

One of the joys of being a writing is when the postman arrives with a big parcel full of new books. Not just any new books of course... but your new books - the ones you've written.

Why am I telling you this? Well I'm telling you because today was one of those days. Yes, the postman arrived with a big parcel containing a big pile of Robo-runners Book 5... Powerball.

The book doesn't officially come out until the 21st August (in hardback). If you're waiting for the paperback I'm afraid you'll have to wait until 2nd April next year... but why wait? Get it now in hardback.

Book Signing

2008-07-20T09:50:00.002+01:00

Yesterday's mini event at Waterstones Bookshop in Blackpool went quite well. I was a little worried about how it would turn out because it was first time I had been asked to go along to a bookshop for an event where there wasn't going to be any schools involved. Other events I've done have involved schools... this means that I know there are going to be lots of interested people turning up - yesterday wasn't going to be like this so I didn't know how many poeple would turn up... but I needn't have worried.

I'm happy to say that quite a few people came along to hear stories and say hello - some of them had seen the sign in the window saying that I was coming along and a few others had just wandered in and found me there, lurking in the children's section of the store.

It was great meeting everyone that came along - and a real pleasure signing books too. Next time I won't be worried.

Waterstones

2008-07-18T06:29:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow I'll be trotting into Blackpool to visit Waterstones to generally lurk around and do a bit of storytelling and chat to anyone there that's willing to listen to me...

I'll be there from about 12 until 2 (I think) - so if you are in the area, pop in and say hello as it will be great to see you. This is the first session that I will have done at Waterstones as most of my storytelling and talks are done in schools and libraries around the country so it will be interesting to see how many people turn up to listen.