It’s autumn! What happened?! I had a lovely summer, not writing a book! That feels really strange and alarming to write, but it has been SO nice having proper time off this summer. Last year I was struggling to start Jelly, and the year before I was doing a complete rewrite of Electrigirl and the … More Summer round-up!
Isn’t this gorgeous? It’s by Charlotte Taylor, who came second in the Shrewsbury Bookfest 2018 art competition. It’s a picture of Darby, my main character in A Storm of Strawberries (which was shortlisted for the award) as she goes out looking for her sister in the middle of the night… I love the bright red … More Strawberry fan art!
Wait. That should be “Welcome to the world, Jelly!” but actually, it works this way round too 🙂 I’m so, so thrilled that JELLY is finally out there, in the world, getting to readers. I honestly think it’s one of my best books so far, and I hope so much that readers agree with me. … More Welcome to the Jelly World…!
I’ve been Doing Lots over the past few months. And the trouble with Doing Lots is that sometimes you get Very Tired. I am currently very tired – to the extent that a daily nap has had to become part of my routine – I know!! Me, the whirlwind of activity and…zzz. Recently *adopts fake … More Creek and Sofa – when you have to REST
It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I’m only now finding a chance to write about it! On Tues 17th April, I flew out to Frankfurt in Germany… (This narrative will be highly illustrated by photos) I was staying in Bad Vilbel, outside Frankfurt, for two nights while I visited the Europäische Schule RheinMain. … More Great fun in Germany
It was a nice day yesterday! And to celebrate, I took these photos in my garden (on my iPhone 5) and fiddled with them in the app Snapseed…
Last week was another exciting one (this one is due to be VERY BORING, phew!) and the excitement kicked off on Tuesday when I attended a concert at my patron of reading school, Didcot Girls’, because the Y8 choir was performing my brand new song Happy Face, written specially for my new book Jelly. The … More I attend a special concert, and am streamed live across Cambridgeshire!
A few weeks back, I ran a songwriting workshop at Didcot Girls’ School which was a huge success. The school decided to hold a competition for the finished songs, and to my utter delight, the winner (not decided by me but by the school’s Patron of Writing, Elaine Baker) was Erin Brady, with a really … More Young student wins competition with song based on my book!
It’s been another busy week, with a visit to Beachborough School in Brackley on Tuesday (hello, Anna! Hello, brilliant kids!) followed by a drive up to Leicester for a day with the organisation Whatever It Takes (WiT), part of the Schools’ Development Support Agency. Cerrie Burnell (latterly of CBeebies) and David Harmer and I all … More Whatever It Takes…Leicester to Libraries!
Last year was a tough one for me, and writing wasn’t easy to do, but perhaps there’s a grain of truth in the old adage about suffering creating great art because I am SO proud of this, my very next book, out in June: Published by the fab team at Piccadilly Press, spearheaded by lovely … More COVER REVEAL: JELLY
