This is a post about the small ‘icon’ illustrations I’ve done for the heads of the chapters in my latest book, ‘Rat Runners’. I do pics like this for all my novels – or at least the novels I haven’t been commissioned to do by somebody. Partly because I want the inside of the book to look distinctive as…
So I recently finished the copy edits for the next novel, ‘Rat-Runners’. I’m starting on the icon illustrations today – those little pictures I do for the chapter headings for every novel. I’ll post a few when I’ve got them done. The cover is finished, but I’m not allowed show it yet . . . although they never said…
Okay, so October’s over and I’m winding down events in November, so I thought I’d run over what I’ve been up to and where I’ve been, along with a few other bits of news. Children’s Book Festival brought its usual hectic schedule. I’ll keep just to that month, where I did (deep breath): an Ideas Shop event with Sarah…
I’ve just realized how long it’s been since I posted anything – thank you Facebook, for diverting my online attention elsewhere. It’s just been easier to stick bits and pieces up as I went, rather than writing something at greater length . . . you know . . . say a few hundred words. Who’d have thought blogging would…
Hi All, Just to let you know that there are still some places left on my Writing for Children course at the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin this weekend. This two-day course will cover the basics of storytelling and the specific aspects of writing for children and young adults. Areas that will be examined include how to generate ideas,…
Okay, I don’t believe in being an alarmist about hacking, but if you’ve got an Amazon account, a Google account or an iCloud account, you need to read this chilling Wired article. In the space of a few hours, tech reporter Mat Honan had his iPhone and MacBook wiped (including the only copies of all his photos of his…
Breaking news! I’ve done a book entitled ‘The Wolfling’s Bite’ for Little Island’s ‘Nightmare Club’ series. They’re quirky little horrors for young readers, and at about 2,000 words, they’re a little longer than my Mad Grandad books. Here’s the blurb: ‘Jessie was nuts about her cute little Wolfling toy. But her brother had heard rumours about Wolflings: they could…
For the sake of my sanity, I recently carried out a purge of stuff from my office. I find it very hard to think clearly with too much unused or unnecessary stuff lying around, but until we can convert the garage into my long-dreamed-of studio, I’m in a fairly small room in the house. I also prefer to work standing up most…
Can you support the idea of volunteer libraries without devaluing public libraries? The issue in this article in The Guardian is that new volunteer libraries in the UK won’t be signed up for PLR. For anybody who doesn’t know, PLR (Public Lending Right) means an author gets a few pence/cents every time their book is borrowed in a library…
A massive thanks to everyone who entered the ‘Merciless Reason’ Competition! And now I’m delighted to announce the winner and runners-up: The runners-up will all receive inscribed copies of each of the three Wildenstern books. They are: Alice Maciejowska Rhoda McNamara Damilola Adeniji. And the winner, who will make a cameo appearance in my next novel, ‘Rat-Runners’ is ….