How do I catch up? I have covered a lot of stuff - it's just the actual reporting that is suffering.
There have been many distractions - the other day, this arrived in the post:
I could hardly contain myself!
And there in all their shrink-wrapped glory ...
Were my mandatory author's copies of Tall Story (10 of 'em)!
I couldn't resist putting them on a shelf to see how they looked as "real books" ...they looked mighty fine indeed.
I haven't even written up this London Book Fair event from way back in April, in which Britain's current children's laureate, Anthony Browne, appeared with illustrators Martin Brown (Horrible Histories) and Marcia Williams (who's known for turning Shakespeare and Dickens into highly illustrated comicky books) to discuss why illustration was so important even to older children.
Here are some pictures -
I then took a break from my writerly duties to knock out a website for Tall Story - designed using Jimdo. I was quietly dreading all the stuff that debut authors dread, like school visits and author talks when I suddenly realized I needed a website just for the book. I'm still working on the teacher downloads.
I also attended last weekend's SCBWI writer's retreat, which featured authors Lee Weatherly and Pippa Goodhart and agent Julia Churchill. I took rather ghastly photos so I won't be putting them up here.
In my continuing quest for more ways to neglect my family, I also attended a fascinating talk by Sophie McKenzie on what it takes to become a successful author.
Sophie McKenzie (Blood Ties)
I thought I might try really hard to blog about that in another post so patience, dear readers. I'll try to get there at some point.
And that, dear friends, is what I've been up to. If only all this hard labour translated into losing weight.
