Countdown to winter

Snow forecast for the Scottish hills, frost on my windscreen, branches without their leafy gloves are looking like bony fingers again. Winter is knocking on my door.     There are plenty of reasons not to like winter. I don’t like being cold. I hate to drive on dangerous, slippery roads, and it gets dark … Continue reading →

Babies V Books

Some of you will have seen the note to say I’ve just had a baby – thanks for all the congratulations! What this means is that I’m up to my eyeballs in grubby sleepsuits and smelly nappies and two-in-the-morning feeds, which is why this blog post is a teensy bit late! Sorry 😦 Every now … Continue reading →

Authors Live: Kjartan Poskitt

We know you all heart books, but lots of girls heart maths too – and thanks to the Scottish Book Trust, you can join an Authors Live! chat on Thursday 1st December with Kjartan Poskitt, author of the Murderous Maths series. Visit the website to register, and find out how your school can win a … Continue reading →

November competitions!

FIVE wonderful winter giveaways have just gone live on the Competitions page! Quick, get yourselves over there to enter! Continue reading →

How to be an Ice Princess

I’d love to be an ice-skating star. One who thinks nothing of knocking out a few triple Axels before breakfast. One who glides around the ice, swooping and whirling and jumping and spinning. One who wears A LOT of sequins. An ice princess. Here’s Kim Yu-Na. Isn’t she fabulous? She won gold at the Vancouver … Continue reading →

My Faraway Tree

Last week, I dropped into someone else’s life. That’s what it felt like, anyway. You see, normally, I run around with messy hair, dropping off children, changing nappies, cleaning toilets and filling the dishwasher.  (Writing is my secret hobby – I do it when everyone’s asleep!). But last week was completely different. I went to … Continue reading →

A box of secrets!

In my study, I’ve got a beautiful box where I keep all my secret jottings. They’re mostly written on scraps of paper, though I’ve got a little notebook in there for quotations. My secret jottings include great jokes I’ve heard – sometimes I tell them in cartoons famous sayings – in my latest series, Peony’s Dad has his own … Continue reading →

Winners!

The S C Ransom giveaway is now closed, and the lucky winners of SMALL BLUE THING and PERFECTLY REFLECTED are… Ali Baker ♥ Catherine Hall ♥ Fatima Sheik-Nur ♥ Jasanna Fox ♥ Oreolu Grillo ♥ Kyler Shergold ♥ Rita Haxton ♥ Brianna Mitchell ♥ Sarah Griffin ♥ Emma Cronin Congratulations! We’ll have another amazing competition for … Continue reading →

A POP-UP BOOK OF ME

Starting at 3 and ending at 51, just because the story has to start and end somewhere! BALLERINA DREAMS At the age of…. 3.                       I met my childhood best friend, Jane. 6.                       I started ballet. So did Jane. I liked it. 7.                       I started piano lessons. So did Jane. I liked it. 8.                       Jane announced … Continue reading →

Introducing Mollie – hope you’ll HEART her!

I’d like to introduce you to Mollie Denbydale – fictional teenage writer of The Mollie Awards, which should be coming out next year. Hurray! I’m really excited about my new heroine and I hope you’ll love her, too. Mollie is 13 years old; she’s bright, sassy and funny; she’s got frizzy red hair that refuses … Continue reading →