A Sea of Stars x

I’m over the moon and to the stars and back because I’ve just discovered that my new book, A Sea of Stars, which is due out on June 7th, is available for pre-order! NOW! Continue reading →

My Shiny New Book

Woo hoo! I have just received copies of my new book, Butterfly Summer, due out on May 1st. It is the first stand-alone title I’ve written and I’m very proud of it.   When Becky and her mum move to the tiny village of Oakbridge, Mum is hoping for a new beginning. But when Becky … Continue reading →

What Kind of Writer Are You?

You’ve only got to take a look in your local bookstore to see how many different kind of books there are. Books aren’t just story books, there’s educational books that teach you things, craft books that show you how to make things, poetry books, games books, you name it and there’s probably a book for it. … Continue reading →

End of February competitions!

The end of February comps have just gone up on our Competitions page 🙂 Only two comps for you this month (sorry, we had such a bumper crop last month!) but they’re both corking books (and one of them’s mine, LOL!) so we’re sure you’re going to LOVE them! As usual, you’ve got until 6pm … Continue reading →

Baker Days

Once a very long time ago I used to be a teacher. Back in those days schools had Baker days. These were five days each year when the pupils stayed at home and the teachers improved their skills with in-service training. They were called Baker days because they were thought up by a man called … Continue reading →

Once upon a Sunday evening…

I leave things until the last minute. This isn’t a skill that I’ve learnt after years of practice. I’ve ALWAYS been good at it. I’m afraid I do this when I write too. Without a scary deadline, I would write nothing. When I went to school, sometime last… um… century, Sunday evening was officially the … Continue reading →

Swapsies

As a child I was always doing Swapsies – trading any unwanted toy with other kids in the street. Swapsies involved a lot of heated discussion around such questions as : Is one battered Sindy doll and two outfits worth a ballerina jewellery box? Swapsies came to an end on our street when my brother … Continue reading →

The Perfect Day After the Nightmare Journey

Some authors love going on school visits and I’m one of them! The only thing I hate is the journey there. If it involves more than two hours of travel and includes the M25, I prefer to take the train. Now, as I live in the deep south (of Kent!) if I’m going anywhere north-ish … Continue reading →

Scottish Children’s Book Awards

Ross Collins, Ross MacKenzie and Nicola Morgan have been named as this year’s winners of the 2011 SCOTTISH CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS. The winners were announced today during a special ceremony at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre, attended by 600 young people from all over Scotland. Record numbers of children took part in the voting, with over … Continue reading →

‘Everybody has a book in them…’

There’s a well-known expression: ‘Everybody has a book in them’ – something that I always end up saying when I’m asked how on earth you decide to write a book! I say this because I came to be a writer in a round-about way, almost by accident really. I didn’t know I could be a … Continue reading →