Book Bashing, Back to School (Again!) & Four More Books for 2012

Usually, I chill out on Sundays. Get up late (well, as late as The Hound will let me, which isn't that late, but, y'know), drink coffee, read and generally ignore my to-do list. This time last week, however, found me getting up at stupid o'clock and prising hubby out of bed to drive me over to Matlock, where I'd volunteered to help out at the Big Book Bash. It took a few cups of tea, but I eventually got us both upright with eyes open (sort of), and off we went.

The Big Book Bash, a day of workshops and author talks, has been taking place since 2004 and is aimed at children in care and their foster families. I was there in my day-job capacity and was looking after Annabel Pitcher, author of the amazing MY SISTER LIVES ON THE MANTELPIECE. After meeting my teenage helper Molly I went to help set out the room where Annabel would be giving her talk (which basically entailed trying to figure out how to level a projector with a wonky foot, and hoping the laptop attached to it didn't crash, as I had no idea how to work it). Then it was off to find Annabel and show her to the authors' green room before the Big Book Bash was declared officially open.

Annabel's talk was fantastic - it was so interesting to hear about how she came up for the idea for her book while she was travelling with her husband, and how she started writing it in the middle of the night, and had to tie a sock round his head because she needed the light on, but he was trying to sleep! I can't wait to read her forthcoming novel KETCHUP CLOUDS, which is out at the end of the year.

In the afternoon, I got to sit in on a teenage fiction panel with Annabel and two of my other favourite authors, Phil Earle and Ruth Warburton. The talk was great, and I enjoyed chatting to them afterwards, too (thanks, Phil, for the second-book-nerves reassurance). I came home with a pile of signed books and a huge grin on my face. Events like this are why I love my day job!

So after that, you'd think I'd let myself have an easy day, right? Well, not exactly. Because on Monday I was booked in to do my second ever school visit (you can read more about the first one here). This time it was closer to home, at Brookfields Community School in Chesterfield, where I was doing an author talk and running a workshop for 13 members of their creative writing group. After a warm welcome from head of English Kate Foster, I was taken to the library to meet the group. I started by telling them a bit about how I started writing, and read them the first chapter of ACID. I was pleased with the good reaction it got, as I've read it sooo many times now, I'm starting to wonder how anyone else can possibly find it interesting - I forget that to other people, it's brand new!

After that, we did a warm-up exercise on the theme of 'Lottery'. The scenarios everyone came up with were all so different. One group member even wrote something that had a sci-fi twist, which contained some really powerful imagery.

Once everyone who wanted to had shared their work, we did some work on character building, then had a break for chocolate biscuits (vitally important to the creative process). Finally, I talked about story-writing and got the group to start writing the opening scenes of a story, using the characters they'd created earlier on. Unfortunately there wasn't time for me to hear what they'd written, but the group were loads of fun, and their talent levels were through the roof. A big thank you to Kate and the group for inviting me to talk to them, and I hope I'll be seeing their books on the shelves one day!

Finally, I thought it was about time I added some more books to my 20 Books for 2012 page, so here they are:

SAVING DAISY by Phil Earle
This is Phil's second book and is just as gritty and hard-hitting as his first, BEING BILLY. I remember getting through it in just a few days, desperate to find out what was going to happen next even though I was reading it through my fingers at some points. If you love honest, unflinching contemporary YA fiction, this is definitely the book for you!

MY SISTER LIVES ON THE MANTELPIECE by Annabel Pitcher
Another heart-breaker - you can see why it was shortlisted for the Carnegie medal and has just won the Bransford Boase award. From beginning to end, the story never goes quite where you expect it to, keeping you hanging on until the very last word.

A WITCH IN WINTER by Ruth Warburton
A very different sort of book (and the first in a trilogy - hurrah!), spooky and atmospheric with a paranormal plot. I love that it's set in Cornwall, as I lived there for 3 years, and the descriptions of the towns and landscapes made me feel extremely nostalgic! And I just adore the cover.

POP! by Catherine Bruton
I didn't want to like the heroine of this book at first, but after just a few pages, she'd sucked me in. Set against a backdrop of strikes, and tensions over immigration, this book has one of the quirkiest and most original plots I've ever read. I just loved it!

Annnd… I think that's it. Phew! What have you been up to this week?

Back To School

When I went to visit my publisher for the first time last summer, just after they bought ACID, they asked me if I’d be willing to do school visits. “Definitely!” I said, whilst thinking, my book’s not out for almost two years. Plenty of time to prepare myself for doing stuff like that. And in the general whirlwind of excitement that is meeting your publisher for the first time, I didn’t really think about it again.

Then, a few weeks ago, I got a phonecall from Anne Palmer, librarian at Murray Park Community School in Derby, asking if I’d like to do an author visit.

I won’t lie: the thought of it made me pretty nervous. Me and school… well, it wasn’t my favourite place, and I was more than glad to get out of there and escape to art college. On the other hand, this was an opportunity to talk to and work with the target audience for my book. And any school which wants to promote writing, books and reading, and inspire their students to be creative – well, how can you not jump at the opportunity to be involved with something like that?

So of course, I said yes.

By the time the day came around, I was prepared. I was going to be working with year 9 (13-14-year-olds) all day, doing an hour’s workshop on dystopian fiction for 30 students, then two 2-hour ‘writing masterclasses’ for 55 students at a time… Talk about hitting the ground running! But the students were fantastic. The stuff they came up with was incredibly creative and fun, and the sessions seemed to fly past.

Highlights? Well, they have to be one student’s answer to ‘things you’d do if you were brave enough’: ‘slap a gorilla’, which I’m still giggling over now; the table of girls who were all into writing in a big way and told me about the stories they work on in their spare time (yay!); the three students in the afternoon session who got me to come up with a story about zombies invading the school, then work out what they’d do if they were characters in that story (the zombie-fighting ninja-girl with knives in her boots, you know who you are!); and of course, all the students who were kind enough to say they wanted to read ACID and why couldn’t it be out now!

The staff were brilliant too – really supportive and keen – and Dan Seaman, assistant director of English, was a huge help with planning the day. So a MASSIVE thank you to Year 9, Dan, Anne Palmer, and all the staff at Murray Park Community School who helped out with the sessions, supplied me with chocolate biscuits and coffee and generally helped make my first time back at school in, oh, a good few years such a fantastic one!

UPDATE
After posting this this morning, I received a card from the staff at Murray Park saying how much they and the students enjoyed my visit – what a lovely surprise! Another big thank you to everyone. :)