Fortismere today, Waterstones tomorrow

Today was the first in a spree of visits to schools to meet YA readers. I'm more used to visiting primary schools so I was hoping it would go well. I went to Fortismere School in North London and talked to students in Y8 about writing in general and Out of the Blue in particular. I was impressed by the students - fantastic listeners who asked great questions and by their library which is superb - friendly, well stocked, great displays and peaceful!
Tomorrow, Sat 7th November I am going to be in the Earle St Branch of Waterstones in Maidstone from 11.30am followed, on Sunday by a very special Remembrance Service in Lenham, Kent.

Awww I've got blog lazy

I'm being a bit hard on myself calling my time away from blogging laziness. It's more a case of too much happening rather than too little that has kept me from blogging in the last couple of months. I'm not asking for sympathy because much of it has been fun - like visits to France and Italy which were fabulous.

Unfortunately, my writing has suffered too - you can sympathise there if you like though to be honest I'm doing fine feeling sorry for myself. I've had to bite the bullet and begin to re-write my current story when, after a few miserable weeks of trying to make something stand up when it wanted to lie down and sprawl about, I finally resigned myself to the inevitable and have started again.

So, its likely to continue to be quiet on the blog front. I'll post again in September - in the meantime - Have a happy summer.

Carnegie Shortlist continued.

I have just finished Kate Thompson's Creature of the Night. What a wonderful book - I was totally gripped from start to finish and had no idea what was coming next. I found the characters utterly convincing to the extent that I was worrying about Bobby and really hoping that Dennis wouldn't wet the bed and tip his ma over the edge. Four pages before the end I couldn't see how Kate Thompson could end the story and so it was immensely satisfying to close the book a few minutes later shaking my head and smiling with admiration. Fabulous.

So, difficult to follow you might think and I'd agree with you but I've still got four more to read before I've completed the Carnegie shortlist. I went straight into Eoin Colfer's Airman - and got to somewhere around page 50 last night. It is a fasten-your-safety-belt-check-your-parachute-remember-to-breathe adventure and I am loving it. Passing family members pause to stare at me sprawled on sofa or sitting in the garden and mutter, "Are you still reading?"
Yes I am, thank you very much Carnegie judges for a fine shortlist.

The Carnegie Shortlist

I am stunned when I look at Jenny's blog Wondrous Reads - great new look btw Jenny - by how many books Jenny gets through.

It is a struggle to find the time to get everything done and I don't mean the chores - I've had to set The Book Thief aside which is frustrating because I had just got beyond the point of finding Death's explanatory notes distracting and Liesel and Rudi were beginning to consume my interest when it occured to me that I had to get on and read the Carnegie shortlist.

I am not complaining because so far every book has lit me up. I am going to have to get the new Patrick Ness because I HAVE to find out what happens to Todd and Viola in the same way that I eagerly, verging on desperately, waited for Philip Pullman to give me more about Lyra and Will. But I closed The Knife of Never Letting Go and allowed myself a moment or two then went straight into Keith Gray's Ostrich Boys. Literally. Like falling. Loved it.

So no chores, infrequent blogs and not much writing getting done and now you know why - and I'm not complaining!

The Race for the Lost Keystone - Lorabeth Lampton

The other day I received an email asking me about Lorabeth Lampton from a reader called Robbie. Lorabeth Lampton is the villain in my heartstone books.

Unfortunately Robbie I've been unable to reply because my email keeps bouncing back. (I think that maybe the adult whose computer you were on has their inbox protected)

So, I hope you find your way here and thank you for writing. Here's my reply:-

Hi Robbie,

Thank you for taking the trouble to write to me. I'm really happy that you're enjoying The Race for the Lost Keystone.

Ah, Lorabeth Lampton - that mean old nasty piece of work - she's so mean and nasty that she was really good fun to write. I don't know how I came up with her exactly, but its funny how a character starts to become real as the story grows. I'll be thinking about the plot and planning what's going to happen next and as I imagine a scene I just know how Lorabeth is going to react and what she will say. She has a lot of power but she's a bit of a loner. She has people who work for her but the clever ones - the scientists - they might start questioning whether she should be doing what she's doing and that makes her mad. So, then she has Bardolph and Frimley who aren't very smart so they aren't going to ask too many questions but they annoy her because they blunder about and get things wrong.

Happy reading and say Hi to your reading group

Best Wishes

Val

Breathing Underwater by Julia Green

Breathing Underwater by Julia Green


I looked forward to reading her new book because I know Julia and love her writing and couldn't wait to visit a world that she had created. Because that's what reading one of Julia's books is like - everything is so real that you think about the characters and the events afterwards as if you lived through it rather than merely read it.
A beautiful book.

You can read Sasha's review of Breathing Underwater on Chicklish

Young Writers 3 ET by Emil

Fine work from Emil in his comic series - strong characterisation and good page design well drawn. Only five issues at the moment though hopefully there's more on the way.

Good luck for SATs week to everyone in Year 6!