New Books

This week I've been incredibly busy. I've been working on some new young reader stories for one of my publishers, editing some that I had written earlier, and proof reading a couple that had been sent to me with finished artwork.. It's always good to see the finished artwork as it can really bring a story to life - it's also interesting, and sometimes surprising, to see the different styles that illustrators have.

During the week, I managed to coomplete the second draft of a larger, non-fiction book about dinosaurs that I have been working on for a while. It has involved a lot of reasearch but it's been fun and interesting. I've also been busy retelling some traditional Chinese stories. 

For a while, it didn't look as though I was going to get everything finished in time, but Friday afternoon is here and I'm completely up to date with everything. I've even managed to submit some ideas for more early reader books - so this weekend will be spent with fingers crossed, hoping that my editor and others like some of the ideas.

It's always exciting to see a new book when it's been published. Nothing beats the look, feel and smell of a new book. This week, the postman arrived with copies of 5 new titles that have been published (or are about to be published) by Franklin Watts. They all look great, but I'm specially proud of the two Global Heroes books - Bushfire Rescue and Waves of Waste. Click here to visit the Global Heroes page on my website to find out more about them.

The other three books, The Poor Boy and the Cat, The Glass Mountain, and The Trapped Tiger, are retellings of traditional stories from around the world - from Iceland, Poland, and Korea. There are a few more tales from around the world due out in the next month or so too.

On Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of chatting with some keen readers from around the world, thanks to Fiction Express, about a book that I wrote with them earlier this year - Camp Silverlake. A huge hello to everyone that joined the online video chat from Malaysia, Spain, Kenya, Britain, and South America... it was greeat to meet you all. 

Next week I'll be starting work on a new, bigger book which hopefully will be of interest to one of my publishers. I'm sure I'll be working on other things too...