Yes, it's time for breakfast - or possibly mid morning break... I'm not quite sure. Whatever time it is, I've just made coffee and cheese on toast. Ok, so it's not really nice cheese on toast - it's toast with cheese squares leftover from Sunday's barbecue but it will do...
I've made a good start on writing this morning and have finished the first draft of Chapter 1. I've been writing this story for a little while now but didn't have a beginning. That might sound odd but I sometimes find that I don't know quite where a story is going to start. Rather than letting this stop me writing as it can easily do, I try and just get on with it and get some writing done.
In schools I visit children often say they struggle with a beginning for their story so they sit there starting at the paper - they've been told that they need a really good beginning that will grab the reader and get them interested in reading the rest of the story - Quite a daunting task...
This idea of grabbing the reader's interest can easily halt the writing process so I try to encourage children to just start writing what they know... perhaps they have a piece of dialogue or a part of a scene in their heads but they don't know where it will fit in the story... "That's good!" I say. "Write it down and see what happens. You can worry about the beginning later."
It's all well and good saying this but I know myself that I feel restless if I haven't got the beginning sorted so it's a real weight of my mind knowing that I know where the story I am writing starts.
That's it for now... coffee break over... on with the story.
Last week I drove down to Bromley to visit Unicorn Primary School - and what a great time I had... it was hot and sunny as I drove down... only a five hour drive (PHEW!!!!) Thankfully, Boofle came along to keep me company...
I managed to find the hotel I was staying at - even though my SATNAV stopped working a few miles before I got there. A brief panic attack followed but I managed to find where I was going without too much trouble.
After checking in I set off to find something to eat - chicken strips from McD's - it's a glamorous life - and a charger for my phone which I'd managed to leave in Vicky's car.
After a good night's sleep I set off the following morning for Unicorn Primary School - only a couple of miles from where I was staying... thankfully the roads were nice and quiet so it didn't take me long to get there.
It's always interesting vising a school for the first time as you never know what to expect... Some schools are in little villages and some are in big cities (as you would expect) but even knowing this, it's hard to predict what you will find.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Unicorn Primary School is surrounded by trees... I even had to walk over a little bridge that crossed a small stream to get to the school's front door. Birds were singing in the trees and squirrels were scampering across the ground and along the branches above.
I loved the little Wellie Flower Pots that were sprouting flowers along the fences by the playgrounds... what a nice idea.
The day started with a whole school assembly in which I had time to introduce myself and tell a silly story to everyone (and sweat a little as it was very warm) before meeting everyone from reception to year six for the rest of the day... The teachers and children were fantastic and there were lots of interesting questions being asked and lots of enthusiasm... a great day.
Even the long drive home via the Dartford Tunnel and across the country in the hot sun didn't spoil the day...
This week I've been visiting schools and libraries in Wales - Hello to everyone at Ysgol Bryn Coch in Mold and hello to everyone that came along to Ruthin, Denbigh and Prestatyn Library...
Yesterday I was with the wonderful year three classes at Damer's First School in Dorchester - and I'm back there today too... Looking forward to working on our story.
Boofle accompanied me on the five hour drive from home which I thought was very nice of him... little did I know that he was just hoping for a paddle in the sea. No paddling though as it's wet and windy here (he did insist on going down to the beach to have a look though).
I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote in my diary... I've been whizzing around England and Wales with Boofle ( here he is driving over the Runcorn Bridge). We've been visiting lots of schools and libraries. I've also been busy writing some new stories (some long and some short) I will tell you about these as soon as I can.
I really do need to make sure that I write more in my diary but don't forget to check out Twitter for up-to-date news and talk about what I'm up to... you can find me on Twitter @damianjharvey
I've been visiting schools and libraries all over the place recently and I've met lots of wonderful and enthusiastic book and story lovers... A big thank you to everyone that has helped with stories and has asked lots of great questions... some of them very tricky... but I always tell people that I will tell the truth (gulp!) if they want to ask questions about me or writing...
I've been talking about the Mudcrusts quite a bit.. they are a family that lived in the Ice-Age...
This week I've been at Dorridge Infants and the Junior School, as well as Oswestry School... Tomorrow I will be visiting Pannal Primary School in Harrogate and on Friday I will be driving down tio Burton Upon Trent... more about that later.
Christmas is approaching very quickly and we've not even written our Christmas cards yet. We will be doing that tonight and getting them in the post straight away. We have put our tree up though - we spent Monday doing our Christmas shopping and the evening putting up our tree and other decorations.
As you can see, we've decorated it all in Red, White and Silver. It looks perfect - the pictures here really don't do it justice though.
Over the last couple of years we've picked up a few interesting decorations from different places and each one reminds us of where we bought them and what we were doing which makes the tree feel all that more special. We bought a couple of little decorations when we visited Bourton On The Water last weekend and we also bought one from Harrod's when we visited London.
Tonight we are spending a romantic evening together at Bourton-On-The-Water... a wedding gift from some good friends who a looking after Con. Spending tomorrow all together for some festive fun...
Boofle came along for the ride - here he is enjoying a glass of pop...
Had a good day today visiting libraries in the Vale Of Glamorgan - this morning I was at Cowbridge Library where I met the excellent pupils from year five and year six of Y Bont Faen Primary School, and this afternoon I was at Llantwit Major Library with the brilliant year four from Eagleswell Primary School - thanks to everyone for coming along and big thanks to everyone that dressed up as FUNGUS - you know who you are but I don't want to embarrass you here :-)
I will pop a couple of posters in the post to you as soon as I can and I look forward to putting some of your work on my website...
At lunchtime I managed to have a quick walk around Cowbridge and I took a few photographs on my way... Cowbridge's Welsh name Y Bont Faen means 'The Stone Bridge' - it's a medieval walled town (although not all of the walls are still standing). There are lots of interesting things to see in the town though that date back to Roman and Medieval times...
It's never easy travelling from one place to another - even though I use my SATNAV as it doesn't always take you to exactly the right place - I found that out today as Cowbridge Library was hidden off the main street and Llantwit Major Library wasn't easily noticeable until I'd driven past it a couple of times... Luckily I have Boofle on board to help with directions...
Even though we're still busy working it really feels like Christmas is getting closer now. On Sunday we put up our Christmas Tree and decorated the house. It's starting to feel nice and cosy and Christmassy. We've even managed to do most of our Christmas shopping, which makes a change - we're normally running around on the last minute. 
And we just couldn't resist getting this little Owl - one of Boofle's friends. We still need to make a start on writing our Christmas cards and between now and Christmas I want to get the first draft of the next book in my History Heroes completed - it needs to go to my editor at the beginning of the New Year - and I don't want to be working on it over Christmas if I can help it.
