A Huge Hello to two Small Schools

This week I'm delighted to be visiting two small schools, that are quite close to home - Ysgol Esgob Church In Wales VA Primary School in Caerwys, and Lixwm Church in Wales VA Primary School in Lixwm. A huge hello to everyone there - I can't wait to meet you all on Wednesday. I've got lots to show and lots of stories and rhymes to share.  

I thought I'd start right now by showing you the covers of two of my latest books - Running From Rex, and Valley Adventure... two books about a group of dinosaur friends and the adventures they have together. These books aren't published until October next year, so they really are new. 

Dinosaur Stories

I've been very busy this year working on lots of different books. One set of books I've been working on features a group of dinosaur friends. The first two are published in August next year, followed by two more in September and another two in October. 

The books aren't completely finished yet but these two covers have appeared on Amazon and other websites, so I can share them with you now. I think you'll agree, they are looking great... 

The artwork for the books is being done by an excellent illustrator/artist called Hannah Wood - and she is doing a brilliant job of bringing the characters to life. I've seen the finished pages of a couple of the books and they look fantastic. You can find out more about Hannah, and see lots of her artwork by visiting her website HERE. 

I'll show and tell you more about these books as soon as I can.  

Caernarfon Castle

As an author I work from home, and I enjoy doing so. But it's great to get out of the house when I can. 

It's good to get some excersise and it's good to see and experience things that can prove useful when writing a story. 

On Friday, Vicky and I drove a little way along the coast to visit Caernarfon Castle. The castle is over 800 years old, constructed under the orders of King Edward I of England (also known as Edward Longshanks) 1272 - 1307. 

It's a hugely impressive castle and I would highly recommend visiting when you can.  There's lots of turrets and towers to explore - so that means there are a lot of steps too. Make sure you wear some comfortable, sensible shoes... you don't want to slip. 

As you can see, the spiral steps are quite narrow - and some of them are much narrower than these. By the end of the day our legs were aching, but it was well worth climbing to the top of all the towers. The views were excellent. I'm just glad that I didn't have to climb the towers wearing armour and carrying a sword.

A couple of the castle towers are home to the museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, which makes for another interesting part of the visit. Here you learn all about Wales's oldest infantry regiment and the part they have played over the years.   

Recently, I've been busy writing a mixture of non-fiction, and fiction books. I've written a small non-fiction book about the Forbidden City in China, and a book called 'Discovering Dinosaurs'. The dinosaur book will be published in Britain in October this year. Right now I'm working on some little fiction books about dinosaurs. They are lots of fun and I will tell you more about them when I can.  

Next week I'll be getting out of the house again to help celebrate World Book Day. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone at The Oaks Primary School in Ellesmere Port, Walverden Primary School in Nelson, and Brinscall St John's C of E Methodist Primary School, in Chorley. After a couple of years without the usual World Book Day celebrations it's great to be getting back out on the road. It's also nice that the schools aren't too far away... Some years I spend the whole week travelling the length and breadth of the country and staying away from home. 

The Flip Side (for Fiction Express)

In September I will be writing my latest book for Fiction Express. Writing a book for them is always an exciting and challenging thing to do. Unlike other books that I write, Fiction Express readers from around the world get involved in the creative process as the story progresses over five chapters. 

The first chapter is written and ready to go live, but other than that, I only have the roughest of ideas as to what will happen in the rest of the book. Each chapter ends with a question for the reader - in this case, Chapter One ends by asking the reader what the main character has just seen. I have given them three options to choose from. The option that gets the most votes gives me the start of the next chapter. Each option is significantly different and will completely change what happens next. I know that it would be possible for me to give three options that effectively result in the same thing, but I prefer to make it more interesting (and slightly more difficult for myself) by keeping it more open. 

Another thing that makes writing these books different is the fact that I am able to communicate with readers on an interactive forum. I can post questions for them to answer and they can ask me questions, give me their opinion on what they have read, and also offer suggestions for things to include in the following chapters. It's great being able to include reader's ideas and suggestions in the story - and always interesting to hear what they think.

You can find out more about Fiction Express by visiting their website HERE 

There's a few weeks to go but I'm already looking forward to it.

Working and Walking

At the moment I'm busy working on the first of a new series of books - I'd love to tell you all about it but right now it's TOP SECRET so I can;t say anything about it.  i can say that the books are full of action and adventure and some really cool characters. Hopefully i will be able to tell you more very soon. 

It's been strange not being able to go and visit schools and libraries for the past year - hopefully that will all change when schools open again in September.

In the mean time, Vicky and I have been going out for little walks each weekend... We've been along the coast and up an few hills. There's lots of beautiful places to see and visit here in Wales, so we've been making the most of it and getting out and about when whenever we can. 

Here are pictures from our last walk which was up the Snowdon Watkin Path. The path took us uphill by the side of the stream with bridges and lots of waterfalls. This stone bridge was quite narrow ....

... and the water beneath was surprising deep.

 The water was crystal clear and very cold.. Vicky and I couldn't resist going in for a little swim in this pool (it's a good job we took our swimming costumes and towels..  It was very deep and my feet didn't touch the bottom. Did I say how cold it was?? Really cold... but lots of fun. 

That's all for now but come back soon and I will have more news about what I'm doing and where we've been. 

World Book Day and More

As a writer I spend most of my time sat at my laptop - either at the table or on the sofa/settee/couch. There's more room at the table so it's ideal for working when I need to do research at the same time and really spread out. At other times I can just sit with my laptop on my knee and make myself comfortable.

When I'm not sat writing I can be found traveling around visiting schools and libraries all over the place. This time of the year is an especially busy one as next week is World Book Day and everyone will be celebratig books and reading. This year I will be travelling thousands of miles to visit different schools and also fitting in a bit of writing wherever and whenever I can. Over the next few weeks I will post pictures here in my diary and on my twitter @damianjharvey account so you can see where I've been.

This week I will be spending the day with everyone at Compass Primary Academy in Kettering and then at Malvern Parish C of E Primary School in Malvern... I can't wait to meet everyone.

And here's a huge hello to everyone at Mosspark Infant School in Trafford, Mossy Lea Primary School in Wrightington, St Winifrede's RC Primary School in Neston, Kingshott School in Hitchin, St George's Primary in Chorley, St Anne's Primary in Nantwich, Sandilands Community Primary School in Manchester, St Andrews International Schools in Bangkok...

See you all soon.

Visiting Skomer Island

All of the wildlife pictures on the diary page are from our trip to Skomer Island a couple of days ago...

Tomorrow I'm going to be spending the day with everyone at Woodbank Primary School in Bury where I've been asked to open their new library. Opening a new school library is always a pleasure and an honour - and this library sounds like it is going to be something different as it's on a converted bus so I can't wait to come along and meet everyone. 

On Monday I will be working with lots of year six pupils that are visiting Shuttleworth College in Padiham - so here's a HUGE HELLO to all of you that will be coming along to take part. One of my writer friends - the excellent Jon Mayhew will also be their so it should be a fantastic day.

On Tuesday net week I will be visiting Bewsey Lodge Primary School in Warrington - HELLO to you all... I can't wait to see you all.

Today I'm working from home... one of the good things about working from home is that you don't have to travel to work. One of the bad things is that you don't always get a day off as there is always some work that needs doing - this might be writing stories, writing letters and emails, or some other paperwork that needs to be done - so it's really good when I get to leave the work behind and go somewhere different. 

On Sunday, Vicky and I drove down to Tenby in the South West corner of Wales - a beautiful part of the country. We were up early on Monday morning to take a boat over to Skomer Island. 

The Island is home to lots of protected wild birds, and at this time of the year it is home to Puffins who go there to nest.

The island is only a mile off the Pembrokeshire coast so it doesn't take long to get there. We spent the whole day on the island taking photographs of the Puffins and lots of other birds. We even spotted a few grey seals and a dolphin.

Barcelona and Back

Hello to everyone at Bracken Leas Primary School - I'm really looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow to share stories, talk about writing and to answer all of your questions.

On Friday I will be visiting Croughton Elementary School and next week I will be a little closer to home visiting The Grange Primary School in Shrewsbury... so here's a huge HELLO to all of you. It's going to be a busy and fun few days - I can't wait.

The picture above is of The Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona... Since my last diary entry I made a short visit to Barcelona where, as well as getting to see the magnificent basilica, I had the privilege of speaking to teachers and publishers about writing for Fiction Express - which provides a really exciting platform where, not only can children can read new books as they are being written by the author, but they can also chat to the author on an online forum and choose what happens next in the story. 

So far I have written three books for Fiction Express and am looking forward to writing my next one in April...

Malodorous Hippo Water and Visiting Schools

As a writer you traditionally spend most of your working life sat quietly at a desk typing, pulling out what remains of your hair and banging your forehead on the wall for inspiration (other sources of inspiration are available and strongly recommended). But being a children's author gives another side to the job that's completely different - that of the school visitor (and this in itself also has two sides).

One is that of storyteller, performer and entertainer - while it's not something that all authors enjoy, I for one love it. I love the excitement of visiting a new school and introducing a whole new audience to my work. I share poems and stories, show how a book is made, answer lots of questions and even try out new work in progress... there's nothing like reading something out loud to see if it works. These days are fun and exciting and I love the feeling that by the end of the day I might have inspired someone to pick up a book and read - either mine or someone else's. 

The other side to school visits is that of the writing workshop. These can last for an hour if moving from one class/group to another but the best and most productive sessions can last for a whole day (or even longer). Rather than coming along with the start of a story for everyone to work on I like to start with a clean sheet, a blank page... That's how it is for any author setting out to write a story and that's what I like to show the children. This way, the children get to create a character and build up a story from scratch which gives them complete creative ownership of it. 

Yesterday I spent the day at Monks Coppenhall Primary Academy in Crewe, working with a group of year four writers - and we were joined by other eager writers from Beechwood Primary, Underwood West Academy, Leighton Academy and St Oswald's Worleston Academy... around 30 children in all.

Having the whole day together meant that so much more could be done, and at a better pace, than in a typical classroom environment with time constraints. Using a flip chart and pens we go on a story journey together - creating a character and marking out the rough map that our journey will take. 

The children get to see the reason why I don't illustrate my own books as I draw a character and add a bit of background that can be the cover of a book. The children are soon chomping at the bit and eager to get started on creating their own character and they all take great joy in making a cover for their book. Even the shyest and most self conscious of the children dive in once they realise how much fun it is and how no one is being judged or marked on what they do. 

Stories are made to be shared so I encourage anyone that wants to, to show what they have done to the rest of the class. A couple may be a little reluctant at first but it's not long before they are the ones wanting to share each new part of their story with the class.

Yesterday's story journey followed a little girl/boy whose adventuring parents had got themselves lost in the depths of a swamp. On the journey our hero encountered, amongst other things a giant talking frog - and there were far too many variations of this creature to go into here - some wore clothes, some had eaten the parents, one had the parents trapped in a giant pea pod and one was robotic...

It really was a joy to see how the children grew in confidence throughout the day and to see how much they really enjoyed writing and illustrating their own stories. Needless to say, there were a few tears shed, though that's what happens what you laugh so much. I can only apologise for the running mascara Miss. 

The story word of the day was "Malodorous" suggested by "R"...
The odd thing of the day was "Hippo Water"
The special type of person of the day was "People That Wear Underpants" (and just to clarify - that means superheroes).

A huge thank you to everyone that took part... it was a truly fun and inspirational day. Have fun writing and drawing...

A Balancing Act

World Book Day is quickly approaching and I'm going to be busy visiting schools and libraries around Great Britain so hello to everyone that I am going to be seeing over the next few weeks - and a special hello to everyone at St Margaret's Preparatory School in Calne - I'm really looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow.

This is always a fun and busy time of the year, but it can be a bit tricky too as I have to try and balance my time between visiting schools and libraries and also still find time for writing.

I've been busy writings story ideas for some little books that will hopefully be read by people in Year 4... Some times it's difficult coming up with ideas that fit what I'm supposed to be doing but over the last few weeks I've had lots of ideas so hopefully my editors will like some of them... ideas that don't get used can always be used for something else later - so nothing is ever really wasted. 

Here is the cover of a little book called The Big Match which will be published in July this year... It's quite a short story for young readers - just a little over 600 words. It's Jamal's birthday and he has a difficult decision to make... does he go and have a football party with his friends at the park or does he go with his Dad to watch the big game between City and United? It's up to Jamal to make up his mind but he feels that whichever one he chooses, he will be letting someone down. What you do? The illustrations in this book are being done by John Lund. So far I have only seen the cover but I can't wait to see more... I think John is doing a great job.

I've also been planning out and writing the first chapter for a little book called The Curious Case of Dr Salamander - or at least I think that's what it will be called... these things change form time to time. I will be writing the book properly in April so I've still got time to change things as I go along. Readers of the book will also be voting on some of the things that are going to happen in the book too which makes it interesting (and difficult at times) - I will tell you more about it nearer the time though. 

A GIANT HELLO...

To everyone at St Austin's RC Primary School in St Helens - I'm looking forward to meeting you all on Tuesday...

And a GIANT sized HELLO to everyone at King's Park Infants and Grove House Infant and Nursery School in Dereham, Norfolk who are going to be busy writing stories around Maximus and the Beanstalk. 

I had fun writing Maximus and the Beanstalk - especially thinking about what Maximus would enjoy eating... Sprouts and Fishy Sauce... YUK! 

I hope that you have a lot of fun creating things to go into your stories and that you really enjoy writing them.

I wonder what will happen in your stories? I can't wait to read them all. If you would like to ask me anything or if you would just like to say hello, you can leave a message here or you can send me an email.

Galaxy Mega Spinners

I'm really excited to be working on a new book for Fiction Express called Galaxy Mega Spinners... This is something completely new for me because instead of working on the book myself I'm going to be working with lots of other people. 

As the book progresses over the next few weeks, readers will have the chance to vote on what happens next. If you're reading the book in school, I'd love to hear from you.

It's going to be a fun and exciting adventure. Who knows where it will end...

Why is everyone so obsessed with Galaxy Mega Spinners?

Are they just a fun toy or is something strange going on ? Kizzy Brown thinks there is - but what on Earth will she discover?

The first chapter goes live today...

Research for the BIG book

The big book I'm working on at the moment mixes fiction with non-fiction. All fiction contains some elements of truth but using historical people, places and events in my story has meant that I have had to do far more research than I've ever done before.

The story focuses on the life of a certain pirate captain - a notorious man that captured lots of ships (I will go into more detail about him at another time). Although I've seen pirate ships on the television and have read about them in books, it was still hard to imagine what it would be like to actually stand of the deck of one of these tall ships?


How big were they? Books tell you the measurements of the ships but it's still hard to actually visualise it yourself. A trip to Bristol helped sort that out...

What does it feel like to look down from the rigging at the very top?

An important member of a ships crew was the doctor. I wondered what sort of equipment a doctor would have had on those days. If you imagine rows of shiny medical instruments laid out then you'd be wrong. A trip to the maritime museum helped with that - and lots of other things too.

As you can see from this doctor's bag, the main tool is a saw. Ouch!
Some of the things I have needed to find out weren't as exciting as ships or as interesting as a bag of doctor's tools... I wanted to know what the inside on an old farmhouse would look like. A very short scene in my story is set inside a house. I've also researched hats and clothes... If you want your character to sound believable you need to know a lot about them. What did they wear? What did they eat? How did they light the rooms in their houses? Lamps, candles or something else.

Dice play an important part of my story too - so I had to find out about those. I will tell you more later... on with the book.

I Am Writing #AmWriting

Today I #AmWriting ... it's what you do when you're a writer. You write. Some days are great and some days are not so great. Some days the words flow gently like a stream. Some days they more like a torrential river and it's hard to stop the words coming.

These are the good days...

Other days the words get trapped and nothing moves at all. You feel that your mind is a stagnant pond full of useless thoughts and ideas.

Needless to say, these are bad days...

Today is a good day. The words are flowing nicely. I can see where the story is going. Days like this make you feel happy. They make you feel that you really are a writer and that you will get to the end of the book you are working on.

Right now I'm sat at the table with the French doors wide open beside me. The sun is shining in. Birds are singing. 

The book I am working on is the biggest thing I've ever tackled. It's exciting and frightening in equal measures. I'm mixing fact with fantasy - an interesting thing to do as I keep having to stop to do just a little bit more research before I can continue. Sometimes you have to get things straight in your head because you want things to be just right...

So what sort of lights did they have in those days? Did they have lamps or did they only have candles and flaming torches? They had lamps... of course they had lamps. Lamps of one kind or another had been in existence for many years... Glad that's sorted. But hang on... would my character and his family have had lamps? No - looks like were back to candles again.  

"The boy carefully picked up the flickering candle and slowly made his way towards the door."

Phew... glad that's all sorted out. I can carry on with the rest of the story now. 

"Carefully picking up the candle, the boy slowly made his way to the door."
No...

"He picked up the candle and headed..." NO!

"After picking up..." NO! NO!!

"The candle flickered on the shelf by the door as the boy made his way towards it." NO! NO!! NO!!!

"The boy carefully picked up the flickering candle and slowly made his way towards the door."

There... That's it. DONE!

Now I just need to remember why the boy was even going to the door in the first place. If there was someone there they're bound to have gone by now. 

*sigh*

And today's a good day...

Cave Boy And The Egg

A quick entry in my diary here to let you see the cover of Cave Boy And The Egg which has been beautifully illustrated by Bill Bolton. I'd not seen Bill's work before but as soon as I saw his rough cover illustration I could tell he was the one to illustrate this little book about Cave Boy and his dad as they go off in search of something to eat for their tea. It's always interesting to see how different illustrators interpret the story - each one fresh and different and bringing something new to the finished book.

The Kelpies

One of our days in Scotland was spent driving around and sightseeing. We started the day with a drive down to Falkirk to see the Kelpies which stand at the start of the Forth and Clyde Canal. Modelled on the mythical Scottish shape-changing water spirits, the Kelpies stand 30 meters high and weigh 300 tonnes. They tower over the surrounding area. 

Here you can see Vicky standing in front of one of the huge horses just to give you a better idea of how big they really are. 

In myth, Kelpies are said to haunt rivers and streams, often in the shape of a horse but sometimes in the shape of a beautiful woman or other another form where they lure unsuspecting people to their death in the water. It's said that the sound of their tails hitting the water is like a thunderclap.

We managed not to get lured into the water by any sprites so made our way a little further along the road to see the Falkirk Wheel - a huge, rotating boat lift that connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.

The wheel which was opened in 2002 lifts boats 35 meters into the air. Up until 1933 boats had to travel through a staircase of 11 locks - taking a whole day to do so. 

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to wait for the next boat trip so didn't get to go on the boat lift - we will leave that until our next visit. After leaving the Falkirk Wheel we spent the rest of the day driving around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park... Keeping our eyes open for Highland Cows (Coos) and taking in the beautiful scenery...

The Wallace Monument

It was Vicky's birthday this week so we had a couple of days together in Scotland. We stayed in Stirling which was ideal for us as we wanted to visit The Trossach's National Park and Loch Lomond, The Wallace Monument, the Stirling Highland Games and a couple of other places while we were there.

Setting off in the morning it took us a few hours to get to Stirling but we had just enough time to visit the National Wallace Monument before going to our hotel. When you arrive in Stirling it's hard to miss the impressive monument as it stands on a hill and towers above the field where William 'Braveheart' Wallace, during the Wars of Scottish Independence, led his troops to victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. 

Arriving at the Monument you have the option of walking up the hill to the tower or taking the free shuttle bus. We walked - it seemed a good idea at the time - but you might like to take the bus. It's only a fifteen minute walk up the hill and you can take you time... walking or crawling to the top. That's just the start of the walking and climbing though as there are 246 steps up to the very top of the Monument itself. 

The first few steps are straight but after that they  twist round in a narrow spiral staircase with 3 different rooms to explore on the way to the open floor at the very top. 

It's well worth the climb... You can look at weapons, shields and armour, and discover more about Wallace and the battle of Stirling Bridge in the Hall of Arms. Carry on up to the Hall of Heroes where you can find out about other important Scots (like Robert The Bruce) and see Wallace's sword on display.

The next floor up is the Royal Chamber where you can find out about the building of the monument and lots more...

Finally it's on to the very top where you get amazing views of the surrounding land. There was hardly a breath of wind on the ground, but up at the top of the Monument it was very breezy... I can easily imagine what it would be like on a windy day.

After a leisurely walk back down, and a little visit to the gift shop, we headed off to our hotel for tea... all set for the next few days. More of our Highland trip to follow very soon. 

A Few Days Away

I've been busy working on my big book recently but we managed to get away for a few days together to visit Tenby on the Pembrokeshire coast in South West Wales. 

Most of the time was spent relaxing but I did manage to fit in a little research while we were there - useful because one of the characters in the book I'm working on was born, and spent the first few years of his life, in that area - so it was good to soak up the atmosphere. 

This plaque notes the birthplace of Bartholomew Roberts at Casnewydd Bach, a tiny village in Pembrokeshire. Roberts, known to many as Black Bart (though not in his lifetime) was one of the most successful pirates of the Golden Age - capturing over 400 ships in his short time as a pirate. Roberts is one of the main characters in the book I'm working on - but at the moment that's all I can say about it. As time goes on though, I will blog more about it.

As well as doing a bit of research and sightseeing we went on a boat across Cardigan Bay to see if we could spot any dolphins and other wildlife... it was great.

Here you can just see two bottlenose dolphins swimming side by side as the dive down into the water...

It's always fantastic seeing dolphins in their natural environment - there's something magical about them... it's no wonder they feature in so many children's books. We were also lucky to see Grey Seals, Guillemots and other sea birds high up on the cliffs. 

Now we're back at home and I'm busy writing... As always, I've got lots to get through. There never seems to be enough hours in the day.

World Book Day (World Book Week)

Next Thursday is World Book Day and I will be spending the week visiting schools around the country to join in with the celebrations...

Here's a HUGE HELLO to everyone at Light Oaks Junior School in Salford and Horspath CE Primary School in Oxford - looking froward to meeting you all... and I can't wait to see all my old friends at Eveswell Primary School in Newport. 

It's going to be a busy, fun week and I will be writing more about it right here as the week goes on.

Visiting Schools

As an author I spend most of my working time sat on my own with my laptop or my notebook writing. Sometimes I'm working on very short stories for young readers and at other times I'm working on something bigger... right now I'm doing a mixture of both. As well as writing I love going out and about to visit schools and libraries so that I can tell stories and get people excited about books, reading and writing. 

Last week I visited my first school of 2017 - Heygreen Primary School in Liverpool. I was made to feel really welcome and had a wonderful time sharing stories and talking about what I do. Working together with Key Stage 2 we came up with some great story ideas... I hope you have fun finishing them off. 

Click here to see a picture of the day on Twitter...

This week I will be visiting Holy Trinity C E Primary School in Bury so here's a HUGE HELLO to everyone there... See you all soon.