The Start of Our Summer Holidays

Even though it's the summer holiday it's still a busy time... I've been busy writing... working on a longer book for older readers, a short story for younger readers and tweaking and checking the History Heroes layouts that my publishers have  been sending me. So far they are looking really good and I'm very excited about them...

Vicky has been busy too, working hard in the library... Summer is always busy in the library with the Summer Reading Challenge, but despite all the busyness we've still managed to have a few days of fun and relaxation - though not everything has gone as planned.

 

At the start of the holidays we went to Barry in South Wales so I could take part in a big Author Day at Barry Library. It was great meeting other authors - especially, and in alphabetical order,

Phil Carradice (broadcaster, poet and author of The Wild West Show, and much more, and history blogger for BBC Wales - a great blog to look at if you are in search of places to visit in Wales)...

Anthony Lavisher (an excellent fantasy fiction author) and the brilliant Colin Parsons (fantasy and science fiction author) as well as 

Wendy White (author of the Tir Nar Nog award winning book - Welsh Cakes and Custard) It's always great to meet fellow authors as being a writer can be quite a lonely job at times.

On the way home from Barry our car broke down and we had to wait to be driven home on the back of a recovery truck... not a great end to the weekend. And did I mention that the lady in the hotel room above ours had left her bath running so it flooded our room and we had to move to be moved to another??? All part of the fun...

Our car was repaired just in time for us to go and spend a lovely week in Tenby - a beautiful seaside town on the southwest coat of Wales.

We were a little worried that the weather might not as good as we had hoped as the tail end of Hurricane Bertha had just reached Britain... but apart from a few showers and blustery days, the weather was good. We love visiting Tenby with its gorgeous beaches, fantastic scenery and lots of places to eat and drink... yum!

We had hoped to go on a seal/whale spotting boat trip but the sea was a bit too rough for that - but it still didn't spoil our fun. St Catherine's Island had just been opened to the public ( more about that in my next post) and we enjoyed our visit there...

  

And for most of the time the weather was great... looks almost tropical doesn't it???

I was able to take lots of great pictures off the sea and the harbour... especially nice as the sun was setting...

And quite impressive with rain clouds gathering overhead as we walked and paddled in the waves...

That's all for now... I will write more tomorrow and tell you all about St Catherine's Island and the rest of our holiday... including land speed records and another trip on the back of a recovery truck... Fun Fun Fun....

A Quick Update

Over the past few weeks I've been busy writing so haven't had chance to put anything in my diary. As well as working on my bigger book - more about that as the year goes on - I've written a new picture book and sent it off to one of my editors to take a look at. Fingers frantically crossed there. I've also written a few very short stories - around 200 words each for one of my publishers. I was delighted when one of them -  Robbie's Robot - was accepted. Today I was sent a rough sketch to show me how the cover will look and I'm delighted with it - it should be a real fun little book. As soon as I get a finished cover I will put in here in my diary for you to see.

I have read through the final layouts for 
another of the History Heroes Books - this one all about the Dutch/Flemish artist, Pieter Bruegel the Elder - just a couple of little tweaks to be made there and they should be perfect. The artwork is great, as is the book that accompanies it about L.S. Lowry.

Both of these books will be published in December this year - I can't wait to see them. To go with the 8 History Heroes Books I have been slowly working on pages for them on my website. They are still under construction but please go and take a look and let me know what you think. You can even download Word Searches for each of the books to do at home or in school. Just click HERE to visit the History Heroes page.

That's all for now folks... Hope you're enjoying the Summer Holiday.

The Mythical Maze #Summer Reading Challenge

On Monday this week I had a great time with everyone at Rhyl Library as this year's Summer Reading Challenge got under way...

 

I spent the day telling stories, talking about books, recommending books to read and helping some of the eager readers negotiate the maze and find all of the characters that were hiding amongst the shelves. All of the artwork for this years reading challenge has been done by Sarah McIntyre - you can find out more about Sarah by visiting her website HERE.

Throughout the day the library team were busy helping children join the library, sign up to the Reading Challenge and having fun with craft activities. It was a great day and I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone at Rhyl Library for making feel so welcome...

If you haven't already signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge then get down to your local library and do it today... Just in case you don't know anything about the reading challenge, here's what the Reading Agency say...

"Children's reading can 'dip' during the long summer holidays. The annual Summer Reading Challenge helps gets three quarters of a million children into libraries to keep up their reading skills and confidence. Because everything changes when we read.

The Summer Reading Challenge encourages children aged 4 to 11 to read six books during the long summer holiday.

There is a different theme each year. Children can read whatever they like - fact books, joke books, picture books, audio books - just as long as they are borrowed from the library.
Every time children finish a book they get stickers and rewards and there's a certificate for everyone who finishes.
The Summer Reading Challenge is open to all school children and is designed for all reading abilities. Schools work with local libraries and give out information to encourage children to take part, and most libraries run Summer Reading Challenge linked early years activity for pre-schoolers.

Find out more about the Summmer Reading Challenge by visiting the Reading Agency Website HERE or for information about the Mythical Maze click HERE.

If you've read a good book for your reading challenge, why not send me an email and let me know... or you can post a comment here in the diary.

#SummerReadingChallenge @jabberworks @WelshLibraries

On This Day In 1969...

The Apollo 11 space rocket was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. On board, the three American astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were just setting out on their voyage of discovery to the Moon.

You can read all about it in my History Heroes book all about Neil Armstrong - published by Franklin Watts, and illustrated by the excellent Mike Phillips... 

History Heroes

This week I've been busy working on a picture book - not quite finished yet - and a longer book. The longer book is coming along very nicely now and I'm eager to have it finished so I can let Vicky read it all before I tweak it again and send it off to a publisher. I've also been working on my web site, adding a section for my new History Heroes books - the first two of which were published earlier this month. The pages are still in progress as not all of the books have been published yet but please do take a look and let me know what you think...

On Monday this week I returned to Ripley Junior School to  work with year 3 and with the year 2 children that will be moving to the Junior School in September. It was great seeing everyone again and we had lots of fun coming up with two stories... One about a Ghostly Granny and one about a Cat who is a Master Thief. I hope everyone enjoys finishing the stories off - It'll be great to read them.

Tomorrow I'm visiting The Heys Primary School in Ashton-Under-Lyne... see you all soon.

Neil Armstrong

Today I'm busy working on a picture book story... but while I've been eating my lunch I've been making an animated gif of Neil Armstrong for my website's History Heroes section...

What do you think???

L. S. Lowry

Just a quick diary entry while I eat my lunch...

Here's a quick hello to everyone at Ripley Junior School in Ripley, Yorkshire - I'm looking forward to coming to school again so I can work with year 3 and the up and coming year 2 children from the Primary School on Monday. . I'm sure we will have lots of fun coming up with new stories together... I love the creative process of creating character and story ideas so it should be a fun day.
 
On Thursday next week I will be spending the day with everyone at The Heys Primary School in Ashton-Under-Lyne - can't wait to meet everyone there...

Right now I'm eating my lunch - a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich - and also making a little animated picture for my website. This will go on my History Heroes page when it's finished... Here's L.S. Lowry - illustrated by the most excellent Yulia Somina... hope you like it.