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.
A very quick message to say a huge HELLO to everyone at The European School of Munich... My bags are packed and I'm looking forward to meeting you all later this week. See you soon...
A huge hello to everyone at the British Primary School of Wilanow ... I'm looking forward to meeting and working with you all this week. I was awake at 2am this morning at home in Wales and right this minute I'm sat at Manchester airport waiting for the first part of my flight to Warsaw, Poland. I'll be getting on another plane in Amsterdam and should arrive in Warsaw at about lunchtime.
I will be taking pictures and adding messages here (and on Twitter) as my trip progresses. See you all soon... After landing at Warsaw airport I was met by the school principal, Mr McGrath, who kindly gave me a little tour of Warsaw before dropping me off at my hotel... thank you Mr. McGrath. My hotel was very modern with a window that filled one wall, giving a great view of the countryside.
Rather than catching up on some sleep I wanted to make the most of the time I had so decided to go for a little walk around the local area. First of all I wanted to see where the school was so that I wouldn't get lost the next day. No need to have worried about that though as the school was less than five minutes walk from my hotel.
Wilanow is a very modern part of Warsaw as you can see from this huge Catholic Church...
But there's also a few older, interesting buildings like this old church
and the beautiful palace of King Jan III...
My two days in Wilanow at the British School whizzed by. It was fantastic meeting everyone and having the chance to work with each class in school. A huge thank you to everyone for making feel so welcome and for looking after me. I hope that I have the chance to come back and see you all again before too long.
This week is the week of World Book Day - people everywhere are sharing and celebrating their love of books and reading. It's a busy week for me travelling around visiting schools - as well as keeping up with my writing. Yesterday I had a fantastic time with everyone at Alkrington Primary School in Middleton, near Manchester and today I'm spending the day with everyone at St Mary's RC Primary School in Loughborough so here's a HUGE HELLO to you all... Tomorrow I'm visiting St Matthew's CE Primary School in Blackburn and then it's off to Althelstan Community Primary School in Sherburn in Elmet. I will be rounding the week off with a visit to St George's C of E Primary School in Chorley... And while I'm here I want to say a huge hello to all of the Fiction Express readers who are reading my latest book - Stormwolf...
This year is really flying by... It's hard to believe that February is almost over. I've had a busy year so far with lots of writing - I think I've been busier than I have ever been before. This week I have a couple of days at home to get some writing finished and then I will be visiting lots of schools for World Book Day celebrations... Tomorrow I'm visiting Delamere C of E Academy - so here's a huge HELLO to you all. I can't wait to meet everyone in the morning. Later this week I'm visiting my old friends at Brookhurst Primary School in Bromborough - looking forward to seeing you all again. And on Friday I will be spending the day with everyone at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bury... It's going to be a busy, fun filled week.
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...
I can't believe that it has been so long since I last wrote in my diary. This year really is flying by. Over the last few months I have been very busy writing stories and visiting schools and I don't seem to have had a free minute to come and leave a message here. Before I tell you what I have been working on let me say a huge hello to all of my friends and Brookhurst Primary School in Bromborough - I had a great time with you all and am already looking forward to coming to work with you all. And another huge hello to my friends at Venerable Edward Morgan Primary... it was great seeing you too and I will see you all again very soon. Tomorrow I will be spending driving to Bury to spend the day at Hollins Grundy Primary School and later in the week I will be travelling much, much further - but I will tell you about that later in the week.
This year I have been busy working on some more little stories for Franklin Watts for part of the Reading Champions series. At the top of the page you can see the cover of King Midas illustrated by Sonya Abby Soekarno (that book will be out next year), and to the left you can see the cover for The Blitz Baby illustrated by Nicolas Hitori De (also out next year). The artwork for these two books has been done by illustrators that I have never worked with before and who both have very different styles - but each one suits each particular story... I think they look great.
I have also been lucky to work with the brilliant Ben Scruton again. Ben illustrated my Disastrous Dentist book and now he has illustrated Run Melina Run! a story set in ancient Greece. This book comes out next month. As well as these three titles - I have written a book set in Chester which involves time travel back to the days when Chester was a Roman Fort. I have juts been putting the finishing touches to the story of Icarus and Daedalus and a story about Rama and the Demon King. More about these later. That's all for now but I will be back writing in my diary very soon... Happy reading...
All of the wildlife pictures on the diary page are from our trip to Skomer Island a couple of days ago...
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. 
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.
