The Blackhope Enigma
I think Jessi at Reading in the Corner is the first US blogger to review the advance copy (Candlewick Press will publish The Blackhope Enigma there in early August) and she gives it a nice thumbs-up for middle grade readers.
YA Yeah Yeah is already anticipating The Crimson Shard
Thanks to all three of these bloggers!
I am feeling terribly guilty at not stopping by my blog recently. I last posted just before heading off to the Lennoxlove Book Festival, which was absolutely lovely. What a place! I spoke in the medieval Great Hall, surrounded by old paintings and armor, not unlike something out of The Blackhope Enigma
Right after Lennoxlove, I went to Boston for a couple of weeks. I had some very enjoyable work to do while I was there: meeting the staff at Candlewick Press, who will be publishing The Blackhope Enigma
I hit the ground running last week and am back to working on the Next Book. This involves editing, sharpening, reorganizing and tweaking. I like the revision process. Probably the most challenging part is making sure the story that’s in my head is clear to the reader. Luckily I have editors and an agent who let me know where things need to be tightened up and I am really grateful to have their expert guidance. Big respect to editors!
The Blackhope Enigma
I just did a guest blog for the Scottish Book Trust about my path to becoming an author, and you can read that here.
I am really delighted that The Blackhope Enigma
Tomorrow is Publication Day! The next couple of days will be busy, busy, but I shall be back with updates and photos forthwith.
The mail has been good to me today. Not only did the cardboard box yield ten copies of The Blackhope Enigma
This has been a brilliant week, percolating with buzz. My London trip generated lots of new inspiration for The Next Book, and I will be getting back to that with gusto. Sometimes you have a day or two or three where you get immense clarity about where you are going and what you’ll be doing when you get there. Maybe there’s some fairy dust in the atmosphere (although it’s more likely to be volcanic ash). Whatever it is, keep it coming.
Well, I lucked out this time. I bought a train ticket to London and worried that there might be a train signalmen’s strike…but who knew that the volcano would blow and suddenly trains looked pretty good?
This was my second time ever at the London Book Fair, but my first time as an Author. The Fair was a lot quieter than usual, since so many people were stranded elsewhere, but it was no less impressive. I got a new insight into the work that takes place on Templar’s stand: rights being sold to other countries, events being set up, orders being taken. And it all happens in a pretty small area. Kudos to everyone working so hard to make Blackhope a success!
It was exciting to see The Blackhope Enigma
I was pretty amped to meet up with a couple of great people from my Arvon course last year. It was over a fleeting falafel sandwich in the Terrace Cafe, but grand nonetheless.
I fairly floated home yesterday, under crystal clear blue skies, the train racing through the blooming countryside. It was a good time to catch up with myself, make a mental list of all the exciting stuff coming up, and of all the writing and drawing I am anxious to get back to!
The sun is out. The 48 hour squall that passed over us, dropping snow, sleet and rain has moved out. Back to spring dreams.
I am ensconced in the Next Book and feeling how far I have come since I started writing The Blackhope Enigma. The learning curve was very steep but the rewards immense. Now it’s on to a new project and I’m going into it with the same attitude I had before: have a go, write from the heart, get it down on paper, be open to improvements, polish it till it’s as perfect as can be.
I have learned an incredible amount about writing over the past few years. Alongside my practice, I read a lot about what’s happening in the publishing industry, what other authors are up to and what their writing tips are.
Last week the Bologna Children’s Book Fair took place in Italy, and though I couldn’t go this year, I followed people’s tweets about it and read their blog reports this week. I am really impressed by the time people took to write up their notes, especially Beth Peck, whose blog has some fascinating nuggets of info from publishing industry afficionados. This quote from Richard Peck’s talk made me laugh out loud (ruefully):
If you see an adverb, shoot it.
I used to have to “shoot” my adverbs with the big bad Delete button, but now I can spot them looming at twenty paces and body swerve them. Another step on the learning curve…
More personal views of the Bologna Book Fair come from author Ally Carter
and illustrator John Shelley. Mary Hoffman (aka Book Maven) wrote reports for all three days she was at Bologna. All these blogs (and the tweets I followed) gave me a pretty good flavour of the Fair.
So, suitably fired up by the overall feeling that this year was buoyant, I head back to my draft manuscript and cross over into the imaginary world of the Next Book.
The other big news is that The Blackhope Enigma is now available for pre-order here at the Templar website, along with a free download sample from the book.
We have some really exciting things planned in the lead up to publication, and I’ll be telling you more about the story and how I wrote it as we count down to July 1!
I have had so many emails from all over the world about The Blackhope Enigma
Here’s a further article from today’s Bookseller…and thanks to Maggi and Rachel for alerting me to it!
Several people have asked me for more definitive info about the publication date. It’s July for the UK edition- which feels like it’s just around the corner. I’ll keep you updated as we trundle along!
That’s me on the right of the photo, with the wonderful duo of Anne Finnis, Consulting Editor, and Emily Hawkins, Senior Editor. If I look at all starry-eyed, it’s because I was certainly feeling that way! I had just seen the advance review copies of my book, with its very classy cover, and it began to sink in that after years of hard work, The Blackhope Enigma is on its way.
I feel honored to have my book on the Templar 2010 Fiction List with a host of excellent authors and illustrators: Not Bad for a Bad Lad by Michael Morpurgo, former UK Children’s Laureate, and illustrated by the multi-talented Michael Foreman; A Right Royal Disaster by fabulous author-illustrator Simon Bartram; and the much anticipated The Dragonology Chronicles: The Dragon Diary by Dugald Steer.
There is already online buzz about Australian Richard Harland’s steampunk novel Worldshaker and Stephanie Burgis’s A Most Improper Magick. (If you visit Stephanie’s website, you can watch a neat book trailer and enter a competition to win an advance review copy.)
I am intrigued by Kate de Goldi’s The Ten O’Clock Question, which was an award-winning bestseller in her native New Zealand. The same goes for Johnny O’Brien’s Jack Christie books. I met Johnny at the launch – you could not meet a nicer man, and he’s a history buff to boot. Read more about Day of the Assassins and Day of Deliverance at his very cool site.
Last, but not least, is the beguiling story of Eric from one of my heroes of contemporary illustration, Shaun Tan. You can reread my blog about Tales from Outer Suburbia here.
What illustrious company I find myself in! As I type, I am eyeing the pile of advance copies I was given at the launch and wondering which I should read first. It’s going to be a difficult but pleasurable choice.
On March 25, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in Scotland is hosting award-winning author-illustrator, Catherine Rayner, in a day-long master class on illustrating children’s picture books.
If you are interested, click here for more information.