Phew, what a long time since I last wrote anything! I’ve been busy working on the finishing touches to Flood and Fire (due out in August) as well as starting new work and doing some promotion for Flood Child, which was published in Germany recently under the title Flutland.  I went to a bash organised by the Chicken House (my publishers) to meet some German booksellers, and had a very interesting weekend talking with them all (although my German is non-existent, much to my shame). What a lovely lot they were.

I’ve also done some fantastic school visits – always my favourite thing to do – including to the Suffolk schools Book Mastermind, where some incredibly knowledgeable children were quizzed on books. I was very glad to be a guest, not taking part, as I don’t think I would have done nearly so well as they did!

Flood child is now on the short list of three regional book awards run by teachers and librarians; the Northern Ireland Book Award, The Gateshead Children’s Book Award and the Surrey Book Awards. Wow! The competition is fierce, with some fantastic titles in each list, so even to be in there is a real honour.  So thank you to anyone who votes for Flood Child, and, wherever you live, do take advantage of these sort of competitions in your area – it’s a great way to get books, and then chew them all over with your friends.

I went to the celebration party for Booked Up at a gallery in London, and met all the fantastic people who’ve worked so hard to get free books out to all year seven children. The very funny and bubbly Karen McCombie, who wrote An Urgent Message of Wowness, gave a speech, as did some of the organisers.  It was inspiring to meet people who are so enthusiastic about reading and literature for children.  They even had cup cakes with the Booked up animation characters done in icing, so I chose a cake with the little pirate cat, which is the animation for Flood Child – but I haven’t been able to bring myself to eat it, it’s too cool!

Earlier in the month I went and met children in Barnsley as part of the promotion for Booked Up – and they were all so lovely, I had a fantastic time meeting them.   So hello to any of you who read this, I hope you enjoyed your Booked Up books.

2^nd October.

More foreign editions have arrived. Italian, titled Il gioiello parlante (which google assures me means ‘the jewel speaker’, but that may be completely wrong, so if you’re Italian, let me know.). And the edition from the Netherlands, which is titled Rovers. I now have copies of my book in six languages. It’s really cool!

30^th September.

I am meant to be handing in the third draft of Flood and Fire, but it’s not done, sigh. Sadly, I think my publishers are getting used to it now. It’s not that I sit around doing nothing all day (despite my blog for the Booked Up website!) it’s just that I can only do writing part time, and I’m a slow writer. Anyway, that’s what I tell myself when I hear about authors writing books in a few weeks…

7^th September

School starts. Which means that sometime soon the Year 7 children will start reading through their Booked Up guides and deciding on their books.  I still can’t quite believe there’s a program giving away free books to children, but how brilliant that there is! There’s hope for us all yet…

July 7th 2009

Reavers Ransom is no more… long live Flood Child! I got my author copies and it looks fantastic. Again a brilliant job by the artists and designers. It’s strange to see the book in another form, but I’m already getting used to it.

15^th August 2009

The second draft is done! And only a couple of months late! But the finale is still a bit of a mess. I am going to do the next revision backwards, starting from the end, and see if that helps…

June 30th 2009.

No, I’m really not going to make the deadline for the second draft. All I can manage for this blog is aaarrghh! I will just have to keep on keeping on til it’s finished.

July 10^th 2009.

I went to the Branford Boase awards last night. I didn’t win , but to be honest I knew I wouldn’t. Anyway, the winner was Bridget Collins with her fantastic book Traitor Games, so a really worthy winner and I’m really chuffed for her. She’s very nice as well as talented, and incredibly hard-working. She told me she wrote her latest book in six months! Now that really puts me to shame… Emily, you must try harder.

I also met some of the winners of the Henrietta Branford Writing Competition, which is a short story competition for school children. They have to write a story using first lines provided by last year’s winner of the Branford Boase award. There were six winners, and they all did brilliantly well, especially as I thought the first lines were pretty hard. The headmaster of one of the schools came along, and he encourages children to enter every year, and often has winners from his school. Given how many children aren’t given any time to do story writing in school, I think he should get an award!

There were lots of publishers and agents and authors there, and not just nobodies like me, but proper authors like Jacqueline Wilson. I thought about going to speak to her, but I felt a bit scared. I still haven’t got used to all this stuff, I keep expecting a hand on my shoulder and for some security guard to march me out of the building!

8^th June 2009

Flood Child is on the Booked Up list! I am really excited about this, not just because it’s really flattering to be chosen, but because it’s a fabulous program. A free book for every Year 7 pupil, what a fantastic idea! There’s a really wide range of books in the list, from really gory thrillers to funny stuff to a book of poems. So something for everyone, even those who like futuristic tales about a girl and her seacat!  I went and did the filming for the Booked Up DVD a few days ago, and I had twenty eight seconds to introduce my book.  I wasn’t expecting to be nervous (it’s less than half a minute filming, after all!) but as soon as they turned the camera on me I started shaking so much I could hardly speak! And it didn’t help that I was perched on some stone steps with nothing between me and the Thames but my own ability not to fall in. So if you see the DVD, please give me the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure the other authors have done a better job than me, but I’m pleased I managed to say anything.

20^th May 2009

The publishers have got a title for the sequel, which is… Flood and Fire. I like it, very dramatic sounding, and I’m just so glad they’ve got one, because I really am rubbish at coming up with names for things (My son didn’t get his name until three days after he was born!). All I’ve got to do now is finish it…

12^th May 2009.

Matt and I got married! A beautiful ceremony in Devon, with our immediate families. So now I’m a Mrs! But I’ll keep my old surname for my books, it would be too confusing to change it. And anyway, people always seem to like it, which I find strange because to me it’s just my name. I didn’t know you could have better or worse names (apart from those cruel parents who give their children ‘joke’ names like Numpty or Smellypants or whatever.)

1st May 2009

Wow exciting! I have just found out that Reavers Ransom/Flood Child, has been shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award. It is a prize for first time novelists and their editors. But there’s some really stiff competition, such as Ways To Live Forever by Sally Nicholls and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. So not much chance, but fingers crossed anyway

16th April 2009.

Reaver Ransom is published in France! The title is La Rançon des Pirates. So that makes Japan, China and France so far. In Japan it has been published in two volumes, but I’m not sure about the title (because my copy is all in Japanese!). I tried a google translation of the Chinese title, and it came back as Island’s Ransom.  But then my name ended up as Love Honey Korea, so I’m a bit doubtful how right it is!

6th April 2009

I’ve just had a discussion with the publishers of my book Reaver Ransom, and they want to re-issue it with a new title and cover, as they are concerned that what it’s not very clear what the book is about. Well, obviously, I can’t really argue with that, but I do feel quite sad because I absolutely love the art work. The cut through jewel, the secret message on the back cover, the beautiful seascape. The designers and illustrators did such a fantastic job.  I shall just have to keep my copy and frame it!

And the new title, Flood Child. It was a bit of a surprise when they first suggested it, but I do like it.