With World Book Day on the horizon, here are some of my top tips and school secrets I shared with online bookshop Wordery for all those budding young authors out there.
Happy International Book Giving Day!
This year to celebrate International Book Giving Day we sent books up to Burnley Road Academy in Yorkshire, who sadly lost their wonderful library stock to the Christmas floods last year. Of all the Valentines Day’s surprises I’ve had over the years this lovely email from Headteacher Claire Cope is right up there with leaving me that happy, warm feeling …
All things Goosebumps on Girls Heart Books
You can read my first post for the Girls Heart Books blog. I’m celebrating one of the best horror series in children’s fiction: GOOSEBUMPS!
Happy January!
This is it! 2016! We have finally made it to the Year of Dave Pigeon. I have exciting news to kick of January: I have joined the Girls Heart Books family and will be blogging over there with the rest of the fabulous team. My first post will be up in February so watch this space (and that space)…
Happy Holidays from The Haddows
See you all in the New Year for what promises to be an exciting year full of adventure, laughs and many, many pigeons Merry Christmas from Swapna, James, Phoenix and Gary the Hamster
Meet Sheena Dempsey
I think it’s time you met the brilliant illustrator behind Dave Pigeon. I met Sheena on a rainy day at Faber HQ. As I sat on the couch in the reception area, eyeballing absolutely everyone who was buzzed through the door, in walked an Irish leggy beaut, slightly drenched, with a look in her eye that said ‘we-clearly-watch-the-same-You-Tube-videos-of-brutish-cats’. I can’t …
King’s CROWNing Authors with ME!
Here I am, chatting on King’s CROWNing Authors back in February. Read the interview here.
One pigeon step for Dave, one giant leap for me (seriously struggling with these bird titles, all suggestions welcome)
If you can believe it, Dave Pigeon is now at the copyedit stage. We did it! I have to be honest the last six months haven’t been plain sailing. Back in January, following on from my editor’s notes, I felt quite lost with the book. I produced a draft I hated. I felt trapped between what I thought …
Dave Pigeon: one year on
I’m knee-deep in a second round of edits for Dave Pigeon and here’s where I’m at: Since the last time I’d heard from my editor there had been a lot of thinking. A LOT. Everything I had changed from the original version I wanted to undo whilst still keeping the new plot I had developed, all the while …
Watch the birdie
Yesterday my editor sent me a sample of work from a potential illustrator for Dave Pigeon. This is beyond exciting. Dave Pigeon will be an illustrated book and it’s so important the right illustrator is chosen because the pictures do as much telling of the story as the words. It got me thinking about the importance of illustrations and illustrators …