ITCHING

Hello one and all. Pleased to tell you that my mum is okay after her accident. She has got a long way to go before she completely recovers but she is getting there. Super Aunt is taking her home to Camberley next week to help her recuperate and I am sure she'll be fine, but it was a scare, there is no doubt about that!

So here it is - the great writing update. I am starting to pick up my pen again. I just seemed to lose my way in the word maze for a few weeks and I have been struggling to focus on anything. Today however, I have managed to enter two poems for children for a competition and uploaded another to WriteWords which is the best writer's site I have ever come across. It is my intention - misguided or not - to enter at least one competition every month this year. I know the books are keeping me busy but I need to keep my finger in as many other pies as possible. On Monday this week, I was chuffed to receive six copies of the first book through the post and I am hearing that more and more people are ordering it - one school has ordered 18 copies for their library - which is terrific. The second book is written and just needs finalising. I have been trying to see Ashley the Illustrator ever since Christmas and finally confirmed a meeting with him straight from work last Thursday - which I then had to cancel because of a certain person's fight with a bus forty times bigger than she is! I have been ringing and texting him all week but he hasn't come back to me yet so I shall just have to persist. Sarah the Publisher wants the cover artwork for the second book by mid-February so I have got no choice, I shall have to persist. I actually got an email from Amazon the other morning, asking me if I wanted to pre-order the second book due for publication on 8 September; which is somewhat surprising news to me that's very welcome at the same time.

Sarah the Publisher did say she wants some puzzles and Factoids to appear at the back of the second book and I am delighted to announce that I have succeeded in producing a wordsearch puzzle suitable for 5 - 7 year olds after the nth attempt, so it's a start. The Factoids shouldn't be difficult to find. If I can get Ashley the Illustrator to do a Spot the Difference puzzle I think Sarah the Publisher will be quite happy with that. Then I will have to knuckle down and get the third book actually written. I know that certain High Street supermarket chains have said they'd like to sell the whole series so who knows - maybe more than a few dozen people will eventually know about Yucketypoo!

As far as long term plans are concerned, I am still looking for a part time job to enable me to spend more time answering my calling, plus I am determined to get an agent this year. A famous agent who handles adult books recommended I try a famous agent who handles children's books - but I was very put out by her lack of interest; she didn't even want to know when I told her who had recommended her. I have said on the WriteWords site that I wouldn't recommend any other writer approaches them unless they are J K Rowling, Philip Pullman or Jacqueline Wilson. I told her the first book had already been published and that two more had been commissioned and what did she reply? That she does not have sufficient confidence in my 'manuscript' to accept me as a client. And this despite the fact I sent a copy of the book to her. Ah well! Her loss. I'll find someone else.

I must admit I am feeling pretty fired up - so it is appropriate that, as I sit here and write my blog, Bruce Springsteen is on the radio singing "I'm On Fire" - good on you, Bruce. me too!

Catch you later!