Blogging and writing...

Although I started this blog a year ago with help from Phil of Graham Hall, I've only been at it regularly for about a month now and in a small way at that. I'm hoping to get quicker at it because if I can't post a blog in ten to fifteen minutes then I'll be using precious time blogging when I should be writing. I'm learning as I go along and I'm discovering other blogs that I want to read and follow - all time gobbling stuff but fascinating.
I did have a bit of a breakthrough with the current one last weekend so if the blog goes quiet it will be good news for the writing!

Out of the Blue at Owl Bookshop, Kentish Town

Thanks to Leslie and Gemma at Owl for their help at the launch of Out of the Blue last Wednesday. I had a great time and it was good to see everyone.
Thanks to Don Church for the photo and last, but not least, I would say a great-big-thank-you-from-the-bottom-of-my-heart thank you to Richard.

The Beautiful Books

Whatever happens ebooks will not cause books to disappear. A beautiful book cannot be replaced by a virtual book because we will not want to lose the pleasure of holding a beautiful book in our hands. Marion Bataille's ABC3D proves the point perfectly - I can enjoy watching someone else look through this beautiful book but I shall have to buy my own copy.

Inspiration - Where does it come from?

David Lynch talks about where ideas come from. He likens it to fishing. The intention to write a story is like dangling the bait in the water. Sooner or later a little fish - a tiny idea - comes along and takes a bite. You write down that little idea and it pulls in a bigger idea and so on. I like this analogy. Right now I'm wandering along the riverbank trying to decide on a good place to sling my hook.
Another place where we can find inspiration is in all the stories we've ever heard or read or seen in our lives - like this seven-year old writer creating a new version of The Boy Who Cried Wolf and making something unique and wonderful out of it.

Young Writers 1: - Tristan's comics

A couple of months ago I discovered that Tristan writes and draws a comic series called Matrix.
I had just finished taking the register and the class were reading quietly, when I noticed Tristan and Sam shuffling through what I took to be piles of paper. I went over to see if I could suggest a good book and realised that I was interrupting an editorial meeting.

"Did you write these?"
"Yep"
"And draw them?"
"Yep"
"All of them?!"

One of the hard things about being a writer is making the commitment to do it. You can have a good idea and you can make a start and that is interesting and sometimes even exciting, but to keep at it and develop it takes effort. And Tristan has put an amazing amount of effort into his comics. They are brilliant.

The Last Day of the Holiday

Another day of rain and I went to the British Museum this afternoon.
Margaret came with me and took this photo for me. I was feeling weary and the museum was stuffy and crowded so when I saw the giant Lewis chess piece I thought I know how you feel matey!

Great Missenden in the Rain...

...is a fine thing because you can duck into the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre!
I had a wonderful time today. It was good to see old friends and to meet some new ones too. So, Hello to Sarah Mooney the current Storyteller in Residence and Hello to the young writers and story lovers who came to my workshops - Tia and Indiana, Samuel, Tom and Amy, Louis and all the rest of you - thanks for coming and for sharing your ideas and your brilliant imaginations.

I told Tia that I would give a link to the website where you can print off some more of Fabio Sirna's lovely paper bookmarks. So, here it is Bookmarks