The time has come!
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| ...a wonderful research trip |
I’ve been on a wonderful research
trip and filled an entire notebook with jottings.
I’ve read stacks of books and explored
hundreds of websites stuffing my brain with fascinating facts.
I’ve mulled over the characters and
listened to them talking to each other in my head for weeks.
I’ve plotted and schemed and produced a
long, rambling plan of every twist and turn.
I’ve had a brain-scrambling phone call with
my editor extraordinaire, Amber, who uses her amazing editorial super-powers to
hunt down all the gaping black holes in the plot and then fill them all back in
with inspirational advice.
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| new look noticeboard |
I’ve organised my office and shuffled my
Adventure Island pictures and cuttings to one end of my noticeboard to make
room for a new display of motivational materials.
I’ve cleaned the house, swept the drive and
tidied the flowerbeds
Because tomorrow morning I will sit down at
my computer, take a deep breath, type the words “Chapter 1” and start writing - not just a new book - but a whole new
series!
It’s terribly exciting and just a little bit terrifying. After fourteen Adventure Island books I have to leave behind the familiar
seagulls and gorse bushes and cliff tops of Cornwall. And I won’t have my old
friends to guide me along. How will I manage without Jack telling me jokes,
Emily taking notes, Scott working things out and Drift finding clues?
Gulp!
New setting, new characters, new themes.
But some things will stay the same. There
will still be mystery and adventure, intrigue, deception, peril and puzzles to
solve.
Yep, all my favourite things!
I’m ready.
So, excuse me while I take down my lucky book-cover-of-the-Mystery-of-the-Dinosaur-Discovery-made-out-of-icing
from pride of place on top of my computer screen and replace it with a
lucky scarab beetle amulet and canopic jar (unused, you’ll be relieved to know!) made out of white alabaster.
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| feeling lucky? |
You can probably guess where the next book
will be set . . .